We have spent the month gunkholing around the Naguargandup Cays, finding many great anchorages where we are all by ourselves. The San Blas has many 'popular' anchorages where this year they are seeing record numbers of cruisers. There are sometimes as many as 15 boats enjoying the same spot. If you are a little adventuresome and just nose around you can find seclusion if that is what you want. We like to mix it up. Our friends Gary and Celeste on Sol Surfin arrived in the San Blas mid February and we have really enjoyed cruising with them again. We have cruised with them on and off on the Pacific side for the past two seasons.A definite highlight of this month was visiting Isla Tigre and joining in the celebration of the Kuna nation's Independence Day. February 25th 1925 the Kuna taught the Panamanian police and the missionaries a lesson. They did not want to conform to the way of life they were preaching and just wanted to live their own peaceful life rich with tradition. The celebration included a re-enactment of their successful fight. They act out through skits the way the Revolution day unfolded showing the hardships
they had to endure leading up to that day. They keep this memory alive through the skits preformed once a year and through their dancing. The friendliness of the Kuna people was so wonderful to experience. We have some awesome pictures to show you but will have to wait till we are in a civilized area again that has access to the internet.
At present we are in the Coco Banderos Cays. Yesterday while snorkeling on an outer reef Brian dove down to see what was under an interesting looking ledge. Looking back at him was a very large shark. Beating a hasty retreat we tried another area with our friends and ran into a 12' nurse shark just taking a rest on the bottom. Brian swam right over him to have a closer look (he is crazy!) and the shark spun around to face him before swimming off around some rocks and headed right where I was
swimming. I have had a few wakeful moments reliving that experience. They say the nurse sharks are not aggressive but they are sure big and mean looking. Yikes!
We can't say enough about the wonderland under the water on these reefs. Truly amazing!
So that is it for now, we are just planning on hanging out here for another couple of weeks and then heading back towards Colon to do some more provisioning. Then we will return to this wonderful area till the beginning of May and then head for Cartegena.
Hasta Luego!
