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CW 29 2003
14.07. - 20.07.2003
We leave the Coco Bandero Cays - really a beautiful place - at the beginning
of the week. Our destination is the Green Island close by. Next to this island
is a tiny little baby island with a few palm trees on it and a great anchoring
place right behind it. And things do get a little tight, squeezing through
those reefs to get to the anchoring spot. An American sailing yacht is already
there, but there should be room enough for, at least, two.
But, not at all! This "friendly" neighbor distributed 60m of chain
in the only 8m deep water - another way to close down an anchoring spot. I
swallow the comment that was on the tip of my tongue and set course for another
place right behind Green Island. We have a strange neighbor here as well (someone
we've met before) and it also seems as if some current drags tree trunks,
coconuts and all sorts of stuff to this place. We exchange a quick glance
and we both agree to weigh anchor again and try some other place. The seldom-visited
Naguargandup Cays are only 6 nautical miles away and at 3pm we drop anchor
at 15m in the southeast of the Island Cangombia. And such a beautiful place!
SILVER BLUE lies right in front of a magnificent sand beach and the island
is only inhabited by one family harvesting coconuts. Apart from that the island
is ours. And the island really doesn't seem to be visited often - on a first
exploration we find some amazing seashells.
For the next day, rain is on our agenda - and plenty of it. But we don't let
that spoil our mood and go to visit the family we met yesterday. We trade
some coconuts for some rice, oil and sugar with them. Now some of you might
think, why we don't just take some of the coconuts lying around everywhere.
Well, on the St. Blas Islands every coconut really happens to have an owner,
and just helping oneself makes the locals, the Kunas, quite angry. At some
places yachts are not welcome any more, because they didn't respect that.
| In the afternoon the Kuna families' two girls come to visit us. Luznela
gets along very well with them and everyone is smiling. That really warms
your heart, doesn't it? The next day the weather still isn't too great and since navigating between the numerous reefs here is quite difficult, especially without good light, we decide to stay for another day. We take the dinghy and cross over to the mainland. The new dinghy with its stronger outboard engines really proved itself here - and it's great to quickly and easily cover long distances. We're heading for the Rio Mangles, to explore it with the dinghy. The rainforest is magnificent. The vegetation seems to be bursting its seams and the jungle calls with a million voices. |
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Even on Thursday one thunderstorm is followed by the next, so we wait until noon, until the light is a little better. At 12 o'clock we weigh anchor since we really do want to go somewhere else as well. We maneuver through the house reef with the Kuna family standing on the beach, waving us good-bye. It's 14 nautical miles to the Cayos Los Grullos - and worth getting the fishing rod out. But somehow the fish don't seem to feel like biting the multi-colored bait. As I was about to bring the rod back in Luznela spotted a school of fish in the fish-finder … and the string is running out. After quite a battle I pull a magnificent large-eye-tuna aboard - a big fish, weighing about 10kg, with very tender, pink meat. |
| We reach the island Kuanidup at 4pm and one hour later we also finally found a sandy patch between the corals where we can drop our anchor. I saw a buoy close to the beach that I'll check out tomorrow. It turns out to be a solid mooring marking a wooden sailing boat that simply rotted away here 6 years ago and is now lying on the bottom of the sea. The mooring is great for hold and now we're lying close to the beach with the house reef behind us. Kuanidup is really a fairy-tale island with the finest white sand and palm trees hanging over turquoise water. |  |
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On Saturday we visit the village Rio Sidra on the mainland. They still
follow very strict customs here. No pictures may be taken without permission
and non-residents are not allowed to enter the village after 6pm. But the locals are very friendly and the countless kids greet us with happy grins. This is where we buy two crayfish, since the times when you could "pick" them out of knee-deep water everywhere are unfortunately long gone. Other things have also changed in the Bals Islands, but more about that, next time. Anyway, we do enjoy the crayfish on Kuanidup, simply cooked in boiling water, with butter ans a little garlic ... yummy! |
| On Sunday morning we thoroughly explore the house reef, lying right
behind SILVER BLUE. The fantastic underwater world - still in very good
condition in the St. Blas Islands - never seizes to amaze us. The unbelievably
beautiful shapes and colors let you forget about time - and as we return
it's already noon. The afternoon was supposed to be relaxing, but the generator had different plans - very different! Somehow it didn't start up properly so I decided to take a look … and that was just in time: in one of the pipes a whole bunch of cables had started smoldering, ready to catch fire! And that provides plenty of work for Sunday afternoon, but around 6pm it's working again. |
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Now we're in a positive mood, looking forward to the next week. You can find
out about all that happened right here, in one week, if you like.
Until then … take care!
TOM
