Feb. 5 Start of leg 2
I grabbed an early breakfast at the hotel as the buffet is included in the price of the room; Roosevelt arrived at 6:15 am to give me a ride back to the ferry for my return to Contadora Island. I had only brought a backpack with me from the boat, but now needed the bell boy to bring the cart around for the large box of supplies and my 3 six packs of Guinness, having had enough of the light beers we have been drinking for a month and a half now. Roosevelt had everything loaded into the trunk by the time my checkout was complete. Sarah was the frisr of the guests to arrive at the dock, with the new ice maker in tow (Sarah you are a hero!); soon George & Becky, from Alaska and Richard from Ireland arrived and we all exchanged greetings.
The ferry ride was quick and smooth, unloading all of our stuff and hauling it up to the road was another thing altogether though. We arranged for a golf cart to take us back to the Hotel Romantica, where Dan would meet us at noon. We all got settled into our cabins aboard Skyelark and continued introductions and potty training for those who haven’t been on the boat before.
The WARC had organized a rendezvous ashore at the hotel for the evening, complete with appetizers, sangria and caprihinas a plenty. It was nice to see the folks we had met earlier in the rally and also the ones who have joined the various boats for this upcoming leg. We partied into the night, at least until the food and booze ran out then went up to the restaurant for dinner. I had filled up on appetizers, so I just ordered a ceaser salad which was just the thing I needed. Back at the boat we introduced the new crew to the Skyelark nightly tradition of captain Bligh nightcaps in the cockpit; there is an amazing amount of phosphorescence in the water here and the anchor chain glowed under water due to the swift current in the anchorage. After our fill of star gazing and rum we headed off for bed.
Feb. 6
I had made arrangements for a fishing trip with one of the local pangas that operate off the beach on the island, they charge $40 per hour for the boat and gear and will take up to four people; he arrived at Skyelark at 7:30 am and Richard and I were off to try and catch dinner. The driver didn’t need a GPS or fishfinder; he took us to various spots where we trolled with large diving lures. For the first hour and a half we didn’t get a nibble as we circled large rocks and passed through areas where pelicans and other sea birds were floating on the water. Finally about 9:00 we got our first strike, a large mackerel, not sure what type but it had beautiful yellow spots along it’s side. Soon the reels kept singing as more of these strong fighting creatures took the lures, we would take turns on the live line while the other person would reel in the empty one to prevent any tangles; at one point we even had a double header as a fish bit the empty line while it was being retrieved. By the time we headed back to the anchorage we had landed nine of these sleek beauties and lost two more. Everyone came up top to greet and congratulate us on our success; we kept two of the fish not knowing how they would taste, in hindsight we should have kept more. The fish were quickly filleted, the larger one for lunch on the grill and the smaller destined for ceviche which Becky skillfully prepared.

Our lunch


After lunch I went ashore to go to the Pointe Hotel for internet, a swim in the pool and to do some laundry in the bathroom sink there (hey I’m a sailor and we have to be resourceful). Crew from some of the other boats were enjoying the open air bar and poolside tables along with random dips in the refreshing pool. I headed back across the small island to meet Dan at the prearranged time for a ride back to the boat and cocktail hour with a snack of fresh ceviche. We had invited the crew from two of the other WARC boats, Ghost and Firefly; it is all part of the social scene that goes along with the rally and we primed ourselves for the WARC sponsored beach BBQ that was to take place later in the evening, the ceviche was fantastic by the way and everyone enjoyed it immensely.
The beach BBQ took place at the Hotel Romantica and it was understandable that the food was a little slow coming out of the kitchen as it is a small hotel and really not set up for 160 hungry and thirsty sailors. We made our way through the buffet line several times with side trips to the open bar and then found a table for the prize giving portion of the evening. When the awards were announced we were pleasantly surprised that Skyelark had placed 4th in class and would receive a deck of Panama playing cards for our efforts. After the party started to wind down, we headed back to the boat to rest up for tomorrows departure to the Galapagos Islands.

Dan Em & I on the podium