porvenir

porvenir is a small island with an airport where we had to go to drop off alex and garry at the end of their trip. in the approach there is a reef called sail rock and a sailboat crashed against it. a terrible sight but as it turned out the kuna congress, who is now the owner of the wreck had some self tailing winches to sell to us from that boat. a great purchase that will make our lives easier when sailing because we can now roll up the head sails with no hands!!! it is a good thing we are not superstitious because so far we have purchased and installed many things for the boat that came from wrecks, not to mention of course the name change from freebird to puerto seguro... but just in case and not to tempt the gods, we did have a ceremony for that....

rio diablo

just across from nargana in the mainland there is the devil's river, a fresh water river where you can see panthers, monkeys and many types of birds and wild animal life and vegetation. the only way to the river is by dinghy, sometimes using the motor and sometimes the oars because of how shallow the water gets, not to mention all the tress that are floating in the water and different roots under it. a beautiful trip and a great change of scenery and opportunity to be able to see so much green and bathe in fresh cool water!

green island

so many star fish.... and rays, the same amazing palm tress, white sand and water.... another dream spot in this paradise!!

nargana

nargana is one of the biggest communities in kuna yala and the most civilized. many inhabitants have left their traditional way of life and live more modernized. we got supplies, diesel, washed clothes and walked around town.

the food....!

for those of you who wonder what we eat on board.... its not only pasta and canned food. we eat quite well most of the time.... of course if it was up to me and esteban we would only eat what we can buy, because so far we have not fished anything........after so many miles.... i guess we'll have to improve our techniques, but for now thanks to the kunas and garry we had excellent food all the time!

happy belated birthday

this was esteban's surprise for my birthday which was really over a month ago but he promised a lobster BBQ in an island in san blas under the stars.... and that is precisely what he gave me!!!! definitely an unforgettable one!

coco bandero

coco bandero is a group of islands in kuna yala, our first anchorage and probably our favorite one. palm trees, white sand beaches and beautiful reefs!

san blas

or as know by the locals, kuna yala. this comarca consists of a strip of land stretching over 200 miles along the caribbean coast of panama, bordering colombia and the province of darién; and the archipelago of 365 islands of which 36 are inhabited by the kuna communities. the kunas are a wonderful group of people who have preserved their traditional way of life. they fish, maintain their land, sell coconuts and sell molas. they use cayucos which are dugout canoes to transport themselves..... unfortunately this cayucos have a potential of scratching the boat when they come closer to sell their fish and of course esteban was a bit worried to damage the blue paint... :)



in all san blas is a wonderful place on earth, a real paradise hard to leave from once you have seen it...!

from cartagena to panama

after the wedding and our tour trip to bogota and villavicencio we went back to cartagena to meet our friends alex and garry and to prepare the boat for the crossing to panama. the trip took us 3 full days with 1 knot of current against us and very little wind but we enjoyed it nevertheless. once in panamanian waters we saw whales but sailed away from them because the of scary stories we have read. apparently they have attacked boats maybe thinking they are whales....... we do not really know why this has happened but it has, so better be safe than sorry......and of course we enjoyed their tale splashes in the water from a safe distance!!