John and I have always wanted to see what’s round the next corner.  We make a quick appraisal of one place and then what to see the next.  After all, there is just so much to see in the world!

It has always been a wonder to me how yachties can drop anchor in a bay and then just stay there – for a few days, a week or longer.  Here in the San Blas islands it is beginning to happen to us.  Is it because it is such an enchanting place, or it is, perhaps that we are relishing the essence of cruising?  I feel as though I have taken a long journey to a place called stop-a-while.  Here, the more I slow down, the more I discover …

Yesterday I spent a lot of time being still.  (Anyone who knows me well would tell you that being still is quite out of character.)  I sat in the shade of the cockpit looking out on the changing hues of blue as the sun took it path in and out of the billowing clouds.  As the boat gently pulled to its anchor, so it would swing, giving me a changing vista.  I could be a spectator of other boats arriving.  I could just be.

We also went snorkelling.  Luxuriating in the warm water, we could just float in the current and watch the underwater world pan out in front of us:  fans and domes and fronds and rosettes of coral, all intricate, all different colours.  The weird and wonderful fish that thrive in this oasis of the sea floor are a fascination that never ceases to draw and which is difficult to leave.

As the sun silhouetted the palms trees of the island we sat enjoying a rum punch, watching the sky turn pink and gold.  Another half an hour and the full moon rose over the island on the other side of the anchorage and for several hours spilled an eerie light on the clouds and sprinkled the sea with silver.

On a boat, basic things can take time and simple acts can lead to unexpected events.  For instance, a couple of days ago we were beginning to feel withdrawal symptoms from the internet and we needed some outboard fuel. (But before I go on, what for me was quite remarkable was being on an island just 200 yards by 50 yards and being able to Skype people around the world. An entrepreneur had made a tiny bar at the front of his hut and managed to rig up solar-powered internet.  Hey presto lots of yachties arrive!)  We headed the few miles to Wichubhuala – an island packed with huts made of palm leaves and canes, with freshly swept sand paths in between them.  A man (who surprisingly spoke English) led us to two shops to find a sim card and someone’s home to buy a phone card.  That left the fuel, which was brought to us in old gallon water containers.  Nobody seemed to mind us wandering around and in almost every hut there was someone sewing a mola.  Unexpectedly, we came across a Sunday school in progress, but again everyone was very accepting of our presence. 

Today we had a lot of visitors to the boat and some fun meeting some of the locals.  The first person to call by was Venancio, who called himself a Master Mola Maker.  (I thought it was only the woman who made them.)  Now John was quite right when he said that we definitely didn’t have any need for a mola.  I, however, felt obliged to contribute to the local economy.  Knowing how good John is at negotiating and haggling, I was bemused that we ended up not only paying the full asking price for a mola, but that we gave Venancio a gift as well!  The next dug-out canoe to come alongside had a family wanting some water.  We gave a pint of milk to the women in the following one, and later we were handed a mobile phone in the hope that we could charge it.

Most of the islands are of such a size that it takes about five minutes to circumnavigate by ambling along the shoreline.  Some are inhabited with just a few huts, others are empty. Chichime Island has four huts, two tethered pigs and several dogs.  As I sploshed through the shallow water, so two small girls ran up to me.  Their boldness left them almost straight away and they quickly disappeared in to the safe darkness of their hut, their courage returning only when their father appeared.  To my delight, they were very happy for me to take photographs.  More than that, there were several minutes of madness when the men of the family posed for the camera by doing handstands, climbing up coconut trees and hugging each other.  When I got back to the boat I printed off some of the shots and took them back to the family. The woman then wanted me to take some of them, and so more prints followed and more glee.

Had we not stopped a while in this idyllic setting, but rushed to see what was round the next corner, we may well have missed a treasure.

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