We woke up yesterday at the crack of dawn and wove our way out the narrow, winding pass leading from Isla Linton south of Isla Grande and out past Isla Mogote Afuera into northeast winds of 15 to 18 knots with about 6 foot seas, planning to take the "inside passage" to the land of the Kuna Indians - the San Blas Islands. This passage leads inside several shoals and keys, similar to the Hawk Channel on the east coast of the Florida Keys, so we were trying to find smoother seas - it had been 9-12 feet the past few days according to the weather reports. It worked!

Had a fantastic sail, Mr. GPS says that we hit 9.8 knots and averaged about 7 - this is closed hauled, with two reefs in the main (since we have a tear right along the first reef line, have to run either two or none- new sail on the way). Saw a whole lot of boats heading the other way, part of an organized around the world rally that left Europe a month or so ago; then wove our way through the reef passage and got anchored by 3 pm in the San Blas Islands.

While I was floating in the water, with a head full of shampoo, three young indian girls paddled out in a dug-out canoe to see if we wanted to buy any "Molas" which are the intricate reverse applique fabric art they are world famous for - the women who make these are the powerhouse of the tribal economy, apparently, as they sell for $20 and up, while all the men export are coconuts! Anyway, they didn't want to trade half a bottle of head and shoulders shampoo, so no deal that time!

Last night's surprise was a huge racket on deck during dinner, stopped by the time I got a flashlight and got out there - all that was left was a fishy smell and a few scales! Leaping Fish!

Today is go into see the Port Captain for the paperwork, and then it is rumoured that there is a store on the island to the south with foodstuffs, so we'll run the dinghy over there. After that, who knows!