Red Frog!


Well, we cruised the area for another week and have now decided to surrender to the heat.
We left Bocas with Seabird for a last week of cruising and exploring. Our first anchorage, about 6 miles run in no wind, was off Isla Bastimentos. With seabird we anchored off the landing to the Red Frog Preserve, the anchorage to ourselves. We crossed across Isla Bastimentos, about 1/2 mile, to the beautiful beach. Bruce and I sat in the shade and watched Jeannie and Nancy try the water. Then cool drinks at the cantina, then a short walk, spotting a red frog!
Back aboard, we swam to cool down, the water being only 80F, unlike the air at 91F. Then I spent the evening trying to prevent the fleet of boats arriving from anchoring too close. I don`t know what it is, but people seem determined to anchor in a cluster, in spite of the fact that there is lots of room. But finally everyone got safely settled and we had a quiet night.
Next morning, we headed through "The Gap" down to Isla Popa, where we found a beautiful anchorage among the mangroves. In the morning we went ashore at the nearby village (named, imaginatively, Isla Popa 2). Here we were met by children curious to see us, as they have few visitors. Life in these villages is little changed over the last few hundred years. People live from subsistance farming and spear fishing out of dugout canoes (cayukas). We were offered a tour ($2 each) whiuch we felt obliged to take. A US Peace Corp worker, Kate, accompanied us and translated when (as usual) our Spanish failed us. By the way, most of these villages seem to have Peace Corps workers, living under the same conditions as the locals, and doing a great job in helping with things like safe drinking water and education.
Our tour complete, we were taken to a thatched roof structure where hand-made items and fresh baked bread were on sale, clearly set up for us. So we purchased some delicious bread and a small piece of jewelry. It turns out that the building was built as a restaurant but no boats came, so it sits empty most of the time. We enjoyed our stay, and as we left, the children waved us out of sight. In some ways, their simple life seems idyllic, but it is a hard life in many ways.
From Isla Popa 2, we headed out Crawl Cay Channel and rounded down to Cayo Agua. We anchored off the cay for the night, planning to enjoy some snorkling and beach walking, reported in our cruising guide to be good. In the morning we headed out in the dinghies and searched, without success for the cral. Then as we approached the beautiful beach, we saw (in Spanish) "Private Property No Trespassing" and each time we approached the beach, guards came down the shore to warn us off. So much for beach walking, although we did anchor the dinghies just off the beach for a swim ( and I even sneaked ashore just to leave my footprints in the sand).
Back aboard, we headed south towards our ultimate destination, Bluefield Lagoon. But to reach it we had to pass through an uncharted area. The only thing showing on our charts were warnings of "Uncharted Dangers". So we proceeded slowly, and made it through unscathed. Entering Bluefield Lagoon (named after the Dutch pirate Blueveld), we found the most beautiful anchorage in the Bocas area yet. About 5 miles long with villages ringing the shores, it was the perfect anchoraqge. But no sooner ws the anchor down that we had a cayuka approach us and tell us (using sign language) that it cost $10 to anchor. Not the best welcome, but they obviously needed the money.
In the morning we headed for shore. As we approached, we were met by more school children, covering the tiny dock. In fact, I had to gently push the laughing and smiling children back to make room to climb up and tie up. Bruce and Nancy, coming ashore behind met the same enthusiastic welcome. Then came picture taking. The children like to have their pictures taken and then look at them in the camera. Once clear of the children, we headed up the path taking us across to the ocean, about 1/2 mile away. We passed a few houses, and at a small stream watched women washing clothes using the rocks the same way as they have for centuries. Across the path we found the most spectacular beach yet... stretching for miles, waves rushing ashore from the brilliant blue ocean onto the empty sand, for we were alone on the entire beach. We walked for a few miles, then retraced our steps. When we got to the path we met the women, now toting loads of wood in packs. The men did open the gates for them so they didn't have to put the wood down!
Back aboard, we settled in for an onslaught of villagers paddling out to try to either sell us something, or just beg for things. The one exception was a retired school teacher with whom we had a very enjoyable chat. He taught in the area after graduating fro university in Panama City. He has spent his whole working life in this area, a testamint to dedication.
We were adamant that begging would get you nothing, but finally relented late in the evening to a cute boy. We gave him a mechanical pencil. Next morning we learned our mistake... we were innundated with requests for pencils. We gave away the few we had, then decided to head out.
Our course took us into Laguna de Chiriqui, a large bay. Bruce and Nancy on Seabird met a fisherman out in his tiny (8') cayuka, fishing miles from shore (as they often do). With no water in the hot sun, it would be a difficult day. They offered him a drink of cold water and watched him gratefully drink down a quart. The sun is hot and we need to continually drink water to avoid dehydration. Its to the point where we are sick of drinking water, but knowing the consequenses, keep drinking!
Leaving Laguna de Chiriqui, we headed up into Sumwood Channel, another pretty passage. But to reach it requires passing through more uncharted waters. As we approached the mouth of the passage, having successfully wound our way through shallows for two miles, we slid firmly onto a mud bank. A few minutes of trying made it clear that we were well stuck. We launched the dinghy, took a line over to Seabird and together we pulled us slowly off the bank. We anchored and took the hand-held depth sounder in the dinghy and found that we had managed to hit the only bank in the area. Seabird learned an interesting lesson here... when anchoring in 40' of water. 30' of chain will not do! rounding our little bank, we motored (still no wind) through the channel and anchored for the night, our last with Seabird. In the morning they headed back to Bocas to begin to prepare Seabird for the summer.
We spent two more nights out, running back up through The Gap and anchoring in Bahia Honda. By now it was so hot that we were swimming three or four times a day just to cool off. We concluded it was time to follow Seabird, so on Saturday (April 23rd) we reluctantly headed back to Bocas.