Christmas in the San Blas - "Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum...."

Key West 2009




Santa in PR 2010

  Our third Christmas on the water, although we are unable to spend the holiday with our families we are able to be with friends. Be it old friends in Key West 2009 or our new friends of 2010 in Boqueron, Puerto Rico we have been able to share the season and the memories. In 2011 we find ourselves anchored in the Holandes Cays located in the western portion of the San Blas islands. Located near 9*35N 78*40W the Holandes are a group of small mostly uninhabited islands offering good all round protection with excellent holding in less than twenty feet of water (a rare treat in the San Blas).


San Blas Islands 2011

 The barrier reef offers good snorkeling and the mostly calm waters are great for swimming. All in all the Holandes are a great place to spend some time, which is why we encounter a few dozen other boats when we arrive on Dec. 20th.


reef at low tide



rollers on the reef

Life on board is not much different from life ashore; we spend the next few days taking care of chores. There is baking to be done, cookies, bread, cinnamon rolls and tortillas. There are rum balls to be made, lots of rum balls. Rum balls have always been a part of Vicky’s holidays and have become somewhat of a tradition for us; we enjoy them around the house and deliver them to smiling friends everywhere. The basic rum ball recipe is:

6 oz. Chocolate chips (melted)

½ cup of sugar

2 tbsp. corn syrup

½ cup Rum

1 cup walnuts (finely diced)

2 ½ cups crushed vanilla wafers

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and allow to cool in the fridge. Once the mixture has slightly hardened the fun begins. Roll out small balls, Tada: rum balls, roll each ball in some sugar and them set aside, repeat. Now when making for the holiday crowd the ingredients are doubled and tripled. When mixing for the cruising community in far off lands, the Rum is increased exponentially. In any case, we wrapped up a half dozen or so in lovely red paper and dropped them off throughout the Christmas season to various boats. We have learned that the rum balls rarely last through the night.

Chula has friends everywhere

Another little chore that we took care off in the Holandes involved the solar panels. We have four Kyosara 85W solar panels. When the sun is high and all is in working order this gives us 20-25 amps of power per hour. We consume on the order of 200 amps per day so the proper functioning of the panels is important to us. For the last several months we have had an issue with peak performance. Vicky suggested checking the connection and the wires. Ed took the longer route by checking everything but the connectors and the wires. It’s been eight years of marriage and 45 years on earth and Ed is finally beginning to understand that he should listen to Vicky more often. We replaced six connectors and a couple of lengths of wire and shazam we’re cranking out 20 amps again.

Christmas Eve aboard Boto with La Luna

As we get ready for the crowds on Christmas day, we settle down for a quite
Christmas Eve dinner with Denise and Etienne of “La Luna”. It seems that this is the year to celebrate with them as we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with them in Cartagena and now a wonderful meal for Christmas. We’ll miss them both as they will be leaving shortly for Colon and a transit of the Panama Canal. The crew of “La Luna” will continue west on their circumnavigation of the globe. We wish them fair winds.

we gave this one away



lots of laughs



in the end, we got Vicky's painting

Being the holiday season and the end of another year there is the desire to celebrate. For Christmas 2011 this translates into a get together on the beach with 20 or 30 folks to celebrate. Everyone brings something to eat and we set up a buffet. In addition, there is the gift lottery. If there is something on the boat that is no longer needed or wanted it is brought ashore and offered as a gift, “one man gathers what another man spills….”. The crew of Boto brings along several items for the gift exchange, an extra large package of rum balls (of course), an original Vicky watercolor of a Parrot fish (Ed took that one home) and an unwanted iPhone cover (actually it was the wrong size for ours). The party lasted several hours and was accompanied by live music and lots of laughter and even some dancing. What you ask did the crew of Boto receive for Christmas? As already indicated and original watercolor by Vicky (framed in a homemade drift wood frame, compliments of the artists muse). A slightly used but otherwise in good condition dry bag, which included cookies, two rolls of TP and a copy of the 21st edition of Uncle John’s Unsinkable Bathroom Reader. The two rolls of TP really were what we wanted. We’ll let you use your imagination as to the shape and texture of the cookies. Lastly, was a very nice lithograph to decorate the bulkhead. All in all a good haul.


and the music...



