The San Blas islands consist of 365 islands in total- one for each day of the year. And this is an area where lots of sailors spend a long time. After spending a month in the main islands of San Blas, we have certainly discovered the awesomeness of this region.
We have had two rounds of friends visiting from Norway, and have done a complete circular sail in the island system. We have visited eleven different anchorages, and have seen everything from crowded places with lots of charter boats run privately by other sailors as well as smaller, local charter companies, and we have met with lots of other cruisers.
We have truly gotten to understand why cruisers love this place. The positive and mellow spirit of the Gunas makes this an exotic place. They often come up to your boat to sell today’s catch, homemade bread or their handicraft, which we got to know very well – molas and bead jewelry.
It is hard to find fresh produce in San Blas. Even in the towns, there is little goods in the stores. It does not feel great to take away produce that is meant for the locals. Luckily, there are other options for cruisers. Some days there are local boats selling fresh produce directly from their boats, at just a little of markup.
It is also possible to get goods delivered by the different boats transporting people and merchandise in and out of the islands. Personal shoppers will go to a supermarket in Panama City for you, and then it gets transported to the boat for an extra 20% of what you spent.
The island group consists of several small, free standing islands, as well as Cays, which are longer island groups often connected through the same reef system. We will try to cover each of the major different places we have been, based on the cluster of islands.
But first, we’ll start with the less so obvious part of the San Blas islands, and that is the jungle safari one can do in the close by rivers on the mainland.
Rio Diablo and Nargana
The easiest river to visit using your own dinghy, is Rio Diablo. It is located just off the twin towns Nargana and Corazon de Jesus. This is the most modern town in this part of San Blas. The women tend not to wear traditional clothing, and there are several houses made of brick, with satellite dishes and wifi available.
We made two trips up the river, and during the second one, we were lucky to spot one of the infamous Caymans (crocodiles) of San Blas. They tend to stay up river, but sometimes can also be spotted at anchorages. Lucky for us, no other sightings were made by us during our stay in San Blas.
Coco Bandero Cays
Coco Bandero is supposed to be uninhabited, but there are in fact a couple of fishermen huts and also day visitor huts for tourists on the two anchorages – West and East. Both anchorages have beautiful waters and great snorkeling.
The Eastern anchorage is actually the one which is pictured on the cover of the Bauhaus guide book, which most sailors tend to use when sailing in Panama. The anchorage consist of three beautiful and picturesque islands.
Holandes Cays
Holandes Cays host the most popular anchorage in San Blas, called the Swimming Pool. The water is pristine and beautiful, and it truly feels like you are sitting in a swimming pool, especially on calm days.
It is probably our favorite anchorage in San Blas, with good snorkeling as well as a nearby restaurant, Ibin’s Beach Restaurant, that makes an awesome three course dinner including one drink for $20. Ibin also bakes and delivers bread to the boat in the mornings.
One the other side of Turtle Island, where Ibin’s Beach restaurant is located, there is a beach bar facing a sheltered anchorage which many sailors prefer. You can see the sunset from the beach, and during Christmas we counted 19 dinghies on the beach belonging to sailors who had gathered for a sundowner!
BBQ island is also part of the East Holandes Cays anchorage. Our second time around here, we stopped for their famous Coco Loco – as local favorite. It is basically a coconut filled with rum.
Lemon Cays
Lemon Cays was the area where we spent the least time. There are lots of charter boats and day tourist boats there, as it is very close to the main town of San Blas, Porvenir.
We went there to pick up our second set of friends from Norway visiting us in San Blas, Rune and Hanne.
Lucky us, who have friends who fly half way around the world to share this new life with us!
We visited the local bar at the Banedup anchorage in Lemon Cays, and went for a couple of snorkel rounds. The islands are beautiful here as well, but we quickly headed back south to the more deserted anchorages.
Naguargandup Cays
We stayed in two different anchorages in Naguargandup Cays, Salardup in the West and Cambombia in the East. Both places have small establishments on the beach that sell molas, bead jewelry and beer.
Rune celebrated his birthday on the Salardup anchorage on Dec. 19. We were lucky to get a traditional Norwegian Christmas drink served, gløgg, flown all the way from Norway!
Right east of Naguargandup Cays, lies a small island called, Waisaladup. It gives a good image of what the Gunas are really good at – coconut growing and taking advantage of the real estate they have. The little island is densely populated with coconut palms, as coconuts are the Guna’s main goods of trade. They have also been able to fit a hut which provides shelter as well as storage facilities for tourists they bring to the island for a few hour visit daily.
Chichime Cays
Our last stop was the Chichime Cays, which are located in the North West area of the San Blas islands. It makes for a good start for heading towards our next stop, Shelter Bay Marina, where we will prepare for our transit through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific.
Chichime has two islands, both with a few families living on them, making molas and bead jewelry as well as catering to tourists. There is also a small hostel on the bigger island. The infamous, Canadian “ferry wreck” of San Blas which went on ground without insurance in 2016, can be seen just off the islands.
The islands were both really idyllic and fairly well kept – especially the smaller one. We enjoyed an awesome last free dive at one of the reefs, which extended long into the ocean, as well as a last sundowner on the beach with fellow cruisers.
We set sail early in the morning, to sail the 70 nm to Shelter Bay. We could have definitely stayed longer in San Blas, but are so curious about the distant islands of the Pacific that we have started our process for a long stay visa in French Polynesia.
Next milestone to be reached – crossing the Panama Canal!