San Blas Islands 25 February 2024.

It was a grey day when we woke and quite windy. You could see the Guna Indians going about their daily lives. We decided the night before to move on as Keith and Jonas did not have long and would like to see more of the San Blas.

After breakfast (bacon, mushroom omelette) we sorted everything out to move. We were not going far but had to negotiate a number of reefs on the way and so had to treat our navigation seriously. We cannot rely on the electronic charts as being accurate but we had the Eric Bauhaus book which has surveyed this area and whose waypoints are very accurate. I plugged in the waypoints to our next anchorage which was only about 3-4nm away. We first of all had to retrace our steps into this anchorage and ensure we could navigate around the reefs on the way out. This we did successfully and as we left there were two boats coming in. It is quite disconcerting going so close to reefs but you just have to get used to it and trust the waypoints (this aiso depends on the accuracy of the GPS which is apparently within 7 meters. - This could be crucial in these waters).

We were moving from Chichime Cays to South of an Island called Banedup. This meant we had to navigate through a few reefs before moving round until we entered the anchorage between a number of reefs. You can see the reefs as the waves break over them and also you can see them from the colour of the water as it gets dark/almost brown in colour. They suggest for a lot of these anchorages that you have the light (sun) behind you so that you can see the colour changes. The forward-looking sonar is very useful for this and it looks ahead about 80-90 meters and you can see the sea bed changing and whether there is anything ahead.

It did not take too long to navigate the reefs and then we approached the anchorage. Luckily the part I wanted to go to was not that busy and we found a spot to anchor. Our first attempt but was not successful as the anchor dragged and we had to try again and the second time we were successful. We chilled and had a wrap for lunch and by this time the clouds had cleared and the sun came out again. We had an Island on our left which was very busy with tourists who seemed to have come for the day. It was a lovely Island with white sand and palm trees. At each end there were blue shallow pools which just had water over sand and where a lot of people just sat and paddled. As the afternoon went on it cleared out so we decided to go and see for ourselves.

Before we did so a small boat came by and showed us their Molas which are intricately sewn layers of cloth. Each is unique with pictures of birds, fish, turtles, crabs, animals or marine life. They are famous for this intricate work. The men showed us their selection and Keith, David and I bought some as they were pretty and we wanted to support the local community. We also bought a San Blas flag. Keith spoke to them about getting to Panama City as he and Jonas are getting off on the 27th. They said they could help and suggested we went to Gaigar which is where their village is. We will therefore go there tomorrow so they can get off. It will be interesting to see somewhere on the mainland.        

The beach was nice but we had heard that the snorkelling on the west side was good. We tried it and did find quite a lot of fish and sponges and some coral. However what was sad was to find some beer cans and rubbish on the seabed. Once we swam we had a beer on the beach and blinked really to find ourselves here with Stormbird at anchor amongst these lovely Islands. We decide to visit the other Island on the east side which was quieter. We  were astonished to find a proper bar there where we had a drink. This Island was well kept and more upmarket. We found a pool of water where they kept conches fresh before they eat them.

We returned to Stormbird to enjoy the sunset as the sun came down. An American boat came in and tried to anchor in front of us and I hooted at them as they were anchoring in the wrong place. They tried twice and made a complete mess of anchoring so they cleared off I(as I hooted at them a number of times) which was just as well as we could see they did not have a clue as to what they were doing.

Carolyn cooked a delicious Thai fish supper which we enjoyed in the cockpit with a lovely warm breeze fanning us. It had been another lovely day in paradise and we are so lucky to experience this.                  

The blog will continue as we head off to Panama and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk