Cruising the San Blas Islands

In 1981, when our family was living in the country of Panama, friends invited Dawn and myself to accompany them on a cruise to the San Blas Islands in their 46' trawler.  I had served as navigator when we brought the boat, which had been purchased in Miami, back to Panama.  Charles and Jean German, the boat owners were friends and members of the Colon Yacht Club.  The Yacht Club was planning a group cruise to the San Blas Islands, and we were invited to join in the voyage.  The San Blas islands are a remote, semi-autonomous region inhabited by the Guna Indian tribe.

On the scheduled date to leave Colon harbor, the weather was somewhat blustery as our flotilla of yachts left harbor.  To get to San Blas, the vessels simply had to follow the Atlantic coast east, but wind and waves made it a bit rougher than usual.  That afternoon, we reached a sheltered harbor where everyone anchored for the night.  The next morning only two of the vessels, our trawler and a big sportfisherman-type yacht elected to continue on the trip.

The weather was somewhat better, and we cruised past many of the San Blas islands until we came upon a rather idyllic-appearing uninhabited atoll.  There was a roughly circular peripheral reef with a small central island enclosed.  On the windward side of the reef were the impaled remains of a small merchant freighter.  The island itself was a few hundred yards long with vegetation mimicking Gilligan's Island.   The sportfisherman stayed in open water, trolling for big fish, while we entered the encompassing reef through an opening on the lee side of things.  How absolutely perfect!

We were cruising within the enclosed lagoon, admiring the beautiful sand beaches, when unexpectedly a squall blew in rapidly over the water.  Our trawler was caught broadside by the sudden wind and, before we could maneuver, pushed up on the beach.  We were firmly grounded!  On a remote, uninhabited, island distant from any harbor, and there we were staring at the wreck of a previous vessel only 1/3 miles away.  What to do!

Charles German was a retired US Navy diver; one very tough and experienced guy.  Jean, Dawn, and I all jumped over the (shore) side of the boat into chest deep water to try to keep the hull from being pushed further into shallower water.  Fortunately, it was a sand beach, not hard coral.  Charles got on the radio to the sportfisherman and stayed at the controls; they were quickly up on plane and immediately on the way to us.  I put on my snorkeling fins and swam out with a mooring line from our boat to the sportfisherman.  They attached the line to a solid stern stanchion and cranked up the yacht's big twin engines.

The line tightened like a guitar string; the high-powered engines on the sportfisherman were roaring.  And the squall was subsiding!  I rejoined Dawn and Jean in the water pushing on the trawler hull.  No movement.  Charles joined us in the water.  We tried rocking the hull in unison.... was that movement we felt?  Gradually we could confirm movement, then the hull broke free!  Charles scrambled back aboard to the controls.  How great was that!

We ended up staying for several days; snorkeling during the day; hiking around our own little perfect island; catching fish for our meals.  We ended up snorkeling over the sunken wreckage of another vessel where I was able to dive into the flooded cargo hold full of small fish seeking protection from barracudas lurking outside; flip over on my back and shoot a photo of a thousand sunlit fish swimming above me.  Charles used a couple of our bait fish to catch sharks at night.  You don't try to unhook large, sharp-toothed sharks.  Charles had a "bang stick": basically, a pole with a shotgun shell on the end.  The cartridge detonated when you jammed the stick against the big shark's head.  Underwater, the concussion was enough to obliterate the head and release the fishhook.

Charles and Jean lived aboard that yacht and took several subsequent cruises during the time we lived there.  I worried because drug smuggling was reported with some frequency, including the killing of yachtsmen and theft of their boats.  We were invited for a cruise to Cartagena, Columbia, a center for drug trafficking.  Was it cowardice or concern for our children that made us decline?


See "A Voyage to Remember" at the following location for a description of the boat trip from Miami to Colon:   http://developable-surface-boat-designs.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-voyage-to-remember.html



   

Panama, 2014

We lived in Panama 1979-1982 and have great memories of our time there.  Panama was a backwards, little dictatorship to whom the US was ceding back the Canal Zone.  The Trans-Isthmian highway was a narrow, winding two-lane road and the Trans-Isthmian railroad was like a Disney jungle ride: windows open wide as it rumbled through the jungle with parrots and monkeys outside your windows; coconut palms, banana stalks, and lush jungle evident outside.  Civilization was located on the Pacific coast, and we lived on the Atlantic coast.  Our home was on stilts because of the 140 inches of rain we received annually.  You could point to a line on the ground where the Canal Zone ended and the country of Panama began:  one side was neat and freshly mowed, the other side a mass of weeds and trash.  It was said that the dictator Noriega never visited the Atlantic coast because he knew he would be killed.  If you drove into the town of Colon, be sure to watch over your shoulder and move fast; crime could be anywhere.

