Our Sailing Trip through The San Blas Islands (Life Lessons learned in an unexpected way)

It was almost 5:45 pm when we finally arrived at the Linton Bay Marina, we had budgeted three hours for this trip from Coronado which wasn't nearly sufficient due to traffic in both La Chorrera and Sabonitas. Certainly arriving late for dinner wasn't the way we had wanted to start this trip. However, our Captain Alex was as promised, waiting to greet us at the gate of the marina- We quickly got parked and he assisted in bringing us and our luggage to the Intrepido Experience, our home for the next four days.

It was the evening of March 1, almost 10 weeks later than we had originally planned to be on this trip. However, the Covid circulation restrictions in Panama over Christmas and most of January made it impossible to make the trip until now: Panama’s Covid numbers have been on a sharp decline (for the better) since the start of the year.

Now just to be clear, we are not sailors by any stretch. We are big city Canada folks that became BC mountain folks; holidays on the water are really not our thing. So with our inexperience in these kinds of things, the months of delays, and the late arrival tonight there was a little voice in the back of the head chirping something about maybe this trip wasn't really meant to be.

However, Captain Alex and his partner Anabel quickly put our minds at ease, we were immediately shown our rooms and given a quick run through of the do`s and don'ts on the boat and then quickly thereafter the wine hit the table, we all needed a drink at that point. It seemed just moments later that our first meal, a finely prepared lobster tail with coleslaw started our Intrepido Experience.

The dinner also gave us a chance to get to know our “crew” a little better and discuss the night ahead of us. They were planning to sail through the night and make the approximate 100 km journey such that we would wake up tomorrow in The San Blas Islands. It was highly recommended that we take something to settle our stomachs and help us sleep as there were 3 meter waves on the Carribean waters we would cross to get to our first destination, Isla Julio in the San Blas Islands.

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The San Blas Islands are a vast archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean Coast comprising approximately 365 islands, of which less than 20% are inhabited.

It is an area of incredible beauty with crystal clear waters, spectacularly colored by the coral reefs surrounding the palm laden virgin islands. The beaches on many of the islands have a soft and welcoming white “Coral sand” that is formed from the deterioration of the adjacent coral. And yet in the midst of all of this aqueous beauty, there are vast areas of virgin, untouched rainforest and jungles.

This area, the islands and the associated mainland territory is home to and effectively controlled by the indigenous Kuna Indians who many would say have preserved their culture and traditions better than any other american tribe. The Kunas refer to this area as Kuna Yala; they do not like the name San Blas as this was the name given to the area by the Spanish Invaders led by Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

The Kunas forefathers lived in the adjacent Darien mountains of Panama. It was a hard life there and slowly they migrated to the outlying islands where there was an abundance of food in the sea ( the name Panama roughly translates into “Plenty of Fish”) but equally as important was the lack of insects, snakes and other wild animals. In the 18th century the Spanish Conquistadors invaded the area, but the Kunas became uncharacteristically violent and fought the invaders, finally in 1750 there was a treaty signed with the Spanish authorities allowing the Kunas to live in peace. Today, Kuna Yala is officially a part of Panama, the Kuna leaders signed an agreement to be part of the Republic of Panama under the condition that the Panamanian government respect their tribal laws, traditions and culture.

The Kunas are physically small people, (the average height of an adult male rarely exceeding 5 feet) but they are well proportioned, healthy and typically very energetic, happy people. They are also very peaceful and non-aggressive, crime of any kind is extremely rare in the Kuna Yala. The Kunas are accepting of visitors (during non Covid times, at the time we visited there was a ban on foreigners physically visiting any of the islands) however non Kunas are prohibited from buying land or permanently settling in the area. Likewise, intermarrying of foreigners with Kunas is prohibited. Kuna Yala is fairly unique in that the women control the money and often choose their husbands, the husband would then move into the woman's family compound.

