The San Blas Islands are a stop over destination for lots of sailors who are planning on transiting through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic side. I joked many times before arriving into the San Blas Islands that this might be the nicest equivalent to a car park we will ever visit – so many people find themselves there waiting to move on.

But once you arrive in the San Blas, or Guna Yala as it is known in its native tongue, you do not want to leave.

This is no joke. They are one of the most beautiful places you will ever visit. Ludicrously so. Every island looks like paradise. Bill Gates knew this. One of my favourite facts about the San Blas Islands is that when the operating system Microsoft Windows launched it used a default wallpaper that showed an island with only two palm trees on it, a picture perfect paradise island. This picture was taken in the San Blas.

We arrived after probably the most difficult crossing we have had so far, across the Caribbean Sea from Santa Marta, Columbia – swell as big as houses, it was one of the only times we have had a safety code Amber on the boat. None of us slept for one night in particular as we just trusted Pure Joy to hold on as she slid down wave after wave, losing grip and then somehow managing to find it again. I am very glad this isn’t a film I can watch back as I never want to know how tiny and precarious we looked in that angry sea.

When daylight arrived, something we had all longed for, it was made no better by actually being able to see the size of the waves we were traversing! It is the only time I have properly felt fear on this boat so far, and it is where I learnt my biggest surrender lesson. We were in it, no one would be able to take us out of it, we had to trust the boat, our sails, our crew and literally ride out the storm(s). At one point Elliot snuggled up to me on the seat outside in the cockpit and asked if he should be afraid? This was the moment I learnt that we can and should believe the things we tell ourselves when we need to hear them, because despite my own nerves, I had no intention of letting Elliot feel them. I pulled him in close (very comforting for me too!) and said a categorical no. I explained that if we had gone to a theme park we would have paid for this sort of adrenaline thrill, and that Pure Joy was designed to be able to handle seas like this and keep us safe. Just like rollercoasters are. And that the funny feeling we were getting in our tummy’s as we lost gravity or were buffeted about like a flimsy thing, we will remember as exciting!

Words I so needed to hear! Interestingly, as I said them, I too believed them. And this is where the surrender comes in. I had to believe them because what other options did we have? Curl up in a ball and cry? Proclaim loudly to anyone who would listen that we had all made a terrible mistake in this trip? Shout at the sea and wind and ask it to be still? Absolutely none of those things would serve us or save us!

And so I chose to trust the design and engineering of the boat. A logical and sensible thing to do. To trust that those most experienced on this boat knew what they were doing and how to keep us and Pure Joy safe. They did. And to accept my fate. All my own choices had led me here and I believe I have made the correct choices. And so, the terrifying seas became less terrifying and more thrilling and an experience to learn from and never forget.

NB: (Shout out to David, Martin and Marissa who were calm and unflappable for the duration and yet admitted when we finally got to shore that those were the biggest seas they had sailed in. Well, all but Martin who said with a gleam in his eye – “I’ve been in bigger!”)

Later that night, with Elliot asleep on my lap in the same place in the cockpit - a rogue wave crashed over the edge of the boat and absolutely drenched him and me head to toe! I carried him inside and dried him off with a towel and we slept almost upright on the sofa in the salon for the rest of the night with the banging and the walloping and the strange noise the boat made every time she slipped down untethered from the wave, and I hoped he wouldn’t be scared by the massive wave which had hit us in the morning. When I asked him the next morning if he’s been scared when the wave drenched him, he had absolutely zero recollection of it! Oh to be 8!

Anyway, all this to say that when we finally saw land 1 day and 19 hours later, seeing pitch perfect paradise islands was quite the reward! We could have climbed ashore a concrete jungle and still felt a love of land by that stage I think!

A few days earlier I had created a history and culture lesson for Elliot about the San Blas Islands, which I will share some of now for context. Then I’ll share my own personal highlights and reflections. The Guna Yala have a rich and interesting history and a truly brilliant cultural heritage – not least because they are still home to the indigenous Guna Indians who have preserved their culture and their traditions best out of all of the tribes in the Americas.

Here is what Elliot and I learnt….

