The first
afternoon, we anchored at Suledup Island after an all day sail up wind and up
current to get there from Puerto Obaldia.
This is a calm anchorage that was relatively easy to navigate into using
our expensive but worth it, Panama Cruising Guide. Unfortunately, the Garmin does not have any
detail for these islands. This is a VERY
calm anchorage and a 360° visual paradise! At
6:30 AM, the morning after we arrived, a man arrived in a dugout canoe came with
hand printed notes in English detailing the rules and collected the $5.00
anchoring fee.
We
left Puerto Obaldia at the eastern end of Panama near the Colombia border. We tried to clear in there but we are not
sure why we couldn’t, the language barrier didn’t help. The officials at Immigrations thought we were
going to Colombia and wrote all over the copies of our passports then trashed
them when they figured out they had made a mistake. Anyway, we were given a blessing to go
northwest through the San Blas Islands on the way to Porvenir to check in. Roxy’s papers were even inspected by an
animal control officer.
From
Suledup anchorage, we traveled nine miles to Isla Pinos (our original planned
destination). This is a beautiful island
that is shaped like a whale when viewed from many miles away at sea. We were joined there by Celtic Rover and Sea
Schell after a day alone. Roxy enjoyed
the white sandy beach and we enjoyed solitude.
The village (Kuna Indian) is around the corner from where we
anchored. We went into town and planned
to hike up the mountain but were discouraged by the village pastor who spoke
some English. There were supply boats at
the dock and some small tiendas in the town with staples. A local found out we were asking about
pineapples and he went and harvested some and brought them to our boats!
The
Kuna Indians are the primary inhabitants of these islands. They live a simple life. They live in thatched huts with dirt floors,
travel to the mainland in dugout canoes where some farm, and the women dress
very attractively. Hopefully, there will
be some pictures but they are pretty funny about having their picture
taken. There is not enough space or time
to go into much more detail than that about the Kunas.
On
Saturday, March 15, we left Isla Pinos for points NW. We parted company of Celtic Rover and Sea
Schell at Ustupu, where they hoped to get cell phone SIM cards and internet –
and they DID!! We went about 20 miles
farther and anchored at an island that I wanted to stop at after seeing
pictures in the cruising guide. It is a
beautiful island, we are the only boat and a Kuna man named Freddie came to
sell us bananas and mangoes. We hired
him as a guide to take us on a hike up the river on the mainland on Monday
morning.
We
make water as we need to and before we left Cartagena, we loaded up as much as
we could on many provisions. Some things
are running low since we have been gone from there for over two weeks but we
are doing well. I planned to not be able
to buy much until we get a lot farther up the coast of Panama. I am making bread and probably our diet is
better than when we have a store close by – less processed foods and more
fresh.
Details
regarding the guided trip up the river:
Freddie
showed up promptly at the appointed time in his canoe. When we discussed the trip the day before, he
said he wanted to bring a bigger canoe but Darrell was adamant that he wanted
to go in Freddie’s canoe. These are
dugout canoes made from large trees with about 4 inches of freeboard (meaning
from waterline to the top edge of the canoe).
These people paddle them appearing effortless at good speeds. He agreed that it was okay for us to bring
Roxy along. Darrell told him to bring
extra oars for us to help him paddle our fat butts across the bay.
Darrell
was the first to enter to canoe – he was so excited over this excursion – like
a kid! Roxy loaded in behind him between
him and Freddie. I was last in the
front. Darrell was the gentleman and
placed my seat in the highest position to help keep me dry from the small
amount of water in the bottom. I sat
down and we left Alibi. It felt like we
were going to roll over every time ANYONE moved at all!!!! Of course, Roxy was excited and didn’t want
to be still and I was too high in my center of gravity. Freddie kept saying something to me like bajo
or baja but I didn’t understand. Darrell
thought Freddie was saying bahia which means bay and I thought he meant for me
to get lower in the boat but I was petrified to move – not even to turn my head
to scold Roxy for jumping around! The
trip across the bay took about 10-20 minutes and it was the most terrifying boat
trip either of us have ever been on in our lives. A truly white knuckled experience! And this is two people who are very
comfortable in the water – INNNNN the
water!! On the return trip, we lowered the seats (adjustable) and all had a
very comfortable ride. When Darrell
helped Freddie paddle the canoe, he had a hard time keeping up because Freddie
was moving so efficiently. I never
lifted my oar – some things are better left to the experts!
Anyway,
we see these people in canoes all around us in these islands and they glide
along. We see them carrying supplies and
other people. We see them fishing from
them and even standing up to throw cast nets for bait. I have never seen one tip over. We even see them out in the ocean waves! We will never view them the same from now on!
Continuing Westward:
We
moved on every few days from island to island in Panama making our way towards
the canal and some place that we could officially “clear-in”. We reached the Rio Diablo and Nargana where
there are many tiendas to buy groceries.
The island itself is not very pretty by Kuna Yala standards but has many
amenities that the other islands do not.
Surrounding this “metropolis” are many very beautiful island groups. I had a brief interlude of internet that I
enjoyed at Green Island!
EXPLORING THE SAN BLAS – Or as the
locals prefer Kuna Yala
We went
to the Holandes Cays to an anchorage called “the swimming pool”. It gets it’s name because that is what it
looks like – turquoise water that you can see the bottom. It is surrounded by a barrier reef and very
well protected. We arrived in quite
unsettled weather and could hear the wind blowing more than 20 knots and see
and hear the waves crashing just a few hundred yards from us but we sat in flat
calm waters.
We
met several of the boats in the anchorage.
Most of them have been coming here for years. It is interesting that every place we go, we
are the “new kids” in the anchorage and many places, the same people have been
coming to the same spot for years and years.
I guess it seems that way since we never seem to settle down anywhere. Roxy has been loving all these islands
(except the busy metropolis) because she gets to run and swim and play in the
water most days twice a day. She gets to
see dolphins often also! We hear that
another boat will be coming back here with an older Brittany on board that
looks just like her. We have to be on
the watch at the island we have been taking her to because there is reportedly
a crocodile swimming around that island.
We
met some fellow Texans and were able to get in a few games of “42”. For those who don’t know, this is domino game
that seems to be generalized to Texas.
Anyway, Owen and Betty are some pretty darn good “42” players. Owen has taken Darrell under his wing to
teach him the finer points of “fishing”. There was a beach BBQ one afternoon and we were able to try out kite surfing with a trainer kite. Darrell and Ann are HOOKED! It was a blast - now to figure out how we can afford to get all the gear! Roxy met another Brittany named Lokey - he looked so much like her!
I may NEVER get Darrell out of here. We are having so much fun - just wish we could stay in touch better. Hope everyone is well.
