We were alone in West Lemons, other than the unattended catamaran further inside the lagoon. We had a swim to cool off, dried off and then a big, old, Canadian flagged boat came into the anchorage. They dropped anchor on our starboard side, a comfortable distance away, which we were pleased about as they only had a kedge anchor, 10 metres of chain and then just rope. We decided to take the dinghy across to the island with the beach bar, across the reef. It was a bit of a choppy ride and the swell was crashing up on the beach. We carried the dinghy a good way up the beach, so the surf wouldn't pick it up and then tied it to a rope on the beach. We ordered a drink and then food, lobster for Pete and a whole, deep-fried fish for me. Pete selected his own lobster from a crate that a Kuna dragged in from the reef. Just before the food arrived, we noticed that the Canadian yacht was moving. Pete borrowed some binoculars to watch what was happening. The yacht was re-anchoring, presumably after dragging its anchor. We kept an eye on it while we ate our food. There were too many fries and potatoes, so we had to leave some. We returned to Muirgen and indulged our carb comas.
Two German yachts arrived, anchoring one behind the other and south of the other, older yacht, Don Quixote. They were followed in by a charter catamaran, full of Texans, which anchored behind us. All was calm but we were expecting storms overnight again. The storm hit at 8.30pm, just as I was laying down to sleep. Pete was already snoring. There were some strong gusts, followed by torrential rain. It was only 10 minutes before we heard shouting and I jumped out of bed. Don Quixote was dragging its anchor again and was now south of the two German boats. How they hadn't hit either one, I don't know. Pete also got up to watch what was happening. The young man and woman on board managed to anchor again and everything went quiet. To be on the safe side, we put on our anchor drag alarm, although we were pretty confident that we wouldn't drag. However, all the boats were swinging a lot, which makes you nervous, so we didn't get much sleep until after 4am, when the wind dropped off. We slept late but not deeply and it was breezy and cloudy when we awoke. Nobody else had dragged anchor during the night. We noticed that Don Quixote now had a Bruce anchor down, in addition to the kedge. Bizarrely, he took the Bruce up again later in the day, leaving just the kedge again.
On Saturday afternoon we had a visit from Olaf & Moni(ca)), from one of the two German boats. They stayed for a quick beer and we talked sailing experiences but they had to leave to complete some repair jobs on board, having suffered damage on passage to San Blas. We agreed to meet in the bar around tea time, along with their friends. Meanwhile, a Kuna paid us a visit selling undersized lobsters, a small octopus and even a young turtle. Pete considered paying to release the turtle but figured that would only encourage the capture of more. It's not lobster season either and the quantity and size of the lobsters offered for sale was disgusting. We were quite upset by the incident and Pete made his feelings clear to the man.
At 5pm we headed for the bar. We waited for half an hour, then ordered food, deep-fried fish and fries, with coleslaw. Our food arrived just as the Germans arrived. They also ordered food and we apologised as we hadn't realised they planned to eat too. Michael and Jen were planning to go through the Panama Canal and Olaf and Moni were going to be their line handlers. They hoped that they would bump into us again, later in April or May. Tomorrow, they planned to head east to Holland Cays, so we gave them all the information we had on the anchorages, accuracy of Navionics and the restaurant / bars. We returned to the boat in the dark and went straight to bed, sleeping until 3.20am, when it rained and we had to close the hatches.
On Sunday we slept late and awoke to a bright and sunny morning. I did 90 minutes on Duolingo to ensure that I didn't get relegated from Pearl league. The Mexican on the Polish flagged boat left. It was a struggle getting the kedge anchor up with no windlass and everyone was happy that the yacht was downwind and unlikely to hit anyone. The morning was very busy with tourist boats passing through, between islands. We counted fourteen visible at one time and they just kept coming. It would be busy at Chichime and East Lemons, where the bars and beaches are. With the sunshine, we were making water by 10am and managed to keep it running for over four hours. Belle Amie (Olaf & Moni) and Seven (Michael & Jen) departed, calling close by to say goodbye and they would be in touch. My next job was to try to top up the Movil account, via the app, so we could renew the data pack, which was due to run out. I tried several credit and debit cards but received an error each time. I eventually decided that the problem was that the top up was in the local PAB currency, not $US, which seemed odd because the charges are always in dollars. I checked Revolut and it didn't list a currency for Panama. A boat came by selling fresh caught fish, which was very welcome as we were out of fresh food and I really didn't want another deep-fried dinner. The tuna we selected was $3 but we didn't have change, so were presented with another fish for $2. This one had nice white flesh. Pete went over to the bar and bought fries and coleslaw for our lunch. The afternoon was hot, before turning cloudy later, so we swam a lot. At 4.30pm we headed for the bar, as we wanted to buy garlic potatoes to go with the fish. Blanco was there and Stacey's mum. Henry Chechen, of flipflop rescue fame, was also there and another guy, all dressed up in tight white jeans and a fake Channel skin top. I was encouraged to practice my Spanish with anyone and everyone. There were lots of photos taken and exchanged too. Later, there was going to be a wedding, followed by fireworks and Blanco tried to press us to stay. It was also his 42nd birthday the following day, so we bought him a beer and then he returned the favour. His wife lived and worked on a different island. He told us he has six children, the eldest being 19 years old and in the police force. We also spoke to two Italian couples who were staying the night in the cabanas. They said they were basic but clean and functional. One of the mean was fluent in English and Spanish, unusual for an Italian, in my experience. Eventually we took our leave, with our portion of garlic potatoes, which were delicious with the fish. It was a fitting and beautiful final night in Guna Yala. We stayed up until 9pm but didn't see any fireworks, so they probably happened while we were both in dreamland. We would have an early start in the morning, as it would be a long, slow ride to Linton.