Jan 19th-Underway at 4:15 A.M. Winds N/Ne 15-20 knots and seas 3-5’. Next stop the San Blas Islands- 242 miles. Now you’ve all heard of the “Perfect Storm” well, we actually had the “Perfect Passage”. We were able to sail all the way for 30.25 hours and averaged 8.87 knots. The captain was in his glory and the crew managed to combat her seasickness the whole time with a little help from my “stugeron”.
Jan 20th-Anchored in the E. Holandes, San Blas Islands at 10:00 A.M. – so good to be here. We were on the. N. side of Banedup in an anchorage called the “Swimming Pool” and were happy to see the boat “Fandango” anchored beside us-Doug and Mary are Canadians who were the caretakers as Casa Gusto in Port Royal, Bay Islands of Honduras, 2 yrs. ago.
When we jumped into the water we understood how this area got it’s name-the water is crystal clear and the bottom is hard sand that resembles a pool. There is another island on the other side of the anchorage and it’s named BBQ Island since it is where all of the cruisers gather for their cookouts and happy hours.
I will give you a bit of background info on the San Blas Islands-
They are on the coast of Panama and consist of 340 islands stretching over the eastern part of the continental shelf. They are unique in many ways, home to the indigenous Kuna Indians who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. The islands are reachable by small airstrips built by the N. Americans during the Second World War. At the same time you have one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest and a cruising ground of incredible beauty.
The Kunas number around 55,000 and are permitted to move freely between the islands-there is no permanent ownership of the land and foreigners cannot buy land or invest in Kuna Yala.
A notable exception to the Kuna way of life is the introduction of high-tech telephone cabins that were installed on the most-populated islands by Cable and Wireless of Panama and are totally self-contained, powered by solar panels with data transmitted via microwave link to repeater stations.
The mainstay of the Kuna economy are coconuts, which grow en masse on the outlying islands. The coconuts are bought by the Colombian trading boats.
The women make money selling “molas”. These beautiful appliqués are intricately made by sewing and cutting different layers of colorful cloth-they are suitable for framing or using as a beautiful pillow cover. Every mola is different and they usually show abstracted forms of birds, animals or marine life.
Shortly after we got anchored, we were approached by a dugout “ulu” paddled by two Kuna women dressed in their traditional clothing (very colorful wrap shirts and tops, body jewelry and lots of brightly colored makeup). They were very friendly but persistent in having us look at the molas. They pack them in big plastic drums and have 100’s of them. After looking at about 50, we decided on one and paid $15.00 for it. We also gave the children $1.00 and some candy.
We swam to the island, walked around it to the other side and found our friends from Germany, Norbert and Hanne anchored there.
The next day we moved around to the other side of the island to the Banedup anchorage where we had more protection from the wind and were anchored next to our friends.
For the next 4 days we swam, walked the beaches, visited with other cruisers and were introduced to a typical Kuna family living on one of the nearby islands.
They live in huts made from renewable, fast growing materials; the floor is slightly elevated with compacted sand, while the walls are made of cane. The roof is artistically fabricated from a special palm leaf found in the jungle. There are no nails or commercial fasteners, everything being held together by jungle creepers. Remarkably, the huts remain totally dry during fierce rainstorms. Such roofs have a life expectancy of 15 years. Hut interiors are sparse with no furniture, just hammocks.
Jan. 24th-After enjoying several days of relaxing, swimming, exploring the islands and visiting with friends, we decided to get underway to investigate more of these beautiful islands. Underway at 10:00 A.M. with jib only and making 6 knots. Calm seas except between the islands when they kicked up and reminded us of the sailing in the E. Caribbean. While underway we were making bread, baking cookies and soaking some beans. Anchored at the E. Lemmon Cays at 11:30 A.M.-love these short passages. So good to see the boat “Aquavite” here in the anchorage. We met Gary and Suzanne at the campground in Stoney Point where they had a trailer there-wow, small world isn’t it. Gary and Suzanne came by, had some cookies and gave us the scoop on the Lemon Cays. We had them over for dinner of beans, rice, fresh bread and cookies.
