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01 February 2013 | Anchored in Dolphin Bay, Panama
Mark
Yesterday morning we packed up the kayak and left our dock for a leisurely sail over to Dolphin Bay. The wind was only 5-10 kts., but it was from a good direction, so we just unrolled gennie and let her do all the work. We made ~3 kts. which was fine for such a short sail. As we crossed Laguna Pallos and headed into the cut to Dolphin Bay a pair of dolphins approached and swam with us for quite a while. In Dolphin Bay there were several tour boats all looking for dolphins without apparent success. We gloated silently. George told us via VHF that the only shoal we needed to wory about was a small crescent area marked by a PVC post. We could anchor in plenty of water right in front of their house, which we did. After lunch, I took the kayak (Deb decided to nap instead of joining us) and went with George and Allen (another friend and a neighbor to George. We met Allen on one of our first trips to Panama. We were both staying at Dos Palmas and we spent one day together with a real estate agent in a boat seeing several dozen properties. During that trip, we visited both the plot he eventually bought and what became our island!) George led us across the bay and up a shallow creek more than a mile into the jungle. It was really cool with dense canopy overhanging. Howler monkeys growled in the distance. At one point we disturbed a family of bats hanging in a tree and they flew off. Eventually the water got too thin even for our kayaks and we turned back. It was a really great trip. Crossing the bay we were quartering in to a stiff breeze. Without the second person in my kayak, the bow was clear of the water and constantly getting blown to leeward. I had to slide forward and sit just ahead of midship to get the bow to dig in and track properly. That worked great, but then I had not back rest and paddling into a breeze and chop without a backrest is hard work. We eventually successfully crossed the bay and Allen invited us up to his house for a cold beer and to show me around. He has done a nice job - building entirely by himself with hired locals as needed for heavy work. Paddling from Allen's to Always was directly into the wind so I was able to sit in the stern seat and paddle OK. The bow slapped a bit in the chop but it tracked fine. Back at our boat, I made some conch salad (the last of our conch from last summer) and chips to take to George & Sue's as a appetizer. They had invited us up for chili for dinner. Their place is wonderful. We had been here before in our panga, but even so, the grounds and the view were just breath taking. They,too, built the house by themselves with local help. We had a wonderful visit. Although we do not see them that often, George & Sue are friends that we feel very comfortable with and always enjoy their company. Back at our boat, I tried to do some work on the internet which was frustratingly slow despite several bars of signal on the modem. I finally got what I needed to done and after a last look up at the totally star studded sky, we went to bed. Sleeping at anchor is even better than on the dock as the boat motion is nicer. We slept very well.