December 26th and we bid farewell to “La Luna”. On the 28th we pull anchor and are off to the Lemon Cays where we shall ring in the New Year and ready ourselves to depart the San Blas islands. Our first stop in the Lemons is Chichime. This is a small island inhabited by a few folks that tend to the coconuts on the island. When approaching from the anchorage keep an eye out for the reef and the “small” island. The small island is nothing more than a coral hump with two palm trees and the remains of a wrecked sailboat. Be sure to keep this small island to starboard as you feel your way into the channel.

Once inside you’ll find a tiny anchorage where you will drop the hook in forty feet of water and be less than a boat length from shore. This is a wonderful spot to spend a few days although it is rather crowded. During our stay one vessel ran into us as it tried to anchor in the tight quarters. Fortunately, no damage done the boat bounced off our anchor snubber. However, this set the stage for the following day, when a large steel boat came into the anchorage. For some reason people always want to anchor where other boats are, perhaps they feel safer. In this case the boat in question tried several times to anchor in a very small area all the while there was a much larger area available but not as many boats anchored there. As they repeatedly came very close to us and three other boats we all put out fenders and prepared to fend off. At one point when the steel hull was twenty feet from Boto the skipper tried to reassure us that he would not hit us, I told him we were not worried as I was sure he had insurance. The skipper moved. Finally, they came to rest and we all slept.  

40' from shore

 

no worries, I won't hit you



Friday (there’s that day again) December 30th we’re off to the West Lemons and the lagoon.

On our way we hear from “Happy Bird” who are on their way to transit the Panama Canal too. We will catch up with them in the New Year to help them go through the canal.

When entering the West Lemons you sail through a series of cuts between several small islands. One must be careful as there are reefs aplenty. The good news/bad news is that there is a wreck on one of the reefs to warn of its presence. The sailboat went up on the reef a week ago and is being slowly beat to death. As long as you find the cuts you will remain in 40 to 50 feet of water. The real fun comes when you try to enter the lagoon. The entrance on the south side is a small cut, the width of a boat which is eight feet deep. To either side of this cut is reef. As we made three separate passes trying to figure out how to get in we were finally assisted by a Spanish flag boat. The skipper jumped in his dinghy and guided us to the marker for the cut. The skipper and crew received rum balls later. The marker is a red buoy; well it’s actually a red plastic bottle. The idea on entering the lagoon is to hit the red plastic bottle with the starboard bow. This will place you in the middle of the cut, assuming that the bottle hasn’t shifted. Once inside the depth drops off to fifty feet and you are home free. There are a few moorings that are managed by Yogi on behalf of the Kuna. Yogi is a retired German charter captain that does various odds and ends in the San Blas. If you need something in the remote islands give him a call. Although a scenic stop there is not much here to recommend. The moorings are a good spot if you wish to leave the boat for a period of time. Yogi will keep an eye on things while you are gone.



the Pig

As with many of our stops, we came for a day and stayed for a week. The combination of weather and lethargy combined to keep us in the Lemons. We were able to ring in the New Year with a lot of folks and a wonderful feast. The main course of which was roast pig. The pig spent New Year’s Eve day spread eagled over coals constantly being swabbed in marinade.


the Shrimp


The menu consisted of Roast Pork, Turkey, Chicken and Rice, Potato Salad, Green Salad, HUGE Shrimp (really HUGE) and several other local dishes that were very tasty if of unknown content. All compliments of the Kuna (and a $25 fee). Well worth it.
Our new year was rung in with high winds, big seas and rain. Finally, after a brief morning downpour we manage to pull up the anchor and leave the calm repose of the Lemon Cays and the San Blas Islands. Off to Portobelo where we will be reintroduced to civilization (kind of). Well, we’re catching up, the benefit of sitting in Portobelo for a month. Lots to talk about next, plus we’ll finally be up to date, yippy. It only took three years.