Traditional Kuna villages are clean and blend into the surrounding landscape, there are no fences segregating the lands and thus overall, the islands and the area as a whole looks very much as it would have when the Kunas first came to this area hundreds of years ago. Traditional huts are made with floors slightly elevated with compacted sand, walls made of cane and roofs fabricated from palm leafs. There are no nails used on the construction but everything is tied together with jungle creeper vines. Amazingly, most of these huts will remain totally dry during some of the fierce rainstorms the area will see in the wet season, and the roof will typically last more than 15 years, far better than the typical tile roof found in the rest of Panama.

The mainstay of the Kuna economy are coconuts which grow in abundance on most of the islands; every coconut and palm is owned by a tribal member and thus it is a real transgression for a foreigner to take or even touch a coconut, even if it is laying on the ground. A large portion of the coconut harvest is sold to Columbian traders who come in on large cargo boats, the Kuna Yala also exports lobsters, king crab and octopus.

The women of Kuna Yala make money selling their beautiful “Molas”, these are beautifully sewn handicraft fabrics, very colorful and intricate. Each one is different, usually depicting abstract forms of bird, animals or marine life. Often as a visiting boat anchors near an island or village the Kunas will come out in their “ulus” to show you their Mola works.

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We had started our first voyage leaving Linton Bay Marina just shortly after 8:00 pm, we all donned lifejackets, Anabel had advised that when sailing at night all persons on deck must be wearing life jackets. We were heading east, largely into a headwind, thus the captain indicated we would be running the motors all evening. After navigating through the reef and all the anchored craft outside the marina without any real moonlight (which I felt must have been really tricky) we set our course due east. Shortly thereafter as the land mass on our left disappeared and we hit the open caribbean sea the waters started to get swells. It was at first a little disturbing / unnerving but then became somewhat soothing, the rhythm of the waters raising and lowering the boat started to initiate some relaxation and fatigue. Linda was the first to go below deck, I followed shortly thereafter and felt the Gravol kicking in; we curled up into our little bed and were soon asleep.

It was a restless and violent sleep, crazy dreams broken up by the violent thrust of the nose of the boat through 3 meter swells, our berth was at the front of the boat so our bed was experiencing the full vertical thrust of the boat in the waters. We were awakened from our drug induced sleeps by the sounds of pots and pans falling to the floor in the kitchen, our cupboard and bathroom doors opening and slamming shut. We had felt water crashing through our port holes in the big swells so had to close all of these and awoke at one point sweat soaked. I was sure it must have been close to dawn as it seemed we had been sleeping for days, however Linda found a phone and realized we had been in bed only a few hours. It was indeed going to be a long night.

After a full body workout trying to use the bathroom in stormy seas I felt nausea coming on and had to lay down again. I begged Linda to get me more Gravol to settle the stomach and bring on more sleep. Somehow she managed to navigate her way out to the “living room” to fetch that for me and we settled into the second scene of our night.

I slept pretty soundly the rest of the way and do remember hearing the engines being killed and the anchor dropping, I wasn't sure of the time but it was still dark, soon all was quiet and a gentle rocking of the boat lulled us back to sleep.

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Linda woke around 7:00, looked out our port hole and said “Oh my God”, she gets so excited about new adventures. In the blink of an eye she had a bathing suit and cover up on, somehow found her sunglasses, and poof she was gone. I took a little longer to get organized but soon went up for my first look at the San Blas Islands.

I emerged from below deck to see a thinly overcast sky; small steady waves were gently rocking the boat. We were in a little bay with small palm covered islands both in front of the boat (the bow) and to our left when looking forward (port side). The water surrounding the boat was crystal clear but it looked as though we were in fairly deep water,. Captain Alex had explained to us the night before, the heavy keel on this boat, the thing that makes this boat so safe in turbulent waters is just under 2 meters in length, thus he never takes the boat into areas shallower than 3 meters in depth.

Although we tried to be very quiet on deck it wasn't very long before Anabel emerged from below asking if we would like coffee. She told us they had anchored just around 5:00 am and had gotten down for a few hours of sleep. Within minutes a beautifully strong Italian coffee was brought to us and shortly thereafter a beautiful platter of fresh fruits was planted in front of us.