We were anchored between two islands called Miriadup and Tiadup (now we have to learn the Kuna language). We were at the head of the anchorage with a reef directly in front of us but sitting very comfortably even though the winds were blowing 20-25 knots.
The cruising boats here are from several different countries-U.S., Canada (lots of them), Finland, France, England, Italy, Belgium, Germany and even Japan.
We spent the next 4 days at anchor. The wind continued to blow 20-25 knots but we were very comfortable behind the reef and between the islands. With the crashing waves we were not able to do much snorkeling but enjoyed our time visiting with other cruisers onshore. One afternoon 10 of us got together to have a dinner prepared by one of the Kuna families. We brought our own appetizers and then were served grilled fish and rice with a cold can of beer-all of the price of $5.00. Delicious. Another highlight was when the “veggie boat” arrived in the anchorage. This is a narrow, long wood boat with a 25 hp. outboard and they have the boat loaded with supplies. Everyone was so excited to see the boat come in since they had not been able to come over from the mainland for several weeks. By the time they got to our boat, it was dark and we had to use the spotlight to see what they had but loaded up on carrots, potatoes, eggs, cabbage, green peppers.
Jan. 29th-Got underway at 6:30 A.M. for Colon. Not too excited about leaving our snug anchorage and our friends to go into the still heavy wind and seas. After being underway for an hour with wind and seas not too bad we made a decision to turn back and go to Porvenier to check in. We were concerned that with the winds and seas that were predicted for the next week, we would have a difficult sail back from Colon and could see no real reason for going there now. We anchored at Porvenier and had an easy check-in with immigration, port captain and the Kuna representative-total cost $123.00. It was very bouncy in the anchorage so we got underway and anchored at Chicima at 12:00.
This had been a popular anchorage with the cruisers and with no permanent village on the islands but that has changed and as soon as we were anchored the dugouts started approaching-they not only wanted to sell us molas but when we said “no mas molas” they wanted us to give them things-fish hooks, candy, milk. After handing out some things, they also asked us to “charge up their cell phones”. They all have phones but no power to charge them up. We charged up 3 phones and were getting a bit tired of fending off the pangas all day and evening.
Jan. 30th-Got underway at 11:00 A.M. and found a beautiful anchorage between the islands of Acuakargana and Walsaladup-you try pronouncing those names. The two islands are connected by a reef and the 20’ of water under our boat was crystal clear. There were 2 other boats in the anchorage and they were both from Quebec. Is there anyone left in Canada-we think all of the Canadians are out here cruising, or in Florida or Arizona?
Enjoyed exploring the islands here and snorkeling.
One day a 300’ cruise ship roared into the back of the anchorage and dropped his anchor, then discharged 70 or 80 tourists to one of the beaches where locals had set up stands to sell molas and other trinkets. They had a day of swimming off of the beach, kayaking around the reef, then in the afternoon all the sunburned tourists were ferried back to the ship and it got underway. The huge ship seemed out of place among the small sailboats.
Feb. 1st-Got underway at 11:00 A.M. and anchored at Banedup at 12:30-these short passages are great. We arrived just in time to celebrate Hanne’s Birthday with champagne and a beautiful dinner.
We spent the next 8 days here and have decided this is our favorite anchorage. It’s very well protected from the wind and the beaches and water are beautiful. We spent our time here visiting with our friends and meeting cruisers from Germany, France, Sweden, Canada, Austria. Happy hour on Mon. night at BBQ Beach where about 25 cruisers gathered and the quality of the hors d'oeuvres was the best.
One morning we were entertained by a professional magician with slight of hand and card tricks that wowed 12 people crammed into the cabin of a cruising sailboat. Helen was sitting right next to Herb “Herbeanie” and still couldn’t catch him palming the cards.
