The Central Kuna Yala or the San Blas Islands
15 May 2016 | Isla Linton
Ber - Warm and Humid
The Central Kuna Yala or the San Blas Islands
After moving slowly for 3 ½ weeks from Sapzurro Colombia along the coast and visiting many traditional Kuna Villages we arrived on April 20, 2016 in Nargana or better known as Rio Diablo. For most cruisers the San Blas Islands are situated from Pointe San Blas to Rio Diablo. This area has many groups of islands, shoals and reefs all protected with by an outer reef and most islands are uninhabited but have white beaches with palm trees and places to snorkel in crystal clear water. Most cruisers coming from Santa Marta and/or Cartagena Colombia sail directly to this area and never visit the area we just sailed through. I believe that these cruisers missed to see the real Kuna Yala in its most traditional form which I believe will disappear soon.
Rio Diablo
In front of the mouth of the Rio Diablo are two small islands connected by a bridge Nargana (Yandup) and Corazon de Jesus (Akuanusatupu). The people of these villages have decided to give up the traditional Kuna way of life. This is very obvious from the fact that the islands have electricity supplied by a very noisy generator. The streets have electric poles and all the houses are connected to the grid. So here there are no solar panels, but a lot of TV satellite dishes. There are street lights, a bank, schools with internet, a health center, a library and public phones. Cell phones can be used for internet connection for text and apps as long as they donot contain too large pictures and/or files. According to the guide book there are many shops and it is the only good place to provision. This turns out to be not the case anymore since many shops are closed and produce and other food articles are very expensive. The islands get the suplies in the same way all the other islands we have visited get their suplies from the trade boats, so this makes this island not very special. But it has diesel fuel which is difficult to get on the other islands or you have to buy it directly from the trade boats. Gasoline is available on every island with a village. The islands have a very busy airstrip with flights to Panama City.
We needed Wi-Fi access on a faster system than the phone but the only place that has this is the school system which is now password protected. The IT teacher of the school allowed us for $2.00 an hour to use her a/c classroom to receive all our e-mails with very large attachments check our finances and post our blog pages with the picture albums. It seems that this is a privilege that not too many cruisers in the future will get. The young children going to school in morning liked me a lot and before I could go into the classroom I had to play with them and every one of them wanted to be lifted above my head even the little older girls. I was a grandpa again and I really enjoyed it. Dorothy found a laundry place and was very happy with the results. The bank has no ATM but we could change the larger dollar bills in smaller ones that you need to pay the Kunas when they come by your boat selling the produce, fish and lobsters.
On Saturday we took a trip with the dinghy on the Rio Diablo. Although there is a pipeline from the mountains to the village, due to the drought this pipeline does not deliver sufficient water and on a daily basis large boats with 5 to 10 55 gallon drums on board are going up the river to collect fresh water. On Saturday entire families are going upriver to do the laundry and take a bath. The nontraditional Kuna women have long hair and after the laundry was done it was time to take a bath and wash their hair. We swam, enjoyed the fresh cool water and Dorothy was happy to be able to wash her hair with unlimited fresh water. In the afternoon we used the school internet to receive a few large e-mails and do some shopping in preparation for our departure for Green Island on Sunday morning.
Kanlildup (Green Island)
After a night of very heavy rain, thunder and lightning we left this morning later than usual to Kanlildup. We did not take the plug out of the dinghy and it was filled with 3 inches water this morning. We waited to see if the weather would improve so that we had sufficient light to read the water. But we had no problem to find the entrance to Kanlildup although it was completely overcast. The island is beautiful, completely surrounded by a white beach, covered with very high coconut palm trees and is protected all around by reefs, other islands and shoals. Although the water is very clear I could not see the anchor in 25 feet of water only the chain for about 15 feet. We took a very nice walk all around the island and saw many star fish, a stingray and millions 2 to 3 inch long reef fish. A Kuna family was temporarily camping on the island and tried to sell molas to the cruisers. They had a 4 month old baby girl and they allowed me to play with her and I was grandpa all over again. We are surrounded by 8 other boats and that is the first time since we are in Kuna Yala that we share the anchorage with so many boats.
We read in in other cruisers blogs and we heard it directly from cruisers if you are anchored in one of these beautiful places in Kuna Yala and you have everything, white beaches, waving palm trees, crystal clear water and great reefs to snorkel on, you wonder why you want to leave for any of the other places. After being for 1 ½ day on Kanlildup (Green Island) we already have that feeling. We swam, snorkeled walked on the beach and visited with the dinghy a very small island called Waisadup which is 60 by 120 feet with 40 palm trees and nothing but clear white sand. In the evening we visited Cheers had rum and coke, snacks and a great evening. We really enjoy this place with a great anchorage, nice reefs and shoal to swim and snorkel so we will have another day in Kanlildup (Green Island).
