San Blas

We had a decent sail to San Blas, though long. We left at five in the morning to arrive in the afternoon. We moved after our first night to try to get out of the swell, continuing a pattern of re-anchoring we started in Isla Isabel. The holding was not good being some kind of soft mud, requiring us to put out 80 feet of chain for 15 feet of depth. We spent three nights in San Blas before Justin decreed a departure of the next morning. After being in San Blas again after five years of absence, a few things are clear. It is still God-forsaken. The bugs are horrible, the dinghy landing on Mantanchen bay difficult and insecure. It is difficult to get into town and everything shuts down around noon.

There were some positives, however. The banana bread bakers on the road into Mantanchen beach were satisfactory, but could not live up to the hype. The jungle river trip by panga (16 foot fiberglass boats) also did not live up to the hype, but the swim in the fresh-water spring at the head of the river made the trip worthwhile.

The best time we had in San Blas, however, was listening to the ubiquitous 3/4 folk music on a very nice bus on the ride back to the beach after stocking up on fresh fish and vegetables at the market the morning of our departure for Chacala.