Bocas - San Blas Is - Cartagena

My flight from Sydney to Los Angeles was the worst I have experienced, takeoff was similar to being a piece of pineapple inside a blender getting whizzed up for a smoothie. I was fascinated watching all the passenger's heads whip from side to side the whole length of the runway - most of the trip continue in that vein.  It was a strange side to side motion and not the undulating up and down one I am used to with turbulence. Dinner time was fun - spilt drinks, passengers with dinner upside down in their laps- hostess bells lighting up the whole airplane.  An electrical fault kept turning the overhead lights on during nap time - all a bit of a joke but we all arrived safely - a little tired maybe !!!  A cruising friend, Kim, collected me from the airport and took me shopping until I stopped responding then she took me back to her place and put me to bed - in her bed whilst she slept on the couch - I felt bad about that but was too tired to debate. Kim is one of those special people who have it all – good looks, good figure, amazing personality and funny. The next day we drove to another cruiser friend's house - Sharon and Jeff.  They are a very generous and lovely couple and I had a great time staying a few nights with them and catching up on their sailing plans. Fiona, my sister, arrived in time to meet me at the airport in Los Angeles. We continue together to Panama where Don was waiting for us. The old saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is certainly correct. 

Don had cleaned the boat before my arrival - bless his heart - and the temperature and "bugs" were comfortable - much to my relief.  I did go to the bathroom complex one night and was followed down the path by Shelley (another cruiser) who excitedly told me about a boa constrictor that was above my head whilst in the toilet - I should imagine that would have had an interesting effect had I known.  I took my camera back to take a photo - imagining a forearm width, 3 metre long snake curled along the rafters - what I found was a little puddle of color that resembled dog do-do in the rafters - very disappointing !!!

Don and I wanted to see some of the interior of Panama so the three of us took a trip to Boquete - a small country town that all the American ex-pats rave about - they can purchase lovely homes for a fraction of the cost of similar dwelling in USA and can live in Panama cheaply.  Our rooms were around $15 per person per night and most meals around $3.00. The taxis fares are rarely over $3.00 and buses a few cents. No wonder so many Americans choose to live in Central America – their pensions go so much further and they can live in comfort.

We finally arrived in Boquete – quite an adventure getting here. A short water taxi ride to Bocas town centre, then a longer water taxi ride to Almirante on the mainland, a 5 hour small bus ride from Almirante to David (Dar-vid) then another bus ride of 1 hour to Boquete - wow !!!  The “collectivo” or mini bus as we call them was crowded – the rule of the land is the drivers are not allowed to take standing passengers whilst at the terminal but once they leave they cram in as many passengers from the roadside as possible. I was seated behind the driver's seat next to the isle, a young mum and her baby were picked up along the way and she was seated where the gearshift would normally be but facing towards the back of the bus – ie in between the drivers seat and the front passenger seat. I felt a bit sorry for her as she had no back to rest upon and had to breast feed her baby several times during the trip whilst all the passengers where trying to look around her head to watch the movie displayed where the rear vision mirror would be. Several hours later a frustrated passenger finally gave up his seat to her and a few minutes later the little boy behind me began vomiting on the floor – it splashed on her bag – up my leg and ran around the bus – yuk !!! The trip is very steep and extremely winding – not for the feint hearted !! The scenery is spectacular – high up in the cloud forest with indian families living in grass huts amongst their livestock.

Boquete was lovely as it was cool (and damp).  This area of Panama has two wet seasons and two dry seasons per year and it is wet at present – oh boy is it wet !!! I dragged Don and Fiona up the side of the only volcano in Panama, Volcan Baru (3475m) which is Panama's highest point. On a clear day you can see both Atlantic and Pacific oceans. We walked the Sendero Los Quetzales trail, one of the most beautiful in Panama. I had hoped to catch sight of the quetzal – the Maya bird of paradise but was disappointed yet again. We didn't make it to the top but all were very pleased with our effort.  We stayed 2 nights in Boquete, ate at the local Panamanian eatery for a few dollars per meal and .30c for a very large fruit juice – not to mention the chocolate cakes !!! It was fun trying to recognise the meat in a dish, being brave enough to choose one and hope that it was platable – Don chose what he thought was chicken casserole but found it was gizzards and nearly choked. He spent the next ½ hr looking longingly at my teriaki ham.