We loved it.  We lived one block from Lake Gatun; incredible fishing for peacock bass.  We had a maid and went snorkeling in the ocean every week.  This was prior to the lionfish being introduced in the Caribbean; the coral formations and tropical fish were amazing.  Brilliant royal blue butterflies and migrating clouds of beautiful moths flew overhead.  I had a boat, and friends had a yacht which allowed us to explore the coast.  Did I mention how bad the cockroaches were?

In 2014 we decided to re-visit our old home in Panama during the dry season (Dec. - Mar.).  We flew into Panama City and found it transformed; so many new skyscrapers on the skyline!  Panama is a bustling trade center.  The people there like Americans because we got rid of Noriega and turned the country into a somewhat democratic world trade center.  They still use the US dollar as a stable currency.  The old sections of the city are being restored and rebuilt.  We stayed in a beautiful, modern hotel with a roof-top infinity pool and a nearby large shopping mall.

The modern skyline of  Panama City.

The archway in this very old building is important.  The presence of this archway proves that Panama City has not had an earthquake in hundreds of years and convinced builders that it was safe to plan the new high rise buildings for the city.

Next stop was to fly to Bocas del Toro from the regional airport.  What a difference!  Bocas del Toro is a somewhat isolated "town" on the Atlantic coast near Costa Rica.  We had never visited there previously because, 32 years ago, access was very difficult.  Now they have an airport and a road.  This is very much the edge of civilization; sort of a wild west town.  Google "Wild Bill Cortez/ Bocas Del Toro"  Bill and his wife were serial killers who would kill their neighbors to take over their property in Bocas.  The sort of place where you would go to hide from the law.

This is the main street of Bocas Del Toro.

The Bocas waterfront.  Boats are the main means of transport in this area; simple outboard pangas.

The bungalow where we stayed was right on the water, about ten feet from our door.

We stayed in a B&B within walking distance from Bocas.  They also had bicycles we could use to ride into town or along the coastal road to various beaches.  The proprietors, from Minnesota, told us they don't socialize much with other expats because many are too weird.  The shores there are mainly mangrove swamps; thus, we went with a catamaran charter for our snorkeling.  The fish were not amazing, but the coral formations were pristine.  We were not allowed to wear swim fins for fear that they would damage the coral.

This only a sampling of the beautiful coral formations and marine life.

The third portion of our trip to Panama was to re-visit our old home near Colon on the Atlantic coast.  We rented a car and drove the new Trans-Isthmian to Colon where we stayed in a beautiful new hotel.  Note that the hotel compound was enclosed in a strong security fence with guards at the gates.  The Colon Free Trade Zone has grown in the past 30+ years and pushed many residents out into new suburbs.  Other than the industrial zone, much of Colon is seriously deteriorated; slipping downhill since WWII.

We used our rental car to explore the nearby coast.  Years ago, we were able to launch our car-top boat almost anywhere along the coast and even reach offshore islands.  Now beachfront homes have fenced off access to much of the ocean front.  Portobelo, an ancient fort at the end of the gold trail where riches of the Incas were shipped to Spain after crossing the Isthmus, used to be just stone walls of the fort with the cannon still in place.  Native bamboo huts were clustered nearby with babies, pigs, and dugout canoes at hand.  Now there is a parking lot and park HQ building.  The nearby bay now has scores of anchored yachts; previously it was empty.

A native hut at Portobelo, about 1980.

Mom and the kids getting home from a shopping trip (to the jungle).

The Portobelo settlement, early 1980's, not all homes were on stilts.

A limited view of Portobelo fortress.

We used to sail across this bay (at Portobelo) to an isolated beach where we were the only people on an otherwise unreachable cove for great snorkeling.  Now, look at all the yachts.

