Heading North
29 November 2014 | Santa Catalina, Panama
Ange
We headed off from Las Brisas around 8.30am on Tuesday & had a great sail to the island of Isla Otoque about 20 miles away. Our plan was to have a rest here during the afternoon, dinner & then continue sailing onto Ensenada Benao overnight. Around 3pm a huge storm blew up with lightning, wind & lots of rain & it was still raging when night fell. We went to sleep instead & got up at 1am to continue our journey. Arrived at Benao around 4pm Wednesday, anchored & had a beer. This bay is one of Panama’s premier surf spots (beach break) with a few hotels & a hostel scattered around the bay.
Thursday we had a nice sleep in then headed ashore for a big walk. We went back for a drink at Selina Hostel at 4pm & watched all the surfers coming & going. It was fun landing the dinghy on a beach that actually had waves & even more fun getting back out through them on the way back to the boat! Steve didn’t have a surf there – waves were small & messy.
Friday we were up at 5.30am for a big day of sailing to Ensenada Naranjo. We spent a lot of time under spinnaker & had a great day. Lots of dolphins & birds...we even saw another yacht... heading south to Panama City. We anchored in the bay of Bahia Arenas which had a lovely beach & lots of rainforest to look at. We’ve been surprised how the beautiful the coast has been in Panama with high rainforest covered hills, green farming areas and some rugged coastline.
Today we had a shorter sail to Santa Catalina, another surf spot, but no swell which is disappointing. We are anchored off Isla Santa Catalina & will spend tonight, maybe two, depending on the surf (& there’s a pizza restaurant onshore)!