We left for the city of David sorry to leave the cool mountain air behind. Our hotel in David was very comfortable – the beds were heaven to sleep in. We arranged to meet a lady named Toby (short for Tobalita) who offers the service of taking cruisers to a bulk warehouse supermarket, cruisers purchase their goods on her membership card, then she freights the goods in her truck to the island of Isla Colon where our boat is at present - what a wonderful lady and a great service !!!!  Anyway we bought enough to feed us for a few months whilst we travel (notice I didn't say sail because the reality is we hardly ever get to use the sails as the winds are always in the wrong direction !!!) to San Blas Islands then Cartagena in Columbia.  Trying to shop in the main streets of David was an exercise in pushing into the shop entrances and dodging heavy rain - we quickly became drenched. Fiona managed to purchase several yards of different fabric to make a patchwork quilt – this kept her content for many long sailing hours. Our trip back to the boat was long and difficult – not something I would put my hand up for again – a similar trip in a car would have been spectacular.

Oh, just a bit of useless information - Bocas del Toro has Panama's first serial killer - he was American and murdered quiet of few of the ex-pat community in the area where our boat is - he took over their idenities, homes, businesses etc.  He was caught recently with lots of news coverage. He has left people in our area stunned as he was a member of their "closed" group and was the life of many parties - humm you just never know !!! For anyone who is interested here is the link to the Dateline NBC program – it is very interesting.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39801052#39804250

After a few more days of cleaning up and general boat jobs we left the security and comfort of the Bocas Marina and Yacht Club and headed out into the archipelago to check out the local area. First stop was Red Frog Beach situated on Isla Bastimentos. The northern coast of the island has wilderness beaches that are nesting grounds for sea turtles, most of the southern coast consists of mangrove islands and coral reefs. The main settlement on the island is the West Indian town of Old Bank whose origin began with the banana industry. The island is also home to the Ngobe-Bugle village of Quebrada Sal. The island boasts a tiny marina and several backpacker accommodations. The major drawcard for me was the tiny little red frog that is endemic to this Island and found no where else on earth. We were told that in order to find the frog we would either have to venture into the thick jungle and search or wait for the children to get out of school when they would turn up to the beach with the tiny frogs to proudly show tourists and hopefully earn some american dollars. Being an impatient individual I began to step off the beaten track and search for the elusive red frog – we had heard rumours that if you lick the back of the frog you get a dose of an hallucinogen and that is why all the yachties tied up to Red Frog Marina sound so “out of it” on the radio !!! We asked a local who says the chemical is poisonous so we decided not to try it.

My search for the little frog was in vain and I slowly crept deeper and deeper into the jungle – at least 2 metres in some places!!!! (how brave am I?) Eventually I had to give up and began our walk back to the marina with a long face covered in disappointment. I did ask some workers about the frog and they told us where to look and their young helper ran off beckoning us to follow – we ran after him and watched as he caught the tiny little frog – I would never have found this little fellow as he was much smaller than I had imagined – and very cute. The native was very careful with the frog and held him gently in a leaf and placed him back in the same spot as he caught him – we were told when the children take the frogs out of the jungle to the beach in their hands the frogs die – they are trying to educate the children to hold them in leaves and be careful to place them back in exactly the same spot as where they were found.

Our next route took us through “The Gap” and that conjures up a narrow difficult passage to navigate and that is exactly what we found. With dark overcast skies and murky water we could not locate any coral heads or shallow water – it was a breath holding few hours !!! We did pass without mishap thanks to our Bauhaus Cruising Guide and went on to anchor near Crawl Cay. This spot is famous for snorkelling but due to the muddy waters nothing could be seen. The next day we motored to the twin islands of Zapitillo, again famous for snorkelling. We spent a rolly night there after finding out our large fuel tank was contaminated with algae and blocked the fuel intake. Fun was had by all while we sucked fuel from the contaminated tank, put it into jerry cans then poured it through the filter into the smaller fuel tank which was algae free. The smell of diesel, a rolly boat and heat was most enjoyable – not !!! Fiona was an excellent guest – she didn't complain once – she is one of those people who always look on the bright side and can see a positive – I couldn't see any myself at the time :-)

Rio Chagres

We left early the next morning and sailed – yes I did say sailed – to Rio Chagres. With a westerly breeze and current in our favour we sped along at 5 knots – poor White Rose wasn't sure what was happening – being used to the matronly sedate speed of 3 knots !!!

