Panama At Last!

Talk about Mr. Toad's wild ride. We sailed from Ft Myers Beach on Sunday the 21st right ahead of a strong cold front. The winds and seas were mild the first two days. This was part of our plan as we needed to sail nearly 300 miles West South West in order to skirt the Western edge of Cuba. Just as we rounded Cuba the front crossed overhead and the winds increased from a nice 10 kts to 20kts for the next three days. The winds came out of the NE. Our course on the third day out included a change to the East so that we might pass well East of the Honduran Banks. This area of shallow reefs and shoals extends well into the Caribbean Sea.  When the wind went NE it gave us the lift to travel those miles we needed East. As we moved South of Ft. Myers the air became warmer. By the time we were off Honduras it was balmy. During the day pods of Dolphin kept pace with the bow. We counted the Portuguese Man of War jelly fish as they floated by and laughed at the antics of the flying fish. At night the full moon kept watch over us as we beat to windward with the spray misting over the Port side as the bigger waves lifted us and then set us down again. I have many photos of these events that I look forward to adding to the website soon. Our current internet access is so slow I cant upload pics. Thanks with your patience with  the site and our progress.
As we rounded the banks off Honduras we entered the trades coming in from the East at 25kts. Seas increased from 4-6 to 6-8ft. We sailed a high course toward the wind most of the remaining 400 miles and as the moon set last Monday evening we could see the lights of Panama 20 miles ahead. That was a great moment. It would be another 4 hours before Benjamin, then at the helm, would sail us through the twin light towers surfing on the face of 10 foot waves. We anchored around midnight and slept well until the harbor Master came by at 06:30 and told us to move. We picked up anchor and motored into Shelter Bay Marina where we are now the happy occupants of slip D36. More to come soon.  Fair Winds!