Puerto Lindo, Panama

Isla Linton Anchorage, Puerto Lindo, Panama

How things can change in the blink of an eye!! Everything was on schedule for a few days stay here in Puerto Lindo, a small protected bay about 40 nautical miles east of Colon, and then we’d move on up to Colon to provision before heading westwards along the Panamanian coastline. But……something happened!

We met a retired ex-cruising American couple, Roger & Binnie, who have settled here and built themselves a beautiful home overlooking the bay. They, in turn, were looking for a couple who would move into one of their other homes to look after the property and their animals whenever they were away, something they do not do too often. As we are nowhere near finished with our cruising lifestyle, we felt this would have been a wonderful opportunity had it come in another few years time, not now.

However, they were very persuasive and, after much deliberation, we realized that it needn’t stop us from cruising altogether, just take a slight sabbatical. Within a few day's sail of here, we can return to the San Blas Islands, head up to Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and a few other islands, as well as allowing us to travel inland, perhaps down through South America. We haven't given up on our plan to complete our circumnavigation but there is so much to see and do in this neck of the woods, we won’t be bored for a second and Panama has so much to offer.

It also gives us another prospect too. We’re unsure of what to do once we’ve finished cruising as returning to South Africa may not be a great option. There are not many places in the world we’d be allowed to settle down but Panama is a possibility. There seems to be a huge community of retired folk, mainly from America but from Germany, France, U.K. and Canada as well. Panama welcomes retirees as long as they fit a certain criteria, one which is not too onerous. It may not be quite as simple for us, however it is worth looking into.

And the animals we're to look after?! Two dogs, one cat, a tortoise and, most importantly, three sloths! For those of you who don't know what a sloth is, I've included photos. There are two different kinds of sloths, two-toed and three-toed. This may not seem like much but they are amazingly different from one another. The three-toed (little Bandito in the photo here) is smaller, has more vertebrae, is totally vegetarian, has a little triangular tail and is soooooo huggable! The number of toes refers to the front legs (arms) only as they both have three toes at the back. The two-toed, is much larger, has no tail, eats mainly leaves but can nab a bird occasionally and can be a bit aggressive (the teeth are not to be toyed with). These three have all been rescued when their mothers were killed and have been brought up with a lot of trial and error as not much is known about sloths. They require a lot of special care so, hopefully, not too many people will think of them as ideal household pets, they're not - but you gotta LOVE that face!

The photos below are of Lightning, their female two-toed sloth, a wild mother with her youngster, Thunder, the two-toed male and another wild mom with a tiny baby taken in the trees around the garden.

Lightning, Thunder & Bandito are really pampered pets, living inside the house with their very own teddy bears which they usually refuse to let go. Ever since leaving South Africa and losing our beloved labrador, Winston, we have sorely missed having pets but felt it was unfair to them aboard a boat. This is giving us our pet-fix - how many people walk around with a four-armed, fluffy, smiley face wrapped around their necks all day?!

Eastern Holandes Cays and Beyond

Eastern Holandes Cays - 09° 35.390’N & 78° 40.490’W

The spot where we anchored in the Holandes has been nicknamed ‘the swimming pool’. It's an extremely popular destination for those heading west from Cartagena and vice versa but, by doing so, any cruiser misses out on all that we’ve seen and experienced over the past two months. The eastern part of San Blas Islands are, to our minds, what the region of Kuna Yala is all about with its many traditional villages and islands. However it is a lovely haven and, as we were anchored in only three metres of incredibly clear water, we were able to see every grain of sand beneath us.

The smallest island is named BBQ Island where the cruising community has a get together every Monday evening for ‘pot luck’ sundowners but, unfortunately, we weren't around long enough to participate. We did, however, do some great snorkeling and saw our best collection of reef fish since Bonaire as well as beautiful sting rays gracefully jumping out of the water. Our stay was very short - we now have to get to Colon for provisioning and we have arranged to meet our friends who have brought my camera back from the States before they push on further westwards.