Fort Lorenzo guards the entrance to Rio Chagres. A ruin now but very impressive. Rio Chagres has a tricky narrow entrance but once negotiated the river is deep and without obstacles. It is a beautiful tropical river surrounded by virgin rainforest. There is an atmosphere of silence, except for the cries of wild birds and animals and the unmistakable call of the howler monkeys. We motored to the dam at the end – the dam was built in 1910 to create the Gatun Lake which supplies the water for the locks within the Panama Canal. Large cats and a variety of other smaller animals and birds can be found – the jaguar is said to be silent in its movements and we would notice its smell rather than hear it. We did notice a very different and pungent smell twice on our hike – no cats to be seen though – much to our relief. We did see a few crocodiles moving lazily in the river. Such a beautiful pristine place and one where we could have happily stayed for weeks.

Portobello

Our next Port of call was Portobello. The bay was discovered by Christopher Columbus on November 2^nd 1502. It was his fourth trip. The town became one of the most important sites for transferring tons of gold and silver to the commercial capital of the Spanish empire, Seville. It is claimed that 1/3 of the world's gold and silver passed through the Customs House.

The local church, “the Church of San Felipe de Portobello and is home to the Black Christ of Portobello, a wooden statue of Jesus of Nazareth. The statue has become holy and worshipped because of the miracles attributed to it.

Our first night in Portobello was sleepless, a very strong wind that could not make up its mind which way to blow, large waves and constant extremely heavy rain made for an uncomfortable night. The boats in the northern anchorage (purportedly to be the best side in which to anchor) had a catamaran drag through their midst eventually t-boning one boat. The VHF radio ran hot from 1am to 3am with news of the meandering cat who wasn't answering their radio, had no navigation lights displayed and full throttled through the anchorage when trying to re-anchor – not a popular fella at all !!! A second cat also dragged anchor keeping all yachties on constant watch throughout the dark night. Our plan to leave for San Blas the following day was thwarted by strong winds and heavy rains – a developing tropical depression – we decided to wait and see what eventuates before heading into its path.

Whilst we waited out the bad weather we decided to fill in the day with a bus trip to the local town which boasts a supermarcardo.

We thought we were brave getting into our little dinghy (still with free foot wash whilst aboard) rising to great heights then plummeting to the depths of this great ocean just to rise yet again – at the same time getting drenched by the constant downpour and rivers of dirty seawater flooding over the sides of the dinghy and turning our britches a pale shade of urine yellow. Our interesting trip continued – the buses in the Central America seem to be in competition as to colourful exterior paintwork, muffler growls, squealing brakes (if there are any at all) and high decibel noise (there is no way the screeching could be put in the category of music) and the most worrying part is the decorations that surround the front windscreen blocking out all view of oncoming traffic. Our bus met all the prior requirements – the decorations around the windscreen fascinated me – it consisted of a purple feather boa that surrounded the entire windscreen twice – the screen being only very short in height – then came the line up of small Panamanian flags along the dashboard through which the “offsider” had to peer to check for prospective passengers along the road. Now to paint this picture correctly I must tell you that the driver's seat was placed very low – I presume his spring mechanism had died a long time ago – probably through excessive weight !!! The driver was short in stature so the top of the steering wheel was level with his collarbone – his eyes peering myopically at the dashboard, every now and then he would raise his body to peer out the windscreen at the road ahead. There was a part of the windscreen that was clear of purple feathers and flags– the area being approximately 6 inches from which the drivers and passengers could view the tight corners and fast oncoming traffic with trepidation. Our trip was worth every minute as I found an excellent apple pie in the supermarcardo which we thoroughly enjoyed that night.

