December 20 – January 30, 2026; 20278 nm and 2467 days after departure from La Rochelle

And of course we were enjoying the time with the kids very, very much. It was like being on holidays. Instead of taking care of boring boat projects we were exploring more of the islands. It might sound funny for some of my dear readers but we too have our normal daily life with chores and duties. And sometimes we get also kind of trapped in a daily routine which then develops a laziness regarding moving around. But with visitors all changes! The explorer gene crawls out of its deep sleep and quickly reaches full speed. So off we were visiting islets we haven’t been before.
The kids arrived late morning on the 26th of Dec. at Nuignudup, an island belonging to the western Lemon Cays. And as the young people didn’t seem to suffer from lack of sleep or jetlag they were ready to go ashore already after the first couple of hours catching up and some decent food. Luis and Norbert were keen on playing volleybeer. Lucky us, the island provided a net and even a bar! So just like that we were all playing volleyball and quenching our thirsts. Welcome to the San Blas!

Nuignudup was nice for arriving but comparably crowded as many charter captains pick up or drop off their guests there (like we did). Therefore we moved on the next morning and sailed to Cambombia, which belongs to Naguargandup-cays. A beautiful short sail of about 3 hours. We had not been to that island before but were astonished how busy the anchorage was. It was a cute tidied up island with friendly Kunas (actually Kunas are always super friendly). They were operating a simple bar and I guessed also offered some day trips for tourists. Nowadays it anyhow seemed the Kunas had developed an instinct to earn money from sailors, land-tourists and charter guests. Especially in the western San Blas more and more islands were visited by charter boats where the Kunas have cleaned up the islands. Like that it was interesting for charter captains to take their guests there. A win-win situation, the Kunas earn some money selling molas, beverages and sometimes food and the tourists get to see pretty, easy to approach islands. Others even have built up two story houses for backpackers and other tourists.
Since we arrived the first time in the San Blas which was in October 2022, a lot had changed. The kids as well were surprised how different it looked at the pool at Ibins place at Banedup. The cosy remote flair was somehow gone. We fondly remembered our x-mas dinner. It was so romantic sitting at a simple table right on the beach with palm trees providing shade from the last sun rays. We were the only guests and enjoying an extraordinary delicious meal in a beautiful paradise-like surrounding. Ibin only had a hut for his kitchen and was sleeping in a very small place over the water. Now he could easily seat and serve 100 people. Also, even though the food is still very good, it had lost his special touch -at least to me. My guess, due to the amount of dishes and the fact that he rarely cooks himself these days. He just lets his crew cook and to make it easy serves the same dishes. Most of the guests come only once anyway, so it does make sense of course. But we were missing the variety of his dishes and we realised the shrinking size of the plates. I mean, it’s a great accomplishment for Ibin and his business. We are very happy for him and will always support his work but unfortunately it took away the special remote paradise feeling. Well the world is moving on and of course as well here in the San Blas.
The main reasons for all that change was probably that the congresso (group of elected people executing the decisions of the 49 Kuna communities) had lifted the restrictions on running charter business plus of course the upcoming of Star Link. The latter had opened the possibility to work easily aboard for sailors and the charter boats now didn’t have to worry anymore about working in a grey zone. Short: making money got much easier. But now enough of my mental excursion!

El Capitano’s big importante birthday was coming up. His wish was to celebrate quietly in a remote area. That’s why we moved on to Ubigandup Cayo Alto. A small uninhabited island with a tricky entrance between reefs and space only for two boats. Exactly what the birthday kid was looking for. It would have been double perfect if we would have been completely alone but one boat seemed to have had the same idea and sneaked into that anchorage just before us. Yet it was a nice place. As well a first time for us and Norberto was happy having found that place. On his big day we spoilt him with presents, a cake and a nice bbq. We went snorkelling to the reef just behind us and went ashore to walk around the island. That excursion though didn’t take long as the mean midges, the chitras, were happily welcoming us. Their way of saying hello was biting us. And each and every one of their millions of habitants seemed to be keen on welcoming us. An evil, nasty welcome! At least they were so kind and let us alone on board of Altimate.

For new years eve we sailed to the pool. Here we introduced the kids to Ibin, Debbie, Ilka and all our other friends. And of course Luis and Norbert were desperate to play volleybeer. We stayed three nights and had an amazing snorkel at the outer reef the first day of the new year. The water was fantastic! Not much current and the visibility was outstanding. That was just luck as the last times we had been there the visibility was rather murky. We found the deep cut in the reef where we saw many sharks and fish. An indeed special place! (If I get El Capitano persuaded to edit a little video from our dives I will for sure share it with you😉.) Oh I almost forgot, new years eve was for me a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a big party at Ibins with cool music and a lot of dancing. Unfortunately that didn’t really happen so we ended up way before midnight at Altimate. The good part was we had been fit for the great snorkel at the outer reef.

