The Holandes Cays, San Blas

Safiya
Harvey & Sue Death
Thu 23 Feb 2017 19:35

09:35,40 N

78:40,00 W

 

The Holandes Cays, San Blas

These islands have got to be the most unspoilt, picture postcard perfect place in the world!

There are no shops, restaurants, hotels etc and the only way to visit the islands is by boat and we are 20 miles from land so there are no day trippers!

The mainstay of the local Kuna economy is coconuts which they trade with the mainland, but the locals also make the most of the yachties selling freshly caught lobsters & fish.

We’ve been here for a week now, spending our days just swimming, snorkelling and paddle boarding. It is a very chilled way of life! We plan to stay here until the beginning of March when we have to make our way to the Panama Canal but as we are totally self sufficient it may well be until we run out of supplies, whichever comes first! The Gin and wine stocks are ok at the moment!

We moved from the Banderos Cays to the Holandes Cays, only about 5 miles away. We are anchored in an area called the “swimming pool” because it is rectangular in shape surrounded by long islands covered in quite dense vegetation. It is very sheltered and the water is turquoise, hence the name “swimming pool”. It is a popular spot and there are more boats anchored here and more locals trading from their dug out canoes, so have managed to pick up some veggies to supplement our depleted stocks.

Snorkelling along the reef yesterday we saw a huge Eagle ray, with an enormous wing span and long tail, it had leopard print markings. Also lurking in the shadows of the reef was a nurse shark, about 4 foot long and very sinister looking!

We are in the same anchorage as two other Oysters – Altair and Vela, we seem to be following each other around. So we meet up for sun downers on each other’s boats to swap snorkelling tales and drink each other’s gin!

The pictures show a beach BBQ with the other boats, some locally caught lobsters, a typical Kuna dug out canoe, a little sandy island, sunset yesterday and a view of the bay from half way up the mast.

 

 

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