A US Army jungle training area previously was located some miles west of Colon extending to the Chagres River. That is now a Panama National Park.  It encompasses a newly developed yacht harbor with extensive repair and maintenance capabilities.  At the end of the park road are the Chagres River and Fort San Lorenzo.  The fort was built in the late 1500's and was later overrun by the forces of buccaneer Henry Morgan in 1670.  The site is spectacular with the river mouth and bay, the open ocean, and the fort positioned on an prominent bluff overlooking the entire area.

The mouth of the Chagres River.  This river is the major water source for operation of the Panama Canal.

No other people present.  It is sunset, and the park has officially closed, but a friendly guard let us in.

Many years ago, when we lived nearby at Fort Gulick, a neighbor of ours was seriously slashed by a barracuda while snorkeling in this area.  Sharks also like to prowl at the river mouth.  We had also snorkeled here, but were careful to stay in clear water where a barracuda wouldn't mistake us for a fish.  Some effort is being made to restore sections of the fort.  Locals have built a tourist trinket stand, but we came at sunset when everyone else was gone.  The park guard was nice enough to let us in even though it was closing time.  Standing alone on this bluff at sunset with the wind blowing off the open ocean, the Chagres River flowing, and the still extensive walls of the fort, it was easy to get a sense of history; to think of the work, struggles, and lives that had been focused on this location.

Finally, we wanted to visit our old home on Fort Gulick, except the fort no longer exists.  It is now just a local housing neighborhood.  With the new wider Panama Canal being built and the suburbs of Colon being expanded, the area and roads had been significantly changed.  We had no map, no GPS for the car rental.  With some difficulty, reading and following the contours of the land, I was able to find what is left of Fort Gulick.  The building where our dental clinic was located has been transformed into part of a resort hotel complex on Lake Gatun.  Buildings on the Fort which were renovated before being given to Panama have lapsed back into disrepair, crumbling tile roofs letting the rain in.  And our home.... right where it always was, not much changed.  When we lived there, I complained to the base maintenance dept. about broken swings on the playground behind our home.  Looking at the playground 32 years later, the same swings are still broken!

When we lived in Panama, we had time to visit many of Panama's other attractions.  Isla Taboga is a small island only a short ferry boat ride away from the bustle of Panama City.  Isla Contadora is a resort island, one of the Perlas islands, also located off the Pacific coast.  It was also the home for the deposed Shah of Iran where adequate security could be maintained.  Snorkeling in the Pacific is not as good as the Atlantic, but the big game fishing is excellent.  El Valle is the remains of an extinct volcano, fairly near to Panama City, where one can enjoy cooler, fresher air at a higher elevation during the hottest weather.  David and Boquete, also at altitude, are located in a mountainous region near the Costa Rican border where coffee is grown.  Past the town of David, the drive into Costa Rica to its capital of San Jose is not that difficult.

On the eastern Atlantic coast of Panama lie the San Blas Islands.  This is a semi-autonomous region inhabited by the Guna Indians.  They live in densely clustered villages on some of the islands while other islands remain uninhabited.  The tallest of these people is not much over 5' tall, but they are practically born with a fish spear in one hand and a machete in the other, a tough people to be respected.  The women of the villages created brightly colored "molas" to wear and sell.  You can fly to these islands, but the airstrip runway is much like an aircraft carrier deck.  By the time the small prop plane stops, you are only feet from being in the ocean. 

  



  

Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are known as one of those bucket-list places, far off the beaten path.  What brought us there was the promise of some of earth's best snorkeling.  The country of Ecuador has taken great measures to preserve the environment there; thus, access is limited and prices are appropriate.  The islands are 500 miles off the coast of S. America.  Generally, people fly from either Guayaquil or Quito to get there.  Quito is at altitude in the mountains and has a milder climate, Guayaquil is on the coast, more tropical, and slightly closer to the Galapagos. Our travel company required us to buy emergency medical evacuation insurance prior to our visit.  Medical care (all services) are limited on the islands.  Our cruise medical officer told us of one visitor with a medical emergency where the distance made a difference.  His family demanded that he be flown to Quito, and he died.  He may have survived if flown to closer (and larger) Guayaquil.