We began to then realize what a great crew we had on the Intrepido. It would have been so easy for the captain to say it was unsafe to travel those waters at night and he and Anabel could have gone to bed at a normal hour, thus making us use one of our “holidays” as a transit day to San Blas. Instead, they worked the night and, with only a couple of hours of sleep were letting us get our first look at this special place.

We were anchored in front of Weisaladup (in Kuna language, the suffix “dup” indicates this is an island name) in the Western Holandes Cayos (West Dutch Keys) section of the San Blas Islands. Captain Alex kept referring to this as Isla Julio, as it is commonly called because of the principle resident on the island. They had talked to us a lot the night before about the Kunas and although most are friendly and welcoming in nature, some will only allow foreigners to visit their islands for a fee. The other important factor right now is that during Covid times, foreigners are “officially” prohibited from setting foot on Kuna lands; there is no covid in this area and certainly they do not have the ability and logistics to deal with an outbreak in this sparsely populated island region.

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Alex said he was going to go over to talk to “su amigo Julio” so he dropped his dingy into the water and headed for the little beach area on the island in front of us. Moments later he mounted the Intrepido again and told us that Julio would welcome us to visit his island. He told Alex they were very low on drinking water so Alex put a large jug in the dinghy for him. Anabel once again reminded us about being respectful by not touching any coconuts, in the tree or on the ground, this is a big no-no whilst anywhere in the San Blas.

Within minutes we were “beaching” the dinghy on the beach and had a short walk to Julio's “casa”.

Julio and his wife were seated in an area covered by a thatched roof of palm leaves. On the table in front of them were many different styles of “Molas” (in the Kuna language, mola means clothing) and quickly the girls were going through all the designs and each selected a mola wrapped falda (skirt) to wear. Julio was very warm and charming, he smiled constantly, speaking to each of us in turn (with the help of Alex) , curious about where we came from and laughing easily if any of us made a joke. We met his dog “chacal” and many chickens walked through the “camp” while we visited.

We could see there was another small structure in behind which is likely where their hammocks hang and where they spend their evenings.

We all enjoyed the chance to meet these folks and chat, we knew this was a rare opportunity we might never have again. We followed Alex’s lead when he stood up to leave, telling us we were free to walk around the island, and if we ran into anyone else to tell them we were “un invitado de Julio”. We waved warm good byes and started on our walk as Alex got back in the dinghy promising to pick us up in “media hora”

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We walked back down to the water and started our “clockwise” walk around the island, the color of the water playing on the reef in front of the island and the mid-morning sun was truly unlike anything we had ever seen, so many shades of blue & turquoise & green, the vividness hard to describe and even harder to capture in a photo, but it was truly hard to look away. We took some photos and continued our walk.

We then encountered a kuna man and his two dogs, the dogs were not sure about us but the man smiled a broad smile and waved enthusiastically. We could see that he lived in a very small palm “shack” and had an outdoor area with a fire pit and a run down boat that did not look seaworthy, that appeared to be all he had (plus the rope he had in his hand). It left me with a very strange feeling as we waved back and smiled, feeling somehow so darn privileged to be visiting this area in a fancy boat, and yet, he was so grateful in letting us visit his home, perhaps I was at that moment a little confused about who was the more privileged one..

We continued our walk around the back of the island, just loving the feel of the super soft white sand under our feet and between our toes. The sand is unique in that it is fairly coarse but feels super soft on your feet. Coral Sand is made up of the sand and particles from the bio-erosion of the coral; essentially a large part of this develops when fishes bite off pieces of the coral, digest the living tissue and excrete the remains as silt and sand. It is just so plush to walk on and of course, the beaches are remote and pristine, there is virtually no garbage to be seen anywhere.

Around the back side of the island we saw a few more “huts” and as we walked up three little children came out to greet us showing their “mola works”, they had lovely little handmade bracelets and we were happy to buy something from them as well. The children, although a little shy spoke very politely when spoken to and had lovely smiles.

