The beauty of the Las Perlas Archipelago is that if you don’t like one island, you can easily move to another. Isla Pedro Gonzales was lovely, but with the odd rubber smell and loud music we decided to move to a new island. Isla Viveros lies only 8-miles away from Isla Pedro Gonzales so we motored on over. Our friends on “Breakaway” told us to stop short of Isla Viveros at a set of small islands called Isla De Feunche.
At first, it looks like 3 small islands, but in reality, it is one island. During high tide, the rocky path between each rock is covered by water, but you can see the path during low tide. Sunsets were stunning here!
The beautiful islands of Isla de Feunche
Another blissful island, isolated, serene, gorgeous, and full of wildlife. We had it all to ourselves and enjoyed every minute of it! We took the SUPs out and paddled to the main island and enjoyed the beach, skipping rocks, collecting treasures, and playing with the fish. This is a gem in the Las Perlas Archipielago.
IMAGE: Top Sugar Shack at the anchorage by herself, Middle: Our SUPs hanging out by a tree, Bottom: Matt watching the stingrays in the shallow water.
A day at the beach…
You can almost make it around the entire island…
IMAGE: Top: Matt claiming a spit of sand & a heart rock, Middle: Climbing over rocks exploring the island, Bottom: Me on my throne and rocky shore.
Isla de Feunche
We received word that our batteries arrived earlier than we expected so we had to rearrange our Las Perlas schedule a bit. We were heading to Isla Bayoneta forcing us to leave our little piece of paradise – we loved Isla De Feunche!
Bayoneta is sandwiched between Isla Malaga and La Vivienda. We heard that it was a really pretty, quiet island. It was a nice anchorage, but with another boat already here we decided to go somewhere else. Way too crowded. (Yes, we are a bit spoiled)
We had a few choices of where to go next. We could return to Contradora where we’d have wifi (always good), go to the Eastern side of Mogo Mogo, or go to a new island called Isla Pacheca. As we motored north, we decided against Contradora as we had already been there. We swung into the new anchorage at Mogo Mogo which was pretty but crowded with 4 boats. So, we continued on to Isla Pacheca.
Really pretty anchorage, no other cruising boats, pretty little beach, and well protected from the sea. When we arrived, there were several fishing boats cleaning their days catch, but as the afternoon progressed, more boats arrived. Not a big deal as we knew they would leave, but there was a horrible fish smell and tons of birds. The birds are wonderful, but the bombs they leave are not.
Isla Pacheca beautiful, but a place where local fisherman go to clean their catch.
We spent more time cleaning under the boat. Matt got the hooka out and cleaned the Starboard hull (below the waterline) and replaced both sets of small zincs which were shot to hell. Image below shows two small zincs and one new in the middle. We got our money’s worth for sure.
Old and New Zincs
While Matt was under the boat, I scrubbed the teak on both sets of sugar scoops. We had applied several coats of stain over the years. It was time to strip the wood back and either reapply the stain or apply an oil to protect the wood from the harsh sun. First step, is cleaning the dirt and stain out of the wood.
We got up early, pulled anchor, and were on our way by 0600. Our goal was to be at La Playita by 12n which would give us 6 hours to travel the 40+ miles. We will collect our batteries, clear out of the country, do laundry, and a few more provision runs. Hopefully, we can get out of there within a few days.
The Las Perlas chain has been a delightful experience! So many beautiful, tranquil, and untouched islands.
Passage from Las Perals to a Playita:
- Uneventful, luckily
- Few dolphins came to play with us
- No fish jumped on the hook
- No whale sightings
- Very litle wind
