Our overnight passage from the island of Tinipan Columbia to the San Blas of Panama was relatively uneventful. We motored for a few hours until a light wind picked up and we could sail. The wind was on the beam until about 10 pm when it shifted further aft and we set our running pole to run wing and wing.
We had a great light show most of the night, there was sheet lighting on the Southern horizon all night. Every few seconds almost you would see big flashes of lighting somewhere and occasional rumbles of distant thunder. About 2am I could see a big squall approaching on the radar. We were still sailing but slowing down as the wind was getting light. There was lighting in this squall so I reduced sail down to a 3rd reef rolled in the head sail and started the engine to keep moving. I know from the Indian ocean if you see lighting in a squall you often get very strong winds with it. The squall finally came over us and it started raining, but no wind. Soon it was a tropical downpour and this lasted 20 minutes and the squall passed after about an hour. There was never any wind to speak of and after the squall passed we had no wind to sail so kept motoring.
We arrived at our anchorage at Isla Pinos late the next morning and dropped the hook off a nice little island with a village visible about a half mile away. The chart plotter is way off in the San Blas and we used Eric Bauhaus Panama guide to navigate by, as he has charted most of the islands.
We went ashore the next day and walked the beach by our boat, then later in day dingyed
over to the village and tied up at the village dock. We were greeted and led to someone who collected a $10 dollar anchoring fee from us and then if we wanted to walk around they also charged us $2.00 each for that. We walked through the village which consisted of small huts made from sticks and small logs. Then did a 20 minuted hike to the top of the hill where there is a radio tower. The trail starts at right hand edge of village by big cement water cistern.
We were the only yacht here when we arrived. Another yacht came in late in day and left early next morning and we had the anchorage to our selves the next night.
After 2 nights at Isla Pinos, we left for a village called Achutupu about 18 miles to NW. It was even more cloudy than usual this morning and as we left it started to rain and it rained lightly of and on all day except for two heavy rain squalls. This made for tense navigating among the reefs, as you could not see them at all in the downpour. This forced us to put a lot of trust in Eric's waypoints. We arrived safely and found it to be a beautiful spot to anchor, in a open lagoon with the traditional style village on one side, a small palm tree island beside it and then the mainland jungle behind us. Between the islands you could see the large surf curling in onto the reefs and here it's thunder. We watched the locals each morning paddle or sail their dugout canoes from the village over to the mainland a 1/2 mile away to where they had farm plots and also cut trees they needed. Then they would usually return about midday to do other work at their village. Again we were the only yacht here for the two days.
A couple of dugout canoes came by trying to sell us lobsters. We bought some bananas from one guy. Another canoe came by later with a young local lady and 4 children all very friendly and they wanted to sell a mola to us. Over the 2 days not too many canoes came by and they were not a bother.
The previous day had been on and off drizzle and this morning looked even worse with heavy cloud all around, but we decided to leave anyways for our next anchorage. Snug Harbor was our choice about 20 miles away. It started raining as soon as I had the anchor up and it rained off and on all day with some very heavy squalls, again making for some difficult navigation. It was also a rough ride at times with big confused swells on the beam, swells that have come all the way across the Caribbean and ending on the shores of Panama. Our depth sounder was also acting up making for more tense moments, as we weaved between islands and reefs. I fixed it the next day.
We dropped anchor about 1:30 pm and the anchorage was truly nice and snug. The village was about a mile away and we did not bother going over. There was one other yacht here as well. We used our kayak and took turns paddling up into a nearby lagoon and going for a walk and the nice beach. Bought a stick of green bananas from a dugout that came by.
The next morning we decided to keep moving as Dorothy wanted to get up into the more Northern islands where there is snorkelling and clear waters. So far all the anchorages have been near the mainland in very unclear water because of river run off's.
Our next destination was Rio Diablo about 15 miles away. After we bashed out into open water and turned the corner we had some good sailing for a while, even though we were being thrown around in the big beam seas. Just after lunch we motored into the anchorage and found there was about 14 yachts here, the first time in the San Blas we have really seen any yachts. This village did not have the same character as the villages we have already been through.
Apparently the Kuna indians here, have given up there traditional life style going for the modern way. TV's glow inside the houses and a big generator roars at one end of the island. We got a couple of items at a small local grocery store. They had baked beans and corned beef and a few other items here, a few veggies. But there was no cars or motor bikes, so it was pleasant walking around the island and everyone was very friendly. We were asked what our names were several times. The island is about 3/4 of a mile wide by 3/4 mile long, not very big, there is also a big metal pedestrian bridge connecting the two small islands.