From here, we visited the western Holandes, the Lemmon Cays and another gorgeous spot, Chichime. These are the islands that will be easy to return to as they are only 40 nautical miles from Colon. We felt we would do them more justice once we’d taken a break back into civilization and stocked up a bit.

And so we left San Blas, journeyed to Isla Linton and laid anchor in the pretty little bay of Puerto Lindo…….

Coco Banderos Cays

Coco Banderos Cays - 09° 30.612’N & 78° 37.012’W

This was truly a beautiful spot. We laid anchor between three of the most gorgeous little, palm-treed islands surrounded by white sand, turquoise waters and coral reefs.

One island had a BBQ area cleared by past cruisers so we spent many an evening sitting on the beach sipping our sundowners and building fires for a BBQ.

The snorkeling was the best we'd experienced in some time as these were the first reefs we’d swam on that had a good supply of reef fish. Sadly, most of the other areas have been totally fished out including the tiniest of parrotfish, triggerfish, etc. Conch, which at one time was so apparently so abundant in the shallows, is now only found way out to sea in virtually inaccessible areas. Starfish, we gathered, were not a delicacy as these were very prolific.

For the first time in a couple of months, we were now meeting up with several other cruising boats and it was nice to catch up with the outside world to some degree. A fairly large backpacker route has been created between Panama and Cartegena and we met several sailboats filled with travellers from all over the world, stopping briefly to show them the islands before carrying onwards to their destination. Due to the lack of any road system in eastern Panama, this is the only means of transport to Colombia besides flight.

We ended up staying here for two weeks and were quite sorry to leave it behind us.

Eastern Holandes Cays - 09° 35.390’N & 78° 40.490’W

The particular spot where we anchored in the Holandes has been nicknamed ‘the swimming pool’. It is an extremely popular destination for those heading this way from Cartagena and vice versa but, by doing so, they miss out on all that we’ve seen and experienced over the past two months. The eastern part of San Blas islands are, to our mind, what the region of Kuna Yala is all about with its many traditional villages and islands. However, this is a lovely haven and, as we were anchored in only three metres of incredibly clear water, we were able to see every grain of sand beneath us.

The smallest island here is named BBQ Island where the cruising community have a get together every Monday evening for ‘pot luck’ sundowners. We weren’t around long enough to experience this event. We did, however, do some great snorkeling and saw our best collection of reef fish since Bonaire as well as sting rays gracefully jumping out of the water. Our stay was very short - we now have to get to Colon for provisioning and we must meet our friends who have brought my camera back from the States before they push on further westwards.

Isla Monos to Nargana

Isla Monos & San Ignacio de Tupile - 09° 16.301’N & 78° 07.557’W

Isla Monos is a small uninhabited island a couple of miles away from the nearest Kuna village of San Ignacio de Tupile which we only visited once. For the first time, none of us really enjoyed the village. It somehow lacked the atmosphere of the previous, more traditional ones and the people weren’t as friendly. This could well be the change we’ll experience as we progress further westward towards civilization where the villagers are more used to tourists.

Snug Harbour & Playo Chico - 09° 19.660’N & 78° 15.080’W

A great spot with clear waters and gorgeous tiny islets covered in palm trees. Here we have been inundated with the locals arriving in their ulus selling lobster, langoustine, crabs, fish and fruits. We bought a large bag of langoustine which fed all four of us twice, and discovered that one large crab is sufficient for both Paul & I – they are absolutely humongous and oh so delicious!

The village is a relatively large and we have been able to buy a few vegetables from the trading boats which ply their way up the islands. When I say a few vegetables, I don’t mean anything too exciting. A few potatoes, onions and the pièce de résistance was a cabbage! We were also able to replenish our stocks of rum, beers and cokes for our evening sundowners from these traders – can’t do without them!

There has been nowhere to buy diesel since we left Cartagena but we managed to plead with several of the Colombia trading boats to sell us a few gallons, much needed as we dropped below our gravity feed level on the way here. We’ve had to motor far more than we’d prefer as it is incredibly tricky getting through the reef systems around the islands and would be nigh impossible to do so safely with sails up.