We were invited by Jessie and Kenny to come to their boat “Makai” for a “jam session”. Jessie and Kenny have a piano onboard and Jessie is a very accomplished pianist while Kenny plays the harmonica. Jedd and Lourdes owners of a charter boat performed a wonderful duet with Jedd playing the guitar. Jessie also played a couple of French songs on her accordion. With a few drinks and snacks it was a wonderful evening. It was also a pleasure to admire this very classic well maintained boat that Kenny owns for 30 years. It was one of these typical cruisers’ experiences, you meet people have a great time together and then all of us go their own way and hope to meet each other again.
Coco Banderos Cays - Tiadup
Eric Bauhaus calls these uninhabited islands in his Cruising Guide maybe the most beautiful in the entire Kuna Yala. When we arrived from Kanlildup (Green Island) we have the tendency to agree. Four small beautiful islands again surrounded by white beaches, palm trees and the clearest water in all kinds of shades of blue and turquoise. In 30 feet of water I could clearly see that our anchor was nicely set in the sandy bottom. We started the next day with a clear vision about all the things we wanted to do to enjoy the wonderful environment. It did not work out that way. The waste tank was full and the maceration pump did not work. This meant that the tank had to be emptied with other means before the pump could be taken out and repaired. I will not go into details but it was an unpleasant job. The last time I had to do this was 3 years ago in Pointe-A-Pitre in Guadeloupe so that is not too bad.
After a hard day of work and we needed to do some fun things. So after some wrap-up tasks and checking if the system worked again we took a long snorkel swim from the boat to a small island called Dupwala walked around the island in nice soft clear white sand and continued our swim/snorkel trip to the island called Olosicuidup and walked around the island over the same type of sand and returned to Island Girl. As usual we saw a lot of fish but the most impressing fish was a very big barracuda and of course the small shark but we knew this one already since the night before it was swimming behind our boat waiting for some snacks.
Naguargandup Cays - Enasdup
We had a great time in the Coco Banderos Cays but we needed to move west to be able to have a relatively short sail before we run out of food supplies we cannot buy in Kuna Yala and propane so we can cook the food. So anchor was up for what looked like in the cruising guide a nice protected anchorage in the most eastern Naguargandup Cays called Enasdup. However, it was a very disappointing stop. Although very well protected the water depth goes up very steep and you are anchored either too close to the island which we did at first or in very deep water, in our case 52 feet. What did not help that we got a very heavy rain storm and after the storm was over and the wind died, the no-see-ums came. They did not have any mercy on us and neither the spray nor the small fan we turned on helped. The best part of the visit was that a mother dolphin and her very young baby swam several times around the boat and it was so fun to see the baby playing in the water.
Naguargandup Cays - Morbedup (Cambombia)
The next morning we did not wait too long to decide that we did not want to have another no-see-um attack and wanted to leave to another place. So the anchor was up for a short sail to Morbedup (Cambombia). This island is located at the southern end of the deep Mangles Channel but the widest entrance to the anchorage area is very shallow so we had to approach it very slowly with Dorothy on the bow. The anchorage was worth it, but we were the only boat which contradicted an aerial photography in the cruisers guide which shows 14 boats. Just after the anchor was set it started to rain and continued the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes the rain was so heavy that we could not see anything neither of the island nor the mainland. Before sunset the weather cleared and we had a beautiful evening and a very nice quiet night. The next day boats moved into the anchorage and after a great day we were invited on board s/v Landfall a 58 year old classic with Ann and Collin. During one of our walks and snorkel/swims a couple of birds came in the boat and ate part of our lobsters that we just cooked for supper. We did a lot of swimming and snorkeling saw a very large barracuda and visited a small island surrounded with white, powder-like sand.
Naguargandup Cays – Salardup
We enjoyed Morbedup (Cambombia), but we needed to move on closer to the west side of Kuna Yala to make the trip to Isla Linton in Panama to do the much needed provisioning. Close to 8 weeks on our way since we left Santa Marta Colombia and our food bins start getting low. We are also expecting to be close out of propane and I like my coffee hot and steaming. Like most trips we planned in Kuna Yala it is only a 6 miles run to Salardup with close to no wind and flat water. It was very easy to pass the shoals to enter a deep basin south of Salardup. We anchored for the first time since we left Bonaire in relatively shallow water of only 22 feet in crystal clear water and it was very easy to snorkel above the anchor to see if it was digging in. After we set the awning to get out of the sun we took an easy afternoon with some reading and talking to our “next-door” neighbor. Just before bedtime (9.00 PM) the wind started picking up and we had for about 2 hours unusual rough seas, but the anchor did its job so we had a good night’s sleep. The next day we walked on the beach on the south side of the island and it is beautiful. On the south/east side of the island a Kuna family cleared the island from all the shrubs, built a volleyball court and selling drinks and at times serves food if ordered. When we went around with the dinghy we saw on 3 other islands the same developments and it shows that in the dry season a lot of cruisers and tourists are coming to this popular place. With the boat it is only about one hour to a location where there is road access to the major population areas of Panama including Panama City. During our afternoon snorkel on the reefs we saw a very large stingray with a tail of at least 6 feet and it was amazing how graceful this creature moves through the water.