We had been to Quito on a previous trip and selected Guayaquil for this venture.  It is also suggested that you fly to Ecuador a few days prior to your Galapagos departure to allow for "adjustments".  In our case that was vital, because Dawn's luggage was lost in route (It had been sent to Quito).  Dawn, at about 5'8" tall, is much bigger than the native women.  We combed Guayaquil to find clothes (Habla espanol?) which could fit her.  Meanwhile, she wore some of my clothes.  Onboard our ship, another lady fortunately had a spare swim suit which she loaned to Dawn.  The suitcase finally arrived after the cruise was mostly complete.

A few hotels are available on the islands, but being land-based severely limits experiencing all the islands have to offer.  There is an admission charge to the islands, paid on the flight over.  We flew into Santa Cruz.  The number of tourist vessels is limited, and the itinerary for each is highly regulated.  Sort of a "musical chairs" situation: no more than two vessels at any one location; must make daily moves; a one-week tour will allow you to see only half of the islands.  Then there is the issue of monohull versus catamaran vessels.  From my Navy experience, we chose the Evolution, a long slender monohull.  We had only 16 passengers (although it could accommodate 32); they came from England, Australia, and both US coasts.  We were the only "fly-over" country guests.  All guests got along very well; so much fun and a personalized experience.

Our routine was to go out for a morning snorkeling session, then an island hike to see the fauna and flora, lunch, siesta time, afternoon snorkeling, dinner, evening activities.  The cruise involved crossing the equator; thus, we were subjected to Davy Jones's court.  All meals were on deck under the shade of an awning.  We wore wet suits which both protected us from the sun and kept us from the chill of water swept north from Antarctica.  Small rigid inflatable boats, RIBs, transferred us to snorkeling and land locations.  A college-educated naturalist is required by Ecuador to be onboard, one for each 16 passengers.  Very knowledgeable; he could describe every living thing on the islands and also went snorkeling with us.

The prime snorkeling here was at greater depths than what we encountered around Tahiti.  I could comfortably reach about 20' deep.  Beyond that depth, the bottom sloped away, and I could see large sharks occasionally lurking/cruising past.  I had little desire to enter that realm.  Our RIB was usually somewhere near at hand, but we had no other restrictions on where we snorkeled.

We flew into the town of Santa Cruz, one of very few settlements allowed in the Galapagos.

Baby sealion feeding from his mother.  These animals have never learned to fear humans.

Some of the islands are desert-like while others have lush vegetation.

Have you ever seen such a colorful crab?

Sealions from an under water view.  They were all friendly except the big bull sea lion; don't get too close to his harem!

That is me chasing some fish.  I like to dive deep, but as soon as you stop kicking, you tend to rise to the surface; I've considered using a weight belt, but the natural buoyancy lifting you toward the surface when it is time for a breath is reassuring. (The green tint is due to the camera being on the dry land setting.)

Dawn putting on her snorkeling gear.

An afternoon visit (long shadows) to an island.

A male frigate bird showing off for the ladies.

A sealion lounging in the shallows right at our feet.

Our ship, the Evolution, a converted Japanese fishing vessel.  If we were to go again, I would probably choose the same vessel.  The length makes for easy cruising speeds and plenty of room for the small number of passengers.

This is the famous blue-footed booby.  They fly far out and fish offshore.

How is that for a school of fish?

Colorful fish.

More colorful fish.

A puffer fish.

Yes, they do have flamingos on the Galapagos, but how did they get here?

A centerpiece for one of our dinners.  We were treated very well.  They even made a lactose-free cake for me.

These tortoises are old and ugly.  They love to slop in mudholes like pigs.

Talk about ugly!  These iguanas are great swimmers, using their tails, and feed under water on seaweed.  At close distance, these things look like Godzilla.

I didn't always have my camera with me.  We saw many other creatures; schools of manta rays, plus many other types of rays; schools of hammer-head sharks, an owl whose nest is underground, blood-drinking birds..... nature in an unspoiled environment.

Our actual visit to the Galapagos was in May, 2014.  May is somewhat "off-season" which is why our boat was only half full of passengers.  I had somewhat put aside publishing any description of our activities there until recently.