The next day we moved on to Ogopsidup Cayo Blanco, another island we had not been before. Only a little hop east of Green island. The fun part here was that we had tied up to a palm tree stern to the island. We stayed two nights enjoying being alone at night as charter boats only came for a few hours with their guests to play at the beach. Also we found a terrific reef with beautiful soft corals which we hadn’t seen in the San Blas before. The weather goddess was not in absolute favour for us as the sun had a hard time to squeeze through the clouds which unfortunately restricted the visibility. Yet we were all super excited and thrilled about the variety and the bright colours of the corals. I can’t imagine how it will look like in sunny weather! And Luisito, our little fire devil also managed to start a fire at the beach in between some rain showers. A proper fire lighter won’t be stopped by rain, no, no, no! He had fun and we could burn our garbage. Life can be so easy! As we still wanted to explore more we tried the anchorage west of little island Waisaladup also called “the office”. It earned its name as it used to be a good spot to catch mobile data connection when Star Link had not yet existed. Unfortunately the snorkelling wasn’t as niece as expected so we moved on to Sibadup in the western Holandes. Ciganka had told us about that island. We are so thankful!!! That beautiful place turned out to be the nicest island we had been to lately. Still not yet visited as much by cruisers and caringly looked after by a very sweet Kuna family. The place still looked like a typical San Blas island. White beach on one side, shade-providing palm trees and mangroves on the other end. It was surrounded by colourful shiny turquoise water which made it look like being in island heaven. It was for sure a treat for our eyes! Nature can be so outrageously beautiful. Right? On top of all that stunning beauty, we had found a sensational snorkel spot at the outer reef. It was one of the best snorkel we had so far! The sun was shining, the current slow and the visibility just great. We happened to be so lucky to set the dinghy anchor close to a big cut at the reef. The amount of fish was just enormous. And not only that, within half an hour we saw sharks, spotted eagle rays, lobster, a viper moray it was absolutely stunning! We were blown away! What a lucky day!

Unfortunately it was already the end of Janas and Luis visit. After two nights we had to leave that pretty spot as we had to take the kids back to Nuignudup. Before sailing there we decided to stop at sandy island for a couple of hours. Literally a sand pitch surrounded by a reef, which was sometimes almost completely under water. It was a fun stop as usually we had been there with the dinghy. Anchoring with the big boat was a new experience. The reef was nice but unfortunately the visibility was bad. Yet it was a nice stop and a last snorkel for the kids. After lunch we lifted the hook and headed to the pick up island. We were lucky to have a beautiful down wind sail. Just before reaching Nuignudup we saw friends of us, the cat Takatuka, who was passing us. They had taken some pics of Altimate when Luis was sitting at the bow. Such a funny picture! Well then, early next morning, it was already time to say goodbye. Not my favourite situation as y’all know. But in only 4 month we will see each other again – that’s the good part!

Right after the kids were gone we left too. Anita and Fred from Ciganka had invited us to a bbq at Green island. That was a nice distraction from missing the kids. The bbq was actually organised by a South American sailor community. Oh boy! They do now how to bbq. They had spent hours to give the fire the perfect heat and had spent more hours to slow cook the meat. Bam, the outcome of the meat was unbelievable. The beef was tender as butter and oh so delicious. Nothing for vegetarians but taste heaven for meat lovers, so so delicioso. I kinda also liked, how it was eaten. The master of bbqing had cut the meat in bite size pieces and then offered each person a bite. That was sweet but somehow also a little mean because you wanted more of that tender treat. Much mooooore pleaaaaase. We got more, after patiently waiting for a looong time we were offered another bite. What a different way of bbqing! You certainly don’t eat too much and you certainly enjoy every single bite! Such a great experience. Just a little awkward was, that we had only brought a big bowl of popcorn. But hey who could have known that we would meet the masters of bbq and a fancy potluck? Luckily nobody had seemed to mind, the popcorn was gone so all was good. I swear to bring something special if we get invited again! Promised!
We spent 4 days at Green island cleaning up and getting Altimate back to a two pax boat. Ciganka was getting new guests and we headed to the pool. Saying hello to Debbie and co, playing a little volleybeer and enjoying a birthday potluck at Bbq island. A couple of days before we had ordered some groceries from supermarkets in Panama City, which were picked up by Elio. One of the veggie selling boats Kuna. The strong wind and resulting waves made it difficult for the lanchas to bring the groceries to the pool. So we decided to sail to Elios island Esnasdup. Meanwhile he had built a small dock for dinghies and a hut for his veggies. Us being curious anyway to see his new “shop” we left the pool after 4 days and sailed to Esnasdup. The shop turned out nicely and made it easy for sailers to come by to buy veggies, fruits, beverages. Even diesel and gasoline was now available. While waiting for our delivery from the supermarkets we did some projects. I started to pattern new bedsheets and Norbert was – can’t remember- doing something else. When not busy we caught up with old friends who turned up at the anchorage. Gloria and Mike from Respite as well as Mark and Helena from Cloud Nine, which we had met 3 years ago at Banedup.

Once all the orders had arrived it urged us to get back to Sibadup. In that beautiful spot we wanted to finish all the jobs we liked to have finished before our new guests would come. Oh haven’t I told you before? Yesssss, Natalie and Martin our friends from Essen were coming. In less than two weeks they would be in the San Blas. How super exciting!!!
The weather helped us to get our projects done as it was very windy and the current was crazy. So no distraction from going snorkelling. Full concentration on our work! A few days of swearing, measuring and sewing and my 4 bedsheets were done. Every other day we went ashore and spent some time chatting with a few other cruisers. Family boats which we already knew from the pool. After almost a week, the current finally subsided, so we dared to go snorkelling again. The first time since the kids have left! Wasn’t that crazy? Of course we went to the same spot, which we had found with the kids and were absolutely thrilled again. This time we even saw an octopus!!!! Can you imagine???? Since living on the boat that was only the second time we saw an octopus in the water. That was so damn cool! This time El capitano had spotted him. Unfortunately we couldn’t follow him very long as it got so shallow that we literally got stuck. Kind of funny but true. We will definitely come back with Natalie and Martin!!! Since three days we are now back in the pool and in only two days we will pick up our guests. Two more days of volleybeer and then we’re off to Cambombia. Yeaaaahhhh