At 1:30 AM it started to rain and thunder; not normal rain but a curtain of water came out of the sky and at daybreak we could not see anything than our two neighboring boats. We had not taken the dinghy out of the water and at about 8:00 AM it was completely filled with water, which means we had 2 feet of rain in 6 ½ hours. The rest of the day it kept on raining and we just chilled in the cockpit with a good book some food and snacks.
Maoqui – Kaimou (Holandes Cays)
The next day on Monday May 9, 2016 the day that we are 8 weeks on our way since we left Santa Marta Colombia it seemed that the weather was a little better. Still a lot of rain clouds around us so we decided to go off the coast and go to the most northerly island group of Kuna Yala called Maoqui – Kaimou (Holandes Cays). Most of the rain and thunderstorms are coming from the mountains of the mainland. We chose to go to what the cruising guide calls the most popular anchorage in the whole San Blas “The Swimming Pool” anchorage. The anchorage is between an island called Banadup and BBQ Island. It is clear the BBQ Island does not have a local name, but indicates that this is the place to cook your fish and/or lobster and have a great time. Since this group of 21 mostly uninhabited islands that lies behind a 7-mile long barrier reef is far from the mainland and the rivers that bring mud in the sea the water is the most clear in the San Blas area and the snorkeling is called sublime. When we arrived the wind around rain clouds was still blowing so we delayed our first snorkeling trip to the following day.
The following day gave in the morning still a lot of rain and work needed to be done on the boat. This work kept me busy till midafternoon and then it was too late to go to a reef for a snorkel trip so we took the dinghy to explore. The “Swimming Pool” anchorage is on the most east side of “The Holandes Cays” while the reefs on the north side are also the most outer reefs of the San Blas Islands in this area. From our boat you can see and hear this reef all the way from the NNW to SE with a small interruption by BBQ Island. Due to the spillover of a cold front that was over us the past 4 days the seas and the swells became high and it is impressive to see and hear these seas crashing into the reefs while we are in very calm water behind the reefs.
But the next day we found out that the snorkeling in “The Swimming Pool” area is indeed very good. We took a morning and an afternoon swim and we saw besides many very beautiful corals a lot of reef fish, many large barracudas, a small nurse shark and a very large black fin tuna. In-between we were invited on board of a boat from Austria and had some very good coffee and we were given a piece of home baked bread which had that great taste of Austrian bread that I like so much.
Tiadup - West Lemmon Cays
We are running out of our basic food supplies, but most important we believe that our propane is nearly at the end. Since the pressure of the propane filled in Santa Marta Colombia is very low, the indicator on the tank does not give any information how much propane is still available. Our experience tells us four weeks normal use on one tank and we are already 9 weeks on our way since we left Santa Marta Colombia. We were told that in West Lemmon Cays propane was available with a convertor that fits our tanks. So the anchor was up in “The Swimming Pool” and we departed for Tiadup - West Lemmon Cays. We passed the Eastern Lemmon Cays with the now very touristy island called “Dog Island”. In 1950 a passing ship got a leak and to save the cargo the captain beached the boat. It is now a famous snorkel site since scuba diving is not allowed in Kuna Yala. Our big disappointment was that there is no propane in Tiadup - West Lemmon Cays. The islands around the anchorage are now all resorts with nice cabanas since this area in Kuna Yala is very close to the mainland with a road to Colon and Panama City. On a close by island called Porvenir is a very busy airstrip with frequent flights to Panama City. Due to the road access and the airstrip the Lemmon Cays and the Chickhime Cays are now a major one day or weekend tourist destination. Cruisers also like these area since we have not seen so many boats in one area as here.
Farewell Kuna Yala
We left 9 weeks ago San Marta Colombia and our supplies are getting thin, so we left May 13, 2015 Kuna Yala and sailed to Isla Linton. This is a trip of about 45 miles and it started not good. In the middle of our anchor up process a big rain shower came over us and since we had to exit this anchorage in a narrow channel between the reefs we waited until the sun came back. Going out we pass a trade boat that missed the channel and is on the reef. This gives you a warning again to take the navigation in Kuna Yala serious. The seas were very rough with high 8 feet swells and short high wind waves. After we got out of the reefs and headed west along the coast it became a little better but in all it was a very uncomfortable trip. It took us 7 ½ hours to complete this trip and we expected to have an easy anchoring. But to our big supprise the anchorage was filled with so many boats that you cannot even count them. But we got the anchor down unfortunately not on a good protected location and for the first time in a long period we are rolling in the surge.
I will write a separate blog page and give our impressing of our experience in Kuna Yala, a beautiful place with friendly people living with one foot in their traditional live style and with the other in the transition to a more modern one. We have loved to be in Kuna Yala and will miss it and have a great memory about the unique place and these great people.