On the 18th of December, after more then two weeks of hard working and also enjoying Cartagena, we lifted the anchor and started sailing towards the San Blas islands.
Hard work, as in preparing the boat and amongst others getting enough foofd on board to last us for up to 6 weeks. San Blas has a lot of islands (at least 360) and even more coconuts, but very few shops. Logistically, this meant cycling through Cartagena, sticky hot and busy, checking several supermarkets. What to get where and for the best price. Listing all and then taking a taxi and Dick to get all the bulk shopping. Sufficient beer, wine, gin and tonic, and yes also food items to get us to Panama.

Via Playa Blanca and Tintipan and El Islote (most densely populated island in the world it seems, hundreds of people live back to back on this tiny island) direction Fuerte. There we met up with the three other Dutch boats( K'dans, Zahree and Agaath), with the plan to sail together for the coming weeks and to celebrate Christmas and New Year together. Fuerte was the last Colombian island and it is evident that the economy (for some) is going well and that tourism is growing in Colombia; everywhere there are big villa's , some built on/ in the water, and along the coast line of all the islands we passed. (In)famous Pablo Escobar had a complex of villa's on one of the islands, large enough to host 300 guests.

From Fuerte it is a night sail to the first San Blas island, Isla Pinos. The four Dutch boats left together in the afternoon, thinking that there would be little wind, and some motoring might be needed, and that we would get to Pinos sometime in the morning. Well, the weather forecast was, again, not that accurate. At sunset we are going an easy 8 knots, and right at that moment Dick catches the biggest yellow fin tuna fish. I assist Dick in getting the fish on board, by handing over all sorts of tools in order to get the fish in, Dick kills the fish, the back of the boat is covered in blood. At that moment I look over my shoulder and see that we are going more then 9 knots. A bit too fast while killing and preparing a big fish, cutting it up and making it freezer ready. We quickly clear the messy job and have so much excellent tuna in the freezer that we can share big steaks with the three other boats and we still have plenty of tuna for ourselves.
We speed through the night, and arrive at Pinos way too early and have to hit the breaks, and wait for daylight before we can enter the waters around Pinos and avoid hitting any bit of reef. The four Dutch boats enter together, which was quite a sight for the two other boats that are lying here.

Here we celebrate Christmas. In the morning we walk around the island in three hours plus and have dinner in a simple beach hut, where we do get served with langoustine and have a fun evening.
The San Blas inhabitants, the Guna indians mostly still peddle around in their dugout canoes, but at the same time, nearly each hut or house as a TV satellite dish and all Guna indians walk around with a mobile phone. On Christmas morning, when we start our walk around the island, we see three Guna woman with a mobile phone, hanging on to a palm tree, in order to try and catch a signal. Modern times have also arrived at these isolated islands...

After several days, the Dutch armada leaves together, and we take the inner reef route. Meaning a careful following of all the way points as in not to hit any shallow bits. It is a most special sailing trip, where we pass by huge breakers on the reef and get close to islands. We have blind trust in the waypoints and our own eyeball navigation and we safely arrive at the next island.
In the weeks that we stay in the San Blas, we (motor)sail from one island to the next. Some islands have on or two families living on them, some islands have a whole village, and some islands are deserted minus a simple hut and have no name.
In the mean time, Dick injuries a finger while being hoisted into the mast and burns his lower arm badly when putting a langoustine into a pan with boiling water (lesson learned, either kill the beast before putting into the boiling water, or put it into cold water, and then slowly heat!) Due to Dicks injuries, I start to do several boat choirs. I clean the ship under the waterline, and while doing so, I keep on looking over my shoulder; crocodiles have been spotted here! While pulling up the bridal, I lie on top of a metal strip and might have cracked part of a rib. Ouch. In addition we get several boils and nasty infections (possibly insect bites). I need a course of antibiotics to get it under control. Sailing is not always fun and safe!

At Green island (well, all the San Blas islands are green!) we celebrate New Year, with four Dutch boats and a French Canadian family ( who travel with two young children and a large Siberian Husky). Expired flares are used for firework, and even though expired, they flash well and go high up in the sky !

From Green Island, via Cayos Banderos and Holandes Cays we arrived at a small island with no name. Within five minutes you can walk around the island. It is a lovely spot, but also here we see a lot of plastic lying on the beach, along the waterline. Plastic shoes, plastic bottles, you name it, it is there. The San Blas island have a serious plastic problem due to their position at the end of the Caribe, in the armpit of the south American continent, where all the plastic, all the way from the Caribe, Colombia and Venezuela ends up. Together with the crew from the Agaath and two other ladies, we collect all the plastic, build up a large plastic mountain, and burn it all at sunset. The next morning there is nothing left of the big plastic pile, and when I walk around the island one more time, I collect another shopping bag full of plastic.
Sad, this plastic paradise.

As we get closer to Panama, the islands become more touristic and busier. The last group of small islands where we overnight is a slight madhouse. Camping ground on one island, a bar on the other one, and 52 boats. Madness. We have seen a special part of the San Blas Islands, but are happy to leave this behind us.

Panama and the Panama canal is the next challenge. More about that in our next blog which will come soon after this one. We will go through the canal on the 7th of February, and will spent some time in Panama City before heading for the Galapagos islands. Last chance for the much needed internet and placing of our blog. Until then.