A couple of days sail
I recall on our way into Bocas a few months ago very clearly thinking that the breaking waves were very rough and that leaving would be nasty. It was. We spent an hour or more punching the bow through wave upon wave to get past the surf and out on our way east.
After that, things were pretty uneventful. We had to motor almost the entire trip (roughly 200 miles) to Guna Yala and we stayed within spitting distance of Mamita the whole way. The trip over was pretty unremarkable except for a few things.
First, for the first time, we tried trolling for fish while underway. We had three different fish on the line within an hour or so but each one managed to get free before we could reel them aboard. We got painfully close with this one:
Next was the fact that we had to cross the approach channels for the north end of the Panama Canal. The sun had set shortly before we got there and it was a new moon so it was very dark. We had to cut straight across the separation channels which was a bit freaky since the boats coming down the channel go about 4 times as fast as us and weigh about 100 times as much. It was like playing Frogger, but in the dark and we don’t have 3 lives.
The third noteworthy aspect of the underway was that, along many coastlines there are lots of things floating in the water, especially near the mouths of rives. A lot of it is trash, which I hate seeing but am not that concerned about most of the time. Some of it is sticks, and logs. And sometimes, it is entire trees. That was the case here, and there were lots of them. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was pitch black. So that means you just go and hope for the best. We did reduce speed so that if we hit something it would hopefully not be too bad. We ended up hitting a couple of very large logs which took a couple of chips out of our epoxy bottom paint. Not happy about that, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, I suppose.
Guna Yala
So, we arrived and spent about a month in Guna Yala. What is Guna Yala, you ask. Well, it is more commonly known as the San Blas Islands, although the indigenous population refer to themselves as Guna (or Kuna) and the area as Guna (Kuna) Yala. San Blas is the name given to the area by the people who attempted to, and failed to conquer the people here. It is one of the most in-tact indigenous societies in the world. The Spanish, Colombians, and Panamanians have all tried to conquer the Guna people and they all failed.
The people live with very minimal modern convenience in this island chain and the adjacent sections of land on the mainland and are self-governed. It is somewhat similar to Native American reservations in the United States, where they are part of the country, but are given the authority to self-govern. The people live in small huts built out of whatever supplies are available on the islands, usually bamboo shoots, palm fronds and white mangrove lumber. They subsist through tourism and communal farming on the mainland. They also fish and the movements around the area (more than 400 islands) take place in hand dug-out canoes, called Ulus.
The regional ensign is different from the Panama flag and is often accompanied by the flag of the 1912 revolution. That flag, is always a bit shocking since it is a swastika. We chose only to fly the primary courtesy flag and left the swastikas to others.
Chichime
Our first stop in the archipelago was Chichime. It was pretty crowded due to its proximity to the entry point of the chain, but it still had plenty to offer. We spent a few days there, swimming, walking, and snorkeling. Ola from Mamita managed to spear a few fish and we were able to buy a few from local fisherman for virtually nothing.
Fira and Rasmus had a blast paddling a random log around about 1/4 of the island. It wasn’t very fast and they fell off about a million times, but those two had a better time than most people ever get to have. It was such a pleasure watching them and helping push them from time to time.
We found cool shells and driftwood and enjoyed stretching our legs and enjoying a few cold ones with our friends.
After a day or two, we were joined by our friends from the previous season, Country Roads and Passat. We spent another day or two at Chichime and then headed to our next stop.
Yansaladup
In trying to pick our next stop, I noticed a small anchorage that was about 1 mile from from a couple of huge sandbars, which seemed like a cool stop. We ended up staying for nearly a week. This beautiful little man-made island with a small hut was right near our boats.
It is a massive sandbar that someone added a fence and a bunch of coral, etc. to build up just enough land for a small hut. The sandbar was a convenient spot for the kids to just jump off the boat and swim over to hang out with the kids from the other boats. Of course, the adults met up as well to talk and play a little too.
One day we got in the dinghies and drove over to the massive sandbars a mile away. It was a pretty cool spot with water that was a few feet deep and a mile from any land.
Although Grete and Dublin opted out, one day Fira and I jumped on a SUP board and went with Mamita for a few miles of paddling over to the Lemon Cays to order some fresh bread to be delivered to our boats the next day. We also played on a small sand spit at a small island called Dog Island. Ola and the kids dug a competitor to the Panal Canal, but with far fewer casualties. A few cold beers died that day, but nothing else.
We then went to a few more small islands with our last stop on a fairly manicured spot called Nugnudup which is squarely on the tourist circuit, with manicured grass areas, hammocks hung all around and a full bar.
