No 9 - Passages 2026 Panama – the Guna Yala Islands – Ustupu, Mamitupu, Snug Harbour, Rio Diablo/Nargana.

 

Ustupu - the main water tanks.

It was a long hard slog up to Ustupu, but we eventually arrived and dropped anchor in the main anchoring area. Sv Dalyan – Meric, had arrived the day earlier, and he came over to our boat to welcome us and to pass on some information about Ustupu. We noticed as we were entering Ustupu, how many of the Guna Revolutionary flags were flying. A little later the officials arrived asking for the anchoring fee and insisted we buy a Guna revolutionary flag, as the month of February was their celebration month. We were in a delicate situation so thought we’d fly the flag while we were in Ustupu to respect their culture BUT it will be taken down asap.

The revolutionary flag is the second Guna flag and was created by Waga Ebingili at age 11. Apparently, he had a dream of a flag with three red stripes, a white centre, and a black cross and shared his dream with his grandfather. They interpreted its meaning:

• Red Stripes: Represent the blood spilled by Guna fighters during the revolution.

• White Stripe: Signifies the peace and purity that the Guna people uphold as a guiding principle.

• Black Cross: Reflects the suffering of those who fought against oppression.

Later, the white stripe was replaced by yellow to represent prosperity. Today, the Guna Revolution Flag remains widely recognized across Panama. Although some find the black cross controversial, it purely represents the Guna people’s struggle for justice and unity.

The ‘swastika’ on the Guna Yala flag aligns with the counterclockwise version, connecting it to themes of balance, cosmic cycles, and harmony with nature. Guna Yala flag of San Blas, Panama, with its counterclockwise ‘swastika’ (卍), or the ‘swastika’ represents the night and karma. Information taken from Wikipedia

We had decided to stop off at Ustupu due to the awful weather predicted for the next few days. Ustupu anchorage offered protection from the expected 35 plus knot winds coming from the NW North and NE, plus the swell, as we were behind the island. We knew we could buy the odd fresh veggie, freshly baked bread rolls and there were several local restaurants. Ustupu is made up of two islands joined together by a few bridges, plus there is a small airport and we would often hear a small aircraft preparing to land, as the anchorage was in the flight path. In fact, there are quite a few small airports on the various islands in Guna Yala. Some are old remnants from WWII, that were built by the U.S.A.

We ended up spending a week anchored in Ustupu. The current weather patterns have been very

unusual for this time of year, even the local Guna people are complaining as there has been plenty of rain. This time of the year is usually their dry season. Some Guna people have been saying that it is cold – well we are not complaining as at least it hasn’t been hot and humid.

What has been fascinating to watch are the men going out in their ulus (dug-out canoes) to their fields, regardless of the weather conditions. Many people do not have outboard engines, so they row out across the bay to some of the outlying islands. We watched three men rowing out across the bay that we had motored across, in swells I would not have felt comfortable in, sitting in Passages, let alone in a little dugout canoe.

We saw some youngsters enjoying themselves in an ulu. They rowed out to the middle of the anchorage/bay and then jump overboard, then scrabbled to catch the side of the ulu as it drifted down stream. We thought they were mad as the waters were not great. We didn’t attempt to make any water while we were in Ustupu as like in many islands, toilets are situated along the water’s edge and the odd time we would see some ‘interesting’ things floating along.  It didn’t take long for Passages hull to look dirty.

Many people, mostly the Guna women, make mola’s. (We saw the odd man making a mola). We had been shown a few mola’s on the various islands that we had visited so far. The women wear mola’s across their chest and waist areas. Some are extremely elaborate and either have geometrical designs on them or birds/wildlife found in these parts. Most of them are done by hand although I did see a very old Singer sewing machine being used. Seeing the sewing machine brought back memories as I learnt how to sew at school using one of those machines.

Ustupu is a very significant and important village in the Guna Yala culture, as it played a significant part in the Revolution of 1925 and one of the founding members and leaders, Nele Kantule was born in

The island where Nele Kantule is buried.

Ustupu and is now buried on the island that was behind us, in the anchorage.

