Back in the San Blas

Well, I've been a little slow getting out a new blog, but snorkelling every day keeps us busy! We left Isla Grande and arrived in Chichime late afternoon. Had a few hits on the line, but the only thing we managed to catch was the other fishing line, so that mess took Dennis awhile to untangle. Headed over to Porvenir to check in, but the Port Captain was away for a few days, so that will have to wait until we're ready. Motorsailed down to the East Lemmons to keep Gretchen on Infinity company until Frank got back from Hawaii. Dennis made his first fish kill with the new speargun -- about a 10 lb. dog snapper. Wonderful eating! Went over to Infinity to sail with Gretchen and Loki (the best boat dog) to pick Frank up in Carti. One of the pangas ended up dropping him off at the boat just off the West Lemmons, so we sailed outside the reef on the way back to the East Lemmons. Just outside the anchorage we brought in a huge blackfin tuna. They gave us a 1/4 of the fish, which was enough for 4 meals for us, and then had us over for dinner for more. Love tuna and Infinity!



The bad thing is, they've now outlawed the Kunas from selling alcohol in the San Blas, which is making for very creative ways to get your alcohol in. We were going to make a run up to Portabello and back to restock, but Lynn and Randy on High States were heading back to Shelter Bay to leave the boat and head to Costa Rica for their immigration time, so sold us all their excess! My excuse for not doing the same is that they have a bigger boat, therefore, more room. Works for me.

We stopped at the Central Hollandes and enjoyed the anchorage there, off snorkelling to the reef with Infinity. Beautiful! Very cave like and tons of fish ... and a couple of sharks. Then back to the BBQ Island area, over to the Cocos, and our favourite spot, Nabadup. Got lumpy with a west wind blowing in, so we motored over to the Mangles River and dropped the hook. Much, much better. Plus, it was a short dinghy ride up the river to do laundry. The rain actually stopped long enough to dry the laundry. Saw 3 pretty good sized crocs (and those aren't the shoes!) up the river. Made doing laundry challenging. Wash clothes, look out for crocs! Finally met up with Pam and Richard on Tisha Baby and spent a happy hour over on their boat. They have a guest coming in to Panama City, so I lent her my Price Smart card. When she came back she brought me a bottle of wine -- not expected but so, so appreciated!


Decided to head back to Green Island and met up with Frank and Gretchen again. Some great walks around Ogopsibudup and spear fishing to die for! So far this year we've done well between ourselves and Infinity. Well, okay, they're getting most of them! They're young, they can dive deeper and for longer periods of time. Dennis says that unless it's in less than 15 feet of water, he's not shooting!


We've decided to spend Christmas up in the Bocas del Toro area, so we're heading back to Shelter Bay to provision (much easier from the dock than the dinghy) and see Sea Cycle, who should be in the water by the time we get there. Hopefully High States will be ready to go when we are. If not, there's quite a few people we'll be meeting up there :)

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