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February 02, 2008
Isla Porvenir to the Eastern Holandes Cays, Islas de San Blas, Panama
We took Marciano ashore before dawn yesterday to catch his flight to Panama City, then Bogota, then Cartagena, and finally back to Aruba. The connections were not going to work in his favour, leaving him stranded in Bogota for the weekend. He made the best of it by connecting with a friend.
Mike & Judy at the end of the Runway, Isla Porvenir
Judy was finally feeling well enough to go ashore to explore, and we decided to stop at the bar/hotel/restaurant/gift shop/travel agency/phone card place and have a Balboa (local beer). On the label, it says “sabor intenso” – intense flavour. And it was.
We also got to swing through a couple of the local villages on the nearby islands. More on the local Kuna Indians in a bit. But this photo gives you a taste of what these people are all about.
Kuna Village
The walls of the homes are made from sugar cane, the roofs from palm fronds thatched together with crawlers from the jungles, the floors from packed sand, and nothing more than hammocks as furniture. The roofs last 15 years and do not leak in the rain!
And after we completed our exploration of the immediate area, we decided to move on to the Eastern Holandes Cays. Las Islas de San Blas is a vast archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast, including more than 340 islands over the eastern part of the Continental Shelf. Some of the islands are close to the mainland, and some are closer to the barrier reef that lies several miles from shore. The Eastern Holandes Cays lay immediately behind the barrier reef, well off the mainland. Our chosen anchorage was called the Swimming Pool, named by gringos for the shallow clear water, looking very much like the bottom of a swimming pool. We saw plenty of rays gliding about in the shallow waters.
Swimming Pool Anchorage
Posted by dave at February 2, 2008 02:46 PM