We hadn't planned to go there. We'd plotted a gorgeous rhumb line from Puerto Lucia, Ecuador, to one of the southern anchorages in the Perlas Islands in the Gulf of Panama. Sure, this rhumb line put us about 200 miles off the Colombian coastline at one point, but the weather was fabulous: 10-20 knots from the SW and SW following seas off our aft quarter.
Of course, we'd checked the weather forecasts before leaving Ecuador and for the most part they were in line with what we were experiencing underway. Magic Seaweed's 7-day forecast showed generally mild conditions all along our planned route, with some fresh northerly headwinds at the end of the week that would be blowing over the Isthmus into the Gulf of Panama. However, we figured: (1) heck, that's 6 days away, the forecast is bound to change by that time; and (2) heck, we'll be anchored somewhere by then; and (3) heck, what's mid-20s winds, after all?
What folly.
We found, as we approached the southern Perlas Islands, that the winds shifted quickly from the SW to the NE and increased to 33-knot gusts. That, plus a sudden foul current of 1 to 3 knots made moving toward the Perlas impossible. Naturally this all began happening at about 0100 (that's 1:00 in the morning to you lubbers). We didn't want to turn left toward Punta Mala and Costa Rica, and we certainly didn't want to run downwind back toward Ecuador, so that only left us the choice of a right turn toward Panama's mainland, and the north-protected bay of Bahía Piña.
About then, GB noticed that our foresail had streamers - seems some threads had broken and unraveled. In the darkness we couldn't tell if the foresail itself was coming apart, or just its sun cover, but it looked quite festive indeed. To prevent further unraveling, we furled it and pressed on. Also? Our trusty autopilot started making some distressing metallic grinding noises, and with all the chop our Yanmar's siphon break prevented the usual quick engine startup. Bahía Piña was looking pretty inviting.
We arrived at Bahía Piña midafternoon of the following day...just in time for a rain squall to reduce visibility as we approached the anchorage. Luckily, it was a short squall and we regained visibility to anchor in flat-calm water just off the Tropic Star Lodge (check out their prices - yow!) amongst their many mooring buoys. Whew. What a trip.
What we learned: when dry-season northerly winds blow in the Gulf of Panama, it's akin to a norther blowing in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Goodness me, how quickly the choppy seas can build! This is a lesson we've learned before - just not taken well enough to heart. So for our complacence we earned the gods' little slap. And they were being gentle!
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