I have gone aboard!

The boat is Filos II, the one I was doing line-handling for through the Panama canal.
Skipper is still Florian, German, but the boat is Swedish! A Hallberg Rassy, 36 feet which has already gone across the Atlantic 2 years ago so I hope it will be able to cross the Pacific too.
Aboard is also Nathalie, a Swiss girl and teacher back in Basel, and Peter, a Panamanian gecko, whose main chore it is to keep the cock-pit free from insects.
After the canal crossing we stayed a day in the harbour on the Pacific side of Panama to stock up on necessities and then we made the first leg into the Pacific: a three hour sail to Taboga Island. No one got sea-sick, we managed to keep peace and the skipper didn’t through us out after discovering that us girls had reorganised his entire boat... Now there is female power aboard, as location-info can be used for black mailing!

Cruising and pearls
These first two weeks we have been cruising around in the Panamanian little archipelago called Las Perlas, 42 nautical miles (75 km) south west of the Pacific canal opening.
In Las Perlas there are Pearls, and Florian´s and Nathalie’s desires were awakened... We visited a little fisherman’s hut in the bay where we were anchored in Isla Casaya, and managed to start off a family quarrel when they weren’t able to find the one precious pearl they had for sale. Luckily I got some nice fish recipes from the mother before she started giving out to her husband and son for not keeping The Pearl in a safe place. Later in the evening, their son Pedro, 23 yrs, came paddling out to our boat with the recovered Pearl. It was a truly gigantic and beautiful one, and so we understood the anxiety of finding it. He wanted 100-150 USD for it, which it was probably well worth, but at this time we had already got what pearls we wanted in the little fishing village with 20 houses further north on the island. However, Pedro stayed and joined us in our late lunch aboard, telling us about his 7 brothers and sisters while chewing frenetically with his mouth full of food all the time. I couldn’t figure out if he was enormously hungry, or if it was simply different eating habits...

Tastes like chicken
The next morning he came again with an Iguana for us to have for dinner, which is surely out of our eating habits! This day we sailed south, and during the whole trip the Iguana was laying on the floor of the cabin looking at us, and repeatedly we asked our selves whether we should really eat him or not... Finally, when we reached Isla San Jose, we set off on a Save-the-Iguana-mission, but I am sad to say that it was already too late. The nasty task had to be completed by our heroic, but deeply touched skipper, who also had to prepare HER for dinner... Despite all compliments to our excellent chef aboard, none of us will ever look forward to another Iguana-meal. The taste was like chicken/rabbit-meat, not too bad, but the meat was awfully tough and practically impossible to chew!

Except for the Iguana, we have had wonderful meals aboard, especially with the fish we catch our selves: a Jack fish, which became a delicious sushi, a Barracuda, which was grilled at a beach party we had with a German/Swiss couple from another boat, (Kayulani) and a Spanish Mackerel, which we had raw with lemon juice a la Ceviche style. Mmmm!

Scuba time!
Panama supposedly means “a lot of fish”, and I let that speak for itself. Despite that, diving, is not a success. We have an air compressor aboard, and me and Florian are the dive enthusiasts. The water is freezing cold due to the recently arrived Humboldt current that brings a lot of plankton rich water from the south and the visibility is shit. We did one brilliant dive though (visibility approx. 10 m), but the rest of the times we’ve tried we have cancelled the dives because we could hardly see our own hand in front of us. Pity, since it is wale shark time, but with this poor visibility I will have greater chance of seeing one from above the surface than from below.
That one great dive, though, we saw loads and loads of different types and sizes of rays, and I had a fantastic encounter with an Eagle Ray that was curious and brave enough to watch me so closely it even stroke my face with its wing! These experiences make me religious!
It appears to be Ray Play-time, because from the boat we often see the sea surface “boiling” from hundreds of rays just below the surface (I know, I checked!), and they even jump high out of the water one after the other, creating a spectacular scenery in the early morning! Wow!

Seafood, what else?
In search for the whale sharks, we sail a few hours per day to another Paradise Island, or we stay and enjoy the beaches of the islands we have found, and leave for the next when we have explored what we can on the first and realised that there is no dive there neither. So, except for trying to dive, we swim, fish, play games, talk, read, write, take pictures, go for dingy rides, study sea charts, relax, drink, bake bread and clean and tidy the boat which constantly is messed up... Despite such a busy schedule, the main focus is placed on What Shall We Eat For Dinner! Suddenly I understand very well the faithful reporting of the daily menu, sent home by e-mail from long distance sailors! And as you see, I am only just starting doing the same my self!
So to return to the Pearls from a gourmet’s point of view, the gem is the oyster itself, and the other day we had an Oyster Party on the beach of Isla San Jose with a French family from French Guyana, Dominique and Eddie and their two children. They had picked the oysters straight from the rocks during low tide, and the supply was unlimited. Imagine Super Mega Fresh oysters only with some lime juice on the beach just as the sun is about to set – You can’t get that even at Ritz!

Added 25 Feb