Soon Alex was headed back to get us and said we could have some lunch and stay here for the day or head across to a new port called Coco Banderas, we all agreed we were eager to explore a new place so we enjoyed a beautiful lunch of spanish rice with shrimps, some cerveza and mas cafe before bringing in the dinghy and securing that, by 2:00 we set sail for our next destination.

The first and main task in navigating close to any of these islands is knowing the pattern of the reefs that surround and in some cases extend far out into the adjacent waters. Once we had “tip toed” our way out to the more open waters Alex and Anabel got some of the big sails out, turned off the motors and we set our course under strictly wind power. There was still come chop in the waters today, but under the bright sun, with just the sound of the wind hitting the sails it was a beautiful and relaxing way to spend part of the afternoon, some of us actually falling asleep on the upper deck, thankfully Alex didn't sleep as far as I know.

On our trip we passed many dozens of small palm covered islands in the distance, most looked uninhabited, we were no where near any of the larger islands with villages and lodging to stay at. What was really interesting was that often in the distance you would see huge waves breaking in an area with nothing else around, clearly these were areas of extended “reef coasts”

Unlike sand coasts, reef coasts do not descend gradually, they usually form approximately 1.5 m below the water surface, they are of uniform height but will have a sharp, steep drop off at the lee edge of the reef. This steep sharp edge functions as a huge wave breaker especially during stormy times.

It was shortly before 4:00 as we slowed down and dropped anchor in the Cayos Coco Banderas. We were surrounded by a handful of very small uninhabited islands; The waters were calm and clear and we could see the reef outcroppings surrounding all of the islands. We were told this is a great playground for snorkelling, so Linda decided to get on a Stand up Paddle Board, Steve and Julie decided to snorkel and I decided I needed to get a bit of cardio / exercise and decided to swim out to some of the adjacent islands.

After a bit of play time, we all gathered back at the boat, changed and got ready for a cocktail and some guitar playing. Soon an amazing dinner of curried Barracuda with Quinoa hit the table, simply delicious. Anabel and Alex went to bed shortly after dinner which was understandable given they had been sailing most of the night. The four of us had a night cap of Cognac and Baileys, but were soon all below deck and quickly lulled to sleep by the total quiet broken only by the sounds of the gentle waves caressing our boat at night.

We emerged on deck early on day 3 to look at the scene around, Here we were in the Cayos Coco Banderas with three little islands surrounding us, Dupwais, Olosiculdup and Guarladup. We had visited little Olosciculdup yesterday afternoon and we were told the reef around the other side of Guarladup is amazing for snorkelling and Anabel indicated she would take us there this a.m.

We had barely been above deck for minutes before a boat loaded with many molas and three Kunas approached and they were clearly looking to do business with us. Anabel spoke with them for some time but one gentleman from the boat spoke to Linda and I directly in English, saying he understood we had just woken up, and asked very politely if he could come back in an hour? We appreciated his persistence and “professionalism”. We said we would be good in an hour and he offered us his business card

We waited for our friends to emerge and shortly thereafter we were presented with another stellar fruit plate.

followed by a magnificent pancake breakfast complete with plenty of the intense italian coffee, all the while we could see Venancios' boat waiting patiently for us over by one of the islands.

Feeling fully satisfied we signalled that it was time to pop over to see us, they immediately arrived and started bringing bags and boxes of molas and other fine handicrafts onto the Intrepido

We asked Venancio how he learned to speak English so well and he told us he is fluent in many different languages. I asked him “Comment ca va?” and he answered “Ca va bien”. Steve asked him “Guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?” to which he immediately replied “Ich bin gut, danke”. , I was really beginning to be intrigued by this guy.

All the while he was pulling out more and more fabrics and handiwork (tapestries, purses, bracelets, masks), he had about an hour's worth of stuff to show us.

We could see Julie was trapped in his “showroom” corner and looking a little overwhelmed, and I could see Linda had seen enough, so we selected a few things to buy off of him, gave him our $60 and as quick as they came, they were gone.

