The outer reefs and islands of the San Blas are in the path of most of the flotsam and jetsam that is pushed by winds and currents down the coast of central America.

These bring with them an assortment of garbage that has been discarded by mankind into the seas and whilst bottles break and  cans degrade much of it plastic that

will still be there on the shores in a 1,000 years or more. These tides and currents also bring with them tree trunks,  branches and sometimes even whole trees that

have been washed down rivers and into the sea from 1,000’s of miles away.

It would be fascinating to be able to identify these trees and locate their origin, with some coming from as far as Africa over 5,000 miles away. This long sea journey

changes their shape and colours and many get caught on the outer reefs waiting for the next big storm to wash them ashore. Once there the sun and insects continue

with their change in form and colour to leave incredible artistic shapes for the beachcomber to find.

Here’s a few....

 From a sailors viewpoint however, these large, semi submerged trees are a nightmare, with many boats damaged and sunk due to hitting these monsters when at sea.

On our trip down from Curacao a British boat was sunk when it hit something off the coast of Colombia after heavy rains on shore.