“From the 15^th – 20^th century – at its peak in the 1800’s…..The French, Dutch, Spanish, and British sailed around the world thinking they had discovered new lands. Which is often why places have different names - the name they already had and the name the colonialists gave to the place. In this case the Spanish called these islands the San Blas, but they were already called Guna Yala by the Guna Indians who lived there.

The Guna Indians managed to gain their independence back from the Panamanian government in 1953. To this day, the local Guna prefer for their islands to be known by their original name. Guna Yala, rather than the name given by the Spanish Invaders. The name was officially changed in October 2011 to "Guna Yala" when the Government of Panama recognized the claim of the people.

Now Guna Yala is back in the control of the Guna Indians. In the Guna Language, they call themselves Dule or Tule, meaning "people", and the name of their language is Dulegaya, literally "people-mouth". NB: I think this is the best word for a language ever.

The Guna have their own ways of life and rules, we should learn these before we visit.

Land is not divided into individual properties and fences don’t exist. They treat land as everyone’s – so no one owns it - everyone does, and you can walk through the forests or enjoy the islands freely, so long as you pass through lightly – leaving it as you found it and without claiming possession or using it for industrial development. Which is why the islands still look today a lot like they did when the Spanish invaders first arrived back in 1600’s.

The Guna Indians have been described as “healthy and with boundless energy!” There are around 50,000 Gunas who live on the islands – which for context, is about the same as how many people live in Windsor!

Each village has at least three chiefs – known as Sailas – they hold the highest authority at a village level. Acting both as the political and religious leader of the village.

Then three High Chiefs – known as Caciques – they rule the nation as a whole. Each one representing a part of the islands. From these, one will be elected supreme leader of the Guna nation.

Whilst we are in Guna Yala we might see one of their “Congresos” – The Sailas hold these every night in the biggest hut in the village. Let’s look out for it. (They prefer tourists not to take photographs of this)

There will be three or more hammocks in the middle for the Sailas – guardians of the Guna knowledge. Sailas will have memorized songs which relate the sacred history of the people, which they in turn transmit to the people gathered. Decisions are made in these meetings. The saila will sing the history, legends, and laws of the Guna, as well as administering the day-to-day political and social affairs.

Curiously, the saila are usually accompanied by one or more voceros who function as interpreters and counselors for the saila. Because the songs and oral history of the Guna are in a higher linguistic register with specialized vocabulary, the saila's song will frequently be followed by an explanation and interpretation from one of the voceros in the more informal Guna language.

Around the hammocks are two rings of people – the first ring are women and children, the outer ring contains adult males.

At these meetings everybody has the opportunity to express complaints or ideas.

Interesting fact. These meetings can become very long and boring, as a consequence certain people are given the task of letting out a high pitched shriek at irregular intervals to keep everyone awake!!!!

Also important in the Guna community is the Medicine Man – “Nele”. Each community may have more than one and they have different roles but all are powerful and important personalities. Neles sometimes use special plants that can have psychedelic effects – they change a persons perspective of things (can make them see things that feel dreamlike) – which they say gives them special powers. There is a special Nele who will chant at a funeral – he will sing one continuous song for 24 hours, they believe in the belief system that this will help to guide the dead person’s spirit to the next world. This song is sung in a language that no one else understands but which the Nele believes he and the deceased person know.

Other interesting facts. The Guna men sometimes like to dress up as women – with long hair, molas and “wini” beads on their arms and legs.

Another interesting ceremony they hold is called “Inna Suid” or Baptism. This happens to children between 4 and 5 - It involves their first haircut, which is attended by all the people in the community.

Piercing is a tradition of the Guna Yala too – especially a woman’s septum so this will be something you can look out for.

The main currency in the Guna Yala – is coconuts!!!

Until even only a decade ago coconuts were the official means of exchange. Every coconut palm is owned by a tribal member, even on the offshore islands. So, we must never help ourselves to a coconut here, even if they are lying fallen on the floor – as they belong to somebody somewhere! Although the Guna may not say anything at the time, they will be upset!

Nowadays Guna Yala also exports Lobster, King Crabs and octopus caught by the Guna skin divers.

Women make money from selling the “Mola’s” they make. Intricately made by sewing and cutting layers of colourful cloth. Each one made is unique and usually depicts birds, animals or marine life – sometimes in abstract form. When we are in the Guna Yala, if we anchor near a village, we are likely to see ladies paddle out to our boat in their dugout “ula” and show us dozens of Mola’s which we can buy if we would like to.

