Trying (in Bocas del Toro, Panama)

Well I don’t quite know where to start… it’s been an interesting couple of weeks!

A week ago, we were getting ready to leave the San Blas and head north… we’d had such a great 5 days (despite the rain clouds that would visit once or twice a day!) of swimming, snorkelling, beaching & even a tiny little bit of interneting (!!!)

Lemon Cays - San Blas Islands 2014

Brio at anchor in the Lemon Cays in San Blas

It had been an interesting passage to get to the San Blas — we decided to do it as a night trip, just to ensure we’d get there with daylight. In the middle of the night there were 3 strange flashing lights that I couldn’t make sense of, but Jon quickly recognized them as fishing net markers.

That made sense, so I kept a close watch as we got closer… and then suddenly there were  HUGE solid plastic markers looming up ALL around us. 3 of the buggers were lit with flashing lights — but 15-20 more were completely unlit. These were 5′ tall solid buoys just bouncing around waiting to smash into us… I had the big flashlight and Jon had the wheel and it was a tense 15 minutes to say the least!! These are the times we are really thankful to be a full keel trailing rudder!

We woke up in paradise though…

Lemon Cays, San Blas

The women run the show in this matriarchal society… and they are pretty amazing!

Kuna Yala - Dugout Canoe - San Blas

…Not to mention beautiful!

Kuna Yala - Beautiful Woman

We had our obligatory 17-months-of-marriage-photo 😀 (not a bad place to celebrate!!)

Celebrating 17 months of marriage in the San Blas Islands :)

And we snorkelled almost every day…

Jon Snorkeling - Lemon Cays - San Blas Islands 2014

Snorkeling - Lemon Cays - San Blas Islands 2014

Loving the water! San Blas Islands

San Blas - Porthole Views

Then we left the San Blas, headed for Providencia… and long story short, ended up in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Huh. How’d that happen? 😉

“The only thing that stays the same — is plans change”

We’re very happy to be here; it’s an unplanned stop that’s working out for the best. We needed a rest, we needed a few new plans, and unbeknownst to us, we needed repairs. Why, you ask? Well because yesterday our alternator fell off. Literally. Nothing like the clean break of a cast aluminum ear to get your attention. Never a dull day around here!

It’s a boat project — and one that we’re still actively in the middle of — so there isn’t quite a tidy solution yet. I’ve got pictures and I’ve got efforts to report, but I’ll wait until I’ve got a happy ending to bore you will all of the lovely details 🙂

Until then,

Breaking Randomly In the Ocean,

– LMK


Comments

Trying (in Bocas del Toro, Panama) — 3 Comments

  1. I like how the female matriarchal from San Blas is wearing a red marijuana head scarf……just what exactly was she selling….. 😉

    • Ha! Can honestly say I didn’t notice that until you pointed it out!! She was actually asking if we could take pictures of her kids and print them for her, so she could get national IDs for them… One more point for having a printer on board 😉

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