Ahhh.  Let’s see.  Wednesday.  What’s on the calendar for today?  Oh yes. 

12:30 am — Finally get permission to tie up at the dock to fill our water tanks before leaving the Balboa Yacht Club. Then Wes takes the helm and the first watch to motor out the channel and through the ship anchorage.  Winds are light and on the nose, so we decide to motor all the way to Las Perlas.

2 am — Get up when port engine seems to have caught a line in the prop.  Both engines seem to be OK, so keep going.

4 am — Wake up to give Lauren a hand when we are in the midst of fog and lightning with zero visibility.  I suggest that she cut one engine to reduce our speed to make it easier to hear and spot any traffic. Then back to bed.

5:30 am — Start my watch just as the sun is starting to come up.  We can see the northern islands of Las Perlas as well as the coast of Panama in the distance.

8:30 am — Pick up a mooring on the south side of Isla Contadora and drop the dinghy in the water to row ashore.  Notice that something 60 fish are visible below the boat and that there is something large and white streaming from the port prop shaft!

9:30 am — Walk across the island.  The sights of Contadora include numerous waterfront mansions both finished and under construction, an open-air elementary school where the kids are enjoying recess, 60 ft bamboo patches, vines hanging vertically from the forest canopy, and odd red bugs everywhere.

10:00 am — Reach the other side of the island to visit the “Super Mercado”.  Until you’ve seen a small grocery store on a small island, it’s hard to explain.  Pringles – $2.75.  Big liquor selection.  The fresh fruit and vegetable section is just some wooden shelves that have between 2 and 20 of whatever happens to be available and hasn’t completely rotted yet.  Postcards from 1978 or so.  Pick up some ginger that may help with seasickness in the future.  Visit the Internet Cafe which will be open from 3pm to 5pm.

11:00 am — Walk on the beach to explore a small cave exposed by the large tide.

11:30 am — A leisurely paddle back to Pura Vida and then tea and biscuits on the “yacht”.

12:00 pm — Lauren and I suit up for a quick swim to free the line from the prop, check out the fish, and take a look at the bottom.  The line was easy to remove and the bottom doesn’t look awful — some algae and missing bottom paint, but there are no barnacles, and Wes’s patch is still holding well on the starboard keel.  Down at about 15-20 feet there is a large school of silver fish that are joined by what looks like several yellow tail snapper more than a foot long.

1:00 pm — Lauren uses leftover rice from yesterday to mix up a concoction that includes black beans, onion, tomato, corn, lime juice, cumin, and a little jalepeno. Served on corn tortillas that we have had for quite some time but are still good when heated.  Yet another first time success from the galley.

1:30 pm – Blog & stretch out with my book just in time for my afternoon nap.

Isla Contadora is much more to our liking than anywhere we’ve been so far.  It’s beautiful, typical island life at the island life pace. The skies are clearer, there’s been a cool breeze, and we’re back to a simple life on the hook.  Not a bad day at the office so far.  Hopefully there will be some time to relax later this evening…