For a few dollars a day, we are living like kings surrounded by scenery usually only seen in holiday brochures. Apart from Lioness, our traveling buddies, we’ve only briefly seen one other yacht in one of the anchorages. This is definitely the ‘road less travelled’!

An ulu arrived alongside one morning wanting to sell their catch and I just heard Paul give a disheartened ‘Oh No’. When I went up to see what was wrong, they had a poor turtle dumped upside down in the bottom of their boat gasping for its life. We couldn’t bear it so ended by paying them $3 to put it back in the water. That was one very happy (and speedy) turtle but the chaps in the ulu paddled away laughing. I swear I could understand them talking about the ‘dumb gringos’. I hope we haven’t started a new means of fleecing future cruisers! Anyway, we felt a hell of a lot better and I’m sure the turtle did too.

We’ve met several missionary groups who come to the islands to teach religion, offer medical assistance or try to teach the Indians a more western culture. I’m sure, in a lot of respects, they do a lot of good and their intentions are admirable but I sometimes wonder what right we have to press our culture upon them. However, AIDS is quite prolific due to the fact that homosexuality is completely accepted as are the numerous transvestites we meet in each village. If they can be educated along these lines as well as how to conserve their diminishing resources from the sea for future generations, the remainder should be left up to them. As a whole, they appear untouched by the vagaries of our western civilization and the more traditional of them obviously want to keep it that way.

In these wonderful islands of paradise, there always has to be something to spoil things and, here, it’s the damned bugs! Bugs, bugs and more bugs! The worst amongst them are the no-see-ums, dreadful minuscule monstrosities that think and act like front-end loaders by taking chunks out of one’s skin and leaving behind an itch to beat all itches. I fail to understand how a creature which is so small can be large enough to inflict such pain and torture! If the wind isn’t blowing, they can make life a misery. Normal mosquito netting does not deter them so the crew of Calypso can be found hiding under sheets and blankets (great in such a hot climate) at dusk and dawn when they are at their most prolific. The remainder of the time we’ll be seen scratching ourselves raw – can’t win!

Isla Tigre – 09° 25.961’N & 78° 32.435’W

After an 18 mile run westwards, we anchored off the south side of Isla Tigre. Although this is another Kuna village, it appears the further west we proceed, the less traditional the villages and people become. Here was evidence of many televisions, more electricity and more western dress amongst the women. Still, beer was not permitted other than at the one restaurant and the ‘congreso’ remains in control of the villagers.

As we wandered around the island, we noted that the pigs in their cane pens really had the prime property as they were all housed along the beautiful north facing beach with a magnificent view. Here we also found, for the first time, small crops of corn, pumpkins and watermelons.

The nearby Rio Tigre is a small river but we managed to take our dinghies several miles upstream before running into shallows and fallen palms. These jungle river trips are always a great experience, lined by beautiful tropical plants, huge mango trees, mangrove trees, banana and coconut palms with plenty of evidence of crocodiles.

The night prior to us leaving this spot, the sky darkened dramatically and we looked up to see a thin long water spout only a couple of miles away. This is the first time we’ve seen one of these and the way it was churning up the sea beneath it, made us realize we didn’t want to experience too many more. It’s the rainy season in this part of the Caribbean right now so we have had plenty of heavy rains and overcast skies during our stay so far. Some of the squalls can be quite frightening so we always check and recheck our anchor to ensure it is holding well in all directions.

Nargana & Corazon de Jesus (Rio Diablo) - 09° 26.480’N & 78° 35.243’W

These islands are two communities united by a large steel bridge. Prior to arriving here, we had read that the two villages had opted to give up the traditional way of life in that the women no longer wear the colourful mola blouses, beaded legs and arms and gold nose rings and the sailas (chiefs) have little authority. In many ways, I find this sad as the traditional way of life is very family orientated, fairly strict and controlled but upright and decent. It’s interesting to note that this is the first island we have visited that has had to have a prison which is, we hear, quite full. It is also the first island we have heard loud music bellowing out of open doors. Western culture is not always desirable.

