02/27/2011, San Blas Islands, Panama
Undated. At the celebration of the revolution, the Kuna had very generously set up plastic chairs for all the gringos to sit in. The Kuna themselves either stood or sat on logs or on the ground. The chairs were arranged along the W side of one of the huts such that is gave us as much shade as possible in the early morning. As the day progressed, we moved our chairs back trying to stay in the shade. In the space behind us, young boys ran back and forth under the overhanging eves of the hut. At one point I was sitting comfortably back in my chair and I felt a little hand come out and touch my beard. When I turned, it quickly disappeared and several young boys were giggling. Eventually I figured out that they had never seen a white, curly beard before. Being American Indians, they have little, if any, facial hair and what hair they do have is coal black and straight. I told them it was OK to touch my beard. Hesitantly, first one and then another touched and stroked my beard. They were fascinated by its texture as well as its color. I, in turn, stroked their smooth faces and we all laughed. On the other side of us were four girls, probably all in their early teens. Although they all had long hair, three were in traditional dress with mola blouses and wrap around skirts. The fourth wore a Tigre basketball uniform top and cut off jean short shorts. One of them was nursing a baby and all four had young children! The baby had a terrible skin condition. Multiple sores over arms and legs. They looked perhaps fungal, but could also have been parasitic. His mother had what appeared to be scars from similar, now healed, lesions. None of the girls seemed to take any notice of the baby's condition and made no effort to avoid contact with the sores. I thought about trying to examine the baby closer, but realistically there was little I could offer either diagnostically or therapeutically. Later, while walking about the island after the festivities, I saw an adult applying some type of commercial ointment to a different baby with similar lesions so apparently they had their own remedy.
Sunday, 28 February, 2011. Water, water everywhere. We are now totally without water. I unwisely told Deb to go ahead and do laundry yesterday morning as Federico knew we wanted 140 gallons that day, so she effectively emptied the tanks doing laundry. I barely squeezed enough out to make coffee this morning and now the pumps run dry. Yesterday Federico had said he would get us water and, indeed, went up the river and returned with many filled jugs. None were for us, however and he promised, “Manana.” This morning I went in around 10:00 and was told (I think it is his wife) that he would have water for us @ 1:00. It is now 2:30 and I just went in again and was told that (I think it is the son) will go and get water “now.” Meanwhile, we still do not have our watermaker. Yesterday, Thomas told me that they had taken it in to the airport and it would be on the 11:00 Aeroperlas flight today. At about 11:30 a plane landed and I hurried out to the airstrip. It was an Air Panama flight and “No,” there was no package for me. Then I am told that Aeroperlas does not fly here (Corizon de Jesus) any more, only Air Panama. I call Thomas and explain the situation to him. He investigates and calls back. The watermaker is still sitting @ Aeroperlas offices in Panama City (why they accepted a package to a location they no longer fly to is a mystery.) He, Thomas, will personally go to the airport and transfer the package to Air Panama to be delivered on their 6:45 flight tomorrow. So we have no water or watermaker today. We are stuck waiting in the anchorage @ Corizon which is OK, but it is not like we were sitting by some beautiful palm covered isle with sandy beaches. 5:00 PM update. Thomas called from the airport to get the correct spelling of my name (our email is just signed “Mark & Deb” and somehow the office had tried to make that into one name!?). He then confirmed that they had accepted the package at Air Panama after opening it again to inspect it and it would be on the 6:00 AM flight tomorrow morning. Federico showed up with 140+ gallons of water in many 5 gallon jugs plus a 55 gallon barrel. We poured the jugs through a funnel into the tank and then used a bucket to bail the barrel into the tank until it was full. This time the water was $0.25/gal. but he had to go all the way up the river to get it as opposed to just turning on the hose as a tree had fallen and broken the pipe that brought water to the town so EVERYONE was going up river to get fresh water. It was really quite a sight with all the ulus going back and forth with a wide variety of containers for water. So, we have water. We have good reason to believe that our watermaker is fixed and will arrive tomorrow morning so hopefully we can get on with our busy schedule of swimming and relaxing!
