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American Spirit II - Day 32; Survivor (Las Perlas) Panama; Tuesday, February 4, 2014



At 8:40 AM we observed an act of nature seldom seen. Thousands of birds, different species intermingled, flew together in giant groups at wave top level from the surrounding islands to an area the size of half a football field, along the shore where they dove into the water with reckless abandon. A fish feeding frenzy had begun. Hundreds of other birds just sat in the water watching this spectacle. It lasted for a half hour. Breathtaking!

Weighing anchor at 10:15 AM, we passed by another Rally boat just anchoring, Firefly, and after chatting with them briefly, we proceeded north toward the Islands of Chapera and Moro Moro. As usual, the winds were light and we sailed and motor sailed to our destination. At 12:25 PM a couple of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins swam in front of and behind our boat, and one of them even amused us with a couple of jumps. With the first part of the dolphin name 'Atlantic' I wonder why they're in the Pacific. I'll have to check into that.

On the way Darlene did her and Joel's laundry, and her comment later was that it was hard work but better than sitting in the laundry mart like she did in Shelter Bay (Colon). Also, she said it gave her a better appreciation of her washing machine and dryer at home. She loved the electric, centrifugal dryer which got most of the water out of the clothes before hanging them up on a lifeline to finish drying.

At 1:49 PM we anchored between Isla Chapera and Moro Moro in 30 feet of water. Already anchored there was the catamaran and Rally boat Vivo. We said our hellos as we passed them. A 2 knot current swept thru the pass between the 2 islands. We hopped in the dingy and headed for Isla Chapera, which our guide book intimated was where Survivor (Las Perlas) Panama was filmed. After approaching a couple of military personnel, we determined that Chapera was not Survivor Island but that Moro Moro was.

We motored across the channel to Isla Moro Moro and and beached the dingy on a gigantic beach in a large cove. Just the sort of setting that Survivor normally looks like on TV. A large crescent shaped cove. The beach was gigantic because the tide was out. Right away we found evidence that Survivor Panama had been here. We located two stacks of cut bamboo, which is not indigenous to the island; remains of disassembled bamboo; remains of camp fires; string hanging from tree branches; numerous machete cuts in trees, as though the machete was kept stuck in the tree when not in use; and a couple of trails thru the brush that shouldn't be on a deserted island. On the other side of the island, only 50 to 75 yards away, Joel and Darlene found evidence of other human habitation by finding rocks with strings attached. The sort of things that might anchor items in the water in the cove on that side of the island. I took one of the cut bamboo trunks with me, which I intended to cut up for souvenirs later and maybe have Janet take home with her after visiting the Galapagos. While we were on the other side of the island, the tide had come up and when I returned to the cove where our dingy was it had floated 50 yards offshore. Because the water was knee deep, I had no trouble retrieving it. The dingy (really a motor boat) from Vivo joined us later on the same beach; and after showing them our evidence of the Survivor camp site, we departed back to our boat. Vivo invited us to their boat for a 5:00 PM cocktail hour, for which we promised to bring Rum.

From 5:00 - 6:30 PM we visited Vivo and Captain Mike, Dawn, Bob, Merk, Todd and Judy. Vivo is a large catamaran and being on it reminded me of just how small our 40 foot sloop is. Todd, the resident angler on the boat, showed us his set of lures. Impressive. Since we haven't caught any fish yet, we need to find out who is fishing with what lures successfully and get some of them.

Back on the boat for dinner, we had Sweet and Sour Pork; peas; pineapple; and bread with peanut butter and jelly.

The night was spent reading, charging batteries and running the water maker, as our 53 galloon water tank was only a little over half full.

Vivo had already spent some time at the destination we were going to tomorrow, Isla Contadora. The World Cruising Club personnel will use this island as the Rally meeting and party point for the next three days. Anyway, Todd from Vivo, when asked about getting some diesel with jerry jugs on Contadora, gave the impression that that was a stretch and he didn't think that we'd be able to get any. Hopefully that's not the case, as we could use another 16 gallons. We'll see tomorrow.

Brian Fox


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