Position: We are heading south, off the coast of Coco Island (Isla del Coco). This island is situated due west off the Panamanian coast. In the body of the Pacific Ocean known as the Panama Basin. It is owned and managed as a nature reserved by the Costa Rican government.
5 08’70N 86 57’31W
*Note: I am told you can copy and paste these coordinates into google earth and it will show you where we are.
Mileage: 3365 – 3249nm = 116nm if we were able to sail in a straight line south west, which we are not.
Number of miles to go: 3249nm to go of approx. 3850nm But, we are tacking SSE now, so it will appear like we are not making any mileage. It is the nature of sailing to wind.
Fish count: The count remains at 3 Mahi Mahi, 2 Cero and 6 tuna. One Marlin that we were happy got away! Serious fishing blockage by boobies today. See why below.
DINOSAURS AND BOOBIES
Combine the both and you have a top selling Movie like Jurassic Park. And that is sort of what we found here at Coco Island.
How often are you going to visit an island so alone in the Pacific Ocean? So we had to swing by and have a look, even if we did not have permission to go ashore. We sailed down the north coast and then tacked south down the islands west coast. Pretty dramatic place. Steep cliff faces of ancient volcanic rock reaching up into the clouds and draped in rich thick jungle. Huge water falls cascaded down the rocky cliff faces from dramatic heights. Pinnacles of rock shot out of the ocean all around the island giving it an air of fortification and mystic.
Obviously a bird sanctuary, the air was alive with swirling masses of sea birds feeding off the rich fish life in the surrounding waters. The humans tried to put a lure out, but the birds would come and try and pick them off. I did not fancy picking feathers out of my teeth for the next week, so I asked them to reluctantly reel them in. The birds found the boat fascinating and hovered in and around the mast for the entire visit. We had a group of 20-30 Frigate birds and Blue footed boobies as company for the visit.
SQUALLY WEATHER
As we headed south we came into a blanket of wet squally weather. Winds gusting up and down that kicked up the normally gentle southern swell.
We are determined to get a little further south now so we can start to pick up the South Easterly trade winds. Tell you when we find them. For now we are giving up a little of our westerly track to find them. And our comfortable sailing. All in a days work.
SPECIAL THANKS
Has to go out to our buddies Steve Houssart. He has been taking care of our blog while we are away. He has done his best to defeat a cyber attack, is sending us pointers for the google maps and posting your comments. I thing their web site is www.allergrini.co.uk
They are making their way south to cross the Atlantic Ocean just as we did back in 2012. Was it really that long ago? Maybe that is why we are mad enough to take on another ocean. We forgot how stupid the idea is.
I WILL DO MY BEST TO KEEP THESE HUMANS SAFE.
END
