More Kuna Yala Pics

Ahhh, life in 80 degree crystal clear waters tooling around the reefs, which we try not to hit with the boat. This somewhat irate eel who really wasn’t pleased about getting her picture taken. She came out of her hole to scare off the shiny camera.

A big Anglefish strutting her colors. They’re very curious, will swim right up to check you out.

Portuguese Man-of-War. Must have gotten blown in with the heavy trade-winds we’ve been having.

You really don’t want to get tangled up with the under side of a Man-of-War. Seeing these reminded me of my surfing days in Florida. The welts from these things look like pink whip lashes.








Ok, just to set the record straight, these howler monkeys aren’t really Canadians, they’re Panamanian. These are located on Linton Island just before you get into Kuna Yala territory. The story we heard was that if you go ashore with some food they will come up and be all nice cuddly with you. One photographer went in and stood on the pier. The monkeys climbed up on him and acted all nice. When he ran out of food and tried to leave they started scratching and biting him. He ended up jumping in the water with his camera gear to get away. He had to head to Panama City to get patched up and start a rabies shot series. Bad monkeys!
Paul

Back in the San Blas Islands

Just a scene to remind our friends in the Pacific Northwest that it isn’t all snow and ice. In the Kuna Yala, winter means trade winds and clear waters.

A Gobi hanging low on the reef edge.

A bug eyed lobster trying to stay out of the dinner pot.

A helmut gurnard running away from me while trying to imitate a I’m big fish, don’t eat me.

Hard nosed brain coral next to hard nosed sweet thing. You pick.

Anemone and corals still life. It’s sunny, no rain, water temperature 81*F.

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Our good friends in Southern Cal, Seung and Zahra, just had twins. So we invited master mola maker Venancio to come onboard and show us his wares, as we wanted to buy a mola for gift for the new girls. Something with a twin theme… Here is Venacio showing the mola of twin parrots we finally bought. His stash of molas are kept in the bucket with the yellow top on the right. If you blow the picture up you can see his ‘signature’ on the embroidered thread work.

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The Kunas cover many miles on these dugout ulus, sometimes by paddle sometimes sail. Greg and Deb on Lions Paw had an old headsail that they didn’t want. They gave it to these guys, who promptly fashioned into a well cut sail for their ride. Here they are in a good breeze a few days later passing us anchored in the East Lemon Cays.

There are a lot of cruisers who never seem to make it out of Kuna Yala. They come for a few weeks and end up staying five years or more. Here’s an older couple, I think off a Canadian boat, who have been here what seems like their whole life – fighting over the banana that Chris left on the dock for them.

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We’ve got another couple of weeks here in Kuna Yala till we meet Meghan and Tyler down in Cuzco, Peru for some cold, wet high altitude tourism.
Paul

The Difference Between 48* North and 10* North

• 48N – high of 31*F, 90% chance of snow
• 10N – high of 87*F, 90% chance of sun
• 48N – sorry boss, the roads are too bad to make it in today
• 10N – can’t get out of this anchorage because the winds are blowing too strong
• 48N – good day to sit around and read a book
• 10N – good day to sit around and read a book

John, thanks for the weather report from Seattle.
We are anchored in Isla Grande waiting out an ENE blow. Hopefully it will lighten up a bit tomorrow and move closer to NE – then we can actually sail back down to the San Blas.
Paul