Photos, enroute and in Kuna Yala

We waited in the "Flats" for a weather window a couple of days, but the natives were getting restless...and there were a lot more of them than there were of us! So Ralph and I took the "poke your nose out" challenge, and did just that. It wasn't too bad, so we continued on to Portobelo, then Isla Linton, and on to Kuna Yala.

It takes a lot to feed 5 people (effectively 7 with Jeff and Greg aboard!)However, I did overprovision and we ended up throwing out a lot of fruit and veggies. We were told you could get little in Kuna Yala. In reality, they fruit and veggie pangas are pretty well stocked, but do not arrive regularly. Things like broccoli or lettuce are in short supply, but they are also impossible to keep aboard for long either. We have a very small fridge, but in our freezer we've managed to keep a lot of meat. This is helpful as the Kuna seem to have only whole chicken, weiners, and eggs. They have pig roasts, occasionally, but I've not seen pork or beef for sale. We thought there'd be tons of fish, shrimp, and lobster. We had some very small fish, large crab, and lobster. Unfortunately, crab and lobster went out of season at the beginning of March. Kuna were selling them but we are not supposed to buy.

These are some of the stores we had aboard Fortuitous as we head to the San Blas. With 5 aboard, we had to live around a mess of containers or food, tools etc. because there were people sleeping in the garage. Even with 3 aboard, our garage is now a stateroom and makes for a lot of clutter aboard...a bit hard on an OCD person like me.


The boys during the visit to the fort in Portobelo.


Fortuitous through one of the porticos of the fort.

What the heck’s in this hole?

Jeff and Sarah hanging out.


The three men in our family went for a hike to the other fort on the other side of the bay.

A hike, uphill, through bugs, lizards, etc., not to mention it was in the hot sun! Somehow this didn't interest the women aboard, so we stayed behind.


The view from above at the fort.

Mom and Pops in the dinghy.

Fishing while underway is always a challenge on a sailboat.

Greg catches a decent sized fish. Jeff helped him bring it aboard. This works much better now that we have an actual net, rather than trying to fish him out of the water with the milk crate, like we did before!

After Portobelo, we anchored in Isla Linton. There is another small island, in this anchorage, where there are several spider monkeys.

They don’t advise you to go ashore as they can be pretty aggressive.

They like to be fed, though. If there are “typical” monkeys, these are them.

Then there’s this monkey!


Ralph getting a close up look at the monkey having a drink.


In Porvenir, we meet up with our friends Brian and Marilyn, on Icarian. They have come from Cartagena and need to check in. We all checked in that same morning.



Kuna ulus, or dug-out canoes.

There seem to be two types of islands, those with palm trees and sand, and those with villages that extend right to the water's edge, with very little green space (except maybe the soccer field)! Some of the ones with villages have generators, others solar panels, and still others only daylight. The farther you get from Panama City, the more traditional they seem to be. We learned to more appreciate the traditional ones, than the more westernized.

Laundry day. I’m guessing no washing machines here. Heck, no washing machines aboard Fortuitous either!! Laundry has been one of the main downsides of our travels in the San Blas.

What, for us, was terribly disappointing is the amount of garbage (especially plastics) washed up on the beaches. Cruisers seem to be very conscious and conscientious-not so the Kuna. We were in a restaurant, one evening, and the proprietess walked past us and threw an armload of plastic bottles into the water behind her restaurant. This was on Nargana, a terribly dirty island where Federico claims to be trying to get a "anti-litter" mentality started. This will be an uphill battle. His claim was a little hard to buy since his back yard seemed to be as littered, or moreso, than the rest of the island. When we told him he needed to "clean up his own backyard" first, he said it wasn't his property and others were building there. Go figure??



Jeff and Sarah head of for a bit of snorkelling.


A lovely sunset shot.



The pooped kayaker returns. Just soaking up some rays.


The boat we’d like to be able to afford! I'll bet they have a washer and dryer aboard!!


Squeezing limes for Margaritas is not my favourite chore, as you can see. However, drinking them is high on the list!

We use a team approach when we can. It seems to work very well in the lime squeezing, we're still working on other areas!


Another team approach-the dishwashing team. The cook doesn't wash up...at least not most of the time.


The oldsters on the beach in the San Blas.


Jeff playing seal or??


A fish-eyed view of the captain and his mate regaled in snorkelling gear.




Once in the San Blas, we went to an anchorage called the “hot tub”. There was a little island to snorkel off. These are a few of the underwater shots we got before our first underwater camera died.