Benao blues

Ensenada Benao, Panama

The waiting game...

Here we sit in the anchorage at Ensenada Benao, patiently waiting for a good weather window for rounding Punta Mala and making our way to Panama City. Punta Mala is only about 12 miles from where we sit and we seem to get the brunt of the same winds that hound that point, making this, at times, a very uncomfortable place to be. The winds, often gusting between 20 and 30 knots, in combination with the prospect of a "surf" landing, have prevented us from launching our dinghy off the deck, so we have been confined to the boat for the last three days - not much to do except read and play games. It will be so nice when we can finally get out of here.

While we have been here, a few other boats have come and gone, obviously much better able to handle the wind and waves around the cape, or at least not as chicken as we are (to be honest, they are mostly much larger boats than us). We are just tired of beating into headwinds everywhere we go. For the last 3 nights, we have shared the anchorage with two other Canadian sailboats, one of which left this morning. Our feeling is that tomorrow (Tuesday) morning looks like the best opportunity we will have for an easy sail around Punta Mala, with relatively light winds and a favorable tide, so we plan to be up and out of here early tomorrow.

Once around the cape, it is another 100 miles to Panama City with no real good alternative places to stop along the way - with any luck we will be there sometime on Wednesday morning. Note: Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days in the Gulf of Panama, so it could be a wet ride.

{GMST}07|25.533|N|80|11.411|W|Ensenada Benao, Panama|Ensenada Benao, Panama{GEND}