We made the crossing from Puesta del Sol to Bahia Culebra yesterday. Left Friday at 10:30 and arrived here Saturday at 14:30. Papagallo winds are now blowing 22knots plus in the anchorage. We are at the extreme north end of the bay at Iguanita in good holding with no fetch to build waves. Wind is from the east 15 to 25 knots. We departed Puesta del Sol in much more sedate seas then when we arrived. There were 4 of us, Paloma (Nordhavn 43), Monju (custom aluminum 40'+ sailboat), Alanui (Nordhavn 40) and Mungo (38' fiberglass sailboat). The two powerboats made revolutions for 7 knots but were faced with 1.5 to 2 knots of current on the nose for most of the voyage. The sailboats motor/sailed and made just about the same boat speed as we did, but had to deal with constantly changing wind conditions. Two voyagers who preceded us by two days said it was some of the most challenging sailing they had done in years. They were having to trim the sails every 30 minutes to an hour to maintain their boat speed. Around midnight we had separated from the sailboats by about 3 miles and Patrick and I felt we needed to add a few hundred RPM to insure a daytime arrival. We increased our boatspeed and by the end of the night we were about 12 miles ahead of the now three sailboats (we passed Kenna during the night). Rounding Punta Santa Elena winds built to 2 times sea breeze due to cape effect. We had 10 to 12 knots of wind up until about 10 miles from Punta Santa Elena then they built to just below 20, then as we cleared the point they went back down to less than 5 knots. It was deal calm as we approached Bahia Culebra but we got reports on the radio that there was 25 knots of wind inside. Sure enough as we entered the bay the winds had built significantly. This was great because it encouraged us to hunt out a good spot for the night which we did end up finding. We swung on the hook with no flopperstopper out and had a WONDERFUL night of sleep in 15 to 20 knots of wind. We just found out that the last sailboat to arrive (Monju) had lost radio contact with Mungo several hours back. Mungo never arrived here in Bahia Culebra but he was going to stop in Bahia Santa Elena, so we didn't really expect him here. I'm honestly a bit concerned because Monju reported that he experienced 25knot winds and 8 foot seas off Punta Santa Elana when they crossed about 4 hours later than we did. Mungo would have been another 2 or 4 hours back, so we think he could have had some significant wind and seas to deal with. When we were getting ready to leave Puesta del Sol we knew we needed to be across the gulf by midnight, but to now realize we were only hours from facing gale force Papagallo winds around the point is sobering indeed. I was concerned that our window was shorter than desired, but we made the decisions to go based on the forecast info from Bob Jones at OMNI. Bob called it right on the nose and he has a really good track record for our trip. I plan to use Bob for our crossing from Panama to FL in a month or so. Our plan is to make our way south hoping to arrive at the Panama Canal in the last week of March. We want to transit by the 3rd week in April so we need to check in for measurement no later than April 1st. This is so we can spend a week in the San Blas prior to taking the boat to Florida. All is good here, we are making water and recharging the batteries. I think it's nap time! Take care to all, and PLEASE, if you comment on any of this, clip the section you want to comment on and don't replicate all this dribble!!! Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA