One of the coolest things about our lifestyle is the different places we get to visit and the people we meet along the way. Returning Northwestward into San Blas, through some of the lesser travelled islands was a real treat.
We started our journey back to San Blas while travelling westward thru the island chain stopping at Isla Pinos for the first night. It was uneventful, not much to see and a few bugs. I’m now really afraid of mosquitos, and for good reason.
Our next stop was in the island of Ustupu. Fantasy continued Westward as they were having engine trouble and wanted to keep moving. We needed to buy new SIM cards for our phones as Panama and Colombia use different ones. Besides, we were out of wine!!!! . ( Ooops, was that said out loud?)
We stopped in the delightful busy town made up of to islands connected by a bridge for the night and would continue the next day.
We found friendly people, and quite a picturesque town. This less visited portion of the islands seemed pleased to have people visit.
We watched the boys play soccer in the square while enjoying a cold beverage.
We were joined by two delightful little girls who were enamored with our presence. One ran away when I asked to take their picture, she was very shy.
After a morning departure from Ustupu, and continuing Further to the West, to the little island of Mono Island. This was ACTUALLY the first stop we had when we originally arrived on FMD from Cartegena two years earlier. While we were here, in this tiny anchorage, which has since become famous for a recent attack on a New Zealand family, we decided to check on the saildrive, AGAIN. We just felt that it was not performing properly and was slipping a bit, again!!! So out came the tools….. again!!!
is not an option to replace them.
Eventually a few uneventful days later, we went into a small anchorage of Snug Harbor only a few miles up the chain. Underway, Darren caught a big Mackerel.
He was busy cleaning it when a small cayuka with two Kuna men came by. We chatted with them for a few minutes, bought some bananas from them and then offered them the other half of the large fish which was too much for us. They went away happy. Our night there was brief as the chitras ( no-see-ums) came our right at dusk and we planned our morning departure again.
Isla Tigre was our next stop. This is where we met up with Fantasy again, and they introduced us to the island which they were familiar.
Having not been there before, we were amazed at the cleanliness of the town. It is not far off the beaten trail and is less traveled by visiting yachts, yet the people were friendly and the children were lovely. After sharing a box of cookies between the children, they continued to walk with us on our journey discovering this tidy little village.
One thing we noticed about this town is the clean communal shower house at the end of the island. And running water taps many places. It was nice to see such “luxuries” in a small community like this, and a complete transformation from the over-crowded islands of Carti and Nargana.
Cayuka with Lobster and coconuts for sale. 
At anchor in the Eastern San Blas
The next day we found ourselves back sailing back in the homeland of the central San Blas, anchored back at Coco Banderos, and enjoying the swimming, snorkeling and beaches of our beloved island group. It was nice to be home again.