San Blas, El Porvenir

 9 33.34 N 78 56.87 W

We set sail for the San Blas. Kuna Yala is a 226 km narrow strip on the Caribbean coast that includes the Archipelago de San Blas. There are approx. 400 islands of San Blas of which only 40 are inhabited. The uninhabited islands are covered by coconut trees and ringed by white sand beaches with turquoise waters – picture postcard pretty. The inhabited islands are acre size cays packed with bamboo huts and people allowing barely enough room to maneuver among the detritus-lined pathways. The Kuna run San Blas as an autonomous region -with minimal interference from the national government. They have their own system of governance, consultation and decision making and also maintain their own economic system, language, customs and culture. – I had been looking forward to visiting the Kuna Indians and their beautiful islands for a year or more now – the tropical storm had turned the normal weather system upside down and we enjoyed sailing for the day – stopping in a small bay, Ensenada Indio, for the night. We woke very early the next morning and began our next leg of the journey as daylight began. We motor-sailed and arrived in El Porvenir in the San Blas islands early afternoon. El Porvenir is not touted as one of the “must see” islands in Archipelago de San Blas, it is the “business” island. This tiny island has the local airport – and that is about all that fits on the postage stamp size island – apparently cruise ships visit from time to time but not all passengers can alight at one time as they will not all fit on the island. Customs is also located here and yachties must check in and out when arriving and leaving the area. Apart from that there is two thatched hut restaurants and a small hotel for arrivees.

One of the biggest draw cards for me, apart from the sheer beauty of the islands, is the molas. Molas are works of art – the local men and women do intricately embroidered panels of traditional Kuna patterns, the bird and animal molas are mainly for tourist trade. The main use for these panels are to adorn the back and front of the women's blouse, the traditional Kuna uniform. Most of the Kuna women still dress in the traditional garb – their faces are adorned with a black line painted from the forehead to the tip of the nose, with a gold ring worn through the septum. Colourful fabric is wrapped around the waist as a skirt, topped by a short-sleeved blouse covered in brilliantly coloured molas. The women wrap their legs from ankle to knee in long strands of tiny beads, forming colourful geometric patterns. A printed headscarf and many necklaces, rings and bracelets complete the wardrobe – the men appear to have adopted the “western” dress ie shorts and t-shirt. Kuna women never show their cleavages, bellies or legs, men do not go bare-chested. Tourists who visit the islands in bikini tops, tiny skirts or men without shirts offend the shy people and consider that act as a disrespect. Many tourists quiet rudely try to take photos of what they may see as a “people oddity” which again causes distress and offense – now the indians charge per photo and the government is considering banning visitors to some of the islands and photography of their people.

Most places we have been to have a dress code and the San Blas islands are no different. This doesn't appear to apply to those on boats …... the yacht next to us (who anchored surprisingly close considering the amount of room in which to anchor) has a g-string clad lady who parades on deck for most of the day – watching her bend over the mainsail whilst securing it is probably sheer delight if you are a fella. She also goes for a spin around in the dinghy – waving to yachties as she does donuts around their vessels – quiet a character and a complete delight for Don. Most other boats have bikini clad ornaments but none quiet as flamboyant as our neighbour.

Our coolant leaked out into the bilge overnight – no warning at all. Bloody boats !!!! We took various bits and pieces off the engine trying to locate the origin of the leak but no joy – it was a mystery. We put the heat exchanger back on – this being no minor job – on your knees bending into the engine compartment with a heavy heat exchanger balanced and having to line up 4 x 2” pipes, 2 rubber hoses and 2 bolts all at the same time whilst pushing towards the rear of the engine to ensure the rubber hoses are on, at the same time pushing into the body of the engine to engage the pipes – the pipes are sealed with an O ring only so in most cases one of the 4 will twist but you don't find out until all hose clamps are tight and all the other paraphenalia is connected and the motor is started – then it all has to come off again to straighten or replace the twisted O ring and the process begins again. Having done that 3 times we fixed the leak we had created with a twisted O ring and the original leak had miraculously stopped – we didn't question just thanked Neptune or whoever and went on our way. We were still perplexed as to the origin of the leak as it appears in a place where the coolant system doesn't go.

Fiona flew out from El Porvenir – a long journey home for her. We had planned to spend her last few days visiting some of the closer islands in the San Blas area but with an unknown coolant leak we could not take the chance of a motor problem and not being able to get her back to this island for her flight.

