GHOST: SailBlogs

Sun and Sea in the San Blas

Kat — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0500

We have continued our cruise through the San Blas, making the most of this idyllic place. After a few days of enjoying the beautiful Holandes islands and the weekly Monday cruiser pot luck get-together, followed by a few days of kite surfing and wake boarding in the Coco Banderas islands, we headed down to Isla Tigre on which the Kuna settlement is supposed to be the most unchanged to get a better understanding of the Kuna people. We were welcomed by children paddling dugout canoes and walked around the immaculate town with it's palm leaf-covered huts and friendly people - all of the children wanted to have their photo taken which was really fun. I couldn't resist buying a couple of molas, the hand embroidered squares which each take 3-days each to make! After wandering around for a while we found a little bar where we had a couple of local beers, tasted the local cuisine and sat back to soak up the atmosphere with boats Sunboy and High Five. (Continued...)

Days in Pardise

Brad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Day One (12/03/2010) Arrived in the San Blas. Paradise on the horizon appeared through an early afternoon sea haze with palm trees and a line of breaking waves where the outer reef was forcing the sea swell up . We made contact with Sunboy who where anchored in the East Holandes, the same place we had decided to stop. We weaved into the lagoon from the south, passing several deserted sand islands supporting palm trees and fabulous light blue waters and beaches. Anchored in swimming pool hole after sneaking over the shallows (2.4m deep, we draw 2.3m) and weighed anchor for the night. A couple of beers to toast our arrival. (Continued...)

Exploring Cartagena

Brad — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0600

Al from Sunboy welcomed us into Cartagena with his big Ozzie grin and firm hand shake. We hadn't seen Sunboy since New year at Mustique. He introduced us to David, a customs agent and general fixer. Somewhat surprisingly his office; his 4 door, bright red, bling bling hubs and oversized buck seat Chrysler something was parked outside the very rundown Club Nautico marina which was being rebuilt but due to; local burocracy, a greedy mayor and an Aussie owner that disappeared into a south American jail for drug trafficking, building had been suspended! After handing our passports over to Dave, a relative stranger on the side of the road by all accounts, we headed for some coffee and internet. Soon Jay turned up in a taxi and it was great to welcome him back to GHOST for our continuing adventure to Oz. As the sun set after a couple of welcome beers on the boat we headed to the local pizza restaurant with Sunboy for some cheap but truly delicious and enormous pizza's - Kat thought these were the best since Naples. However given the relatively rough trip to Cartagena we were all pretty tired so headed back to the boat for an early night. (Continued...)