The Coco Bandero Cays are one of the more popular spots in the San Blas but we were very fortunate to arrive and find only a couple of yachts anchored. It didn't take us long to be in the water and snorkelling on a close by reef where we bumped into an English lady named Stephanie who invited us to drinks that evening with her husband onboard their boat CAROUSEL. The next day we were happy to see MOLA MOLA, CURVACIOUS and Cyril and his family from French Guyana anchor up close by, so a fire on the beach was organised for the evening where we ate fresh fish and lobster with a few cold ones.
All of the good life has to be paid for in some way. Our Honda generator refused to start which is a problem for us as it tops up the batteries on cloudy days and also runs our water maker which we rely on in remote places like this. After trying everything Steve could think of to get it to go we resorted to the internet where we found sometimes the inlet valve sticks if the wrong fuel is used so we pulled it apart and found it to be the case. The petrol we bought in Columbia unknown to us had ethanol in it. Bugger! With a bit of back yard engineering and a few expletives the generator was reassembled and working again much to our relief.
Eduardo from MOLA MOLA is a keen surfer and told Steve there was some swell coming and there was a break 1.5 miles away on a small island that should produce some waves in two days time. We decided to go there and do some more snorkelling while we waited. The islands in the San Blas are very similar in the fact they are all covered with palm trees, generally have a white sandy beach and are fringed with coral reefs. So sitting around waiting for the swell was pretty easy. The wind picked up and did produce some waves which were not the quality we were hoping for so Eduardo made a few phone calls and found the waves were better at Chichime. Chichime was a couple of hours sail away and seeing the breeze was up we had a very comfortable trip beam reaching in 18kts of wind. On arrival we found clean 3ft waves breaking on the reef beside the channel to the anchorage with four guys out. S & E grabbed their boards and were out there in a flash and had it to themselves for 1.5 hours as the other guys didn't stay out long.
Time had come that we thought we better keep moving, so after an early morning surf we headed west again. The wind had died and left a sloppy sea making it an uncomfortable day of motoring to Isla Linton which is on the north coast of Panama forty miles away. On arrival we found the anchorage nearly full of boats as it is well protected and as we were about to drop the hook Ange noticed another Aussie flag. We went over and said G'day. Rob and Lauren on SOUTHERN COMFORT immediately invited us over for drinks and then lunch the next day at a small restaurant at Panamarina. To get to the restaurant we had a great dinghy ride through the mangroves which form a canopy overhead... we didn't see any monkeys, but apparently they are there.
On the way back from lunch our dinghy motor decided to stop and we were towed back to PANNIKIN by two nice American guys called Nate and Josh who are working on their catamaran getting it ready to do some serious cruising. We were told of a guy who repairs outboards on his boat and looked him up. He was a nice bloke from Belgium who offered to drop us into the town (Puerto Lindo) where we could catch a bus to Sabanitas where there is a large Rey supermarket to get some groceries while he had a look at our motor. The buses are bone rattlers - old American style school buses and packed with people which made the trip interesting with people laughing and carrying on. It was about a two hour trip though some lush country varying from jungle to farm land that reminded us of places in northern NSW like Nimbin. On our return we were delighted to see Allan waiting at the dock with our dinghy which he repaired. Things do go right sometimes!
We intend to spend another day or two here before going around the corner to Puerto Bello.