Walkabout - San Blas - end of Leg 2

9.31.1N 78.38.9W

1100 3rd March 2023

A time to relax ...

Not quite sure where time is going at the moment!! Everything seems to be happening in a bit of a rush and San Blas was a welcome relief with a little time to relax and enjoy these wonderful islands.

The San Blas are a stunning multitude of small palm tree islands with white sand, surrounded by coral reefs and home to the Guna Indians.
Our first stop was Coco Bandero island where we anchored alongside Casamara, Mary Doll, Into the Mystic and Berlinetta who are all in the ARC Pacific.

As soon as we anchored up and swam on the anchor to ensure it was dug in as the islands are very exposed to weather, we met up on the beach with friends and set about organising a game of beach cricket the following day which was not competitive at all!!

There are several local dug out boats that approach you while at anchor selling local fruit, veg, lobsters, fish and locally made Molas for which the San Blas are renown for. A mola is a beautiful piece of material that is intricately made by hand stitching and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. They come in all colours including oranges, pinks, greens and the designs are of local fish and turtles, local scenes and birds. They are really very different to anything you’ve ever seen! Andrew made a very special dodgy deal with a local who we are pretty sure fleeced us for about 6 litres of petrol for his outboard. We in return got 2 small, 1 big smoked fish and a coconut. (Can’t complain about the flavour they were so tasty). It seems customary around here that as the driver motors around he must bail out the water that is always leaking in!!

9.35.3N 78.40.5W



Next we moved on to Holandes Cays for a few days anchoring in less than 3m of crystal clear water in a place known as The Swimming Pool. Here we swam, snorkelled, ran around the island a few times to make a 5km run, met up with others for a beach side dinner at Ivans and took a lesson in yoga after another morning run. Very relaxing and peaceful! We also ate out on BBQ island with several other boats and played beach volley ball as the sun set before sitting down for an alfresco dinner of local fish, octopus and lobster all served up with local beer!

9.35.0N 78.52.8W

1230 7th March 2023

Our last stop was Cayos Chichime where we enjoyed our last few nights before making way to Shelter Bay and readying for our Panama Crossing!
In Cayo Chichime, we snorkelled in the shallows of the island and saw a ‘cow fish’ not sure what it's real name is! Plenty of colourful fish, Christmas worms and corals. Others saw sharks, thankfully we did not!!
John and Susie from Casamara joined us on Walkabout for a sing-song bringing their guitar while we joined in with our Swanee whistle and Kazoo plus voices of course. We were also joined by Amy from Mary Doll and Caron and Martin from Escapade of London.

A fitting farewell to what has been a whistle-stop tour of a wonderful place in paradise.