After pretty much an entire day exploring we headed back to the boats. Then the wind, and waves decided that they hated us. It was a mile or so back but it was a brutal paddle. We made it back and I collapsed for a few minutes before heading to the hut sandbar to meet up with our friends. Another boat named Altair joined as well so we ended up spending the evening on their boat for sundowners. Eric pulled out his guitar so we ended up playing music for hours. It was a great time.
We were also in this anchorage for Thanksgiving. Despite being the only Americans in our group, everyone took to the celebration full throttle. Passat is a fairly large catamaran so they offered to host and we had a fantastic time gorging ourselves on this very memorable Friendsgiving.
The veggie boat came by selling fruits and vegetables so we got restocked and were ready to move on. It’s really the most amazing thing. Fresh fruits and veggies harvested locally and delivered right to our swim scoop. And we bought a stupid amount of it, including dozens of eggs as well, for just over $100.
Miriadiadup (Western Holandes)
Our next stop was on the way to the most crowded anchorage in the region but it wasn’t crowded at all. We anchored in between a small island and a huge reef area. It was a cool island with two inhabitants who allowed us to go ashore and also to have fires. They even invited the kids over for fresh coconuts. The generosity of some people in the region was astounding, especially given that they have nothing by American standards. The fact is that they have everything so they aren’t concerned with the same things we are.
Guys paddle around in their Ulus for dozens of miles, fishing and traveling between anchorages selling their catch to help pay for things in their villages. The freeboard on their ulus is a few inches at most and they leak like sieves. The weather can turn and throw 25-30 knots of gusty wind and the accompanying waves at these guys. They seem super calm, just bailing water out of the ulu with random plastic trash that floats all over the region. Literally inches from drowning without a concern in the world. It is kind of amazing to see.
A few of the guys stayed in a small hut on the island and sold us a few snappers for a few bucks. They even helped build a cooking rack and stoked the fire we cooked everything on. It was a super cool experience, very little communication with words but a great shared experience with people living a life so different from anything we know.
The inhabitants on the island, and many others in the region make traditional clothing sections called molas, which are beautiful, hand-sewn pieces of art. During our month in Guna Yala we looked at thousands of them and purchased a few as keepsakes of our time here. They are made by layering fabric and cutting designs through the layers to pull different colors up to the top to be sewn in place. They take dozens of hours to make and each is a unique work of art.
We spent several lazy beach days paddling, swimming, snorkeling, digging, and eating fresh fish and vegetables with our friends. Life is good.
Swimming Pool/Banedup (Eastern Holandes)
Our nesxt stop was the eastern end of the Holandes Cays at an anchorage called the Swimming Pool due it its shallow waters over white sand. The wind was predicted to be coming from the north, however, so we decided to anchor on the south side of the adjacent island instead, in the Banedup anchorage.
This anchorage was a bit more developed than any other we had been to in Guna Yala. There is a bar on the south side of the island where we were anchored, and a restaurant/bar on the north side. We ate at the restaurant one evening with our friend boats, the food was great, the company even better and the owner was out there. Apparently one take on the Guna origin story involves UFOs, and aliens mating with early Gunas to create a super race that was able to break free from the slavery they were held in by the crocodile people that were in charge. Human being bodies with crocodile heads. The owner of the restaurant is a firm believer and has massive murals depicting this history. He spent 10-15 minutes walking us from image to image telling the story. It was certainly interesting.
We spent a few days, walked around the entire island, visited nearby BBQ Island and spent a lot of time swimming. There was also a pull-up bar so the kids and some grown-ups had some friendly competitions.
Before we headed to the next stop, the kids all had an epic float through the entire anchorage for a couple of hours. The adults all ended up rafting dinghies near the end as well for a mini-float. It was really cool seeing 15-20 kids all partying it up on their little flotilla and having a blast without parents for a bit.
Green Island
We were planning to go to Coco Banderos next, but the wind made that anchorage a bit rolly so we headed a bit further south to the more protected Green Island. It was a small island that was easy to walk around with a fun sandbar reef at the north end that Fira and Dublin played in a bit.
Very close to the anchorage was a tiny island called Waisaladup that had a little hut and zero inhabitants. So it allowed us to head ashore with everyone for the Lucia celebration hosted by Mamita. In Sweden Lucia is a part of the Christmas celebration, which has many different customs to what we do in the US. Lucia invloves, among other things, Glögg, a hot mulled wine that went down really good with the cool breezes we were getting.
Day trip to Rio Azucar
One day, we arranged, and by we, I mean Nina, a trip up the Rio Azucar with a three-hour hike to a waterfall. It was so much fun.
The hike had about 100 river crossings and was muddy and rocky and there were many footwear casualties (I blew out a flip-flop).
