Ship’s Journal from Mallorca to Fiji

Update 20/03/25 09:45 Shelter Bay Colon

I’m not going to lie; our 3 days in the San Blas Islands felt like a holiday. Of course we did a couple hours of stainless steel polishing every day to feel less guilty and of course we were there to save on mooring fees, but what a steal that was! 

I find anchoring, in general, a magical thing. Perhaps it’s one of the last freedoms our world has on offer. You just find a spot, drop a large piece of steel on a chain, and you’re there with your whole house. And especially in places like here it feels like a real privilege being able to do that.

We went snorkeling at Chichime island. There was some healthy seagrass but there was very little fish. We did spot a Southern Stingray and even a Manta Ray. The next day we weighed anchor early to go and explore a wreck some 2 miles further east at Dog Island. We were pleased to see many colours and a great variety of fish. An hour later there was also a great variety of tourists brought in by an invading armada of high speed longboats from the mainland. I couldn’t help myself from telling one ignorant tourist to not stand on the wreck and its coral… 

Again, there is hope for this beautiful archipelago to be preserved but education of its inhabitants and its visitors is urgently required. 

There is a concern that the rising sea levels might flood the low-lying islands even before the end of the century. At the same time, at least one island has emerged over the last 15 years in the Cayos Holandeses. Perhaps the situation hasn’t been monitored long enough to recognise the long term tendencies. One Island we anchored next to was indeed very small, an estimated 25m by 30m surrounded by a sand bank of an estimated 1000m² which surely used to be above the waterline a while back. Now it had about 40cm of water over it. We were swimming on the ridge of the sandbank when the father of the family residing on the island sailed by in his dugout canoe and invited me to hop in! He explained that families from the community take turns inhabiting the island for periods of about 2 months. Together we sailed to their large hut on their small island. Obviously they have no fresh water source on such a small island so I asked him if he had a jerry can so we could offer them some. Our watermaker is working fine now. They were very happy and gave the kids some bracelets. We were allowed to have a look inside their huts. The largest one was completely empty. In the smaller one they were setting up a structure with sticks to smoke fish. Yes, they make fire inside a dry straw hut. They sleep outside in hammocks under a palm leaf shelter. The father asked if we had a spare sheet because it gets a bit cold at night. 

Then I was a bit shocked when they asked if we had any garbage so they could burn it. I thought about the logic. They have to bring firewood from other islands or the mainland. Having resorted to burning garbage as the best solution to get rid of it, they also simply see it as a good combustible. Did I mention that education would be a good start to preserve these islands? 

Negotiating the reefs and sandbanks was exciting. Somehow both Sara and Oceaan have a knack for guessing the depth with surprising accuracy by simply looking down from the bows. An loves going as high up the mast as she can to plot a favourable course. This was a great exercise for the Pacific where charts will be even less accurate. 

On Monday we arrived back in Shelter Bay Marina allowing us 2 days to provision and fuel. On Tuesday our agent simply told us our transit is delayed by another day due to a lack of advisors (pilots). We were frustrated by that because in the meantime we have seen other yachts, using different agents, come and go with a notice of as little as 3 days. We picked the wrong agent!

As I am finishing this report the agent informs us that we will have a one day passage. This means that we will still enter the Pacific on the 21st as was the plan last week. It also means we have to leave the Marina tonight. Hopefully our 2 additional line handlers will be on board on the agreed time. Having 4 cable line handlers is a legal requirement. In the locks we will have 4 lines of 30m running from each corner of the catamaran to the bollards on shore. When the water level in the lock rises, the slack in the lines needs to be taken up. When the level drops the lines have to be slipped so we don’t become suspended or break out cleats. The pilot will come on board around 3am and we will enter the lock around 6am. 

We should be in the Pacific Ocean by 3pm tomorrow!