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02/27/2011, San Blas Islands, Panama
Undated. At the celebration of the revolution, the Kuna had very generously set up plastic chairs for all the gringos to sit in. The Kuna themselves either stood or sat on logs or on the ground. The chairs were arranged along the W side of one of the huts such that is gave us as much shade as possible in the early morning. As the day progressed, we moved our chairs back trying to stay in the shade. In the space behind us, young boys ran back and forth under the overhanging eves of the hut. At one point I was sitting comfortably back in my chair and I felt a little hand come out and touch my beard. When I turned, it quickly disappeared and several young boys were giggling. Eventually I figured out that they had never seen a white, curly beard before. Being American Indians, they have little, if any, facial hair and what hair they do have is coal black and straight. I told them it was OK to touch my beard. Hesitantly, first one and then another touched and stroked my beard. They were fascinated by its texture as well as its color. I, in turn, stroked their smooth faces and we all laughed. On the other side of us were four girls, probably all in their early teens. Although they all had long hair, three were in traditional dress with mola blouses and wrap around skirts. The fourth wore a Tigre basketball uniform top and cut off jean short shorts. One of them was nursing a baby and all four had young children! The baby had a terrible skin condition. Multiple sores over arms and legs. They looked perhaps fungal, but could also have been parasitic. His mother had what appeared to be scars from similar, now healed, lesions. None of the girls seemed to take any notice of the baby's condition and made no effort to avoid contact with the sores. I thought about trying to examine the baby closer, but realistically there was little I could offer either diagnostically or therapeutically. Later, while walking about the island after the festivities, I saw an adult applying some type of commercial ointment to a different baby with similar lesions so apparently they had their own remedy.
Sunday, 28 February, 2011. Water, water everywhere. We are now totally without water. I unwisely told Deb to go ahead and do laundry yesterday morning as Federico knew we wanted 140 gallons that day, so she effectively emptied the tanks doing laundry. I barely squeezed enough out to make coffee this morning and now the pumps run dry. Yesterday Federico had said he would get us water and, indeed, went up the river and returned with many filled jugs. None were for us, however and he promised, “Manana.” This morning I went in around 10:00 and was told (I think it is his wife) that he would have water for us @ 1:00. It is now 2:30 and I just went in again and was told that (I think it is the son) will go and get water “now.” Meanwhile, we still do not have our watermaker. Yesterday, Thomas told me that they had taken it in to the airport and it would be on the 11:00 Aeroperlas flight today. At about 11:30 a plane landed and I hurried out to the airstrip. It was an Air Panama flight and “No,” there was no package for me. Then I am told that Aeroperlas does not fly here (Corizon de Jesus) any more, only Air Panama. I call Thomas and explain the situation to him. He investigates and calls back. The watermaker is still sitting @ Aeroperlas offices in Panama City (why they accepted a package to a location they no longer fly to is a mystery.) He, Thomas, will personally go to the airport and transfer the package to Air Panama to be delivered on their 6:45 flight tomorrow. So we have no water or watermaker today. We are stuck waiting in the anchorage @ Corizon which is OK, but it is not like we were sitting by some beautiful palm covered isle with sandy beaches. 5:00 PM update. Thomas called from the airport to get the correct spelling of my name (our email is just signed “Mark & Deb” and somehow the office had tried to make that into one name!?). He then confirmed that they had accepted the package at Air Panama after opening it again to inspect it and it would be on the 6:00 AM flight tomorrow morning. Federico showed up with 140+ gallons of water in many 5 gallon jugs plus a 55 gallon barrel. We poured the jugs through a funnel into the tank and then used a bucket to bail the barrel into the tank until it was full. This time the water was $0.25/gal. but he had to go all the way up the river to get it as opposed to just turning on the hose as a tree had fallen and broken the pipe that brought water to the town so EVERYONE was going up river to get fresh water. It was really quite a sight with all the ulus going back and forth with a wide variety of containers for water. So, we have water. We have good reason to believe that our watermaker is fixed and will arrive tomorrow morning so hopefully we can get on with our busy schedule of swimming and relaxing!