For those interested in our depth sounder problem. We have a steel hull and the transducer sits in a 4" pvc tube glued to the hull below waterline. Inside the tube is water for the transducer to sit in. There is a screw on cap on pvc tube. The problem I had was the water needs to be changed every few months as it gets dirty. Shooting through the hull I get only about 150 feet of depth which is fine as it is more than anchoring depth. I figure this is better than another hole in the hull.
INFO
- Anchored at Isla Pinos in 22 ft at 08 59.847N 77 45.502W
- We found the first few islands we visited in the San Blas the water had poor visibility because of river run off, so even in good light you might not see reefs. This was mainly if you were near the mainland. Also it was often very cloudy here, again hard to get good light for reef spotting. Eric Bauhuse Panama guide is a bit expensive but necessary if you are going to visit much of the San Blas as the electronic charts are all way off. By the time we got to Portobello we had seen 4 yachts on a reefs. We are here in mid December the start of the dry season.
Each evening I would plot all Eric's waypoints on our chart plotter for the next days passage and just go waypoint to waypoint and mostly ignore the chart picture.
- Anchorage at Achutupu was in 38 ft at 09 11.582N 77 59.263N Page 314. Dec 17 This was our favourite of the first 4 anchorages here.
Note: When we were leaving here we almost hit a reef, suspecting that one of Erics waypoints or survey might be a bit off. Unless it was our mistake, but watch out around waypoint #7-56-1 on Page 314. It could be one waypoint back or forward can't remember. Otherwise we have so far found all his waypoints pretty accurate.
-We did not go ashore, there did not appear to be any shore, at village. Went to small island and also walked on mainland shore, there is a airfield here. Did not pay any fees here. Bought some papayas from a local who came by in a dugout canoe.
-Note. We followed the waypoints in Eric Bighouses book exactly (That's what the locals call him). We were first going to go to the village of Mamitupu just before Ashutupu, but the book did not have a set of waypoints right to anchorage. We tried going in and were suddenly in 14 feet of water when we though we should be in 30 feet, near the river, maybe silting from river, anyway we chickened out and turned around.
-Anchorage in Snug Harbor Pape 303. Anchored in 50 ft at 09 19.574N 78 15.271W We came around and in from the West as it looked a lot safer.
-Anchorage at Rio Diablo anchored in 35ft at 09 26.415N 78 35.140W All of the last four anchorages were in mud and sand in good holding. You can get some diesel and gasoline here and someone to do laundry.
-Another thing to consider if going when trade winds pickup. All the way from Isla Pinos to Rio Diablo we were often making our way in large confused open ocean swells in 50 to 100 feet of water depth, and close to reefs. It was rough going, maybe 1/3 of the time you would be behind a island or reef big enough to block the swells. During these passages we luckily had light winds in the 10 to 15 knot range, except to Rio Diablo we had 15 to 20 knots. In these light winds we could see the breakers that indicated where the reefs were to help confirm Eric's waypoints. We often had a N or NE wind which headed us sometimes or sometimes a beam reach. I suspect it could be wild going if the trades really picked up when so close to land.
We seldom had sunny weather or what you would call good light to spot reefs, but even in heavy clouds we could see a reef close to the surface. Unless it was pouring rain.
-No-see-um's and mosquitos. We had heard a lot about them, but I think I have seen all of two mosquitos and no no-see-um's. Most nights we have had at least a slight breeze, but we have some calm periods late at night and had no bugs, maybe December is a good month?? Even when we did a hike up to the radio tower, we saw no bugs, maybe if stood around for a while and let them find us?? We had no bugs right through the San Blas.
-Anchorage fees. For the first four anchorages we just paid a fee at Isla Pinos and I suspect that was because we went ashore and made it easy for them.
- The San Blas seem to have two parts. South of Rio Diablo we saw few yachts. The villages were more traditional. The villages were the focus of interest, as there is no snorkelling that we saw. Then North of Rio Diablo the islands are further offshore and behind coral reefs and the water is much clearer. The islands are beautiful sand palm islands with just a few Kuna living on these outer islands. We saw many yachts in these outer islands. The charts are still off and Erics guide book is very helpful.
We were also getting better weather as we got further into the dry season and could easily spot all the reefs in the good light.
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