Up a creek
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Tue 9 Mar 2010 01:58
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Monday 8th March 1955 Local 0055
UTC
09:30.37N 078:47.64W
Our travels in Kuna Yala have been memorable and we
have now covered about 100 miles travelling North and West in Kuna Yala and we
are so thankful that we chose to arrive in Kuna Yala almost down on the
Columbian border. The first anchorage we went to we were alone then we had one
boat then three and now 7 days later most anchorages have 6 or 7 yachts in them
though we still find, that if we look outside of the pilot book suggestions
and be a bit adventurous, we can still find an anchorage to
ourselves.
When we first encountered the Kuna at Puerto
Escoses and as far up as Mamatupu they were still living almost
completely as they have done by tradition for hundreds of years. When we
reach up to where we are now we see that Kuna villages have generator stations,
houses are built from conctrete, "ulus" or dug out canoes are rarely used and
they use wooden boats with outboard engines. We feel therefor that we have been
fortunate to visit when we did as we also noted that even in the most
traditional villages a few people could be seen with mobile phones, a couple
of kids could be seen with western dress and earphones in. There were also
several huts which had solar panels. I dont think any of these things are wrong
for them of course, its just that I feel in another few years the whole of Kuna
Yala will have started to move towards modernisation.
The highlights for us were Mamatupu and
"Caledonia" and for me Puerto Escoses. However our adventure here is not over
and we spent Saturday afternnon and Sunday Morning in Cabrezas Cays which were
beautiful. We also boought 5 lobsters and three crabs of a Kuna for $10 and he
was just as thrilled as we were. I was not happy with the size of three of the
lobsters in that they were too small so we threw them back (the guy snorkelled
and dived to catch them just 20m from our boat). So in this hard life we are
living last night we had Columbian steaks and two lobsters for dinner and
the meat from the three crabs as a starter. Tough, but someone has to do
it!
On Sunday the wind we had been having continued and
it blew 22 - 24 knots. So to provide a bit of excitement I sailed out the
anchor, we were anchored alone behind a small island with another to port and
three large coral ourcrops around us, but 12m under the keel. In tight spaces it
is scary how quickly she moves once the main powers up. Off we went under full
sail passing close to the stern of all the other boats in the main anchorage, no
doubt shaking their heads. We hardened up onto the wind as we left and faced a
moderate to rough sea and true wind at 45deg at 22 - 24 knots. Great! We
(actually me, because it was pouring rain as well and Trish was below and the
boat is very easy to single hand) bashed through it, with of course about 30
knots apparent wind, and beat for about 30 miles before easing off for the last
5 miles, and gybing round the reefs and coral outcrops to sweep round the back
of Nargana with jib only, right up to the chosen anchoring spot, by
this time with about 8m of chain in the water, dropped the hook and fell
back on 50m of chain and had dinner! I know it will all go badly wrong some
time but ....... exilerating! Navigating the reefs and channels here is
nerve racking at times, especially when powered up under sail. The chart I
have, which now cover the area I am in, says " adjustments for plotting
positions obtained from satellite .......... can not be determined for this
chart". My GPS plots on the chart often have us on top of an island or a
reef. The electronic charts are up to 1/3 of a mile out when referenced with
WGS84. The pilot book has sketch charts all noting "not to be used for
navigation". Today we came across another missing island Cayo Faro - so if
anyone has taken it, please put it back because the only reliable method of
navigating here is by bearings and distances, which is not easy when you are
sailing alone at 8.5 knots and some of the bloody landscape is missing! The only
sure way, is by eyeball and for that you need to be able to see the sun and
preferably with it behind you. Yesterday was like an October day in Scotland. I
only had to do one crash tack when depth below me fell to under one metre.
That's why it was so
exilerating!
Nargana itself has nothing to recommend but the
reason we went there is so we could explore Rio Diablo, which we got up early to
do. We hoped to see the white faced monkeys that inhabit the area around the
river banks, and this river did not need special permission from the congresso
to enter it. We crossed the bar without being swamped, nor having to get
out and push. We worked our way up the river for about 5 miles and it
was just magical and even a little eerie at times. It was abit like
"Deliverance" meets "Jungle Book". We met several Kuna in their
canoes on their way to tend their cultured land, which were copses along side
the river bank. Their forefathers had cleared these spots and planted coconut
trees, bananas, mangoes, sugar cane and I am guessing some root vegetables.
These spots were hard to distinguish from the lush jungle all around and
were not cultured like we would expect to see in agricultural sites. There were
also the special cemeteries located on the river banks under the shade of the
trees and we came across Kuna women on the river bank doing their laundry.
There were also a couple of Kuna couples in ulus who seemed to be having a day
out together while collecting some fruit or vegitation or washing clothes in the
river. We never did see any monkeys but the bird life and fauna was just
breathtaking. This was one of our best days so far.
It was followed up by a 4 mile sail to a little
palm island surrounded anchorage where we snorkelled and had lunch before an 8
mile blast in 15 knots across the beam in flat water behind the very long fringe
reefs to seaward. It was glorious and a bonus not to hit any rocks or reefs,
despite the missing island.
After lunch another memorable sail in flat water at
8.5 to 9 knots close hauled up to the west end of the Naguarandup Cays where we
are anchored behing another beautiful island covered in coconut
trees.
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