Pat Bon - We’re in Panama - yay!

Even better than that - we’re in the San Blas archipelago, home to the Guna Indians and what a home it is too!

We delayed departure from Santa Marta for 24 hours as the weather forecast was not great for the crossing from Columbia to the San Blas. The weather system in this part of the Caribbean, especially from Santa Marta to Cartagena, is known for it’s fierce winds and steep seas at this time of the year - in fact we all commented at one point or another that this must be the windiest part of the world! The winds are usually light’ish in the morning, but they get up to 35+ knots by midday on land and even more offshore in the acceleration zone. These continue well into the night, so probably 18 hours of strong winds. You need to try and get 100 miles offshore before the acceleration zone weakens and you’re left with the usual NE trade winds. Tuesday looked a good window to leave, so us and 12 other yachts decided to head off.

The crossing to the main part of the San Blas islands is about 280nm, which should take around 36 hours. We were a little delayed by the Columbian Border guys, who had to stamp our passports, but we got away by 0730. We made good progress and the weather window was kind to us and the other yachts. After about 20 hours of sailing, we had a choice to make however; do we continue to the main part of the archipelago, or do we shave about 20 miles off our passage and go to a little visited island in the San Blas called Isola Pinos? These islands are basically reefs which have sprouted a few palm trees, so one thing you don’t do is try to find your way into the anchorages in darkness. As we headed west, the winds became lighter and our progress was slowing, so it was going to be unlikely we’d arrive in the main anchorages in daylight, so we’d have to slow our progress and spend another night rolling around in a lumpy sea, or we try to make it to Pinos. One of the other yachts in the ARC fleet had been there and had a lovely time at a beach shack that served cold beers - decision made! New course set and speed increased. We arrived at about 1700 and anchored up. Dinghy in the water and straight to the beach shack for sundowners, local fish and plantain supper! We met the Belgium crew from the only other yacht in the lagoon and had a great chat with them.

The local Guna Indians are a semi-autonomous group who live in a very traditional way. Dugout canoes, fishing, farming on the mainland - mainly bananas, plantains and their main crop, coconuts. Not that long ago, the coconut was a sort of currency here. Every tree is owned and you are not allowed to pick up any fallen coconuts as you will offend the tree owner. The people are very small, similar to the Pygmy tribes of west Africa and they have their own language, although some do speak Spanish. They are very friendly and not hostile towards visiting yachtsmen, but you must respect their traditions. Many live on the multitude of islands and go by canoe at first daylight into the pristine jungle on the mainland to farm and collect coconuts and bananas.

Our friends aboard One Distraction joined us late in the evening and very gingerly came into the sheltered lagoon. They’ve decided to spend the day there to chill, while we decided to head north west to the main San Blas anchorages. We left at 0730 and after a lovely sail, arrived in the Eastern Hollandese island lagoon at about 1630. We tiptoed through the reefs, with waves breaking either side of us - quite alarming! Rounding the final reef, we saw about 50+ yachts anchored in the lagoon - so much for the peace and quiet of the night before! There looks to be a great beach bar, so we’ll check that out tomorrow as we’ve decided on a chill-out day for ourselves. Snorkelling, swimming and exploring the reefs, beaches and little islets all around us. We’ve been told that there can be crocodiles in the San Blas - we’ve not seen any or read any warnings about swimming, although there have been some posts on the ARC WhatsApp group and a large Nurse Shark swimming around one yacht!

Our fishing is not going well at all sadly! After several bites on the crossing from St Lucia, we’ve had no further bites or near misses to report! Several other yachts are hauling large tuna, wahoo and mahe-mahe aboard - but not us. To cap it all my reel has broken, so a task for tomorrow is to try and get that fixed, or at least try to identify any spares that are needed, so Paula can bring out with her to Panama City. As always on boats, there are other things to fix and repair, so all that needs sorting where possible.

Nathan is sweating away in the galley preparing supper for us all, while Val, Peter and I are swigging G&T’s and chilled white wine in the cockpit! Talk is about which new tropical desert island we’ll visit next!

Not a bad life really!