With all the commerce out of the way, we started to get ready for a morning of snorkelling: Linda and I decided we could use the exercise so we swam over to the island while the rest loaded up in the dinghy. This water was so warm, calm, buoyant (very salty) and absolutely clear and clean, this area is indeed really spectacular for snorkelling as there is an abundance of fish and of course the coral reef forms are so unique.

Our friends finished their snorkelling and headed back to the Intrepido, Linda and I were just blending into the calm and peace we felt in this place, and we decided to just hang out here on the back of the island a bit longer. We sat in the water, marveled at the incredible blue sky, the incredible colors of the waters around us, we talked a bit about how lucky we were to just be here in this moment, and then we just listened; there was the sound of the calm waters around us, and really nothing else. The word paradise just filled my brain, but I dared not say it, it seemed to cliche to really capture the feelings I was experiencing. It was enough, way more than enough, to just be in this place at that moment with the woman I love and adore. So incredible.

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After I am not sure how long, we swam back to the boat, but I just couldn't stop thinking about this most amazing shell I had seen over at Guarladup the previous afternoon. When I got back to the boat I asked Alex if it is forbidden or disrespectful in any way to take a shell from the Kuna Yala as a souvenir. He said the shells are not viewed the same way as the coconuts, so the Kunas wouldn't mind. And as long as you were planning to keep it in Panama, there wouldn't be a problem, if they found this on you as you were trying to leave the country, the authorities might confiscate it.

So off we went back swimming our way to Guarladup. I found the shell exactly where I had seen it the day before, it was something unlike anything I had ever seen, so perfectly formed and of such amazing colors.

These are Conch shells (pronounced konk), conch are mollusks or a type of sea snail. Shells bearing this color (brown exterior and bright pink interior) are produced by the adult queen conch, they are very heavy and can get up to 12” in length and typically will have between 9 and 11 whorls on its exterior. This species of conch typically live in the tropical waters of the Caribbean and Mediteranean and prefer the shallow waters provided by reefs. The conch meat is very tasty and is often used in a ceviche, this particular shell has had its end lopped off, probably by a machete to get at the meat.

After our morning of swimming and snorkeling we got back on the Intrepido, had a couple of cervezas and were treated to a wonderful lunch of chicken tacos with a big salad. We discussed our plans for the rest of the day. We were heading to Cambombia, and we were going to be introduced to Alex’s friend Hernam and his family. After a bit of coffee, we brought the dinghy out of the water and secured it to the rear of the Intrepido and then by 2:00 we were off again, mostly on wind power. As an interesting coincidence, in Panama, conch is known as Cambombia, which was going to be our next stop on our journey.

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Although the waters were calmer today, the vistas were almost a carbon copy of yesterday's trip, we passed many small palm covered islands and saw many more instances of the coastal reefs in the distance. By 4:00 we were slowing and letting down anchor in front of a long narrow island. Officially it is called Morebedup but Alex refers to it as Starfish Island, he said you are bound to see many of these if you snorkel or SUP in this area. We could see and hear many young children playing and laughing in the waters in front of one corner of the island.

We had only been stopped a short while when Alex said he was going over to visit Hernam and asked me if I wanted to go with him. A short trip in the dinghy brought us to the waters where the children were playing, with only a ball and each other, they squealed and giggled and chased each other constantly, like this was the newest, greatest game ever. Alex brought a bag of goodies and for each of the children pulled out a snack sized bag of cookies, their eyes lit up as they all politely waited their turn to see if they would get a treat.

A young Kuna woman, (late teens or early twenties) came out to talk with Alex. She was slim and obviously several months pregnant. She was very reserved but when she smiled, I was just struck by the natural beauty when her face lit up and her white teeth glistened.

Hernam was not there when we arrived, he had gone to the mainland to get water but soon after returned and we helped him unload the many 5 gallon containers of water. Alex gave Hernam a new SIM card for a phone he had come into possession of, he was extremely happy about that. Soon Anabel arrived and brought beer for all the adults and there was much chatter and talk all around. Hernam was a very small gentleman, but again had a cheery nature and a warm smile. As we were saying our goodbyes, Hernam invited us out fishing with him in the morning. Alex asked if he would prepare some Kuna bread that we could purchase to have with our breakfast, he told us indeed he would and would deliver it around 7:00 am.

