RIO SIDRA TO CAMBOMBIA IN THE NUARGANDUP CAYS

January 26, 2012

Weighed anchor this morning at 1030 hrs and proceded to Cambombia (9-28.6' N   78-42.8' W) in the Nuarguandup Cays.  These cays are remote but popular with cruisers for their pristine beauty.  Cambombia means conch in Kuna.  The Kuna must eat a lot of them for there are piles on every island.  I never saw any live ones while diving but the Kuna "cayucos" had them alongwith lobster and fish.

This is another one of those beautiful islands one sees in travel magazines and fantasizes being able to visit.  It's this way with most of the islands and after awhile they start to look alike.  On Cambombia there were two families with lots of beautiful children running around and swimming or paddling small "cayucos" (dugout canoes).  The Kuna are an attractive race and the children are adorable.  They are very outgoing and not shy towards foreigners.

Everyday we take the dinghy and set out to explore one or two of the immediate islands.  Once there we swim, snorkle and explore the area.  In Thor Hyerdal's day onboard the "Kon Tiki" he reported seeing large tar balls on every beach which came from ships discharging oil into the sea after cleaning their oil tanks.  I, too, witnessed this in the Canary Islands and on some of the Caribbean islands.  This is no longer true: it has been replaced with plastic containers.  Plastic, Plastic everywhere on the windward side of the islands.  It gets washed over the outer reefs and deposited on the windward side of these beautiful islands.  The cruisers are burning their trash beyond the high tide line so that only ashes remain.  Kunas will take trash for $1.00 per bag but many just throw it into the mangroves.  There is a cruiser's net that identifies those who are reputable and trustworthy and the abusers.  I believe that almost every cruiser wants to "leave no foot print" and will do everything possible to protect the environment.  The only thing that can't be remedied is the discharge of raw sewage into the water.  There are no "pump-out" facilities in Kuna Yala.  In fact there are no existing sanitary facilities anywhere in Kuna Yala.  The Kuna build outhouses hanging over the leeward side of the islands for themselves and their pigs.  That's right, the pigs are housed in pens over the water or very near to it!  Wind and tide cleans everything up but I wouldn't start my water maker of the leeward side of any Kuna village!