Tues. 17th March Portobello, Panama

Cloda and Neil caught the '6.35am plane' to Panama City, but it actually didn't arrive at the Carti airport until near 9am! But it was an adventure seeing the airport running under torch light at 6am when we arrived. What was a about 10 people at 6 suddenly turned into 100 or more by 7am, all standing under a little shack waiting on their flights to the city or 4 Wheel Drive expeditions into the nearby Panama jungle, with both vehicles using the same dirt road/runway!! A great experience, but as we had to get going, farewells were hugged and we rowed [don't ask!!] back to Ishka, waving to the plane as it flew overhead [check out Cloda & Neil's photo]. Thank you Cloda and Neil for being great company and your berth is always ready and waiting.

We upped anchor and decided to cruise along the Panama-San Blas Coast. Not many cruisers have any need to go this way, but since we needed to check out of Porvenir again for Colon[!!!] we figured it was a great time passer. We anchored in one of the river inlets for the night and had a local Kuna in his ulu arrive first thing in the morning with bananas. He asked if we needed fish and we tried to tell him nicely we were going in about an hours time for Porvenir, so not to worry about trying to catch any. 1 hour later we get the ulu approaching us as we're upping anchor, holding 2 tiny fish up! What can you say.....we pay $2 for 2 little fish which were slightly larger than goldfish, sail Ishka out of the inlet and feel happy we've supported these fishermen even though their catch probably isn't legal in other countries!

Finally on Friday we got our zarpe from Porvenir and since we needed a bit of relax, decided to go back and visit our cruising mates up in the Hollandaise Islands. These are the most Northerly group of uninhabited islands within the San Blas and make a great stop for waiting on weather and seas to go direct to Colon. We meet up with Liward, Sandcastle, Dragonfly and Dream Weaver in the anchorage called the 'Swimming Pool'.......[the 'Hot Tub' is just around the corner!]...... and have a little party.
Sunday we snorkeled the reef surrounding the anchorage, and it was awesome. The boys figured they'd try some spear fishing while the gals maneuvered between reefs finding an abundance of fish, rays and nurse sharks. Ida freaked when Linda showed her the big shark 'sleeping' under the bombie, and when she caught her confidence back, Lili pointed out the massive barracuda hovering in front of them, so she decided it was time to go back to Ishka. These women are fearless! With experience comes confidence ...eh? Next time we buy a camera it has to have an 'underwater' capability [as the other one didn't!] and having one today would have proved the magnificence of what was seen! Oh the lads didn't get a catch.

Yesterday morning Steve and Ian go off to burn rubbish and just chew the fat. There's probably none greener than cruising yachties, however these two came back more like brownies! You see 'Liward' doesn't like to flush paper, especially in crowded anchorages so Steve throws his goodie bag on the roaring fire without realizing that the trash bag out of Cloda and Neil's bathroom, which was blazing away beneath it, contained a small aerosol can that promptly exploded.

We left our friends and the San Blas Islands this morning. By the way it's Paddy's Day, as we were fondly reminded last night at the BBQ Island Party, so we figured if its good with Patrick it's good with us, so we sail to Portobello. We arrive, ashore to the land and meet a few locals who are happy and trusting to look after our dinghy while we go for great burgers and chips. We like Portobello.