BOATBUMMS LOG: BEAUTIFUL SAN BLAS

From Nargana we went to a very beautiful anchorage In the Narguargandup Cays. Can’t tell you the name of the island as we were all by ourselves and we want to keep it that way LOL. The snorkeling was fun and we came home with 6 nice size conch and also found clams on the beach. What a beautiful place this is with a view of the mainland. The water was so calm it felt like being on a lake. The nicest about this island is the being alone part.

Approaching Rain didn't bring as much rain as we thought it would. bummer.

getting ready to crack conch

We did have one visitor though. A blue panga drove by in the near distance and when he spotted us he did a U-turn and headed straight for us. It was Gerardo the produce taxi out of Miramar a very welcome sight. Nargana is basic shopping but with this guy you can even get Rum and coke, broccholi, passion fruit and on and on. We loaded up.

I got a What’sApp text from Le Point Bleue, Urs an Francine from Switzerland that they had arrived in the Holandes. We knew they were only here for a short time before they return to the marina and fly back to Switzerland so we lifted anchor and went back to the Holandes. We finally met his lovely wife and had wonderful dinners on either boat and I showed them including Sid some of the best snorkeling I had learned from Deb. Sid helped Urs with some mechanical problems. Also worked on our water maker maintenance so we make 5 gallons an hour of fresh water again. A wonderful little machine.

We noticed that the Jib needed some repair which was an easy sewing job on deck.

Like my sewing table?

The Holandes Cays are by far the nicest of all the islands. I guess it is because we can anchor in only 8 feet of water which looks as blue as being in a swimming pool, hence the name “Swimming Pool”. One evening sitting on the bow to watch the sunset, I got startled with a spotted eagle ray jumping out of the water not 6 feet away from us. What a beautiful creature.

High winds were in the forecast and as nice as the Swimming Pool is it gets a little bumpy and the current can run 2 knots so no swimming or snorkeling during that time plus from the breaking reef the boats gets covered inside out with a salt spray. Definitely not good for the electronics. And since Super Bowl was coming up we decided to watch it in Nargana. A local guy Jonny with a little hamburger joint organizes it every year. It’s good money for him and cruisers love it. Burgers I guess were good as nobody complaind but the pizza was just a frozen Price Smart Pizza warmed up, yuck.

Since we left in 1997 Sid has yet to miss a Super Bowl Sunday. I left Sid with the Super Bowl Crowed and enjoyed a quite evening on the boat playing my guitar.

During the days we waited for the game we went up the Rio Diablo again and did our laundry amongst all the locals. That was kinda fun. On our way up we trolled a lure. Sid was done but I was not going to give up yet and guess what?!!! Yep I caught a nice size mangrove snapper.

I let him show off my fish

Rio Diablo

Kuna returning from getting drinking water

Local laundry area and just a little further up where they get drinking water

My Laundry machine: a bucket, a plunger and Sid

I rinsed it in river

Then we provisioned some and headed back to the islands. As more heavy wind was predicted we went to Esnasdup in the Salardup Islands and tucked in fairly close behind the island. Blue Sky was there so on our little dinghy tour of the new area we drove by their boat to say hi. We could not even get the words out when their guests excitedly all at the same time screamed that they just saw a 3 Meter crocodile and if we had seen it. Nope we did not but sure did keep an eye out. A few days later as we were just going to go in the water to clean the bottom of Paradise we saw some jellies in the water, so I told Sid: “if you see me all of a sudden swim really fast to the ladder, it’s either that I got nailed by jelly or I saw the crock, but in any case follow me!” Didn’t see the croc and didn’t get stung by jellies as I put my lycra suit on.

Our new wind generator we bought a year ago is just not doing a good job. Still only charging the batteries with 1 amp. So Sid decided to add 3 blades. They are not the manufacturer’s blade for this generator but never less they fit. He had to file the bolts down as they were metric. He also had to cut 3 holes out on the cone so it will fit over the 3 new blades. Sid did a great job and since then the wind generator is making anywhere from 3 to 7 amps, depending on the strength of the wind.