I was very pleased with a visit from “Lisa” - she is a well respected mola maker and one I was hoping to see. Lisa came aboard and we spent some time going though her wonderful work. Lisa is a transvestite – not an uncommon occurrence in Kuna Yala (San Blas) – it appears homosexuality is quite acceptable in the islands. Most of the famous mola makers are men – there is an island where most of the artisans reside. Valencia is another famous mola artisan – probably the most famous. His work is exquisite. I am hoping we will get to view some of his molas before we leave the area.

Chichime

We left El Porvenir to a very rolly sickening one hour motor across to Chichime anchorage. This well protected anchorage is surrounded by reefs and nestles between two tiny islands. We were greeted by Kuna indians in canoes before we even anchored – each wanted us to purchase molas, fish, crayfish, coconuts – anything !!! It is difficult anchoring in a tight spot whilst trying not to run over a few canoes – they are quiet adept at paddling out of our way – so I found out !!! The children all ask for cookies – we ran out of cookies very quickly. The canoes lined up very politely to each take his turn at trying to extract a few dollars from the new arrivals – it became annoying after a few hours – and when it continued the following day I was ready to leave. Umberto continued to come by each day with his grandsons – the kids wanting their daily supply of sugar in the form of cookies and Umberto to extract $ out of the cruisers any way possible – garbage, fish, crayfish, coconut etc

Our night was horrible – real nightmare material – when we arrived we anchored in between two other boats that left lots of room for swinging on the anchor – by the time the last boat arrived at sunset the anchorage was tight. A squall hit at dinnertime which had all sailors up on deck checking anchors and neighbors – the downpour was drenching and cool. This continued until around midnight – the catamaran next to us began to drag almost immediately – heading towards us – he was a late arrival and squeezed in where he should not have – they acted quickly and motored away from us and re-anchored – quite close once again but there was nowhere else for them to go so a sleepless night for all. One other boat ended up hitting bottom and had to move – he ended up just in front of us so he was on watch duty for the rest of the night in case he dragged back onto us. The sheer noise of the wind – up to 30knots – and the rain lashing makes it scary without looking out into a very dark night trying to see how close your neighbour is. Two more boats arrived today and pushed into tight spots – the squalls are forecast to last for another 24 hours – it will be a horrible night for all if the weather turns bad again tonight. The nights have been relatively calm since - the normal light show occurring each evening and our favourite - a mantra ray that must be at least 1.5 metres across jumps up at least 2 metres into the air each night and splashes back down - a wonderful sight but he only does it once a night - we look out for him now.

Valencia came to our boat the following day and we invited him aboard - he had many spectacular molas - even better quality than Lisa's and priced accordingly.  We bought three - Don was so tired of looking at them that he readily agreed (not like him at all !!!). Valencia is also a transvestite and can appear as a male or female.

We have recently found out that someone stole the solar panels from the radio transmitter belonging to Cable & Wireless - the telephone company we are with - Digicell are still operating.  No one with C&W have been able to use their phone or email.

Don has a reoccurring back problem which usually goes away with a few days rest. This time was different - he has been lying flat without relief.  He can barely move and only get out to the cockpit after copious painkillers.  We had hoped to move on but will stay here in Chichime while we know boats around us and know we are dug in well - going to another anchorage and facing another tropical storm with Don out of action would not be much fun. 

Oh boy – what a wonderful day – the fruit and vegie boat came to visit us filled with lots of goodies. We bought the usual potatoes, onions, watermelon, oranges, pineapple, tomatoes, cucumber etc. after we had lined all our purchases up the Kuna's began to tell us what else they had – there was a rusty fridge lying on its back in their small boat – it was filled with chooks – so we got one of those also – they come with necks and heads (yuk !!), they also had beer, wine, rum, cigarettes – lots of goodies – alcohol is prohibited in Kuna Yala but the more “non traditional” islands get around that by purchasing it from the Colombian trading boats and not the Panamanian – then they sell it to the cruisers. The Government turns a blind eye to the trading.

East Lemon Cays

We left Chichimie for East Lemons Cays – a massive journey of 2 miles. We anchored away from the fleet – on our own which was nice. We were next to a Kuna house built on a satellite coral bank – the house is the only thing that fits on the tiny coral island. When the Kuna indians are occupying the house they often come to boats and offer a coconut in exchange for charging their mobile phone.