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02/26/2011, San Blas Islands, Panama
Dave & Lisa's flight was @ 6:45 so I made coffee the night before and just had to switch it on when the alarm went off @ 6:00. We had the dinghy loaded and ferried them over to the air strip by 6:30. We checked in with the agent who arrived around 7:00 and I gave him the “letter” with my credit card in it to send to Panama City, and then we waited. And waited. Approaching 7:30 a fellow from another boat came to the air strip to inform us that he had people arriving on the flight and that it had taken off on schedule but had returned to Albrook with “engine problems” and was still on the ground. I went back tot he boat, set Deb up to do laundry, got coffee and Kuna bread and returned to wait with Dave & Lisa. Lisa called Air Panama who confirmed there was a problem and offered that she could call back in an hour to see where things were at. So we waited. And an hour later she called and they (eventually) said that the plane should land in 10 minutes. Which of course it did NOT. By 9:30 another dinghy arrived dropping off a passenger for the “9:40 flight”. That turned out to be moderately adequate and by 10:00, a totally unmarked and very small plane arrived and took several, but not all, of the passengers aboard. Fortunately, Dave & Lisa made it. It flew off promising to return about 12:00 for the rest. Immediately upon return to the boat, I called Yacht Services to inform them that the credit card was on its way and that there was a 12:00 flight that they could send the watermaker on. Of course, Thomas was not there, but “he will call you.” So I waited. And waited. By the time the 12:00 flight landed, I called back and was informed that the messenger was on his way to the airport to pick u p the credit card. They would call when they got it and were ready to send the ETD. I waited. By 3:00 I called again, finally looking up Thomas' cell phone (the number given in his email was “no longer in service”). I had his actual phone number on my Movistar SIM card, but since Movistar doesn't work in San Blas, we had the Digicel card in the phone. So I removed, it replaced the Movistar card, looked up the number, removed the Movistar card, replaced the Digicel card, and called Thomas. He assured me that the messenger was at the airport sending us the ETD and he would call back when he knew what flight it would be on. I waited. About 4:00 je called to say that it would be on the 11:00 Am flight tomorrow. We will wait and see. While all this was going on, I went to Federico to get the water I had ordered for today. (Deb emptied the tanks doing laundry.) He asked how much we needed and promised, “Manana.” Maybe some today. Wait and he will bring it. We waited. He came by, asked again how much we needed, and again promised it “Manana.” None today. I went in to Nargana to see if I could use internet. (They have internet @ the school, but you have to find the person to let you in and set it up.) After asking several people, I learned “No, Lunes (Monday).” At least I did find some TINY limes @ $0.25. (Big limes in Bocas are $0.05-0.10). Back at the boat Deb had a gin & tonic and I had a mojito as a prelude to a nice evening after a day of waiting. Perhaps tomorrow, something will happen.
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02/26/2011, San Blas Islands, Panama
Thursday, 24 February, 2011. More fun under the sea In the morning, Dave, Lisa & I went for a hookah dive on the reef. It is so wide and deep that it really takes several dives to see it all. This time we wore gloves and made a concentrated effort to find lobster. We did not do so well. First I found one, but only got his antenna as he shed it like lizards do their tail and escaped. Later I found two lobsters together. I motioned to Dave and he and I approached from opposite sides, but he accidentally brushed an antenna and they both scooted before we could grab them. Their hiding hole was pretty small and we spent some time trying to force them out but to no avail. It was still a real pretty dive even if not productive. After lunch we went for a final dive here before leaving for Tigre. All four of us went. We saw a small moray eel that was actually free swimming between hidey-holes. The coral is just unbelievable in health and variety – both soft and hard. Words don't come close. Hopefully some of Lisa's underwater pictures will come out and we can post them. Sergio never showed up. By 3:00 we weighed anchor and sailed to Tigre, using the engine a couple of times to be sure we cleared a lee shoal. It still amazes me that there are so many shoals that arise from deep water to dangerous depths in the middle of nowhere. We arrived @ Tigre to find 7 other boats anchored. We cruised through the anchorage and then decide to anchor in the “second tier” behind what used to be an island and is now just a shoal with a bit of concrete sticking up in one place. It did, however, offer excellent protection from the waves and was further from the outhouses that dot the shore and make swimming in the main anchorage questionable. All in all, a very nice spot.
