The World ARC fleet left Panama and is heading to Baquerizo Moreno in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands. This will be a unique experience for most part of World ARC participants.

Report courtesy of World ARC 2010-11 boat Crazy Horse

We visited 3 of the more than 200 Las Perlas Islands located 30 miles south of Panama City. The first we visited was Isla Contadora. We anchored near the airport off the south side of the island after attempting to anchor off the north side, which was bumpy and unprotected. Bill and I never ventured ashore since we were decompressing after all the excitement of the Panama Canal and Panama City..

The Panama Canal is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. It has had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 km (6,000 miles), well under half the 22,500 km (14,000 mi) route around Cape Horn.

San Blas, an archipelago of nearly 400 islands, runs along the Caribbean coast of Panama, and is the first port of call for the World ARC 2012-13 yachts after their start from St Lucia.

Let's just call it Suwarrow! Although through the ages its names has been very much discussed and disputed. The origins of the nomenclature are in the Russian ship, the Suvarov, whose captain discovered the islands in the early 1800s. However, since becoming part of the larger Cook Island group, the anglicise version of its name has been adopted.

Tahiti is the largest and most populous island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The capital, Papeete, is located on the northwest coast. Papeete, meaning the "water basket", was once a gathering place where Tahitians came to fill their calabashes with fresh water.

During World ARC’s short stay in Hiva Oa, many of the fleet are taking the time to visit the Calvart Cemetery in Atuona. Within this burial ground lies the renown post-impressionist artist Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903) and the famous singer/songwriter, Jacques Romain Georges Brel (1929 – 1978).

Hiva Oa is the most easterly Ports of Entry in the Marquesas Island group and therefore of French Polynesia as a whole. It is also one of the most windward islands of the group, making it a necessary and practical place for the World ARC fleet to make landfall in French Polynesia.