After a nice rest in Isla Pinos following our 2 1/2 day passage from Colombia, we arrived at the little island of Ustupu where there is a very tiny airport. Our friends from Ventura CA, Mike and Emily, Ace and Maureen flew into this airport from Panama City. Despite the small airplane and the rough rainy weather, they arrived safely in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 14. We arrived with Purrrfect around 11 am, and connected via VHF radio to see them standing on the "dock" at the western end of the island near the landing strip. They had already walked down to town and met what they thought was the Kuna tribal chief.
After we dinghied ashore, we met up and tried to find the chief's location in order to pay our anchoring and landing permit. It was quite an adventure to pay this small fee (turned out to be $6) with much paperwork and energetic use of official looking stamps. When we returned to our dinghy on the dock, we were met by an insistent Kuna woman with a receipt book who informed us that we had paid for a different island, and we now owed her $15 to use the dinghy dock on HER island. A bit frustrating but luckily the fees were small.
We enjoyed a simple and economical lunch ashore and stayed anchored before setting out for other San Blas islands.