Kuna Yala - Panama!

After a great city sojourn in Cartagena we were back on the water; destination - The San Blas Islands. The San Blas is an archipelago comprising approximately 378 islands and cays, of which only 49 are inhabited. They lie off the north coast of the Isthmus of Panama and they are home to the Kuna Indians.

After a 2 day sail with high seas and rough winds, we were relieved to finally arrived in the Hollandaise Cays with our buddy boats - Chilli Cat and Maloo. We anchored in the protected waters of 'swimming pool anchorage' and did very little for 5 days except swim, eat and relax.

After months of searching, Mike finally found a speargun in Colombia. We're hoping this bad boy is going to supplement our diet with fresh fish in the Pacific.

(small) success!

With some practice Mike speared a decent size barracuda! Until now we've been hesitant to eat barracuda because of the ciguatera they generally carry- ciguatera is a food borne illness caused by eating certain reef fish whose flesh contains toxins. After speaking with the locals and many cruisers who have been eating the barracuda in these waters for years we decided to get out the curry powder and frying pan cook this sucker up. It was tasty!

We joined in a cruisers rubbish burn one afternoon - you can learn a lot about fellow travellers from their trash!

 Megan and Heather from 'Chilli Cat'

 Captain Charles of 'Chilli Cat'

 The boys enjoying some cold beers

The Kuna are famous for their bright molas, a colourful textile art form made with the techniques of appliqué. Mola panels are used to make blouses of the Kuna women's national dress, which is worn daily by many Kuna women. Each mola is unique and they usually show abstracted forms of birds, animals and marine life.

A Kuna woman selling her molas.

 After 5 days at anchor we were ready for a change of scenery and headed west. We spent 2 nights in the west Hollandaise Cays - very beautiful.

 The islands are very small and can typically be walked around in 30 minutes or less.

We had a few days of dark clouds and rain so Megan decided to tackle her 500 piece fish puzzle. Good times!

Freshly caught lobster we bought from a local Kuna. He paddled around in his "ulu" - dugout canoe to all the boats. They were small but $10 for 4 was the right price! Mike and Mark took care of the dirty work off the back of the boat and then we BBQ'd them quickly and served them with butter and garlic - delish!

We had a great time relaxing in the San Blas and really enjoyed socialising with our cruiser friends. Although the islands are beautiful, we were saddened to see how much rubbish - mostly plastics have washed up ashore. A real reminder of the effects western living has on small communities. It will be interesting to see if the Kunas can retain their traditional way of life or if they'll succumb to modern conveniences. Up next - our transit of the Panama Canal to the Pacific ocean.