After 11 weeks in Le Marin waiting, the anchor finally came up and Sunny Spells once again pointed her bow west — bound for Portobelo, Panama, with 1,268 miles of Caribbean Sea ahead and a generous weather window on offer.
Departure day was textbook. Moderate 10 to 18 knot tradewinds from behind and a comfortable sea made for a spirited start. It was just Maria and me this time, running our tried-and-tested 6-hour shifts from the Indian Ocean crossing. The waxing moon offered a silver trail westward, and Starlink meant we could share our sunset in real-time. Not bad, this 21st-century sailing.
From the outset, conditions were dreamy: consistent wind, a favourable Equatorial Current giving us up to 2 knots over the ground, and day after day of fast, comfortable sailing. For nearly 900 miles, we didn’t so much as touch a sail. It was one of those rare passages where the log fills itself and the only thing left to do is eat, nap, adjust the firmware, and debate whether we’re going too fast to bother fishing.
We passed the ABC islands — Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba — by night, crossing the halfway point near Curaçao. A brief spell of stronger winds brought lively conditions, with short, steep seas slapping over the transom and the odd ankle-deep reminder that the Caribbean can get punchy when it wants to. But it didn’t last.
By Day 6 the wind began to slacken. Slowly at first — just enough to make us fiddle with sails and debate genoa swaps — and then, by Day 7, to the point where the main sail flopped helplessly in the swell and had to be bagged. We drifted with the staysail poled out and made the best of a gentle ride under a full moon. Even in 1.4 knots of apparent wind, we made 50 miles overnight. We called it a win.
Eventually, the engine was summoned to balance the batteries and encourage our progress. A tangled lump of Sargassum offered some brief drama on the prop, but reverse cleared it. Three hours later we were back under sail — exactly the same sail plan as before, as if nothing had happened.
With light winds and flat seas, Sunny Spells entered her element: beam reaching in 6–8 knots, perfectly balanced, sliding along at 5–6 knots like a content cat. The only job left was to switch out sails — the poled-out downwind rig was retired after a heroic run, and we bent on the big #2 genoa and full main for the final reach into Panama.
The last 24 hours were perhaps the most idyllic of the lot: blue skies, glassy sea, and enough breeze to keep us moving without disturbing the peace. We crossed the last hundred miles slowly, enjoying the ride. Then, just to keep us sharp, the final approach stiffened up with gusts to 18 knots and a brisk reach across the busy approach lanes to the Panama Canal.
Anchoring in the dark in an unfamiliar bay — full of unlit obstructions, naturally — was a fitting finale. But we dropped hook safely in the still waters of Portobelo and cracked open our long-overdue anchor beers. The slow dance is over. We’ve made it across another sea.
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