San Andreas to Bocas del Toro, Panama

We could be in Northern Ontario except for the dolphin that swam with us into the bay and the ray jumping in the anchorage oh yeah and the Parrots at 4 in the morning…okay the wild life is definitely the tropics but as we look off in the distance it looks like evergreens and for those who have been around Leslie street spit in Toronto the trees that the birds have eaten and strip are just off our starboard side. San Andres and Providencia is like night and day…San Andres with it bustling downtown of cars and motor bikes and lots of shopping compared to the laid back atmosphere of Providence. San Andres is a place to shop and get ready to go off somewhere; it is like most of the other Caribbean islands with party boats and souvenir shops.

The golf cart tour around the island with 3 other boats was a highlight of our stay.

The highlights of our tour were: a very expensive but worth it lunch on the south end,

and beening run off by the Columbian Military as we stop outside their gate to take a picture of this gold statue…Men with guns to us means we leave as fast as our little golf cart can go. As we were planning to spend 3 weeks or so in another group of cayes just 20 miles south of San Andres we shopped and humped our groceries thru the streets. We now know what a mule feels like at least our backs do. Along with Enchantment we lugged 15 loads of jerry cans, diesel and gas to the two boats (each jerry cans weighs 50 lbs). In order to give our backs a rest we did go for a few snorkels and 2 dives where the visibility was the best we have seen in a long time. San Andres would be a great place to do some more diving but unfortunately we got spoiled in Roatan with the price of diving there so when you are paying 10 times more than that it really hurts the cruising kitty. With tanks and every cupboard full off we went with Enchantment and our new friends Ilanga to Alberque Cayes for some more hunting and fishing. Alberque cayes is a small reef area with 2 little islands owned by Columbia. After meandering our way thru the coral and reef we found a place to drop our anchor where the water here even though it is deep is crystal clear. You can even see the reef fish 15 feet down. We had to go to shore to check in with the Columbian military stationed on the island, it seems weird we are in the middle nowhere and Columbia has these guys on an island and not even a boat to protect it. From what we could see the only thing on the island was coconuts. We had a few days of good hunt and feasting on our booty but the snorkeling was way deeper then we normally do. Then Tropical depression whatever cut our time short at the Cayes as this not a place you want to be in with bad weather so with the GPS set with plan A&B off we set with Enchantment for Panama. We untangled our anchor and made our way back out thru the reef and tried to head to Portabelo but the wind and seas where not in our favour so off we went to plan B. Bocas del Toro. After a sometimes wet passage we arrived 30 hours later in Bocas. As soon as we had our anchor down some of the cruisers came over to welcome us to the area. We think we are going to like this place! As we left Bocas for Colon and Shelter Bay we stopped at Esquido Veraguas, a set of keyes along the way. We went snorkelling, toured the area by dinghy

and played bochee on the beach. Then the wind changed direction and the anchorage became rolly, so we moved on!