Isla Pinos and a dropped coconut on Day 1 in the San Blas islands

Isla Pinos village

After crossing the Caribbean Sea we woke to our new world – peering out of the windows we saw what we had hoped for – an island with palm trees, white beaches. No other yacht, we couldn’t even see the local village. Our guidebook informed us that the San Blas islands are a vast archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast consisting of over 340 islands. They are home to the Kuna Indians who, despite life’s modern trappings just a hop and a skip away on mainland Panama, have sought to retain their culture and traditions. While agreeing to be part of Panama the locals demanded the Panama government respect their tribal laws and traditions. Indeed Kuna Indians are not allowed to marry foreigners and no foreigner is allowed to buy Kuna land. Today men wear western clothes whilst women still wear colourful traditional attire including nose rings and handmade bracelets around their legs. We had decided to start in the south of the islands which our guide book told us are less visited and more traditional than the northern islands.

Hand sewn Mulas!

Onboard Adina the foreigners enjoyed a leisurely morning tidying the boat after their crossing, preparing the dinghy, and snorkelling to the deserted beach. In the afternoon a local came to fetch the $10 anchor fee we had read about. His lady companion, wearing traditional dress which of course had us smiling, had some fruit and the famous “molas” to sell. Molas are decorative pieces of cloth, hand stitched and used within traditional women’s clothing. Typically they are creative patterns or a picture of birds, animals or marine life, made from sewing together multi-layered cloth of different colours including some intricate stitching. The molas were completely hand sewn and we fell in love with them immediately; our Kunas sailed off minus fruit and a mola!

Children play hide n’ seek

We launched the dinghy and decided to head for the local village on Isla Pinos (do google Isla Pinos, Panama to get your bearings). As ever Susie’s Spanish came in handy. First we had to meet the local chief, called the Saila, and his secretary. Some chatting and we were asked for a $2 contribution for up-and-coming independence celebrations. Let’s be honest here, these are not people running round in grass skirts, they know yachts pass through, mobile phones have arrived and there is a dollar to be made. Indeed we could buy the independence flag from the Saila for $15 to fly from our boat. Seeing it had machine guns on and we never knew if we’d run into panama authorities’ who may take offence we politely declined!

What we did like was that in the simple local stores you pay what locals pay. 10 little loaves, one dollar, one coconut, 40c. We asked if someone could please open one of our purchased coconuts. A young man was despatched and returned with a machete. Much to the gathering of old Kuna ladies’ disgust, he wasn’t doing a great job so one took over. After two or three chops, she dropped it in the sea. Ensue much laughing by a lot of local old ladies. Moments like this make you smile – clad in lovely traditional dress including little gold rings, laughing their hearts out. Kunas are small and this meant they couldn’t recover the coconut so Tom had to stretch to rescue it. We eventually left with coconut unleashed from its shell.

Coastguard approaching Adina a little lost!

Getting back to the boat, back to reality there was a coastguard/navy boat sitting near Adina. Never a pleasant sign, it usually means they want to check you out, documents, etc. etc. They kept waving at us but weren’t approaching any closer so we opted to dinghy over. Our little dinghy bouncing alongside a big military boat. They wanted some navigation advice! What?! We told them there was no way they could go alongside the local village pier as they were too big. We gave them our guidebook so they could make a copy of the local charts. So that night they chose to anchor alongside us! It’s funny, but to date all our experiences with coastguard have been good, it’s usually a group of young men serving their time and all have been friendly. These chaps were no different and as usual they loved Susie chatting away to them explaining everything in Spanish. She always draws smiles and laughter – and you can see some amazement. Go the Susie! We returned to Adina, our day done, life good.