20th June 2017
Isla Pedro Gonzales, Las Perlas Islands, Panama to San Cristobal Galapagos. Distance: 850nm
Current Position: 08 24.75N /079 5.89W
With our anchor raised and the beautiful voice of Andrea Bocelli filling the air with his song "Time to Say Goodbye" at 0800 we hoisted our mainsail and turned onto a southeasterly course of 164T. Goodbye Panama, Galapagos here we come!. Our initial course takes us towards the Columbia - Ecuador border where we are hoping that in a few days time the winds will kick in and we can turn right to sail to San Cristobal in the Galapagos. Now if we were a crow the distance we would cover is 840nm, but sadly we are not a crow so we’ll have to wait and see how far we actually sail.So far the conditions have been very benign with glassy seas and just a slight breeze. We are motor sailing at 6-8 knots under clear skies. And although there were no humans to bid us farewell we did have a fanfare of animals including a whale, lots of dolphins and birds galore.
Within 40 miles of our departure point we came across a five mile barrier of fishing nets strung together between marker buoys and flags. Gingerly nosing our bows up towards a gap in the boys we made a first attempt to get over them but although we could see the connecting line were unsure of it's depth so we backed away running parallel for a few more miles. Once again we tried to get over and this time with Liam down in our head watching through the port at the keel as we crossed, we made it over it without getting snared. 
A while later we spotted more floats and flags but this time the line was lurking on top of the water making it impossible for us to pass. We were starting to feel caged in. Again we were forced to run parallel but this time to the very end before we could get to round the final flag and be on our way. It seemed that Panama was making one last effort to keep us there.
The rest of the day has been pretty uneventful. The breeze picked up for a while and we unfurled the jib. It was nice to see both sails up.
Taking advantage of the calm conditions I couldn't resist the chance to take down all our sun awnings and give them a thorough cleaning. With all the rain and humidity over the past weeks they were starting to resemble a piece of blue cheese. Not a very classy look but nothing some bleach and detergent couldn't fix.
It's now just after midnight and there's no moon and lots of lightning about. A few squalls are showing up on the radar. Liam is now off watch so here's hoping nothing nasty comes near us.
Follow us on our tracker at :
https://aus-share.inreach.garmin.com/GoneWithTheWind
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