The Islas Secas live up to their reputation, but not to their name! Far from being dry, they are covered with dense forest and are very green. Our first anchorage was at the southwestern island, known for its diving. We were off a small beach, and just around a point was another beautiful little sandy beach with coconut palms and a thatched palapa which covered a raised circular wooden sleeping platform with a small sandbox for fires. The water was extremely clear, and the diving wonderful. Mid-afternoon the entire horizon to the north filled in with rain and lightning storms, ominously black, advancing steadily. It hit us with 20 knot winds and a heavy, warm rain. It's great to get a free boat wash! After an hour or so watching from Komara's cockpit, it stopped and we got on with the diving.

As this called just a day anchorage, we raised anchor about an hour before sunset and made our way to Isla Cavada, the only island in the Secas with buildings. The island has a very pricey resort that consists of white yurts dotted around on beaches and on points, each separated by several hundred yards. These "tents" have all amenities and it costs over $300 per night to say here. The resort is actually quite unobtrusive, as all you can see of it is the yurts, and there don't seem to be all that many of them.

Komara had caught a dorado the day before, so we all convened on Komara for a night of eating and card playing. Sal and Julie paired off against Tane and Larry for some serious canasta. Tane and Larry won in straight sets. Larry, a practiced gloater, gloated.

On Easter Friday morning, we moved back to the southern island, this time anchoring directly off the beach with the palapa. The setting is absolutely classic tropical island paradise! This time, we got at the hookah and spent an hour and a half trying to get it going. Larry came over and helped disassemble the carburetor, but to no avail. Larry, Tane and I were exhausted from pulling the bloody starter cord. Every now and then, the engine would fire, but not continue. Finally, Tane managed to get it to run for a few seconds, then he moved the choke to about three-quarters, and it fired up and ran. There's something really amiss with the carburetor, but with this setting, it seems to work so we put it in the dinghy and went diving. The idea is to practice for Isla Cocos, making sure we all have our weight belts set correctly, and have our use of the hookah the way we want it. It seems to continue running as designed, but it's disconcerting to have the choke so far on.

We decided to stay in the day anchorage for the night, and again we all got together for dinner and a canasta rematch on Komara. Once again, Tane and Larry swept the board. On both nights, they would be way down on every hand, only to come from behind every time... very frustrating for Sal and Julie. More gloating!

The wind got up to 20 knots directly into the anchorage, so we had a wild and bouncy time getting back to Kena in the dark, and then taking the outboard off the dinghy and putting the dinghy up on the davits. The wind calmed down quite a bit later in the night, but the waves did not, so we spent a rolly, disturbed night.

This morning, we parted company with Komara at 6 am. They are heading for some small islands next to Isla Coiba (the largest island in the area, and a national park), and we're heading for Isla Montuosa, an isolated island that is "sort of" on the way to Cocos Island.