We went back to the Intrepido, cleaned up for cocktail hour and watched the sunset just before a beautiful dinner of Cod & Piña in a Thai sauce hit the table,

That wrapped up another beautiful day exploring the Kuna Yala and we all retired pretty early.

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I lay in bed thinking a lot about this day and this trip. I am sure many of us have had the experience of “holidaying” in place like the Caribbean islands or Mexico, places where so many have so little and people are constantly trying to separate you from your money by begging or hustling you / selling you something. That inevitably leaves you frustrated, maybe angry and often sad; it is sad to see what the desperate need to do to survive, especially when you are on a holiday.

But the peoples we have met here in Kuna Yala are different; They clearly have nothing, they live in what many would call shacks, they sleep in hammocks, have no electricity or water, yet they are clean people, their “homes” are clean, they dress nicely and are very attractive and happy people. They are without television and radio, nor do they have internet on these remote islands, yet they are happy, some might say blissfully ignorant. These people have nothing to share with you but their lands and their knowledge of these lands, and at least the ones we met, they are happy to do this without expecting or asking for anything in return.

I spent some time trying to understand what these people do all day, and if in fact their tomorrow would be in every respect just like today? I have to think the answer is yes, these people are probably living a “Groundhog Day” every single day, which sounds unbearable to most of us, yet dare I say it again, these people seem so completely fine with the life they have. As I fell asleep I wondered, who has got things right and who has got it very wrong. When you look around “our” world today, and hear about the violence, the lies, the misinformation, the public deception, the hatred that seems to grow in all corners of the world with each passing day, when it seems that “our world” is so volatile and ready to implode, I wondered again, who has got things right and who has got things very wrong?

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We awoke early on Day 3 and went up for some early coffee, we had discussed our plans for this day and knew that we needed to sail to the East Lemon Key later today and we definitely wanted to see the Starfish in the bay around us and absolutely wanted to snorkel out at the amazing reef around Akuadup, the island in the distance. Thus we really didn't want to commit to fishing with Hernam, but we wanted to be up to greet him when he came to deliver our bread.

We were on a second cup of coffee when we could see Hernam and his crew loading their boat to come over and see us.

The bread was still warm as they handed it over and it looked amazing.

Alex paid Hernam and thanked him again for bringing this over, and then totally shocked him by giving him a new fishing rod. The man was in disbelief and appeared humbled, but had huge smiles for us as he left. Alex later explained that Hernam would typically fish with just a “string in hand”, this rod cost Alex so very little but would mean so much to his Kuna friend. I could see why Alex was so popular here in the Kuna Yala, and it was clear that true friendships are born out of treating all peoples with respect.

It seemed only a few minutes after they left another boat pulled up showing their catch of the day so far, the most beautiful King Crab I had ever seen.

Alex and Anabel grabbed some of those and put them in water for another day.

After another spectacular breakfast of fresh fruit, kuna bread and eggs we set about our morning adventure, Linda and I did some SUP and saw at least a dozen Starfish and then we all loaded up to traverse the open water to Akuadup (Shell Island) where we were to do some snorkelling. The reef was amazing as it spanned virtually the entire open water here, only the shallowest of boats could travers this section of water. Likewise the reef around Akuadup was amazing, the colors, the depth and contours and the many brightly colored fish around here were stunning.

But it was the abundance and size of conch shells on the island that was truly unlike anything I had ever seen, they all seemed larger and more beautiful than the one I had already taken from Coco Banderas.

We were on our way back to the Intrepido when Anabel mentioned to Alex that she had seen a small boat coasting around the Intrepido, I know I started wondering if they had some untoward plan towards the empty craft. All of a sudden the boat appeared and was heading straight toward our little dinghy at high speed. I know “the Gringo” in me started to feel uneasy about this, I felt very vulnerable at that moment. As they got closer we could see it was two Kuna fishermen, simply showing us the Barracuda they had caught that day, Alex told them we had just bought some Crab from another man that morning- They smiled a big smile, said there was no problem and off they went. I suddenly felt very silly for feeling those feelings while here in Kuna Yala.

