Today we left the East Holandes Cays after doing a bit of snorkelling in the morning to the north of BBQ Island. It was quite nice, with various types of fish in the corals directly where the waves were breaking. We took the north east channel that leads out to sea and followed the break along past the island.

Shortly after we returned to the boat, we lifted anchor and started to head west towards the East Lemmon Cays and Chichime. Along the way we passed many islands of which were very appealing, did some reading and also setup the iAIS-WiFi link on Coen’s navigation laptop and iPad so that he didn’t need to use the USB cable for AIS data anymore. Basically he had a Digital Yacht module that acts as a server for NMEA data (GPS, True/Apparent Wind Direction, Speed Over Ground, Course Over Ground etc.) and it has a dedicated VHF input for receiving AIS data (radio signals sent by other – mostly larger – ships showing exactly their name, position, heading, relative position, point of closest call with other ships and lots of other useful data depending on the sensors you have connected). This box then multiplexes these signals so that you can connect any WiFi device to it (e.g. iPad or Laptop) or connect a board-computer directly via USB and have all the data in one application like OpenCPN, an open source, cross-platform navigation software.

Just before reaching Chichime, we saw some nice smaller islands along the way.

As soon as we arrived we were visited by two local boats. One boat had a selection of three types of fish; Barracuda, Red Snapper and an unknown. We chose the Red Snapper as we had already tried the Barracuda before.

The second boat was a lady who boarded us very quickly and overwhelmed us with various beautiful knitted cloths and wrist/ankle bands. She was a very pushy lady who seemed to raise the prices when we showed any interest in a particular piece. Cheeky to say the least! When we had finished with our purchases, she had cruised away with 30 USD, after taking her time to leave.

We dropped the ladies off at the nearby island called Uchutupu Dummat. There they undertook a serious photo shoot with a big lens. Coen had a nice Canon DSLR onboard so the ladies decided to take advantage of the sun, the canon and the beautiful surrounding environment. And what a result!

In contrast, towards the evening a nice squall came along to dampen things a bit, but we did manage to collect a good few liters of rainwater for showers, washing-up and cooking. Coen cooked the fish and I must say, it was perhaps better than the Barracuda we had before. It was more tender and it tasted great with white wine, naturally :)

After visiting the small town of Nargana to stock up on fuel in the morning, we set a course for the East Holandes Cays, which was recommended in an internet article written by other sailors who had been there before. Along the way we crossed paths with another local boat who had four crabs and three lobsters for sale. We paid for all of them together, 10 USD.

We all went for a dunk as soon as we got there and Victoria and I swam over to the nearby island to explore while the guys went to look for surf and to do a bit of snorkelling. On the way I saw a large barracuda swimming around and another stingray floating around near the surface. Incredible creatures. They also often seem to have a friend of a fish on their shoulder, just above the wing. I assume it‘s for protection of the fish as I don’t think many other fish try to attack stingrays. On the island we found a nice sandy beach with logs and heaps of dried out shells onshore.

When we got back to the boat, the guys shortly thereafter returned and we had a few more runs of wake-boarding with the dingy and a surfboard. Loads of fun! We cooked all the crabs and lobsters, extracted the meat and mashed some potatoes to make a seafood cottage pie served with white wine while watching a lovely sunset.

The guys watched a film and I sat out on the trampoline watching the stars while observing three shooting stars and writing this blog entry. Tomorrow we will be lifting anchor again and heading east towards the East Limmon Cays, that is one step closer to Porvenir where we have to officially check-in to Panama and get our stamps.