San Blas Islands
For PHOTOS —->> San Blas Islands
The sail to the San Blas islands was a long tedious one. The seas in this area are generally huge and the winds had been light to next to nothing so unfortunately we had to use the motor for a good part of the passage. We had plans to go to Mulatupu, which is considered the 1st island in the group, and just off the mainland, but after seeing the seas rolling over the reef we changed our mind and headed to Isla Pinos.
The San Blas islands are a vast archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast. They are unique in many ways, home to the indigenousGuna Indians, who have kept their traditional customs and culture. As there is no 
easy way to reach these islands, they have been cut off from “progress” as we call it. The associated mainland is called Guna Yala by the Gunas. They grow produce, but do not own the land as they share everything. The area has changed little since the Spanish first arrived.
The Gunas do not allow foreigners to, buy land, live or marry into their tribes. They are welcoming to visitors, peaceful, non-aggressive peoples. They live in 
tribes/settlements of bamboo-thatched huts that each has an elder or tribal leader in charge. Most leaders do not allow any television, some do not allow any loud music and all maintain their traditional cultural ways. The people are all very small being one of the smallest peoples in the world.
The women make the Molas, a beautiful appliqué craft, 
which comprises of intricately sewn layers of embroidered cloth in vibrant colors. The men go in their dugout canoes to farm, fish or collect coconuts. There are schools for the children. The elder children help by doing laundry, child minding and such chores.
Isla Pinos/Tupbak
Approaching this island was like walking into paradise. The palm trees line the white beach, the forested hillside form the background from where you can hear the birds calling. From out at sea the island forms the shape of a whale and is called by the Guna peoples Tupbak that means whale. It is one of the tallest islands at over 150 meters high.
We found that Lynne and Eric were anchored 
there, hoping we would arrive. They had sailed in the day before from where we had last seen them.
We spent a lovely evening on the beach having drinks and catching up while swimming and enjoying the island. We had planned to stay and explore but didn’t, we will return there again.
Ustapu
This is the largest village I the San Blas. We found our way there 
with difficulty. I think the number one rule for sailing/traveling by water here is to follow the waypoints in the Eric Bauhaus Cruising Guide to the exact degree and then also keep a close watch out for reefs, (twice those waypoints were off too). The area has no easy way through the reefs, it is treacherous! There is boiling water all around, huge swells, breaking water, sand bars and islands everywhere, a maze to try to travel through. Eric says that after years of sailing all over the world this area is the hardest. Bermuda is difficult to navigate if you don’t know the waters but the San Blas is 10xs that and more. However the journey is amazingly beautiful when passing the palm tree lined, white beaches of the small-uninhabited islands.
After arriving at Ustapu around mid-day we 
went ashore to have a look around, plus to get sim cards, which we had heard, were available. We wandered the village from one end to the other through the tiny pathways of huts, past family compounds and guna villagers busily going about their affairs. Everyone was extremely 
friendly, wanting to practice their limited English and wishing us Feliz Navidad. The 
children were playing through the village, the boys flying kites and the girls with balls.
Eventually we found the Digicel place. Now this was inside a family compound. There was a hut where the cooking fire was burning away, grandmas sitting and fixing the beadwork on their legs, a 
fellow in a corner with a huge shotgun he was polishing up and children playing on a mat on the earth floor. A surreal situation for a digicel! Out of one hut a lady sold us the sim cards for a few dollars. Plus minutes for a few more dollars. At another hut I bought bread rolls for 8 cents each. We were happy with our purchases.
We did not swim at Ustapu as we saw a crocodile that was 12 feet in length at least. The croc was not far from the boats he swished his tail and then sank to the bottom.
Aridup
The next day we very carefully navigated our way to Aridup. Again the journey was beautiful but at times very 
scary. However we live on the edge anyway. When arriving we were struck again by the beauty of these islands. Aridup is uninhabited, but when we went ashore we found 3 or 4 Guna men and a boy busily chopping up a boat, or a part of one. They keep the island clear of rubbish as much as possible by burning the waste that washes up along with the coconut husks and fonds. We found out later that the boat had been a 50 foot catamaran charter that had met with Spokeshave 
reef, been holed and sank. The 18 people aboard were 
rescued. This boat regularly traveled these waters with guests. The Gunas had coiled the rigging and had beers they had salvaged.
We walked around 
the island, met Lynne and Eric with the boys, had a swim and went back to Aeeshah for a very rolly night. This is not a good anchorage. That evening we were surprised by a call on the VHF radio. It was Bad Bunny – John and Kay. They were in a nearby anchorage when a boat that dropped the hook near them had asked them to relay a message. They asked who to? When they were told they just cracked up with laughter, as it was us. In the anchorage with them was also Sorren our Swedish friend. We decided to head their way the next day being Christmas Eve.
Snug Harbour – Apaidup and other islands
Lynne and Eric decided to carry on, as they really needed internet. I was very happy to go into Snug Harbour where I could get ready for Christmas and have a few relaxing days from the traveling.
We arrived in the morning and found it to be a very beautiful calm anchorage surrounded by tiny uninhabited islands. Our friends had made a Guna friend – Arkin. That evening we had a Christmas Eve celebration on the beach. 
Some Guna fishermen had sold us lobsters, plus a mix of veg on the fire and we had a feast. It was a wonderful full moon evening where everyone had a grand time.
Arkin had too much of John – Bad Bunny ‘s whisky to drink and he put on my John’s Santa hat with flashing 
lights and set sail back home. I was quite worried about him. Well he turned up at Bad’s boat a short while later having lost his oar and 
could not row his canoe home so borrowed one and set off again.
