Still talking March 2014 here. Don't judge.
Almost immediately upon reaching the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, we encountered flocks of cormorants, brown pelicans, terns, and gulls fishing among the anchored fleet o' freighters waiting their turn to go through the locks. We saw more sea life in that one spot than we had in 3 years on the Atlantic side. It was great to see. Our first destination was Bahia Honda, in the area of Panama's Islas Secas, roughly 200 miles away.
Seas were rolly and by sunset we'd gradually reefed...reefed again...and eventually were sailing with staysail alone on a broad reach. Rounding a couple of points of land meant that winds and seas became variable and we raised, reefed, and lowered sails accordingly. The sea critters were unimpressed with our busyness - the terns, laughing gulls and frigatebirds flew calmly along, and the spotted dolphins, a sea turtle, and even a yellow-bellied sea snake glided through the choppy waves without giving the distant lightning flashes a second glance.
We were underway a bit less than 45 hours on this leg as we entered Bahia Honda. Using the Sarana guides' waypoints and our radar to correct for chart errors, we anchored in the bay without incident in about 41 feet depths near Don Domingo's home on shore. Bahia Honda is very reminiscent of Washington State's San Juan archipelago, with its mountainous tree-covered islands, deep, steep-to water, and excellent shelter. Except Bahia Honda is much warmer. Much. Warmer.
A few locals occasionally rowed by to chat with us during the next few days, and it was fun to learn a bit about the area with such pleasant people. We even traded with Don Domingo, giving him some useful items we no longer needed, in exchange for some of his wood carving. We are now proud owners of a large acacia platter, plus a platter-mortar-and-pestle combo. Sweet.
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