The Wonders of a Circumnavigation

The Wonders of a Circumnavigation. Pacific Pearls and the Pressing Matter of Internet Access Panama Business Morning bathes the city on the Pacific coast in gentle light. Panama is awake, which means the internet aboard our boat is about to go to sleep. Everything as it should be: the city wakes up, the mafia goes to sleep :). Mobile internet in Panama is very expensive and not particularly lively. WhatsApp and Facebook, however, are included in a more-or-less free package. That is why, over the past month, we have been posting more on Facebook; the website will not even open so that we can add posts. Probably all our activity will soon migrate entirely to Facebook, which we would very much rather avoid. So we have decided that when there is no internet, we will post in emergency mode—by email, without tags, labels or other headings, but straight to the website via email. . Friends and the Pearl Islands During this month of internet silence, we have not only been preparing for our Pacific crossing, but have also been sailing out to the islands. Friends came to visit us from Colombia, and together we roamed the Pearl Islands (the Las Perlas Archipelago, about 40 miles from Panama City). With such a packed schedule, we barely had time to keep the journal, and there was no internet on the uninhabited islands. We did not want to go near the heavily populated islands, for fear of frightening away that very Robinson Crusoe magic found only in deserted places. Banana-boat and parasailing rides with champagne, dancing to loud music on deck, immaculate beaches and all-inclusive resorts—that is not for us. Because all-inclusive is the same everywhere—beautiful, well-kept, cheerful, drunken—and different. And great fun, yes, and sometimes desperately tempting (especially during the rainy season or a storm, when you are creaking all over from damp and salt, and long for cleanliness, fine china and the scent of perfume). But you do not need to travel to the other side of the world for that. And there is no mystery in it. Mystery —is when you land beyond a boggy shoreline crowded with pelicans, and a stingray with an electric lance on its long tail glides right past your heels. A couple more circle behind it—after all, you are not the only one taking the family out to an uninhabited island. Mystery is when our beloved guest Elena Stepanovna, whom we have named our Colombian mother, happily sleeps for an entire week on the hard, narrow cockpit bench and will not agree to take the cabin’s soft mattress for love nor money, because the rising sun never peeks in there at all, and you can barely see the stars. A miracle happens when you change your anchorage because, along the way, you spot an uninhabited islet straight out of a pirate film. You set up camp in a corner of a golden beach, in the shade of cliffs and broad-branched trees, and set off around the island along a volcanic ledge that can only be crossed at low tide. You hurry around all the curves and outcrops before the water begins to rise. And when the sun is already preparing to dive into the ocean, you come to a dead end at the very end of your circuit; instead of retracing the island’s uneven horseshoe-shaped perimeter in the opposite direction, you decide to force your way uphill through the mesh of tropical forest covering the cliffs. Apart from a couple of scratches, you make it safely back to your beach and see the yacht rocking peacefully on the waves, and your crew by the campfire, and smell the fish smoking over the coals... You take a step towards them and freeze, staring at the round pebbles rolling across the basalt monolith. Magic happens when you realise that these pebbles are an army of hermit crabs decked out in the most outlandish attire. There are brand-new “haute couture” shells, vintage models the crabs have already outgrown, battered little soldiers’ greatcoats pierced by the lively surf, and sleek, whitish spirals. Some look a bit like the ridiculous Pirates of the Caribbean crew from the Flying Dutchman—the one with that terrifying octopus-like captain, remember? One is hauling around a home that is far too thick, and it is hard to tell whether it is more about exercise or protection. As soon as the burrow’s owner senses you approaching, it turns back into a pebble and patiently waits for you to get bored of hanging around and finally clear off to eat your dinner. Your stillness fools the crafty creature, and it raises its shell a couple of millimetres, waits half a minute, lifts it a little more, and waits again. You peer at its legs folded into a ball and something else chitinous and khaki-coloured, and you are the first to lose the battle of stillness. The little crab slams its doors shut and waits once more for you to believe that it is a stone. The Pearl Islands Journal —will appear in the next publications. There will be pelicans hunting, our young sailor’s Spanish, maths and literature lessons, songs beneath the dome of stars, and even the round-the-world sailing regatta we encountered as we were leaving the archipelago... Friends, how beautiful this planet is, and how wonderful it is to live on it! Cherish your capacity for wonder. That is the real magic. 🙂 Follow our groups on Facebook , VK And Instagram too, where we post amusing moments from our circumnavigation as they happen: https://www.instagram.com/travely_family.official/ Our channel on YouTube