Arrival in San Blas Islands, Panama

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Wed 8 Jan 2014 23:47
Having eventually managed to get a decent two day weather window, we left Santa Marta in glorious sunshine. The winds there had calmed down, so we had two good nights sleep before leaving. The previous nights, we had suffered through winds of over 30 knots and the boat snatching against the dock - oh to be on anchor again!
Despite the weather reports all saying waves of 8-10 feet and 15 knots of wind, we still had waves mostly over 15 feet for most of the day, and the wind was a steady 25 knots. As it was over our stern quarter, we put the main out with the preventer to hold it steady, and used the smaller headsail.
The flying fish competition was won the first day by Suzie Too, we had a late head count, and while we only had 9 fish, including one which had landed in the cockpit overnight and nearly frightened John to death, they had 18. We did however, win the competition overall as the reason for the delay in sending our results in was that we had caught a wahoo! Weighing about 4/5 kgs, the fish was landed and filleted and in the fridge for dinner on arrival - yippee!
The rest of the trip was fairly steady, as forecast, the winds dropped and by midnight on the second night, we had the engine on. The first glimpse of the San Blas islands were lines of palm trees jutting out of the water.
We arrived in Porvenir, where the customs and immigration offices are and where we were due to pick up Doug. The only thing on the island is a small hotel and a restaurant. Due to us being delayed, due to weather, Doug had booked a room at the hotel. The website showed a brightly coloured selection of huts which looked full of simple island charm. When we arrived, I checked out the room Doug had been staying in, it was basic in the extreme! 3 single beds, a single coat hangar, from a piece of string was the only 'wardrobe', and the shower was a pipe coming out of the wall. The food was also a little basic, and the electricity went off at 10pm. There was only one electric socket in the whole hotel, so the queue for charging phones, iPads, cameras etc, was quite long. Doug was certainly glad to be aboard the good ship Seaduced by the end of Wednesday.

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The local museum at Porvenir

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Small planes run a regular schedule from Panama to Porvenir

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The island to our right - a perfect paradise and the first of many!

The islands are inhabited by Kuna Indians, who call the area Kuna Yala, rather than San Blas. They have a tribal system with a chief for each island, who is largely in charge and to whom you pay a tax to visit.
The Kuna Indians fish daily and bring the catch to the boats to sell. Yesterday, along with the fresh wahoo ceviche and fillets, we had garlic crayfish tails provided by Suzie Too, so a real feast. Today, the fisherman are to return with fresh lobster. They might not have shops here in the normal sense, but it I think you can eat well quite easily!
The islands all have quite unusual, to us white folk anyway, names. Porvenir, where we are is about the most anglicised, the next island nearest to us is called Wichubhuala, not easily pronounced.
Today will be an easy day, with a spot of snorkelling, there is no diving allowed in the islands even for the locals. That said the snorkelling is supposed to be fabulous with lots of fish and coral to see. The water is a slightly chiller 29.5 degrees. The water will get cooler as we go through the Pacific, which although less comfortable to swim in, means the fridge and freezer won't have to work so hard to keep cool.

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Off snorkelling!


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