Day 114, Year 1: Sugtupu to Acuadup to Western Holandes Cays, San Blas, Panama
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Air Temperature: 82 degrees F
Water Temperature: 81 degrees F
Latitude: N 09 degrees 36 minutes
Longitude: W 78 degrees 47 minutes
Location: West Holandes Cays, San Blas, Panama

Another phenomenal day. The sun is setting and we are now in West Holandes Cays in the San Blas. We are anchored behind a reef and looking right out into the Caribbean Basin. To our left is an island with coconut palms white sand beaches-Acuakargana–and to our right is another island with coconut palms, lots of pelicans, and white sand beaches–Waisaladup. As we anchored here, schools of very small silver fish flittered out of the water and back in again-over and over. Not sure what they were, but the glittery effect was beautiful. There was also either one lone dolphin or a small whale that continued to surface and then dive in front of us. While that was happening, flocks of pelicans swooped playfully along the beach on Waisaladup. I can hear the surf pounding on the reef in front of me and birds calling in the palm trees on shore. All of this comes at the end of day where we started on Carti Sugtupu, dinghied 2 miles to Acuadup and back, and then sailed here. It has been an amazing day filled with experiencing new and wonderful things.

Early in the day, Ernesto (our guide from Sugtupu) and his 3 sons came to go with us to a neighboring island. It was a 2 mile dinghy ride to Acuadup. Ernesto’s oldest son, Ian, was to be our guide and he piloted the dinghy through the choppy waters. Acuadup is a traditional Kuna island. It was very different from Sugtupu in that there was open green space between the huts instead of small walkways with packed earth.. I said to Ernesto that his island was the town and this one was the country. He agreed. There were coconut palms, banana trees, breadfruit trees, calabash gourd trees, and lime trees everywhere. Once in a while, a little color was added by large hibiscus flowering buses. As we walked, every hut had Kuna women trying to sell me their molas. They had them displayed on the grass, on the sand, hanging on poles, everywhere. I did buy as many molas as I could afford, but finally had to keep saying, “No more money for molas”. The Kuna women speak no English, but they have no trouble saying “ten dollars”. I think they understood that I was saying that I had no more money, but I am sure they didn’t believe me. Buying molas could become an obsession, so I was glad I had brought a limited amount of money.

On one part of the island, the people were relatives of Ernesto, so we could go into the huts and see how the people live. Every hut has many hammocks, one for everyone that sleeps there. For the most part, living rooms and kitchens are outside, and only sitting areas and sleeping areas are inside. On this island, parakeets and monkeys had been brought from the mainland as pets, and there were many wild pigs in pens. It was a very special experience to visit this traditional Kuna village. There were very few men on the island as all were out either fishing, getting water from the river on the mainland, or working their garden plots on the mainland. The women are tenacious sales people, and the children run about happily. But by 1100, it was time to head back to Sugtupu. We had promised to stop by the airport on the mainland on the way so that Rudy could see it, so that was our first stop. There were no people there, so we had the runway to ourselves We looked around and decided that it was time to head for the mainland. We headed out into the choppy seas and by the time we reached Sugtupu, we were all soaked. We went directly to Ernesto’s house as he had asked us if we could please take a picture of his whole family and print it for him before we left. A few more extended family members than we expected also wanted their pictures taken, but we finally broke away and headed back to Windbird with just Ernesto and Ian. We printed some pictures for them and then they untied their ulu and paddled away. It was with mixed emotions that we said goodbye. We felt very lucky to have gotten to know a Kuna family so quickly, but at the same time, the constant pushing of Kuna molas and other artifacts was wearing thin. We pulled up the anchor at about 1400 and headed north to our present anchorage.

We are now about a half mile from one of the major passes back out into the Interior Basin of the Caribbean. We will spend tomorrow walking on the islands and snorkeling, and then in the early evening we will head out for the Panama Canal. We will arrive on Friday mid-day, and immediately start the process for getting registered to go through the Canal. Once we are given a date, we will figure out whether we will stay in Colon to await transit, or whether we will explore others parts of Panama while waiting.

So I will check in with a log before leaving here, and then check in again once we are in Colon on Friday. Colon is not a city that is safe to walk around in, so we are really hoping our stay there will not be the reported 4 weeks. That could be a very long 28 days.

060208 Day 114a Ernesto Perez Family Pictures

060208 Day 114b Acuatupu, San Blas