We were able to stock up on a few medical supplies as Nargana has a small but efficient clinic. We walked in and were charged the massive sum of 25 cents for a consultation which included weighing, blood pressure, temperature check and prescriptions for anything else we asked about. We were able to get some multi-vitamins, anti-histamines and a new stock of anti-biotics for our emergency kit. We left with a huge bag of ‘goodies’ which cost about $9.00!

The Kunas are very keen on just a few sports, the men play soccer and basketball and the women play volleyball. The women’s volleyball championships were held on these two islands during our stay so we were entertained several times to some really great matches. The women, as a whole, are so tiny it’s a wonder they can get anything over the nets which were definitely not lowered to accommodate them.

The nearby Rio Diablo offers another of those great trips upriver which make one feel as though Disney World has come to your doorstep. We had hoped to see white faced monkeys here but it appears they chose not to be on view that day.

Achutupu to Ailigandi

Achutupu – 09° 11.695’N & 77° 59.412’W

Achutupu (Dog Island in Kuna) lies 18 miles north of Islas Pinos. Numerous breaking reefs surround the island, however with GPS systems, life for the modern sailor is made so easy by simply following the given waypoints. Under these circumstances, it was quite an easy anchorage to enter, it's almost like cheating. Here we discovered a small Kuna hotel where we were able to indulge in a great crab dinner with cold beers – a real treat as our stocks are down to pasta, rice and more pasta and our drinks are never quite cold enough.

Our second day radically changed our view on swimming. As we entered the village, the local policeman (also the local hairdresser) took us around the corner to show us what had been wandering up the beach into the village during the night – a three metre long crocodile! Nasty looking beast! One of the local chaps had seen it skulking around at midnight and was able to get it with a single shot in the head. They apparently come ashore looking for food in the form of cats, dogs and small children. I wouldn’t want to meet up with it down a dark alley, or anywhere else for that matter. We had no idea that the crocs here were that big. Caymans had been mentioned so we pictured smallish things like small alligators. When I went for a dip this morning, I put Paul on crocodile watch – several laps around the boat for our morning exercise are, for now a thing of the past!

We loved this very traditional village with its white sand and grass huts. The people were openly very welcoming, the children delightful and their entire way of life almost enviable. Although they appear to have very little, the Kunas, generally, are a healthy and happy lot.

Bahia Golondrina & Ailigandi - 09° 13.581’N & 78° 01.752’W

The bay of Golondrina proved to be a well protected, mangrove lined spot which was definitely NOT a swimming hole. As we gazed across this beautiful bay, we watched a couple of crocodiles swimming lazily on the surface and wondered what was beneath as the water was not clear enough to see down.

Several times, we visited another delightful village, nearby Ailigandi, very picturesque with wonderfully friendly people. Ailigandi is a picture perfect island with all the huts built the traditional way with bamboo poles, cane tied together to form the walls and palm leaves for the roof tops. Despite the heavy rains, these huts remain surprisingly dry inside and apparently will last from 10 to 15 years. In some of the villages, there are separate huts for sleeping and cooking as well as miniature versions on stilts over the water which serves as the loo.

Ladies selling their molas are evident everywhere. Vibrant and amazing works of art, many of the molas take many weeks to sew.

We also saw 'nuchus', small carved symbols placed around the home. These are used to invoke Spirit defenders of the family members. Often it is the man of the family who carved them and the shaman 'nele' of the village "awakened them" through prayers. The shaman also uses them to exercise his medicine and exorcism.

Generally wherever we go, the children rush around us waving and yelling ‘hola, hola’, grabbing our hands to lead us around giving us a permanent entourage in each village. We have wondered if inbreeding is a bit of a problem amongst the Kunas as there appear to be quite a few simpletons on every island as well as an inordinate number of albinos. These poor soles suffer so much from the bright sunshine both with their skin and with their eyes.