There are a few rules the Guna have to help them preserve their land and their traditions. We must respect them.

Here are a few…

· Please don’t destroy their water pipelines with our anchors!

· Every coconut has an owner, please don’t help yourself to them.

· Most of the rivers in Guna Yala are totally pure – so please don’t use outboard motors on them! (You can find out from local Guna chief which rivers you can use a motor boat in!)

· Please don’t date the local women! Guna’s are only allowed to marry other Guna’s. (Interesting fact here – Guna Yala is a matrilineal society, this means that women control the money, get to choose their husbands and the man will move into the woman’s family home.)

· The Guna’s don’t really like being photographed even though with their colourful clothes, jewellery and piercings they look great! There has been a tradition of paying Guna 1$ if you ask to take their photograph – this came about when they saw postcards of themselves being sold in Panama for $1. This is an informal tariff which isn’t strictly enforced though and everywhere children are pretty happy to have their photo taken for free!

· Snorkelling is encouraged. Scuba diving is not allowed.

· To protect the delicate ecosystem work on boats is not allowed, no sanding or painting – no toxic dust can enter the eco system.

· Have respect for sacred sites and cultural ceremonies. Please do not film them.

Although a lot of these rules seem extensive – satellite images of the islands show that their environmental policy is working better than in most places in the world.

The islands however, are at risk of becoming uninhabitable by the late 21st century due to rising sea levels.

Fun facts about San Blas

1. You can visit another island every day of the year in San Blas. Because San Blas has over 365 islands.

2. Chichimei is an island owned by the Guna community, every three months another family is located here to earn money from the tourist.

3. A new road brings you from Panama City to San Blas islands in just 3-4 hours instead of flying or by boat.

4. There are no big hotel chains in the San Blas area because the Guna’s own everything.

5. You can’t make a reservation for staying at most of the lodges, people just come and go.

6. Most travellers do not want to leave San Blas for their next destination.”

And that last line of the lesson couldn’t have proved to be more correct. We did not want to leave.

As hinted at in our lesson research, upon arrival we were indeed met by the friendliest of local Guna when we arrived at our first anchorage, Coco Banderos. We welcomed them on to Pure Joy, and two ladies immediately showed Elliot so much of what we had learnt. They showed us the Mola they had made - dozens and dozens, each as beautiful and as handcrafted as the next. This was no souvenir shop, this was the real thing. Suffice to say after nearly an hour of show and tell and conversation and learning, we had an array of gorgeous mola to adorn Pure Joy and they all had one of Uncle Foo’s famous smoothie’s to carry them on their way!

We were moored in between two deserted islands – picture perfect in every way. Imagine this. Sandy enclaves barely above the surface of the water, swaying palm trees, white coral sand beaches, not a soul to be seen…we passed a handful of these before arriving in Coco Banderas.

A few of our fellow ARC boats had anchored around the same spot and we had one of what is now becoming a frequent occurrence – our first beach BBQ. We leave no sign of our attendance but do manage to have the most incredible times whilst all on the beaches together. This, the first of many saw one of our friend’s Chaz bring his pizza oven ashore!!! So much of this trip is entirely surreal to me!

Joy, Marissa and I were left on the boat to kill, and part cook some fresh lobster we had bought from a local fisherman, ready to take over to the island to be grilled. It is fair to say this did not go according to plan and resulted in me learning how to swiftly kill a lobster with a very sharp knife through the head. Prior to this new essential knowledge though there was rather a lot of screaming, a pot not big enough for the lobster and many escapees (who can blame them?!?!). I learnt during this darkly humorous debacle that I can actually step in and kill things rather quickly when I see they are in distress. I had originally left Joy and Marissa to do the deed, having the somewhat lame excuse of ‘being busy’ (read – I didn’t really want any part in killing them even though I knew I would be fine eating them. The shame!) but after hearing a commotion I came up to find Joy with gloves on trying to recapture a lobster Marissa had dropped that was trying to now escape our sink. He was popped back in the pot, but only halfway, to more “oh nos!” and that’s when a new side of me emerged. I couldn’t see the creature half in half out, so I grabbed the lid and a large spatula and dunked and slammed the lid on. Suffice to say, this led me to learning how to put the lobster swiftly out of it’s misery the moment I stepped on to the beach. David taught me with a big knife on a fallen tree trunk and I may never have felt more Bear Grylls in my life. But this is now the only way I wish to kill lobster. (Fallen tree trunk and all!)

