Our first stop was Isla Contadora. The bay where anchoring is indicated now has
a number of local mooring bouys in it and by evening some were occupied by
local pleasure vessels. We went ashore
to the hotel Sol y Mar and were able to connect to their wi fi and enjoyed
freshly squeezed local fruit juice. A
walk across the island brought us to another pretty bay and the ferry
landing. Nearby are a number of small
restaurants and we enjoyed a BBQ lunch at one of them.
The next day we anchored between Isla Chapera and Moga Moga. Apparently the TV series Survivor was filmed
here – but we were unclear on which island.
This pretty anchorage attracted a large number of local boats which
mostly left in the late afternoon, and we were able to move and re-anchor out
of the current. Unfortunately the
Pacific up-welling occurs at this time of the year and the waters are green
with algae and plankton, making visibility about 3’. Disappointingly this means that snorkeling is
not on the activity list.
Continuing south we made a lunch stop at Bayoneta. In my
opinion this was the most beautiful anchorage that we visited. It was surrounded by mangrove lined inlets
and flocks of pelicans, frigate birds and cormorants covered the rocks and
entertained us by diving for fish in the secluded bay. Despite the green water we saw a turtle and
several rays and enjoyed an hour in the dinghy slowly touring the area. In the
afternoon we continued south to Ensenada Playa Grande on San Jose. Here the surf beat on the beach and nearby
rocks and lulled us to sleep.
The following day our plans to travel around the south of
Isla Del Ray and anchor behind Isla Canas were abruptly changed. Our water make
did not seem to be operating correctly and we made a decision to return to La
Playita. This was a 50 nm motor almost directly into the wind – we tried
fishing along the way but nearly caught a Common Noddy bird that insisted on
diving on our lure! Fortunately the
water maker issue was not as serious as we thought and bleeding the air out of the
system and changing the filter solved the problem. However we remained at La Playita for two
nights and visited the nearby branch of the Smithsonian as well as the thriving
Mercardo del Marisco (Fish Market) for dinner where food is served from small
stalls, not unlike food trucks, around the market.
On our return to Las Perlas we decided to stay the last two
nights at Contadora to check out the bottom of the boat for any new marine
growth and be in place to the skippers briefing and the final evening’s BBQ and
prize giving.