THE SAN BLAS ISLANDS OF PANAMA OUR NEXT STOP

JUNE 26, 2014

With company come and gone we are getting little anxious to be off to the San Blas Islands of Panama before the Ass of the Chicken has a chance to visit us here in Cartagena. The weather has been unusually dry for June and they say when the rain finally arrives the storms will be right behind.

After checking the weather forecast it appears we have a clear window if we leave Cartagena within the next few days. That said we are in a frenzy to get the boat and ourselves ready. The batteries have been installed, and the diesel topped off and normal engine maintenance done. That leaves laundry, filling the water tanks, provisioning and securing the boat for our passage. 

It will take about 40 hours to reach Isla Porvenir where we will check into Panama and the San Blas Islands.  Here we will also purchase our cruising permit for the islands. There are more than 300 islands some inhabited by the Kuna Indians and most uninhabited. This is suppose to be some of the most beautiful pristine cruising grounds in any of the Caribbean. While here there will be little of what we call civilization, we are going to love it.  It is said that daily the Indians visit the boats at anchor and you can purchase fresh fish, fruit and sometimes homemade bread. The US dollar is the currency and no one has change. A trip to the bank will supply us with the needed stack of 1 dollar bills to purchase fish, no fishing is allowed in the islands.

We will stay in the islands a few weeks before moving on to the mainland of Panama. Most of our communication will be by SSB radio Email and our SPOT locator, the internet will be hard to find. My sister Judy has agreed to post an occasional email to our Face book page to let friends and family know what we are up to and how we like our new anchorages.

We are looking forward to our new adventure in the clear blue water of the San Blas Islands.