The waterfall and hike were beautiful, and the cool water of the falls and the river crossings made the hike pretty comfortable, even in the heat.
Dublin and the other boys all had fun jumping into the waterfall pool from the rocks nearby.
Coco Banderos
Our last stop in Guna Yala was Coco Banderos. It was a very easy place to spend some time, and after a few days here our friends from Curious showed up so we had even more fun.
We spent some time snorkeling all around the nearby reef and had several fires ashore. The reef on the north side of us at our anchor spot looks just like a seahorse on the chart, which given our boat name, was really, really cool to me.
The locals are usually trying to sell lobsters, since I think that is what the charter boats want. The two guys who live on the island we were next to tried to sell me lobster. I asked, with my limited Spanish if they had any fish. He said no, and then said a bunch of things I didn’t understand. Then they drove over to the reef a hundred or so meters away. I realized in that moment that I inadvertently hired these guys to get me some fish. Then the one guy pulled on a mask and fell off their boat. About 15 minutes later, they came back to the boat with a huge triggerfish and two snappers. So, for $15 we had seafood so fresh you would have to eat it underwater for it to be any fresher.
So, we headed to shore for another fire/BBQ with friends to share the bounty.
Close call
Obviously I write about the fun stuff and not the mundane work that is required to keep a boat functioning off-grid. Every once in a while, a day comes where I don’t seem to do anything at all: batteries get enough solar, we have plenty of water, blackwater tanks drain successfully, etc. We met up with friends on shore and somebody asked what I did that day. I honestly couldn’t think of a single thing I had done. I commented on the fact that I did zero things of any use all day and it felt strange. Fast forward less than an hour and we hear someone shouting just around the corner from where we are standing. We ran over to see what was going on and my stomach dropped. A guy (Dad from Tournesol) was standing there holding my outboard engine which was no longer attached to our dinghy (except the electrical start cables). We managed to get the boat and motor hauled up out of the water.
He had been heading back to his boat with his son when a wave came around the bend and thrust our dinghy up onto the sand which partly flipped the dinghy and knocked the motor off the transom. Now, despite the fact that these outboards are made to be used in saltwater, they are not made to be submerged in it. So, I was freaking out. After talking to others around, the plan became clear.
So for the next few hours, I flushed and cleaned the inside of the motor. I removed the air filter, rinsed with fresh water and blasted it with compressed air from a dive tank on Curious. I removed the spark plugs and flushed fuel through the injector system. Everything got sprayed down with anti-corrosion fluid and put back together.
Next was the moment of truth, I took the dinghy back into the water and started the engine. It ran fine. It has now been almost a month and no sign of the event has reared its head. Seems that we dodged the bullet with the help of everyone in that anchorage.
Lesson learned: never say “I didn’t do a single thing today”.
Nargana
We didn’t anchor here, but we were interested in seeing a populated island in the area, and at 5 miles away, Nargana fit the bill. So, we dinghied over, as did Sten from Curious and spent the day exploring the island.
It was a normal trip ashore and was interesting to see the village. It rained quite a bit so the walking was a bit muddy and it was the day before the food boat arrived so the stores were a bit bare but it was fine for our needs.
Christmas
Finally it was time for the Christmas holiday. It was a really bittersweet thing. We spent the 24th, the day that our European friends do Christmas, having a massive feast and celebration aboard Curious. However, we were scheduled in the marina near Colon to prepare for our canal transit so we knew it was the end of our time together.
In Sweden, the majority of the country at 3pm on the 24th is watching Donald Duck. It is a pretty funny thing, really. It’s not even Christmas specials or anything, mostly just regular cartoons. It’s a weird tradition that dates back to when Sweden had very little access to such programming and only two TV channels.
The next day, we celebrated our family Christmas aboard the Hoss. Even in this remote area, the kids had quite the haul.
Im the afternoon, we headed to shore for a final BBQ dinner on shore with our friends. We still had one day until ‘goodbye’, but it was starting to feel a little sad.
Goodbye - for now
The day finally came. After over five months of close buddy-boating with Mamita, it was time to go our separate ways. We have grown so close with this wonderful family these last several months, exploring hikes, beaches, towns, cultures and everything else. We’ve made many great friends over the last couple of years cruising, including the other boats we have been with in Guna Yala, but we have never been so close to anyone else like we’ve been with Mamita, moving as one boat since Curaçao back in July. Most of the time it felt like we were one family on two boats. It was painfully sad saying goodbye, but I’m sure like many goodbyes we have had to say, it’s just for now.
Headed to the Canal zone
So, we left. And now we are alone again and headed on to the next part of our adventure. Many thrills and challenges await, and as we got back into the waters of the canal, I couldn’t help but get to thinking of what is next.
