We left Shelter Bay at 3 pm heading to Laguna Bluefield in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we were excited to be off and heading north. For our guests, Alevia and Rob Colwell, it was to be the first time that they were doing an overnight passage at sea. Excitement and trepidation at the same time! Once outside the Christobal Signal Station (outside the breakwaters to the Panama Canal Authority), we encountered an 8-10 ft. swell to starboard, 11-13 knot northerly winds and rain clouds ahead. It was 118 nautical miles to Laguna Bluefeld and we expected to arrive early to mid morning.

By 6 pm, we were encountering heavy rolls and had to reduce our rpms. We also started to encounter an adverse current of 1-2 knots which brought our speed down from about 7.5 knots to 6. It was going to take us a little longer than we thought! The entire night was quite bumpy and rolly. Alevia and Rob decided not to sleep in the bow cabin and moved to the settee in the salon. Not to be deterred however, Rob stood watch during the night. During the day, Alevia spent a good portion of the day sitting on the flybridge chair enjoying the breeze and the views from above. As the morning progressed, skies cleared and the swells lessened. We arrived at Laguna Bluefield (named after a pirate) shortly after 1 pm. It had taken us almost 23 hours at an average speed of 5.8 knots. Our fuel consumption was way up!!

The anchorage was lovely. There were 2 other sailboats in the anchorage with us. Several villages surrounded the bay, many ulus (dugout canoes) dotted the bay, howler monkeys were heard from shore at early morning and evenings, the water was heavenly to swim in. What could we not like? Many curious villagers approached the boat - some just to look, others to sell fish and lobster (of which we bought several - delicious!), and others to ask for clothing, pencils, magazines etc. Rob spoke Spanish well, so he was able to communicate with them and send them on their way when they stayed too long.

Two days later we headed for Zapatilla Cays, two small islands surrounded by coral and white beaches and part of Bastimentos National Park. We had to approach the cays with care as there were numerous reefs surrounding the cays and charts here are notoriously unreliable. We inched our way into 16 ft. of water where we anchored. We quickly donned bathing suits, packed up snorkelling gear, dinghied to shore and spent several hours swimming, snorkelling and enjoying. Many tourists from Bocas Town were also there, having been delivered by tourist pangas. Almost on cue, everyone packed everything up around 4 pm and were gone. We had the entire island to ourselves.

Up-anchoring the next morning, we headed to the main area of the archipelago. Again, we had to be very careful due to numerous reefs . There were no marks to guide us in, somehow they had gone missing! Only one remained and it was half knocked down, lying on its side. Fortunately, we had waypoints from several guidebooks to guide us in and 4 sets of eyes! With one person on the bow, and others on the flybridge, we carefully picked up way in and anchored outside of Bastimentos Village. Later that afternoon, we made our way to the village. We were all a little uncomfortable there as the village appeared to be quite poor and many young people appeared to be just hanging out. After a quick walk around and some refreshment at a small B&B, we returned to the boat. The snorkeling there however was lovely and we returned several times to that particular reef.

The next 2 weeks were spent moving to various anchorages, snorkelling at least once a day, kayaking, dinghying around the hundreds of mangrove islands. We saw beautiful coral and fish, particularly at Crawl Cay and around Bastimentos Village. There were many amusing moments, particularly when Alevia and I stood on Rob's head to get back into the dinghy as Ken hauled us in from the inside or when I got caught on an oarlock and was left dangling half in and half out of the dinghy with snorkelling gear on. That was the end of one bathing suit!

Bocas Town is the main town in the island group. It has a Caribbean feel to it with most of its population being of Afro-Antillean descent. Many people came from the islands of St. Andres and Providencia and from Jamaica and the Barbadoes to work on the building of the canal and resettled there. It is very laid back, with lots of tourists, particularly young people, restaurants, tours, grocery stores and character. The buildings are colourfully painted, many of the waterfront buildings on stilts. There was a constant parade of water taxis passing our anchorage taking tourists on various tours. Thankfully the taxis stopped around 6 pm and the anchorage became very peaceful.

After Rob and Alevia left, we made several trips from the boat to town to reprovision and get ready for our journey north to Isla Providencia, an island off the coast of Nicaraugua belonging to Columbia. We were hoping that a window was days away, so we needed to be ready to go when it presented itself. On this coast, when the weather is good, you don't waste any time!!