The BBQ was incredible, everyone adding their own offerings to the mix. We dined like ragged rascal kings and then sang late into the night accompanied by the collective guitars we also seem to have sailing the world with us. I pinch myself daily, but this first night, of unfettered joy, feast sharing and merriment on an island with zero amenities in the middle of the seas was magical. Like stepping out of the book Where the Wild Things Are to live it for real.

We stayed at these deserted islands for a few nights before moving on to a more inhabited spot called Cayos Hollandes. The most exciting thing about this picture perfect desert island was that it had a bar!! And even more excitingly – the tables for said bar were 10 meters out from shore in the water itself. The most exotic bar table I had yet to have been to. We took it in turns to swim/wade back in to shore to bring back a round of cold beers. This felt like a real day off!!! (Which there are surprisingly few of in spite of what you may read here, it isn’t all beach BBQ’s and cocktails in the sun!) The downside to this perfect bar table was when I forgot how short I am and how the tide had come in, jumped off my bar seat and caught my arm on the bamboo trunk that was holding the entire thing together. Resulting in my biggest bruise yet. And one which took on every possible colour during it’s stay on my arm! It was very, very painful, but worth it for such a brilliant afternoon and photos like this…

Our next stop was an island which from the satellite pictures is heart shaped – I love that we all simply called it the heart shaped island. We did some incredible snorkelling here – beautiful coral and my first encounter with what looked like a small forest of underwater mushrooms! Afterwards on an island only 5 minutes dinghy ride away, to our surprise we found a tiny little ‘hotel’– and by tiny, I mean tiny. 5 little huts and a small platform with a hammock hanging from it. The wonderful owners offered to cook us all dinner that evening and we wiled away the time before dinner playing games, drinking mercifully cold beer and watching the sun set. I will never tire of the sunset.

Our final destination in the Guna Yala was Lemmon Cay. On the way here we got to snorkel a wreck – this was my first wreck and I was blown away, the clarity of the water and the way the ocean life had claimed the sunken cargo boat as it’s own. I spent a long time just marvelling at how something that looked so man made could so quickly become home to so many creatures. Once back on Pure Joy I was drying off on deck when I heard some screaming, I followed the sound to see a woman holding on to a part of the wreck which was above the water line, I watched a local fisherman run from shore to his boat and speed to her, watching as he threw her a life saving ring as others swam to her rescue. I assumed she had cramp and was relieved she had been looked after. But once we got to Lemmon Cay a fellow traveller told us she had been stung by a Man-o-war. It’s sobering to think that if I had just stayed snorkelling a few moments longer, perhaps I too may have been stung. It also generates quite a fatalistic view in my mind too though. I was that close, and I didn’t get stung, and we just can’t live our lives worrying about what may or may not harm us. It’s fairly arbitrary - we are all just a hairs breadth away from disaster or delight, so we can’t shape our time with it in mind! I will continue to read up on everywhere we go, learn about the local risks and measure my freedoms accordingly. I think that’s about all we can ever do.

That night we climbed coconut trees, played cards, drank some of Uncle Foo’s legendary margaritas – because we know he is leaving us once we get to Panama and the only thing we can drown our sorrows in about this, is his immaculately prepared margaritas! And consoled ourselves with the fact we will have to leave this tropical paradise but will never forget it. Onto adventures new…islands even more remote…and our gateway to the Pacific awaits.

Now that I am a few months beyond our visit to the San Blas/Guna Yala, I am aware that this little slice of paradise is one of the more accessible parts of our trip for those of you who would like to visit somewhere that feels remote, but doesn’t require (the madness of) a circumnavigation to get there! Flights to Panama make it very possible and if you fancy exploring somewhere exquisitely unspoiled by big hotel chains and the trappings of modern western society, I urge you to pop it on your list of places to visit. Even if it’s just so that you can learn a few words of ‘people mouth’.

“Nua, nua ibi.”

“Goodbye and goodluck.”

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