Joe spent an entire morning combing one of the islands trudging thru the underbrush and finding banana trees, 100’s of coconut palms even a fresh water hole which he cleaned up so perhaps next time we’re in the anchorage we can do laundry there.
Just so you’re not too envious of our lifestyle-here’s some of the downside:
We found weevils in our cereal and pasta; the milk was sour; eggs were rotten and after Joe had cracked 4 bad ones, he had completely lost his appetite; Joe had to do some wood repair on the bow sprit but the wind was blowing too hard to paint it; we had quick rain showers throughout the day and night with not enough rain to collect water but just enough that we were jumping up and down closing and opening hatches.
After throwing away a lot of our food supplies, Helen was getting frantic about running out of food and water. Also having problems with the propane stove that burns hot on one side of the burners and is leaving all of the pans black and the dishtowels and cloths looking like they’ve never been washed. It also makes for interesting cooking. With the runaway stove and the propane refrigerator we’re going through a tank of propane in 10-15 days and the propane refills in the islands are few and far between.
Joe actually got so concerned about food that he went “fishing” on the reef and caught a small snapper with the first cast. If he can keep this up we won’t go hungry.
We were joined in the anchorage by a French boat, a catamaran, that had a 7 yr. old boy and 3 yr. old twin boys. So cute watching them play on the trampolines and in the water. We spoke to the father and they are going thru the canal and continue on around the world.
Feb. 9th-Finally getting underway again-left at 12:00 and although the winds were down, we still had some 9’ seas on our beam but that only lasted for about 20 mins. Until we were in the lee of the Coco Banderos Cays. We anchored at 1:30 off the islands of Dupwala, Oloicuidup and Guariadup. A bit rolly here but not too bad. We were able to swim to two of the islands and the next day we took the dinghy over to the other island where there is a wonderful big water hole and we were able to do our laundry and hang everything up on lines between the tall palm trees; even helped another couple with their laundry-they had not done laundry by hand and just needed so pointers and we let them use our big laundry tubs.
Joe also started a fire to burn our trash and fellows from two other boats quickly came over to join him. We’ve got our trash disposal down to a science-we have small container to collect food scraps that can go overboard every night to feed the fish; cans and bottles go overboard when we’re in 100’+ deep water; all other trash can be burned.
This seems to be a family friendly anchorage. There were 2 more French Cats with multiple children onboard and they all enjoyed visiting back and forth and gathering on the beautiful beaches.
Feb. 12th-Underway at 12:30 and anchored at Nargana/Rio Diablo. These two communities are united by a large steel bridge. The natives in the two communities have decided to give up the traditional way of life. These communities are the most modern of the San Blas. They have a bank (where you can only change large denominations bills for small ones-no ATM’s or credit card advances-one of the cruisers had to fly to Panama City to use the ATM –talk about an expensive ATM fee), health center, library, prison and police, public phones, schools and best of all-internet access. We met up with our friends, Carl & Karen and they gave us a tour of the town. I was so excited to get to a grocery store which was a concrete building about 10’x15’ and had the basics and I do mean basics. Next stop was the internet to check our email and bank account.
On Fri. night we had 4 cruisers onboard for our famous beans, rice and tortillas dinner. After dinner we even had a game of Kings In the Corner while listening to golden oldies on the I-Tunes. Good time. There is an airport here where we’ll be picking up Jeanne when she arrives on Jan. 24th-we’ll be able to take the dinghy right to the airstrip.
Seeing lights on shore at night seems strange since this is the first anchorage we’ve been in since San Andres that has electricity.
Feb. 13th & Feb. 14th-More trips into town to buy supplies-we even found a little tienda where Joe bought a regulator for the propane tank and a full 25 lb. tank that can be re-filled next time we’re in Nargana; also bought some gasoline so life is good again. For our valentines day adventure, we joined our friends and took our dinghies up the Diablo River. We turned our motors off and paddled up the river just listening to the birds and checking out the vegetation in the jungle. Saw a small Kuna cemetery and numerous coconut palm trees, nonnie fruit trees, papaya and banana trees.
