I woke up at 05:15 this morning.  It was a combination of excitement to be sailing, woe at the work I still need to do this morning before I go, and pain in my ribs from an accident in the dingy three days ago.  There is a very small patch of reef that extends off of Hospital Point here in the Bocas del Toro area.  You can run between the reef and the point or leave it to starboard when you run from town to Red Frog Marina.  At 02:00 with a few drinks on board we made our way home.  Somehow I didn’t give the reef enough room and flying at ~ 15 knots we hit the reef head on. 

The sudden impact through me from the back of the dingy into the bow on top of my only passenger.  My temporary flight was halted by her knee and either the impact with the reef or me caused the heavy flashlight in her hand to meet her eye creating an amazing shiner and very small cut.  All in all, I screwed up, but my god did we get lucky.  The fact no one got thrown out of the dingy on either onto the coral or in the path of the still spinning prop is no minor miracle.  We motored and walked away and all in all, for a pretty good screw up, we came out very well.  Lesson learned.

Now, a bit more humble, I am drinking coffee and preparing Jargo to head offshore to Isla Linton just the other side of Colon, Panama.  I’ll be there for a few days before heading further east to Cartagena, Colombia.  Cheers everyone.   I’ll be updating my position page so you can check my progress there.

Lee Winters
Phone: (281) 336-0855
Skype: lee_winters

www.SailingForSOS.com

Lee.Winters@SailingForSOS.com