Tuesday, 29 September - San Blas Islands, Panama
Last evening we passed the sea lanes for the Canal. Apparently the man had a plan as there were lots of ships. We sat by the pool deck, well actually the Jacuzzi deck since there's no pool on Prince Albert II (or the ship by the same name) and played the, "What kind of ship is that" game. We then watched the sun set west into the Atlantic. (Look at the map.) A good time was had by all.
We were invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, and much to our surprise the Captain joined us. Most of those at the table talked with each other, but I chatted with the Captain about, uh, ships. Nice dinner. The oso bucco went well with the Chianti.
After being anchored all night in the nice calm (!) anchorage we took the Zodiacs this morning to Wichub Wala Island, a 1 acre atoll inhabited exclusively by Kuna Indians, a protected self governing group who make and sell Molas which hand make textiles. Molas are very colorful, made by cutting away holes in multilayer fabric--a kind of reverse appliqué. Since selling Molas are almost the sole source of income for the Kunas, every house on the little island had a number of women and children wearing and selling identical Molas. There were a lot of houses and therefore a lot of Molas for sale. I say that Molas are almost the sole source of their income since charging $1 per photo is the other. Knowing this, I took a number of pictures of some dug out canoed Kuna and decided that a word is worth a thousand pictures. You will have to imagine, therefore, the folk dance (with pan pipes, of course) we observed. Something about a starfish or marriage rituals. Maybe both.
We then shuttled by a 5 mile Zodiac run (at 18.5 mph, but who's counting) to Wailidup (I'm not making these names up) Island which we apparently rented for the day. There are a lot of San Blas islands, really a lot. We snorkeled, swam, some kayaked in plastic boats, and had a lunch of local rock lobster--which went quite well with Balboa Beer. A quick Zodiac ride took us back to the now repositioned ship so that we could enjoy an elegant tea time. The English Breakfast Tea went well with my left over dairy free morning pastries. Note the Cruise Director who is called "Expedition Leader" on this ship looking self important in his expedition leader garb. He also talks a lot over his walkie talkie with things like, "Is the Zodiac #1 in position?". Very impressive.
This evening we set sale for the NW entrance to the Panama Canal where we will start a daylight transit tomorrow morning. I remember from the last time that the ride has its ups and downs.
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