Feb. 15th thru Feb. 21-Got underway at 10:00 A.M. and had a good sail with the large jib only. Anchored at Cambombia (Morbedup). Shortly after we arrived we noticed a beautiful Amal (French built) sailboat sailed into the anchorage and went aground. We joined 4 other dinghies tied alongside and were able to assist in getting the boat back into the deeper water. The captain and crew were very grateful.
Feb. 16th-My birthday. Joe took over the cooking and cleanup for the day while I just relaxed. Our cruising friends came by in their dinghies to sing Happy BD to me and it was a beautiful day.
While we were anchored at Canbombia Joe and I must have swam thru some sea lice and we got numerous welts all over the place. They were extremely itchy and I got a bit feverish. A friend gave us some antihistamines and that seemed to help the most.
Feb. 22nd-We got underway for Rio Azucar where we could tie up to a dock and get water in our tanks. As we approached the concrete dock we were greeted by 10-12 villagers who were waiting to assist us. With a lot of sign language and a little Spanish we were able to explain that we needed water and since it was Sunday the town office was closed but they said no problem and went off to find the lady official who opened the office, collected $10.00 from us, gave us a receipt and told us to help ourselves to the water. All of the locals were peering in the windows and checking out our boat. After filling all of our tanks, I tried to give some money to our line handlers and they refused saying we were very welcome and to have a good time in their islands.
We then moved around to Nargana to be ready for Jeanne’s arrival.
Feb. 24th-Jeanne’s flight is scheduled to arrive at 6:35 A.M. so we got up at 6:00 and moved the boat to the anchorage beside the airstrip and just as we got the anchor set, the plane flew over so Joe got into the dinghy and was right there when Jeanne got off the plane. So good to see her and she’s so happy to be here. We had a nice big breakfast-visited with our friends on Dream Ketch’r-Jeanne had brought them some “cash” and they were so grateful. We got underway and anchored at Green Island.
Feb. 25th-We got underway again and made a lunch stop at the Farewell Islands where we swam to the beach and then continued on to Isla Tigre. Tomorrow is the Kuna Independence Day and they will be having a celebration and re-enactment here so we thought that would be a good introduction of the Kunas for Jeanne.
We joined about 20 other cruisers onshore in the Congresso Hut where the Kuna officials welcomed us and explained (thru a translator) what would be happening in the morning. In 1925, the Kuna Indians were able to overthrow the Panamanian military.
We went to a restaurant for a fish dinner and then returned to the village square to watch the Kunas doing their traditional dance.
Feb. 26th-We came ashore at 7:30 A.M. for the re-enactment. We had paid a small fee the night before and that also entitled us to take pictures. The locals for very friendly and welcoming-making sure that we had seats with no one blocking our view. The show lasted for 3 hours during which time the players portrayed the Panamian soldiers and the poor Kuna men who were beaten and put into jails while their wives and children pleaded for mercy. The Kunas finally got organized and were able to overthrow the soldiers and they have managed to live in peace since that time.
After the show, we went back to the boat for lunch and a rest. We went ashore in the afternoon and were invited into the Chicha Hut-where the women were on one side and the men on the other side. Everyone was drinking Chicha which is an alcoholic drink made from sugar cane, coffee, nonnie fruit and tastes like watery mud with a hint of citrus. The women on our side of the hut were getting quite drunk, falling over and throwing up on the ground. The other women would take care of each other, bring sand over to cover the ground and just kept bring more chichi. They were also smoking cigarettes and pipes which they are only allowed to do when they have these festivals. Anyway, they seemed to be having a good time and we were happy to go back to the boat for a glass of wine and dinner.
Jeanne was really happy that she had the opportunity to see this celebration and meet the Kunas in their village.
