Jan 17, 2012
We weighed anchor this morning @ 1115 to move over to the West Lemmon Cays: 4nm. The distances here in the San Blas are all rather small. We had explored all the surrounding islands in the East Lemmon Cays in our dinghy. It's an Avon 10'-2" inflatable with a 8 hp 4 stroke Yamaha outboard. It is doing a great job of getting us around to all the islands within a specific area.
We dropped anchor in the West Lemmon Cays (9-32.9 N x 78-53.7 W) at 1215 hrs. There is a very narrow entrance with "skinny water" going into this area. My depth sounder showed just a little over 7.5 ft: we draw 6ft. Once through the shallow area it gets rather deep in the anchorage area with over 45 ft. There is a German here with his Rotweiller "Samantha". There are several mooring balls and a small bar with internet connections. That is the main attraction in an area that is devoid of internet cafes. There are several islands in this group that have individual Kuna families living on them. Only 50 islands of the 350 in Kuna Yala are inhabited but everyone has an owner/owners. The society is matriachal so land is inherited through the female lineage. Every island has coconut palms and the Kunas gather the fallen nuts every few months. The green drinking coconuts are less popular here that on other Caribbean islands but they can be bought. Most of the commerce is done with dried coconuts and Columbian trading boats.
Every Friday is fresh vegetable day. The Kunas go to Colon and buy produce which they deliver to all the yachts and families anchored or living in the popular areas. Their profit is modest and fair so everyone is buying from them. One can purchase, fresh vegetables, chicken, fish, beer and wine plus sundry other items that are carried out from the mainland. It is the most important day of the week for all the islanders and yachties for fresh food will not be available until the following Friday. There is only one road from Kuna Yala land to Panama City and it goes over mountains and streams. Most of it is paved but some is dirt and becomes impassable during the rainy season. Transportation is done by 4 x4 jeeps and Toyotas. It takes about 3-1/2 hrs to reach the coast of Kuna Yala from Panama City. The immediate off-lying islands are the Carti Islands. Anyone planning to travel by land will use this road to get to or go from the San Blas Islands. It is absolutely amazing that the Kuna's could have negotiated such a magnificent land grant with autonomy from the Panamanian government. There are several history books that describe how this was done. What little I have read is fascinating!
So here we are in the West Lemmon Cays when we receive an email on our internet Sailmail account from our friends John and Karin who have a Tayana 37. We had met them in Port Colburn on Lake Erie and travelled with them from Quebec to Halifax, NS. We met up again in Annapolis, MD, Beaufort, NC and Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The email says that they would like to come to Panama to be our line handlers through the Panama Canal. Since we knew that they had planned to come to the San Blas Islands, we invitied them to start the trip with us here and see how it goes once we get to Colon and make arrangements for the transit. They accept and will travel by land from Panama City to the Carti Islands. Phyllis and I will pick them up at a designated anchorage called Nonomulu (9-27.6 N x 78-59.1 W) which is just a stone's throw off the mainland. In the meantime, we are exploring the immediate islands of the West Lemmon group.
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