Honda

Bahia Honda, Panama

We spent two nights at Isla Parida. We had the whole bay to ourselves for the day, so we moved to what appeared to be the quietest spot (out of the swell) and I did a rudimentary cleaning of the hull, at least what I could reach snorkeling around the boat. I also made another attempt at getting an engine temperature gauge working. I had already replaced the electronic temp sensor back in Playas del Coco, which did not help - so now I replaced the electronic gauge itself with one that I had purchased in Coco. The new gauge worked worse than the old one, so I ended up going back to the original. I did manage to replace the failed mechanical gauge with another cheap unit that I had bought back in Nicaragua and it does appear to be working OK. Progress of a sort.

Today we made a quick passage to a bay called Bahia Honda. There was very little wind all day and we had 56 miles to cover, so we ended up motoring the entire way. At least this was an all-daylight passage for a change. We arrived at Bahia Honda around 4PM and as soon as we had the anchor down, we were met by a friendly family who lives on the shore. We traded some treats and batteries for some bananas and lemons.

This is a gorgeous and very tranquil place - we should sleep well tonight. We are hoping to pick up some weather information about rounding the cape at Punta Mala, which will dictate how long we stay here before moving on to an anchorage closer to the cape. Punta Mala is the last hurdle to jump before heading for Panama City and it has a nasty reputation for making sailors humble.

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