Feb. 27th-March 10th-We are determined to show Jeanne as many islands as we can during her stay so we moved to a new island just about every day. She loved all of them and spent hours in the water exploring the many reefs and walking the beaches. I was not feeling well for several days so it was really nice to have her onboard to take over the cooking and cleanup. We took her to the Coco Banderas to do laundry on the island and hang it up between the palm trees; we went to BBQ island for a cruiser get-together, visited with other cruisers; she had lots of opportunities to buy molas and was restrained enough that she only bought 7 of them-she is very good at saying “no mas molas”.
We’ve been having problems using the Tropigas butane in our refrigerator. It burns very dirty and clogs up the vent. We had a little of the propane gas left so we switched over to it and all was well until March 27th when we ran out so now we have no refrigeration and will have to re-consider what to do next season.
The weather was good for the 1st 10 days of Jeanne’s trip and then we got the effects of a norther and the wind started blowing with squally showers. We were in a good anchorage but decided to move on and had a good sail to the W. Lemons but then the weather got worse and we were stuck there for a couple of days-not able to even get in the water for a swim. We finally got underway again with double reefed main and jib and crashed thru the seas to a beautiful anchorage with lots of protection from the wind.
We made a pizza and took it over to Zausel for happy hour-glad to get off of the boat.
When we got up on Sun. morning Joe announced that we were “out of propane”. The 25 lb. tank of Tropigas was empty. Apparently we have a leak somewhere. Now we have 3 people going into caffeine withdrawals. Joe fixed that by hanging up the water kettle and holding a propane torch under it-voila, hot water for coffee and tea. Later, I made some tortilla dough and went over to Zausel to cook them. Tonight Hanna will make us dinner and tomorrow we’ll be in Nargana and look into getting another tank. Oh the joys of cruising.
March 9-Norbert came over early this A.M. to bring up our kettle of water for coffee and tea-such good friends. After breakfast Jeanne, Hanna & I did aqua aerobics and then we got underway. The seas and winds were down and we had a nice sail to Nargana. Went ashore only to find that there is no propane and very little food on the island. The supply boat from the mainland hasn’t been able to come because of the seas and wind. Maybe by Wed. they will have supplies. So, it will be cold ham, beans and coleslaw for dinner. We did have a nice lunch in town and then took the dinghy up the Rio Diablo River where we had a fresh water swim.
March 10& Mar. 11-We were all up at 6:00 A.M.-quickly made some coffee and breakfast rollups to go for Jeanne. Joe took her to the dock at the landing strip after we saw a plane coming in for a landing. Joe came back and said it was not her plane but she would stay on the dock waiting for her plane. We sat and waited-plane was 2 hrs. late – typical island time.
We went back to the anchorage, took the laundry in to Frederico to have his wife do it, still not many supplies in the tienda. Later in the day, Joe spotted a supply boat coming into the town and noticed that they had propane tanks onboard so he went in and quickly exchanged our empty tank for a full one.
March 12-March 21-We spent the next 10 days visiting some of our favorite anchorages-Esnasdup where we joined our friends on Zausel. Hanna & I did water aerobics and joined Suzanne on the beach for Yoga. One day we had Norbert & Hanna, Suzanne & Hans (all Germans) onboard to teach them “Kings in the Corner”. None of them knew how to play solitaire so it was quite challenging to teach them the game and every now & then they reverted back to speaking German and we were really at a loss-lots of laughs and fun.
We went back to the Swimming Pool for the Mon. nite cruisers happy hour and then moved around to “Bug Island” for a day.
Joe had been wanting to anchor at the Hot Tub so the next day we moved over to that anchorage and went back to BBQ beach for a big birthday celebration for a single hander cruising lady. She and her sister who lives in Panama City really threw a great party-
We got underway again and joined up with our Canadian friends, Gary & Suzanne. After spending a couple of days visiting back and forth with them and doing laundry we headed out for a nice sail to mainland Panama. Came into the anchorage at Linton and were able to anchor right beside our friends from Florida, Michael and Sue.
