CARIBBEAN CRUISING

Our first passage on leaving Colon was a windward bash, in 20 knots in company with David and his friends on ‘Bella’, to the historical town of Portobelo on the ‘Spanish Main.’ The bay of Portobelo was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 2nd November 1502, and in 1586 Portobelo was chosen as the Caribbean transhipment centre because of its magnificent harbour and convenient location. It soon became one of the most important sites for transferring South and Central American riches. From Portobelo tons of gold and silver flowed to the commercial capital of the Spanish empire – Seville. From 1574 to 1702, 45 fleets of galleons were sent forth, none of which carried less than thirty million pesos of riches. The town was highly fortified and much of the fortification still stands today, including the ‘guns of Portobelo’ which are still in their emplacements. The wealth that arrived in Portobelo was a strong draw for pirates, the like of Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish Main and with an assault troop of 460 men, he sacked the town.

A fascinating place and a fabulous harbour, totally sheltered, we dropped our anchor ‘under the guns of Portobelo’ – literally – next to our friends on Bella who had arrived several hours before us (53 foot power boat!!). The following day we were alerted to problems on board Bella, she was making water and the source of the leak couldn’t be found. A few hours later the problem was contained although the source was still a mystery. Paul and I headed ashore to explore this historic town. At the dinghy landing we met an old American gentleman named Dick who is an ex-cruiser and now allows other cruisers to moor their dinghies at the dock on his waterside property. Dick’s a very interesting man, and along with his wife Pat, has researched and written about much of the history of the area. On realising that we were English and that Paul has a fascination concerning naval history, he dug deep into his sea chest and pulled out original silver pieces of eight and gold dubloons!

The next morning we hauled anchor and continued our windward bash towards the island of Isla Grande, our first Caribbean island. We pulled close in to shore and anchored in 9 feet of water!! A bizarre feeling. Having cruised the Pacific for the last year where we had to make allowances for rise and fall of tide, we had rarely anchored in anything under 30 feet. Now in the Caribbean, the most tide we will encounter is likely to be a foot or less – the advantage of this is that we are much closer to the shore and once we were happy that our anchor was set, we dived in and swam through the shallow, warm, clear turquoise water to the white palm-fringed beach – heaven. Unfortunately the anchorage turned a little rolly and so the next day we bashed on, once again, towards the San Blas archipelago. San Blas comprises 340 coral islands and is very unique. They are home to the indigenous Kuna Indians who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. The area is also home to one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest. Each of the inhabited islands has a strict hierarchy of tribal leaders, each village having three ‘Sahilas’ or village chiefs. The Kuna nation is then ruled by three Caciques or high chiefs. When arriving in an anchorage at an inhabited island, it is not unusual to be invited ashore to meet the village chiefs and part with some dollars! This has yet to happen to us! And so after beating up and around Punta San Blas, we arrived at our first San Blas island – Chichimi. The island is surrounded by reef and therefore, even on the windward side where we anchored, the water is calm. The sound of the waves crashing on the outer reef at night is a little disconcerting however, but the entry through the reef into the lagoon was pretty easy and once inside we dropped our anchor in crystal clear water and were immediately approached by a group of Kuna women in their dug-out canoe, selling Mola’s. These are beautiful appliqué squares, varying in size, some sewn into shirts or blouses, others that make gorgeous cushion covers and wall hangings. They are very intricate and are made by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. Every mola is different and they usually depict forms of bird, animal or marine life. Molas are Panama’s most famous handicraft, are very beautiful and very difficult not to buy – now I just have to learn to say ‘no gracias’ – a boat this size can only have so many cushions! Tomorrow we head out for the East Lemon Cays where we are hoping to join our friends Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, a couple we first sailed with in Mexico over a year ago. We will then cruise down through the archipelago and then have a 200 mile windward bash to Cartagena in Colombia before heading north west towards Cuba, some time towards the end of March. A cruising boat could easily spend a year in the San Blas alone, unfortunately our schedule only allows for 2 to 3 weeks – we will have to come back on a future cruise!?