Road Trip: Searching for America

In kind of a first for us, we put our e-bikes and luggage in the back of our Durango and headed west without any reservations or fixed itinerary.  Our goals were to visit some attractive towns and ride some interesting bike trails.  First stop, Grand Junction, CO. What a great outdoors town!  Most significant for us is nearby Grand Mesa.  This was our third trip to the Mesa.  Imagine an alpine forest surrounded by desert.  For most of the region around Grand Junction, it would be easy to picture Wiley Coyote & Road Runner in their element.  But one hour's drive to the 10,000+ altitude of the Grand Mesa, and you are in an alpine environment.  On a previous trip we were hiking on the Mesa with snow falling while the temperature in the town was in the 60's.  This trip, Grand Junction temperature was in the 80's while the Mesa experienced 50's temps.  Grand Mesa is a unique geological phenomenon; the world's largest flat-topped mountain. It is topped with a thick layer of granite which acts as a basin for moisture, like a huge bird bath on a pedestal.

Looking down from Observation Point on the Mesa.  Grand Junction is on the upper left.

Although it is late summer and the lakes are getting low, much of the Mesa is covered with lush forest.

We next headed toward Salt Lake City, but decided to make our final destination the more scenic Park City.  We discovered two main biking trails; not as good as we were hoping for.  The trails held no shade, and we could feel the heat of a sunny day. We spent the morning riding the "rail trail"; then got tickets for some slope-side activities that afternoon and had dinner on Main Street in the old center of the area.  Park City is well organized with many shopping, eating, and accommodation options.  The slopes and lifts were about what you would expect in any ski town.  The surrounding mountainside appears more "brushy" than deep pine forest.  Being close to Salt Lake City is a significant advantage.

Although the slopes were typical for a ski area, the shopping, dining, and accommodations in Park City were extensive and well-organized.

Leaving Park City on I-80, we descended into the SLC basin and immediately became symptomatic from the air pollution (sneezing, stuffy, itchy eyes).  We stopped at Great Salt Lake; it has brine flies and brine shrimp but no fish.  The air was hazy enough that the lake surface simply receded into the haze with no distant landmarks. We headed north past Ogden to find clean air.

Antelope Island in the distance on the Great Salt Lake.

Final stop for the day was Idaho Falls.  Our first impression is very favorable. Our hotel is on the Snake River.  After dinner (outdoors riverside), we went for a long bike ride along the river and discovered a free music concert at a riverside park.

A music concert in the riverside park.

These are the actual Idaho Falls on the Snake River; the falls are wide but not high.

Next stop was Victor, Idaho, which got us close to the Tetons without paying Jackson Hole prices or enduring Jackson traffic.  Victor is about four blocks long but has a variety of restaurants.  We were able to take a bike ride up nearby Darby Canyon.  Our disappointment with Tetons/Yellowstone National Parks was the small number of trails where bicycles are allowed.

We were only able to complete a portion of the Darby Canyon trail as it became too rough for our bikes.

  The Tetons have to rank among the world's most scenic mountains; rugged, rocky peaks with glacier-clad crevices.  Unfortunately, recent forest fires in the West have cast a haze over the entire region diminishing the clarity of distant scenes.  We re-visited Jackson Lake, where we had boated a few years ago; then went on to Yellowstone.  Yellowstone is so big that we were only able to see a small portion in our one-day visit.  At one point a big bull bison blocked our lane of the paved road, just ambling along.  It did allow us a great close-up shot when we were finally able to safely pass him.  We also observed an adult grizzly bear on a hillside a couple hundred yards away; you could see the hump on his back, a telephoto shot.  On a previous trip we had encountered a young female grizzly, but at a much closer range.

Colter Bay marina on Jackson Lake with the Tetons in the background.

This big bull bison decided to amble down the road, and nobody argued with him.

Finally, the bison let us pass in our vehicle.

Finally it was time for a long drive home.  We stopped overnight in Rawlins to see my brother & wife, Jay & Connie, and had a great dinner and conversation.  Dawn & I try to imagine living in a smaller, more remote, town and how shopping must be.  The great advantage being the lack of crowds and congestion.  Our Dodge Durango drove completely across Wyoming, Victor ID to Fort Collins CO, 475 miles on 21.5 gallons of gas (with 3 gallons left in the tank).  It is a great vehicle for trips like this.

Final stretch, south along the Front Range to our home near Monument, we were back driving in an endless stream of traffic, and the haze was significant enough that the mountains were only slightly visible looking west from I-25.  Great to be home.