Sid's big feet catch on to everything LOL

Having fun cleaning out locker

By the way our generator is a Greenergy Star. Be aware if you order from them there is NO customer service, they don’t answer emails nor phone. Sent them email via website that we want to buy 3 more blades and the cone for 6 blades and also sent them on from my email account. This one came back as unknown.

Pretty much every day Jovany a local from Azucar came buy with his buddy selling conch and crab. Even though they got them right behind our boat we decided to buy it from them to support them instead of getting them ourselves.

7 more boats joined us as the winds started howling again. We had 25-30 knots of wind but we were so close to the island it blew right over us and the anchorage staid as calm as on a lake. Tried to go snorkeling one day but found the reef way to rough. Well nothing better than getting into a book to read or play some games on the phone.

We were going to go back to our secret spot when Urs called. He had motor problems and was in the West Holandays. He lost one motor. So following day we sailed up there and Sid helped him out. The seas was still pretty high and wind still around 20-25 knots. We saw occasional 10 footers but the cut between the Cocos and Holandes Cays is only 2 ½ miles wide and they were at a good angle so no problem. The anchorage had some big rollers coming through, at least they were far apart and with our flopper stopper out it was very comfy.

Sid fixed the motor but also found many other things to repair, mainly electronics. His wiring is pretty shot and needs to be replaced. While Sid helped Urs, Francine and I walked around the Waisalidup Island she hadn’t done yet. This is by far the prettiest and cleanest of all islands with the best beaches.

this little Kuna doggy escorted us for most of the walk

Francine looking for candy

A small maybe 100 passenger cruise ship comes in there now. He arrived at same time as we did. In no time the beach was full with umbrellas, coolers, chairs and white people enjoyed this beautiful setting and when they went back to the ship later on they were all pink.

More bad weather was predicted Urs decided it was best for them to leave for the Marina and we sailed to Banadup in the East Lemons. We had a great spinnaker run although were a little over powered as the wind picked up as we closed in on the Lemons. It was a bit of a struggle getting the spinnaker down as the line to the sock broke.

The anchorage had at least 20 boats anchored the most we have ever seen but our favorite spot nobody seems to like as it was still available. This is my second favorite place in the San Blas among with the West Holandays. The view is just breathtaking of all the little islands and on a clear day of the main land and towering mountains in the background.

The winds piped up and for nearly 5 days we had 25 to 30 knots, it was howling. It’s pretty good holding here and the distant reef and mini reefs in-between keep the wind waves down the only thing that gets to you after this many days is the rattling of the rigging.

With the wind came Portuguese Man of War one of the deadliest 7 jellies in the world. They are so beautiful though as they sail across the ocean with their pink with purple stripe airbag. I managed to get a good phot of one in shallow water. I did not realize how long the tail can be until I looked at the pictures later. Up to 36 feet. (on my way into Panama City a German tourist was brought to Carti for treatment, she was nailed bad, her whole body was covered with jelly welts, poor thing.

I walked the beautiful island we are anchored off every morning.

We’ve been catching up on a lot of things, repairs, cleaning, upgrades etc. And just relaxing as most of the time the wind blew too much.

Some of you may remember the story with the kuna lady on this island tried to pull a mola shirt over me. Even though I told her my boobs were to big she tried and when the mola was stuck and my boobs as flat as my belly she giggled and said: Si big boobs. She promised me when we return my mola shirt would fit. She also asked me to buy her son Gerardo a black digital watch which I did. Unfortunatley when we came back that was 2 years ago the family was not here and we were told they no longer will come to this island. We knew they were in the Robinson, so this time in the San Blas it was my mission to find the family.

We are anchored in front of the island and an ulu approached us with a kuna family and one of the ladies looked at me with anticipation. Her look made me immediately realize who she was. What a happy reunion and Gerardo was with her. I could finally give him his watch and got a huge smile and thank you from him. I never knew Catalina’s name but she showed us on the San Blas charts where her island is. We definitely will go and visit. Wow that was really a super surprise. Her husband Faustino is a hard worker and cruisers hire him. This time he helped a boat to get here when they saw and recognized our boat.

My dentist Ida organized a fun weekend at her house for all the Domino Divas, so I took the taxi into Panama City, while Sid stayed with the boat. But that story next time.