January 23, 2011
With John and Karin safely aboard we weighed anchor at 1106 and headed towards Gunboat Island (9-29.2' N 78-52.5' W). This is an isolated island about 8 nm from Nonomulu. It is a picture perfect island with white sand beaches and palm trees. The anchorage has a mixed bottom of sand and coral so if you don't hit a sand patch you will drag. This is what happened to us and we had to reset the anchor. There were a few other yachts here. The waters here are very clear and teaming with fish. The coral has some color but is nothing special. There are many inversion layers of warm and cold water one experiences as you dive and snorkle along the reefs. Due to waves breaking on the outer reefs, there can be quite a bit of current running inside the protected area. A spectacular place with colorful sunsets. There is a Kuna family living on the island and they charge $2.00 each person to visit the island. We have found that this is not unusual and provides the Kuna families with a little revenue. In fact, the yachting scene in Kuna Yala is providing quite a bit of income to the Kunas. There are a few of the islands that have cruise ships come in and land tourists for a few hours. We didn't see any but were told that the Carti Islands were once very popular with cruise ships.
We spent another day at Gunboat Island swimming, snorkeling and relaxing. John and I pulled the anchor windlass for a general inspection and resealed it. Everything was in good order. Tomorrow we will go to Rio Sidras.
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