Underway!
02 March 2011 | 195 nm SW of Jamaica in Colombian waters
Sunny, Air Temp 88F, Water temp 80F, Wind NE@5-8
Shoping in Negril, Jamaica
This is the third time I've started this blog entry.
We left Jamaica at 4:00 am yesterday in light air. Once clear of the coast we picked up more breeze, dead downwind, but also a not nice swell from the east that created some excellent rolling. Most of the day was spent motor-sailing, with us changing our plans hourly. Our total trip is just under 350 miles, and we left early to ensure we could do it in three days (and two nights) getting in to Isla de Providencia by mid-afternoon Thursday. But the winds have not been kind to us... there has been ittle or none, making for slow sailing.
In mid morning we came abruptly back on soundings, with as little as 90' of water as we passed over Pedro Bank. On a map of the area, the area between Nicaragua and Jamaica looks like ocean ocean, but its not. There are a number of shallow banks that you need to be careful of. For a while we decided to spend a night anchored on Seranilla Bank. It is a large bank with a couple of cays in the middle of the ocean. We thought it would be a nice stop and give us a break from the rolling but further investigation made us move on.
We had our intrepid "cruise planner" Mary Buchanan check it put and the word came back that its not too great an anchorage, plus the Colombian navy (for some reason Colombia owns the banks here off Nicaragua, although it has been disputed) has a post and insist you anchor in a bad spot. As well, it is reported that drugs are being funneled through from Colombia to the US. So we decided to give it a pass.
Plans are now to try to make it in to Isla Providencia, another 170 miles by tomorrow night. That probably means motor-sailing again through the night, not the best for sleeping. But life could be worse. The weather is beautiful and our cruising guides paint glowing pictures of the area, so we're looking forward to new places.
From Isla Providencia it is a long day sail to Isla San Andres, then one overnight to Bocas del Toro, Panama. We are watching the weather and will be sure to make Panama before the winds spring back too much. But we hope to have a week in the offshore islands before then. Check them out on Wikipedia!