Friday, 25 February, 2011. Viva la revolucion! By 8:00 AM we heard pan flute music calling us to the festivities. We dinghied ashore and joined a group of other cruisers and gringos. Now here is an incredible story: Last year we met a couple of gringos who were staying at the Kuna lodge on Tigre. They were at the revolution celebration and then were getting married by the Kuna in a couple of days. They had to buy 50# of rice and a whole pig to feed the entire island as a fee for their marriage. We were telling Dave & Lisa the story when Dave said, “The woman's name wouldn't have been Laura, would it?” It was and it turns out that she is Dave's best friend Ian's sister, who, indeed, got married in Kuna Yala last year. That was an amazing “small world” story, made more so when we met Laura and her now husband Alfred again this year at the revolution as they returned for their anniversary! The festivities were a bit different this year. There were the traditional dances, but no kid dances which we had really enjoyed. For the reenactment, however, this time we started in the congrejo hut with a presentation (with English as well as Spanish translation) of the story and a dramatization of a scene we had not seen last year: A Panamanian teacher came to Tigre to establish a school to teach the children because the Kuna were all “ignorant” (meaning they did not know Spanish or “Panamanian ways.”) The villagers debated this and rejected the school saying they had plenty of knowledge of life and nature and had their own language and customs and did not need Panamanian. The teacher returned with police backing to inform them that they WOULD have a school. This was a very pivotal part of the events leading up to the revolution that we had missed last year. The remainder of the reenactment was unchanged from previously and featured lots of moulage and great acting and the Kuna were beat and dragged to jail. When it was over, however, there was no Chicha this year! No real explanation except that they do not always do it and last year was special. This, however, gave us a chance to wander about the island. Both Deb & Lisa bought molas and I found the pandaria (though the Kuna don't call it that) and bought some Kuna bread right from the oven. Back at the boat, we cooled off with a swim and then a beer and then lunch (more beer with Kuna bread and cheese). Then we weighed anchor and sailed a beautiful broad reach all the way back to Corizon de Jesus. We anchored easily. As we were preparing lasagna for dinner, an ulu approached with several large lobsters and many smaller ones. I ended up buying 11 lobster (about half big and half small) for $30. We took several of the smaller ones and made scampi to go with the lasagna. Delicious! Tomorrow Dave & Lisa's flight leaves @ 6:45 so we will be up early. Supposedly our watermaker is FINALLY fixed and so I will send a credit card on the plane to Panama City and they will hopefully process it and send it back with the watermaker on the next flight. In the mean time, the four of us did make it through the week with one tank full of water, so all is good.
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02/24/2011, San Blas Islands, Panama
You cannot see Ogopsibudup from Islas Iguanas because Islas Cocos Oeste are in between. Therefore we did not know if our anchorage would be available when we weighed anchor and headed there. Previously it had appeared that there was really only one place to anchor so if the other boat was still there, we would need to go elsewhere and miss the beautiful reef. We sailed S of Cocos Oeste dodging shoals that rose from 90' to 2' in the middle of nowhere. As Ogopsibudup came into view, it at first appeared that the boat was still there. As we continued and got a better angle of view, it became apparent that actually he was in the process of leaving. Hurray! We sailed on to the island and anchored as before, but when I dove the anchor it was hooked on a small piece of coral and if it let go was unlikely to reset. While I was there, I swam along the coast and found a much better location to anchor with no coral near and plenty of depth (even though VERY close to shore). So we picked up the anchor and moved, anchoring smoothly and burying the anchor nicely. Although we dropped the anchor in about 8', after setting it and allowing adequate scope, we were sitting in 50'. And starting directly under the boat was a ridge of fantastic coral. We did two different hour long hookahs of the ridge, initially swimming out the deep (50') side and back the shallow (20') side and the next time we repeated the deep side and cam back the middle. In addition to every type of hard and soft coral imaginable we saw a couple eagle rays, many lobsters (but we did not have on gloves to catch them), a moray eel, lots of angle fish, and (unfortunately) a couple lion fish. (These fish are a native of the Pacific accidentally introduced to the Caribbean. They have no natural predators here and are very destructive of local fish.) Both dives were fantastic and we plan to hang here overnight and do it again tomorrow. Between dives, Dave & I took the kayak and paddled about the island, confirming that this was really the only viable anchorage and also the best section of reef to dive, although we did find a short section by the tip of the island that might be interesting – also very deep. We also tested the kayak's stability and found it had surprisingly high secondary stability. We could both lean way out on the same side until the gunnel was in the water and it still righted easily. Nice to know. As we were getting back to the boat, a Kuna (I believe it was Sergio) came by selling lobster. They were all rather small, but we got 14 for $25 so not too bad a deal. He promised that tomorrow he would bring bananas, limes, and pineapple for us. He also “borrowed” some gas for his outboard as he had run dry and promised to return it tomorrow. We'll see. We did not give him any money in advance this time so the worst case scenario is I'm out a couple gallons of outboard gas.
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