Our problematic leak has reoccurred and the whole process of pulling the cooling system off the engine began once again. It is the rainy season here at present and we have had our share of storms that are fierce and strong and can last up to 7 hours. We cannot be without a motor during one of these storms in case the anchor doesn't hold and we have to motor away from the surrounding reefs. When we begin to pull the motor apart we have to keep going until it is back together – it is too risky to stop, we felt very vulnerable the first time when a storm hit and we were still putting pipes and hoses back on. Yesterday we took it apart again - and I finally found where it was leaking from - a welch plug under the motor - there are four of them but the leaking one just happens to be the most difficult to get at - we had to remove the oil cooler to get anywhere near it - all the time worried that we would disturb or break seals that we did not have replacement for.  We carry many engine parts but I can guarantee you the one we require will be the only we don't have - tis Murphy's Law.  We have bogged the plug up with high tech chewing gum (epoxy putty) - it is a major repair job and we will need to be in a marina and have access to a parts shop to do the job.  We ran the motor for a short while today and so far no leaks - now we are debating whether to turn tail and go back to Colon, Panama to the marina at Shelter Bay, an over night sail, or continue to Cartegena in Colombia - we want to go on to Colombia but it would be risky - we have decided to continue visiting the surrounding islands for four days or so and see how the motor holds up then make a decision.

The weather here is unusual for this time of year – the hurricane season traditionally runs from June to November but hurricanes were experienced early in the season and still tropical storms are threatening to turn into full blown thunderstorms as I write this – very late in the season. We had a spectacular thunder storm last night and a nearby yacht got side hit - he was fortunate - it only took out one piece of electrical equipment - it went all night - the thunder reverberated through the water and up through the hull, shaking us in bed - it was scary.  We had all our computers in the oven - I wonder if that really would help - I have decided to make a little red cap thingie - ie just a circle with elastic to put over the oven dial so we don't accidentally turn it on when our electrical gear is inside.  We heard today that the Digicel (mobile phone) tower was hit by lightning so there goes the only other telephone outlet.

Carti
We motored to Carti today – I was getting worried about being out of touch for so long and needed to hear from the children so Don took pity on me. We had to purchase a new sim card for Digicel and now have to wait until they repair the tower – not today as it is a public holiday – they seem to have public holidays every other day in Panama – even more than Tasmania !

John was the local representative who arrived alongside White Rose when we were trying to anchor – as usual his ulu (dugout) was behind us when we wanted to reverse and in front when we needed to go to deeper water – always offering advice on where to anchor (not knowing our draft). Anyway we followed his advice and it was good. His ulu was one he made out of a mahogany tree he cut down in the jungle. He leaves this tiny island each day and goes to the jungle on the mainland and works long and hard. He has planted 5000 coconut trees and many pineapples – I told John about Don's sore back as explanation why the Capitain had not appeared to say hola – he knew how to fix it with a coke bottle or beer bottle. When we met him at his house later that day he did apply his bottle to Don's back – he rolled it up and down and around – this is how he relieves his back after a long hard day. By the way John is 76 years old !!

There is a cruisers net that operates every morning, it is a valuable source of weather and information. One new arrival reported a fish trap floating (which is a danger to boats) but also a dead body – poor things !!

The tiny island has 1300 inhabitants, the buildings cover the entire land mass and spill out into the water – most have “outhouses” over the water. There are narrow paths between the homes, above the grass roofs meet so these paths are dark and tiny as the Kuna are a tiny race – the African Pygmies are the only smaller race.

The children are so cute – tiny dark brown bodies all running around in undies. Mostly playing in the deep puddles left from the rain storm – all with ear to ear smiles.