Arrangements had been made with Arkin to meet 
at his village on Christmas morning. Upon arriving the village was having a celebration in the square and a Colombian trading boat was there. Everyone was having a great time. We awaited the arrival of Arkin and after a while set off to his hut. Well Arkin’s wife took us in to 
find Arkin passed out with 
the world’s worse hang over in bed. We were shown the 
molas Arkin’s wife was working on and met his daughters too. A lovely family that work very hard to make a living. I delivered our “gifts” (some clothes, lollypops, candies, a cap and such) and off we set to do the river tour ourselves.
River tour
We found the river after some help and up it we travelled for some miles. It really was picturesque. The reflections were wonderful, birds were everywhere and it was shady and cool. An
excellent tour we gave ourselves, we went until we could go no further. That afternoon we went snorkeling and exploring on one of 
the nearby islands with Sorren. Again it was a lovely day,
a wonderful Christmas Day!
The following day, Boxing Day, we again explored the
surrounding islands and swam. Walking around the island, looking for shells and doing all the pass times we love to do. Again each island is just so very special and beautiful!
While swimming off 
the beach a canoe arrived with a family and 2 dogs. They all proceeded to swim, the children having a great time. Again they were such friendly happy people. The children were very natural with no pretenses, practicing their English on us. Before they left they gave us some yucca and plantains/bananas.
Rio Diablo and Nargana/Corazon de Jesus
We had originally been intending to stop at Devils Cays but upon arrival the anchorage was just too rough so it was onto Nargana, Corazon de Jesus and Rio Diablo. These are two separate villages that are separated by a bridge, so are really like one settlement. These are more progressive Guna settlements. The buildings are still primarily made of bamboo with thatch however there are more concrete buildings and there are services.
We walked around the settlement, were able to find a “store” and buy a few bits and pieces. Plus we were able to buy some bread rolls, diesel and order water. The major bonus was the internet/wifi. There was enough signal to be able to call home, receive emails and get the weather, whoopee!!
River tour: Rio Diablo
Early, 7:30am on our second morning we went looking for the Rio 
Diablo. Well it is not always easy to find the mouth of a river as the trees and mangroves grow right out into the bay. After some hunting we all, Eric, Lynne and Boys; Kay, John Bad, my John and myself, finally spotted a Guna boat heading into the apparent mouth.
Up the river we slowly went avoiding sunken 
trunks, branches, and mud banks. This river was much wider than the last one, but just a beautiful. We saw many different birds of all types 
from woodpeckers to vultures to humming birds, birds of prey, and water birds.
We also saw quite a few Guna dugouts and 
bigger wooden boat with containers heading up river. As we got to about 3 miles up river we could see that these local boats/canoes with the containers were actually collecting the water for the settlement. Yep, the water we had ordered was coming from up river, hummmm….. So it was decided that some bleach would be added to our water, much to my dismay. When we felt we could go no longer we stopped at a riverbank where the boys had a run around with their Frisbee. It was a lovely morning up the Rio Diablo.
Green Island/Kanjildup and surrounding islands
We sailed to Green Island where we spent New 
Years. Our 1st evening we had a great fish dinner aboard Amarula with Lynne and Eric. For New Year’s Eve evening we were aboard Bad Bunny with Kay and John where we had an excellent chicken dinner.
During the day we snorkeled the reef, dingied around, explored the islands and really enjoyed 
the area with Kay and John. It is truly a very beautiful group of islands. 
Being closer to some sort of civilization there is a wifi connection, the Gunas make deliveries of vegetables, fish and lobster plus they have dug a fresh water well on one of the islands. We really enjoyed our time there.
Porvenir
It was time to check in officially to Panama so we sailed to Porvenir. There you find a group of 
islands, on one is immigration and customs office, a very small place to stay and an airstrip, (which only the smallest of planes could land on). However again it is very lovely.
Checking in was very easy and in fact we were given a coconut to drink. A guy was passing them to the Guna ladies and they offered them to us as well. The milk was delicious!
Following check in we dingied to the neighbouring islands and were able to buy some pan – bread! We had run out a few days prior.
Chichime Cays Eastern Lemmon Cays
This was our next destination. We dropped anchor between Uchutupu Pipigua and Uchutupa Dummat, surrounded by reef that cuts the swell but not the breeze. It is a very lovely group of 
islands on one a few Guna families live and on the other the Gunas have built huts for tourists to visit and even stay over night. Therefore it is also somewhat busy with the local taxi boats and the carter boat traffic. However that really didn’t bother us.
We dinged to the reef and snorkeled everyday on the reef and in the shallows. The snorkeling was excellent. I found
lovely shells; saw many rays, an octopus or 2 plus numerous fish. It really is so shallow over the reef and grass banks that scuba would never be necessary. On the outer reef there was a wreck of a sailboat, which John swam over the shallow 
reef, (about 2 – 1 foot deep), he of course climbed on top. We found several other wrecked sailboats on the bottom around the deeper reef. It really shows how treacherous the reefs here can be when you approach from out at sea. We also visited some of the Eastern Lemmon Cays about a mile or 2 away from us one day. Again they were just beautiful. We will have to return to them.
As we were just about out of all the foods and extras that make life comfortable we decided we needed to get to some sort of shopping area to stock up. Plus John had promised to do the transit through the canal with Amarula. So we were off to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon by way of Linton.
“You have to start by changing the story you tell yourself about getting older……The minute you say to yourself, “Time is everything, and I’m going to make sure that time is used the way I dream it should be used,” then you’ve got a whole different story.” Diane Sawyer
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.” Ayn Rand
