It was very hard to weigh anchor and leave Kuna Yala. Normally Roger and I have our flights booked as we have commitments and deadlines back in ‘the real world’. But this year we had neither, so it was very tempting to say ‘let’s stay here’. I was tempted to suggest we stayed longer, but we really did need to get back and see Mum, after her accident, not to mention all of our friends and family. So we said our goodbyes to Alberto and Angelina and on a grey morning, set sail for Isla Linton in Panama.

It was a full day sail so we set off at 08.00. For once the wind was in the right direction (most of the way) and we made very good time, arriving at 16.30.

As we sailed into the anchorage we passed several large cage type structures in the water. On closer inspection they were like huge netted enclosures. Neither of us had seen anything like them before and were curious to find out what they were.

Once the boat was secured, we dinghied ashore to Hans’ place. You can’t miss it as that is where all the dinghies are. But you can miss spotting his makeshift breakwater, a load of rocks, submerged in front of the restaurant. Although we had in fact just noticed it, people drinking there were quick to jump up and point it out in case we hadn’t.

It’s a bit tricky tying up, you have to put a stern line onto a buoy and then tie your bow line ashore, this is because of the surge.

Hans (not his real name, but it’s what everyone calls him) is a Dutch guy who settled here 13 years ago. We had a lovely meal of octopus, rice, fries and salad for $6.

We were just finishing our meal when a dinghy tied up and in it were Holgar and Marion off ‘Vela’, whom we had last seen in West Lemon Cays.

We had a very pleasant evening with them and decided that we would all take the bus into Sabanista, the next morning to do some shopping and get on the internet (the first time in 6 weeks!!!). So we arranged to meet at 08.45 the next morning.

We had been spoilt in the Kuna Yala with peaceful, protected anchorages. The anchorage at Linton is protected, but very rocky roly!

We woke to another miserable, grey day, dropped the dinghy and grabbed the bags, after a not so leisurely breakfast and headed ashore.

The trip takes about an hour and a half and costs $1.50. We waited at the bus stop 15 mins before the stated time, because we all know about schedules in the Americas. There was a horse tied up behind the bus stop, a Panamanian version of a ‘park and ride’ I guess.

Actually I have to say that our driver was a very good driver, unlike his Guatemalan counterparts.

The scenery in Panama is lovely, lush green vegetation and plenty of peaks and valleys. Beautiful Hibiscus and bouganvillia mixed with palm trees. Tree trunks covered in philadendrons and branches laden with bromeliads, it was lovely. I can imagine it would be very easy to create a beautiful garden here without spending a penny, everything was wild!!!

However, the villages/towns were a different story.  We passed through some dreadful housing developments. Some were so bad I was shocked to find there were people actually living there.

The trip was going well and as it was a grey day, was quite comfortable, until we passed the town of Portabello.

Roger and I were planning to anchor in Portabello, but having seen the anchorage and town from the bus, we both decided against it.

All of a sudden we saw a tailback ahead and slowly came to a halt. Marion said she had heard that the road was dangerous, with fatal accidents almost daily.

We sat and waited and waited! We calculated that it couldn’t be much further to our destination, so I went and asked the driver how much further it was, with a view to walking the rest of the way, as by this time most of the other passengers had done exactly that. He said about 7kms but it is too dangerous.

We all decided 7kms was too far to walk. I kept wondering why it was dangerous, everyone else was walking???

An hour later I asked him was it an accident and he told me ‘ No, the road is closed, it is a demonstration because the people have no water!’. I assumed this was why it was dangerous for us and not the others, as we were ‘gringos’ and they weren’t!

Roger saw a taxi ahead and went and asked him to take us back to Portabello. Holgar and Marion had not had any breakfast and it was now nearly 1pm so we got the driver to take us all the way back to Linton.  We stopped briefly in Portabello, so that I could visit the Iglesias de Jesus de Nazareth to see the scuplture of the Black Christ. It was not easy to photograph as it is behind glass and you needed a flash.

We asked him about the demonstration and apparently, a water supply pipe had broken and the people had not had any water for 3 months!!! No wonder they were unhappy!!

The heavens opened as we made our way back, water rushed down the hillsides, flooding the roads, it reminded me of home when it rains. The irony of it was not lost on me, there were people protesting and demonstrating that they had no water and here we were with torrential rain everywhere!!!

Lighting crackled and thunder roared all around, this storm looked set in for the day and Roger and I wished we had set up our rain collection device. It turned out that Holgar and Marion managed to fill their tanks, never mind I’m sure there is plenty more where that came from!!!

We lunched at Hans’ and watched the rain come down. When we told Hans what had happened, he told us that we were lucky that the driver had told us it was dangerous, because it was the area that was dangerous, not the demonstration!!!!!

Hans has a lovely Toucan, called, appropriately, Toucan. We had seen them in Kuna Yala, but up close their bills are so beautiful, but they really don’t look like a real bird, more like a cartoon.

As I said we have decided not to bother with Portabello, so will spend another day here.

Tomorrow we will take the dink over to Panamarina. Apparently there is a beautiful mangrove creek cut through from this anchorage.

 Finally I will be able to do the laundry. That is one thing I need to look at, laundry. We have always managed to find a laundry or a launderette, but there wasn’t anything in Kuna Yala, well at least not the islands we visited. I washed one day, but there are 4 distinct  draw backs, 1/ it uses a lot of our fresh water to rinse thoroughly, 2/ drying it in the rainy season is a bit hit and miss, 3/ our sink is the size of a bucket and our sheets are enormous and 4/ I get blisters from scrubbing.

So either Roger and I change our clothes every 3 hours so that they only need rinsing or I need to re-think our clothing.  When we are in the Pacific, with the exception of perhaps Fiji and French Polynesia (sorry not trying to make you feel green with envy!!!!), there will be no laundry facilities of any kind. I am not too concerned about our clothes, as frankly I don’t expect we’ll be wearing much, but the bedding is a concern. Perhaps silk sheets is the answer?? Or disposable sheets, oops no, that means more rubbish, guess I’ll have to give it more thought.

Oh yes, I forgot, remember the black cage things we saw in the water? Well it turns out that they are fish farms. According to Hans when they are in full production they will be the largest fish farms in the world!!!!