San Blas Islands

March 7, 2024

The San Blas Islands were unknown to me when we purchased Home Free. Of course the Mediterranean Sea had so many famous places, and then when we brought the boat to North America we knew about the Bahamas because they are so close. Then there were all those little islands in the Caribbean that Canadians travel to, escaping winter for seven days at a time. Somehow, the seemingly far away San Blas islands never entered my world.

Now we are here, and the San Blas are very, very nice. Not at all like the islands of the Caribbean, and very pretty. Below is a map of the islands and the red circles are the places we have stayed overnight so far.

We arrived from Portobelo on Monday and anchored near Punta Playita. This little spot is where I stayed on my way to Colon and when we arrived it was deserted again and a wonderful, wonderful place to spend time.

Tuesday we went to Isla Porvenir to get a cruising permit. Apparently we don’t need a Panama cruising permit in this territory, we need a local cruising permit from the Guna Indian Tribe. We got that, and immediately headed to Cayos Limon where we anchored for a night.

This anchorage was fantastic and we ended up beside a sister ship (Nordhavn 4744 – Downshifting). This little spot was far easier to get into than the charts suggested and we enjoyed the spot for an evening.

Yesterday we moved on because we don’t know what other spots we may find. We found a beautiful anchorage in the Naguargandup Cays. With more time on our hands I was able to get the drone up to give everyone a view of our little world.

Last night we were provided some fresh lobster by local fishermen (US$20 for two huge lobsters and a baby that we threw back) and I had the experience of cleaning lobster for the first time.

In the late afternoon while greasing the windlass, I saw a ray jump out of the water, close enough that I could almost touch it from the bow. If you have never seen a ray jump out of the water it is perhaps even more thrilling than having dolphins swim with you underway. Probably due to the surprise factor. They jump out of the water and fly through the air making a big splash.

Lea, a crewmate on Flying Ginny, which is a catamaran beside us , was swimming with the rays, and so we donned our masks and snorkels and jumped into the water (quietly to avoid scaring them away), and swam over. Spending 30 minutes swimming with rays is definitely a fun way to spend time. Lea, who is clearly far more skilled at this than we are had her waterproof iphone case prepared and took some beautiful videos. She shared a few with me and I provided a couple here to help keep you warm when its cold again. (Was the high in Toronto yesterday 8 degrees? That’s crazy.)

We will stay here for at least another night and work on cleaning and boat projects.

Addendum

• Wing engine solenoid was modified to allow for the failed stop solenoid. Two new solenoids are in bound. The key does not stop the engine with this modification, it must be stopped by hand with the stop switch on top of the governor housing.
• Cleaned and greased the windlass and bow roller. I still need to push grease into the base of the windlass.