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.