So, what do we do all day? On any given day we get up and make coffee like most folks. Tess then often spends several hours working on the computer, managing Glendora Employment Agency. John often works on whatever boat project is most urgent. By early afternoon we are ready to go do something, often that’s snorkeling or exploring a nearby island. We hang out with other cruisers several times a week, sometimes on a beach, often in the water around somebody’s boat as it is usually too hot to sit in the cockpit.
We change island anchorages every few days. That can be necessary due to a change in weather where we seek protection behind certain islands or because the weather has moderated and we want to snorkel a particular reef or wreck. Take the video below for example. This is Coco Banderos. We spent several days there in calm weather. What you see is pretty much what a large part of every day consisted of. Four of our friends stern-tied close to shore, you can see the stern anchor lines heading to the beach. After the hassles of fixing our leaking keel joint and Tess’ allergic reaction to bug bites, we elected to stay in deeper water. After several days of calm weather, the wind blew over 20 kts the last night at Coco: two of the boats stern-tied touched bottom; a boat in front of them had to move elsewhere to avoid colliding with them; another boat ran aground on the point to the left; and yet another on a sand bar way out in front of us! Needless to say, that place was abandoned early the next morning.
In the picture above, John is chipping our trash. You can’t imagine how much garbage will fit into those tetra packs of wine/juice/milk. Plastic gets chipped into little pieces and paper is just stuffed into the spout. We fit two-plus weeks worth of our glass bottles, smashed cans and half a dozen tetra packs into a single white plastic trash bag. And a Guna boat took it off our hands (to the mainland) for $5.
Since our last post we have been to Coco Banderos, Green Island and are presently in Cambombia. Navigation is challenging not only because of all the reefs but every island has a Guna name, usually ending with -dup (Salaradup, Achudup, Miriadiadup, etc). The cruising guide and online charts tend to use different names and fellow cruisers yet other names. Nonetheless, all are gorgeous and the Guna pangas make the rounds selling stuff every day, rain or shine. We did not realize that this is also a very big charter boat destination even though none of the big international charter companies are here. We meet people out for 3 to 10 day trips most every day.
Snorkeling on the outer reef has been excellent but is only available when the north wind dies down. We have found a few good spots on the inner reef as well. The wreck below is of an unknown large commercial vessel.
This barracuda came out of nowhere. Only one I saw that day.
I thought this next video of our friend Kyle hunting lion fish was interesting as he almost disappears below the thermocline.
The next three videos happened last night. We were sitting in the cockpit and heard a commotion on deck. Turned out to be a large flopping fish so I threw him back in only to see it get devoured by whatever had been chasing it! No, not sharks as we first thought…remora. The fish that suction onto whales, sharks and rays. They sometimes hang out under our boat. There were three of them.
And finally, just in case you think it’s always sunny and hot here… It’s been rainy all day! And only 79 degrees. I had to put a shirt on as I got chilly!
