ANCHORED TO CLEAR IN AT PORVENIR

July 2, 2014

CUSTOMS DOCK AT PORVINER

We arrived to anchor just off Isla Proviner in the protected waters Kuna Yala the Kuna Indian name for the San Blas Islands. At 11am we dropped the anchor in 35ft of clear blue water next to a white sand beach. This is the only island with an airport. Soon after we dropped the anchor we watched a Cessna Caravan drop from the sky to land on the short runway. 

We sat in the cockpit amazed that we have arrived to check into our 14^th country, Panama. As we congratulated ourselves a long dugout canoe with 3 women and a child aboard paddled up and Rod took their line. These are some of Kuna Indian women that are famous for the Mola creations. We were soon shown beautiful hand made fabric pieces with tiny hand stitching and intricate cut out piecing. We purchased one piece explaining that we had to pay our fees at customs before we could buy more. The people of Panama speak mostly Spanish and use US currency. These islands use only cash, there are no credit card machines or banks to get additional funds. What you bring is what you have.

Soon we had the dinghy down and were off to clear into Customs and Immigration. There are less than a dozen buildings on this tiny island with the short runway. We entered to find 5 different people we had to see for our paperwork. They were way ahead of many islands we have cleared into where we had to fill out multiple copies of the same forms because they had no duplicate forms. Here the paperwork was simple, the authorities spoke a little broken English and within half an hour we were cleared in with new stamps in our passports. The fee was $423 US, leaving us with less than $30 aboard. A little shorter on cash than expected.

SAILING DUGOUT CANOE

There is little to buy here in the islands except fresh fish, fruit, bead work and Molos from the Kunas. We will try to wait 2 weeks to make a trip into Portabello 60 miles away on the mainland. Here there will be banks, fuel and provisions. After a short stay we will be back in the islands to await our first company from US, Ben Vickers is flying into Panama City on the 26th of this month for a weeks stay.