After 2 and a half months in Colombia, we were finally given permission to leave and head to Linton Bay in Panama.

Getting permission had been a very time consuming process and we needed help from the British Embassy to get approval. We also needed to specify a departure date in advance, which can be tricky, as sailing is dependant on weather conditions. One thing we do know is that weather can change quickly, but the rule in Colombia is that you need to specify a date and time and leave 4 hours either side of the time specified. In this instance we were given 12 hours either side of the time specified.

Departure day came quickly and we had a great farewell from the dock from all the other sailors. We motored out into the bay feeling quite excited but a little bit nervous at the same time. In Nathan’s excitement, he fell down the front locker hatch spilling a treasured drink he had in his hand and hurting his ribs in the process. Thankfully he was ok. In pain, but ok.

We were a bit sad to leave behind the friends we had made, who were either not allowed to leave Colombia yet, or were there to stay out of choice so that they could explore when lockdown ended. When news got out on Facebook that we were departing, we were contacted by numerous other sailors also wanting to leave, but not knowing how. 

Now, out at sea, we felt quite alone and more at risk than ever before. We had the Caribbean Sea to ourselves and could see no other yachts on either AIS or Marine Traffic. When sailing, it is always comforting knowing there are other yachts out there. We rely on each other for support when things go wrong at sea. Don’t get me wrong, ships often play an incredible part in assisting yachts in distress at sea, but manoeuvring such a large vessel to assist a small yacht can be very challenging so we do like to ‘Buddy Boat’ when possible on longer passages.

The first day and night we had fairly good wind, then as predicted, the wind died for day 2 & 3 dropping down to 1.5knts. We sail well in 15knts to 25knts so 1.5knts of wind will not shift Mokara. 

We also started seeing more and more lightning and there were a few squalls, one of which hit us despite us trying to avoid it for quite some time.

The wind was about 6 Knots at the time, just enough to sail but we could see the wind and rain about to arrive so we packed the Genoa sail away to prepare for it. The squall arrived and the wind shifted 180 degrees and picked up to over 20 knots quickly. The temperature also dropped to a point where I felt cold. Quite refreshing and Mokara got a fresh water rinse for the first time in a ling time. We had black dust which had collected on the rig running down the side of the boat!

Day 2 & 3 were good and bad for us. As there was no wind, we had to motor which I don’t like doing. Using the wind to sail is free, far more peaceful, and it is what Mokara is designed to do.

The upside of not having wind was that there was the flattest sea we had ever seen. So flat that you could see the cloud reflections in the water quite clearly. The dolphins visited us regularly and put on amazing displays. We also saw schools of tuna jumping, but sadly we were not lucky enough to catch one.

As we neared Linton Bay in Panama we started to see more Sargasso weed which acted as a large plastic trap. We had made the effort on our passage to pick up plastic whenever possible, but the amount of plastic stuck in the Sargasso weed was more than we could manage to deal with, we needed a massive net attached to the side of the boat that we could scoop it all up with.

We made it into Linton Bay on the morning of the 3rd day. We were happy to see more yachts at anchor than expected and that we had made it there without having any issues with lightning.

We are now in an area where there is a lot of rain along with an incredible amount of lightening. From what we have heard, there is a 5% chance of being struck. Grrrr. At we have nowhere else to go that is safer than here so we are now at risk of a lightening strike, we just need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that we are not the unlucky ones. We never planned to be in this area during the lightning season. Our plan was to sail with the good weather patterns of the world… 

COVID has shown and taught us that plans change, and you just need to make the best of a situation you are in, which is what we hope to do!