We went back to the boat and settled in for some cerveza and it seemed in the blink of an eye we had a mouthwatering meal of Pulpo a la Gaillega (octopus cooked in the traditional method from the Galacian part of Spain). It was just too good to even describe.

We then sailed to the East Lemon Keys, our final anchor out point for this trip, there was not a lot of adventure close at hand, so we decided to create our own adventure and Anabel started to make real Pina Colada with natural Piña and fresh coco from the island. Alex was the first to tell us that this was a rare event, Anabel rarely prepares special drinks for her guests, so we enjoyed these as I tried to teach Alex a few songs on his Ukulele. I think everyone on board was ecstatic when we put that thing down.

Our last dinner was finely presented to us, it was a beautifully presented Panatacones con carne,

Even Alex had some wine with dinner on this our last night on the Intrepido. We were informed that on our last day on the boat, they would be getting up early to get ready to sail by 5:00 am. That should allow us to be anchored and having lunch at Isla Grande by about noon, we would then have the afternoon to explore Isla Grande as the Linton Bay marina was just a few minutes across the bay.

The crew then retired while we stayed up to enjoy a few cognacs before retiring for our last sleep on the Intrepido.

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The morning indeed came early and while it was still dark it appeared we were back on the open sea and our cabin / our bed started rising and crashing down once again. I decided to take another Gravol and try to sleep the morning away, and that actually seemed to work well, Linda came to get me up as we were getting close to Isla Grande and it was almost 11:00.

The waters around Isla Grande are certainly much busier than that we have been used to the past four days, many recreational boats were anchored and many transiting to and from the Linton Bay marina only a few minutes away. Also there are many fishing boats and tourist boats zipping around towing kids on rafts, it is a busy spot.

We anchored and soon settled in for coffee, and a spectacular “desa-muerzo” of omelette, sausages,cheeses, piña and of course, lots of kuna bread, it was a wonderful final feast on our home for the week.

We took an hour to walk the “boardwalk” through Isla Grande, although its name implies something different, it is a rather small island with less than 1,000 inhabitants. It is home to many waterfront restaurants and bars, many very cool spots that looked like they could be so much fun, especially at the times of year when the surrounding waters create ideal surfing conditions and the area gets very busy. On this day most were empty, but it was early on Friday and hopefully the weekend would bring lots of visitors to the area.

We walked down to visit the two most famous sites on the Island. The first is the rather striking “Black Christ of Portobelo”.

This image of Christ with a Brunette complexion is situated in the corals just off the island, and the devotion of the people of Panama to its image is evidenced by the many pilgrimages that take place to him during the late part of October

The second is the lighthouse of Isla Grande, constructed by the french in the late 1800`s (some say the Gustav Eiffel himself was involved) it now sits largely unused but the walk to the base of the tower provides beautiful vistas of the surrounding bays.

But now our week was drawing to a close, and once that feeling sets in, there is an eagerness to just get home. We quickly were transported back to Linton Bay Marina, said our goodbyes to our new friends Alex and Anabel and got back on the road to Coronado.

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It was indeed more than a holiday, especially as non water sport people, this was something very different for us. But it was also more than a sailing trip, it was an “Experience”. What this experience ultimately means I have still not determined, but it was impactful. There were lessons here, or at least reminders of things we already knew. There is the simple lesson of treating all peoples with respect, as we are all just people. There was that vivid reminder that happiness is not a result of the acquisition of status or tangible things, but it can be a state of mind, perhaps it is a choice, or even a way of life. This is something so hard to see in the busy’ness of Western Life but so evident here.

We are all so glad we did this trip and so glad we did it this way: we all believe we saw Kuna Yala in a special way, a way most will never get to see it. Thanks to Intrepido Experience for giving us this special view of a very special place.