Nargana

In our constant search for a working phone tower we continued onto the next island – Nargana. This island has tiendas (tiny grasshut shops) a primary and secondary school and airstrip. We found the baker by following our noses – his bakery was in a concrete building without windows, a totally derelict building with mud floor, a stove and a few grubby rough wooden benches – but the bread was good. Federique was the Kuna that greeted us on arrival – he spoke excellent English and invited us to his Casa (home) when we went ashore. Federique had decided it was time he retired so he bought his wife a washing machine so she could take in laundry from the cruisers and earn their keep – what a thoughtful man !!! The brand new washing machine arrived with instructions in English and they had no idea how to use one. Pam and Richard from the catamaran “Tisha Baby” hooked the machine up and explained how to use it. Pam was the first cruiser to try out the new laundry service – I did laugh when she said her washing came back just as dirty but now smelling of smoke – not having a reliable water pressure system the wife was putting a bucket of water into the machine and closing the lid (which is a model that automatically locks the lid so you cannot access the tub to put more water in for the rinse). The machine dumped the water out straight away and went through the entire cycle without any more water. The “clean” clothes were then ceremoniously hung around the Casa (which consists of one large room with open fire for cooking) and smoked overnight to dry. At this stage I made a mental note not to use the service !! I had been looking forward to having my sheets and towels put through a machine as they are heavy to do by hand. Pam spent a day in Federique's Casa explaining what had gone wrong and taking them through the process again – and writing it down in Spanish. The machine had to be turned off for 2 mintues to allow the electronics to disengage the lid in order to put the rinse water in – no spin rinse for this machine!! The clothes are usually thrown up on the Casa grass roofs to dry – usually lots of tiny undies from the children!!!

Nargana had a festival where each Province of Panama is represented by a school group or other either playing musical instruments, dancing or acting. It was wonderful and colourful.

We had a new arrival today, a French catamaran with a very handsome man in g-string – why do they always attend to the mainsail whilst wearing less than the bare minimum – is it because they can bend, stretch and pose for the gawkers. Anyway he was extremely tanned and had a bright blue g-string – actually I think it was less than a g-string -is there such a thing??? Not sure what it would be called – i-string ???

The weather continues to be horrible – squalls throughout the nights so we are not getting very much sleep and still taking it in turns to nap during the day. Everything is damp – new leaks have appeared due to the torrential rain and everything is going mouldy. The water has turned bright orange as a result of the mud being washed out from the Rio Diablo.

We heard about a yacht in trouble at the entrance to Chichime. We sat listening to the various reports on the VHF radio – initially there were some Kuna boats and one bigger boat trying to get the yacht free from the reef – it was late afternoon in squally wet weather so visibility would have been minimum and wind high – dangerous for the assisting boat as well as the Kuna's in their dugout canoes. The visitors and owners got off the boat safely but unfortunately the yacht sank (reported to be a Beneteau) within 24 hours and now posses a navigational hazard for those trying to enter Chichime. The San Blas islands are reportedly calm, sunny and very pleasant to spend a sailing season or year round – the weather we are experiencing at present is not usual so it was unfortunate for the yacht to be out and about in such unsettled weather. Even in settled weather the cross current on entering Chichime can be very strong and hazardous for the unwary.

It has been an interesting week here in San Blas – before the sinking of the yacht a freighter coming from Colombia to Panama ran out of fuel and ended up on the outer reef near a group of islands popular to cruisers. The crew were taken off and the freighter is still stuck firmly to the reef.

There is a police exercise happening at the moment in the San Blas islands so every now and then we see green open launches speeding around full of armed young men in green. When we went into Nargana the tiny island was covered in police – there must have been hundreds of them. Unbeknown to us at the time they were in the middle of a major drug bust – and here we were walking around the boat involved having a good sticky beak. No wonder they were looking at us in a strange way – but the locals were playing volleyball within a few feet also!! Unfortunately this beautiful group of islands is too good to resist for the drug runners from Colombia – they use the uninhabitated islands for drug exchange, at times drugs are thrown overboard if the runners think they are being chased or spotted and the bundles usually end up on a Kuna island – they are kept by the indians for retrieval by the runners in exchange for a new outboard motor or flatscreen tv. The Kuna do not use drugs but some do assist in transporting it through Nargana to Panama or further. The freighters that come from Colombia often carry drugs and the one that the police raided were really stupid – they arrived in Nargana during the police exercises which included 2 thousand police – who had been tipped where to find the drugs as they went directly to the hiding area. The crew were arrested, the goods on the freighter were handed out to the residents of the island and the fridges and freezers donated also. The freighter is now anchored in the bay near us !!!

