Monday morning we went ashore early and checked in. There had recently been two large drug busts ($40M of cocaine) in the general area, intercepting boats from Columbia so Porvenir was full of Policia decked out in fatigues and carrying all manner of automatic weapons; but happily kicking around a soccer ball and enjoying themselves!
Later in the morning Christian and Josiane arrived and we had a great lunch with the mandatory wine in the French tradition. We had hoped to buddy boat with them to French Polynesia but learned their plans had changed and they now intend to be in Bali by September; 11,000 nautical miles in eight months! Too fast for us.
Our friends Steve, Oliver and Gary had sailed down from Florida, almost non-stop, and Patty and Marla had flown in on Friday night. So we departed Porvenir for Cambombia to meet up with them amidst thick gray clouds and growing seas. By the time we reached the Canal Mayflower the swells were quite large, very much like Pacific swells, long and tall, unlike any we have seen in the Caribbean. The light was too flat to try cutting through the outter reef so we went around to Canal Mangles which took even longer and by the time we reached Cambombia is was 5pm. With the thick clouds it was impossible to see through the water to read the depth. Steve came out in his dinghy and with Oliver throwing a "lead line" they found a spot for us to enter the anchorage. We cleared the reef with just 1.7' under our keel! We quickly anchored in 60' and joined everyone on Hanalei Moon for cocktails!
We've spent our fair share of time on boat chores and Fay has New Morning looking very nice. After two days in Cambombia we moved to Green Island. Fay did some snorkeling with Steve, Patty, Oliver and Marla, but a crocodile sighting dampened everyone's enthusiasm. Yesterday Hanalei Moon departed for the Hollandes to break up the return to Porvenir where they will drop off Oliver, Marla and Gary for a 7am flight on Sunday.
Shortly after they departed we were visited by Venacio, a highly regarded mola maker. While I tinkered with the engine wiring Fay spent an hour going through every mola and then laboring over the decision of which ones to purchase. While trying to make up her mind she was visited by a Kuna fisherman selling some "tulup" or lobsters! She used Venacio to help her negotiate with the fisherman and secured two medium sized lobsters for $20. Fay eventually settled on four molas and completed her business with Venacio.
Fay cooked up the lobsters in the afternoon, combined them with a papaya and avocado she had purchased in the morning and served up a beautiful lobster salad for dinner; complemented by the last glass of wine left from Christian's visit. After a very intense six weeks of boat chores I think we're starting to get back into our cruising rhythm.
