We had another interesting day here in the Western Holandes. In the morning we extracted all the hookah gear so that Sam, Annie, John and I could spend some time underwater. First we had to get everyone weighted up correctly so they were neutrally bouyant and set up all the gear. That took quite a while. Then we were off. We first descended to the sand 40 feet beneath Dignity to make sure we were all ok. We then kicked off towards the shore. Unfortunately we set off in a bit of a wrong direction causing the hose to tangle with Dignity’s port rudder. Helen had noticed this and had been frantically trying to avoid a tangle but to no avail. When we found we could swim no further we ascended and I swam back to untangle things. We descended again and headed back to the reef by the shore.
Although the visibility was not brilliant we had a pretty good dive. We saw a variety of fish and soft corals including two lobsters sitting side by side. I did not have my speargun with me so they remained off the days menu.
Back on the boat we tidied up and had lunch. A little after I dropped Annie off on the beach so she could have a walk around the island and read on the beach. We then moved Dignity to find a spot with more breeze. I put us in a sandy patch between the islands but Helen was not comfortable there with reefs on either side of us. So we moved back towards and next to Whiskers. It was definitely better aboard with a nice breeze running through the boat and having the wind gen turning again.
Helen, John and I then took the dinghy ashore for our walk around the island. We bumped into Annie who was just finishing her walkabout. This is a beautiful island with one small Kuna village on the eastern end comprising 8 or 9 huts. Eventually we made our way back to the beach where Annie was reading and we all headed back to the boat.
We’d invited Whiskers aboard for a final dinner together so we were under orders to clear all the days play gear away. Having done that I went for a snorkel on my own in the channel between the two islands. I didn’t see a great deal but I did see a nurse shark which is always a highlight.
Dianne and Gerald popped over around 6pm. Dianne brought some tasty snacks which were followed by Helen’s chile con carne with fresh, fresh bread.
We’ve decided not to move the boat to the Lemons but to stay one more day here before leaving the San Blas. Each time we move eats up half a day so we want the make the most of our last few hours in the San Blas. We may use the hookah again today and we may send the kids up the mast on the bosuns chair for a sky view of the island. This evening we’re planning to do a night snorkel before the moon rises.
Tomorrow we’ll be off at dawn to head back to the Linton area. Beyond that we’ll have a day in Portobelo then a couple of nights by the Chagris river which is jsut a few miles from the canal.
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