The bad weather continues – we have a large yellow tub out on deck, the sides of which are 11” high and each day we empty it and it fills up again and overflows – that will give you an idea of the amount of rain we are experiencing. I have inserted a few news items about the unusual rain. This is the worst rain in history – Panama began recording its weather 75 years ago and this tops anything previously recorded. I'm not surprised !!

“Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli has decreed a "state of national emergency" to expedite aid to target the different areas of the country that have been affected by floods, overflowing rivers and landslides. Similarly, the President admitted that the dam at the Bayano Lake was about to give way, due to the amount of water that was accumulating.”

“The Panama Canal, which handles more than 200 million metric tons of cargo a year, opened today after rain forced the first closure of the waterway since 1989. The 80 kilometer (50-mile) canal, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, opened after 17 hours, the Panama Canal

Authority said in an e-mailed statement today. Ships were stopped yesterday after the main river and lake used by vessels reached record levels. The canal last closed when the U.S. invaded the Central American nation to oust then-President Manuel Noriega.” The dam that joins Gatun Lake to Rio Chargres was opened to allow water to exit the Lake – this operation was carried out a few years ago and the officials did not warn yachts that were anchored in Rio Chargres – imagine their horror when racing water washed their boats downstream at least 2 miles !!!

According to the official numbers, 4,097 people have been affected thus far by the heavy rains and flooding over the past several days in the Republic of Panama. Unusually heavy rains have triggered floods and landslides in various parts of the country, according to the Civil

Protection System (SINAPROC). The rains and flooding have caused damage to at least 962 homes. In addition 412 houses were destroyed by the bad weather. Of the number of homes destroyed, 390 are located in the area of Chepo, 19 in the Kuna Yala and three in Portobello (Colon).

An entire Kuna village close to us was swept away by raging floods – 4 were killed. The beautiful town of Portobello was also hit hard, homes destroyed, many injured and 1 died. The road in and out was blocked due to mudslides.

Panamanian police seized 2,030 kilos (4,471 pounds) of cocaine and arrested three people, a senior prosecutor said Monday. Nataniel Murgas told reporters that the cocaine confiscated on Sunday, was hidden in a tank with a double bottom that was being towed by a van. The operation was carried out at a checkpoint in Guabala in the province of Chiriqui. This was the second major cocaine bust in the last few days, after the one on Nov. 30 in which the Panamanian military confiscated 1,307 kilos (2,879 pounds) of the drug near the Pacific coast of the Chiman region. To date in 2010, Panama's security forces have confiscated 71 tons of illegal drugs, mostly cocaine, according to figures provided by the Public Safety Ministry.

The weather gurus say the winds are going to subside gradually and the rains should diminish – yea !! we are getting out of here – such a shame as this is truly a beautiful place and we have not seen all that we wanted to due to the weather. We shall leave today for El Porvenir to check out of Kuna Yala (Kuni-ala) and out of the country. Now just waiting for the seas to subside a little and we will be off for a new adventure in Colombia.

The anchorage in El Porvenir was horrible – very rolly – White Rose rolled from side to side so dramatically that she showed most of her bottom each time ! We quickly got away after checking out and headed back to the East Lemons anchorage. On the way some Kuna's in a small dugout canoe began waving wildly – there were three of them which filled their canoe, Kunas are excellent boat people but they were out in very heavy seas – they kept disappearing then would pop up on top of a wave every now and then. I watched them in the binoculars and they were not baling water out and were all paddling slowly so were not in immediate trouble – noone appeared hurt but you never know. I called Don up – he was suspicious that they wanted a tow back to their island – he was right !! We furled the sails and motored over to them – their smiles were sooooo big – poor things must have been tired. Anyway threw them a rope – tried to explain that we were not actually going to their island but would get them close – we had to leave them in the canoe for stability – it would have overturned otherwise – they bobbed furiously behind us – it was a little comical – we were travelling into the wind at a slower pace then they had been paddling. They untied the rope when we were almost at their island and waved goodbye – does the spirit good to do a good turn now and then – only problem was it now meant we were loosing light to enter our anchorage – it would have been extremely dangerous if we had not been their previously and had our course tracked on the plotter. We are leaving tomorrow morning so our next blog entry will be from Cartagena – yea !!!