Here we found another little ‘restaurant’. Any similarity to a western-style restaurant would be purely coincidental, however, we were served the ‘meal of the day’, chicken, rice, lentils and potato salad which cost the grand sum of $2.50. The potato salad was warm and everything else cold but……it tasted good and we didn’t complain – it was such a treat not having to cook.

Isla Pinos

Islas Pinos - 09°00,000’N & 77°45,733’W

The village of Pinos has approximately 250 people including children. We were welcomed by the friendly Secretary who told us the ‘rules’ governing Pinos. No photographs, no taking of coconuts, must ask ‘permissio’ to walk along the beaches, hike up the hills, swim, snorkel, (breathe) etc. but all very cordial. We were invited to the celebration of the birth of a new baby girl whereby they indulge in a home brewed concoction, 'chicha', drinking it with great ritual until it is all finished. We were initially told that they started at 7:30 in the morning, however, the resident ‘chemist’ or ‘brew master’ tested the chicha early and claimed it was not strong enough and would only be ready later. Celebrations could only start in the evening. Chicha is a mild alcoholic drink made from fermented sugar cane juice and, I guess, is their version of rum.

We have noticed that there are an awful lot of children in these villages so if this happens with every new birth, they must spend a considerable time indulging! But the truth is, this festivity occurs for girl babies only and only if the parents choose to do so.

We arrived at the large ‘congreso’ hut just after 7 p.m. where a teepee had been erected and seats (long benches) had been placed in two huge u-shapes, separated for men and women. The teepee housed the father of the baby, the man who would pierce the ears, another who would pierce the nose and the fourth man a student learning to carry on the tradition. A continuous procession of food was placed within the teepee while the four men sat in a thick smoke produced from a clay pot with smoldering coconut husks passing a pipe between them as well as a long sausage-like roll of burning tobacco. The burning end of the roll was placed inside the mouth and the smoke exhaled into the face of the other men which they, in turn, inhaled.

While they were performing this ritual, the villagers were starting the ceremony of consuming the chicha. This involved filling five calabash bowls with the liquid, then running, hooting and hollering towards the first five participants. After a little dance to-ing and fro-ing, the men would down the entire contents in one long gulp after which the next five chaps would be served in the same manner. This particular process has to be performed at least four times e.g. each man consumes four large bowls of chicha. By the time it came to our turn, we had learned the dancing ritual and also downed the brown, sweetish liquid four times. Not as bad as we’d anticipated and we thoroughly enjoyed entering into the spirit of the evening. The ladies were a little more sedate as they simply got up and helped themselves to bowls and drank quietly.

Once the mandatory four servings were finished, the ladies left to bring in the baby. She was wrapped in banana leaves with all the ladies dancing around her (Marjatta and I included) accompanied by a couple of the chaps playing bamboo pan pipes. She was then placed inside the teepee, the sides pulled down, while the ear and nose piercing took place. Not a whimper, she didn’t even wake up!

With this procedure complete, the men went off to bathe as did the women, again with all of us included. This involved stripping off with all the other women and throwing calabashes of water over our bodies before returning to the hall for more chicha. We were never too sure what this cleansing process was meant to achieve but it was nice and cooling anyway.

We took our leave at a civilized hour but learned the next day that some of the men were still drinking the following morning. We were told that the chicha is only ever made for very special occasions in this village and that, generally, the men and women don’t drink other than beer. However, when such an occasion does arise, they are compelled to participate unless they have requested ‘permissio’ from the saila not to. If they
don’t attend even with the permission, they are fined $3. Sailas RULE!

The entire encounter was an unforgettable experience. Again, we were incredibly privileged to be a part of the celebration giving us an insight into a culture so foreign to our own. We felt as though we’d stepped back hundreds of years – the sort of thing one only sees on the Discovery channel. This was not something put on for the tourist – it appears that they don’t receive or even want tourists – this was the real thing!