 On our last day/evening in the Ustupu anchorage, we had a little bit of excitement. We were at the restaurant on the ‘waterfront’, when we noticed a sail going past the entrance to the anchorage. The yacht put down anchor under sail, which was rather impressive. Pandemonium erupted – the officials and locals sitting along the dockside (which there were many and seem to be there the whole day) became very animated and asked us if we could tell the recently arrived yacht to move. The reason for the drama was that they had dropped their anchor right in front of the water tower, which is fed from the mainland via a pipe on the seabed. We knew that many islands have water towers and it is a cardinal sin to drop anchor right in front of the water tower.

We dinghied over to the boat to inform the two guys, Steve, originally from Perth Australia and Patrick from the USA, about the locals wanted them to move their yacht. They told us their engine had died on them and they had spent the whole night bobbing along, waiting for good light to enter the anchorage. By this time, the officials had come over so Steve and Patrick explained to them what had happened. The officials were quick to hook them up and move them further up the anchorage.

This wasn’t the end of the ‘drama’ – while I was drying the dishes after dinner, I was peering out the galley/kitchen porthole when I said to Mel, ‘I think Steve’s boat is dragging’. Mel popped his head outside to look and sure enough, the yacht was dragging, heading towards Dalyan – Meric’s boat. Mel sounded the hooter and flashed the huge spotlight we have onto Steve’s boat, as they were none the wiser. Meric responded quite quickly to the sound of the hooter and saw what was about to happen. Steve’s boat collided with Meric’s, but we later found out that no damage was caused.

Steve tied his boat alongside Meric’s for the night. The following morning, before we left the anchorage, Meric towed Steve further up the anchorage, making sure he had let out enough chain to prevent his boat from dragging, before Meric also left the anchorage

After being in the Ustupu anchorage for a week, we left for Mamitupu anchorage, while Meric left for further up the island chain. We had to motor the 6NM to Mamitupu as the winds were from the bow and we were limited by the surrounding reefs. We knew that the next few days there was some more unsettled weather, so we didn’t want to move too far.

I have mentioned this a few times that Passages is a heavy boat, so she doesn’t handle swell when under motor. We knew we would not be able to make any anchorage further west with the current winds and swells.

Mamitupu 

We had only been in Mamitupu anchorage for about 15 minutes, when another boat Ara, anchored slightly further along. Nancy and Steve from Camden in Maine came over to us for a cup of tea and we had a good chin wag. They were planning on only staying in the anchorage for a night before heading further down towards Isla Pinos, where we had recently been.

We ended up staying in Mamitupu for a week, due to the weather and the awful swells. While we were anchored a few boats anchored alongside us. Some were going further down the island chain, while others were like us slowly making their way up the chain.

It was good to have some company. We met Christophe and Benedikte, French Canadians who were making their way to Cartagena. John from the USA, Steve and Helena from the U.K (the creators of NFL), and Carla and Volker from Glucksberg, Germany – near the Danish border.

In Mamitupu, Pablo is a well-known individual as he is mentioned in the various books and apps. He speaks English and was once married to an English woman and lived in North London for over 6 years.

Pablo and his current wife - all the Mola's.

According to all the information on Mamitupu, Pablo ran the coconut press which extracted coconut oil from coconuts after they have been shredded by hand. It was a ‘must see’ if you stopped off in Mamitupu. Unfortunately, the coconut presses were not working. Since we knew we would be in the anchorage for a few days (it ended up being 8 days due to the awful weather) Mel offered to look at them both but promising Pablo nothing. Anyway, Mel was able to get one of the presses going but unfortunately the other one was beyond repair. It was quite frustrating as Mel had to contend with island time mentality and time frame.

We eventually left Mamitupu and meandered our way behind the island chain to Snug Harbour where we met up with Carla and Volker on their beautiful cat, Momo.

Ailigandi.

As we motored towards Snug Harbour we passed a few traditional Guna villages. One village, Ailigandi, was made famous by Johnny Golf who was an aircraft pilot, who worked for Al Capone. He spent his senior years hiding out in Ailigandi.

Ailigandi like Ustupu was also a significant place during the 1925 Revolution, as its chief at the time, Simral Colman, like Nele Kantula was one of the main leaders in the revolt.

Snug Harbour was beautiful. Your typical picture postcard tropical island, with palm trees and reefs. The anchorage was protected and had beautiful clean fresh water, which was a relief as we were getting quite low in our water reserves. It was great to be making water once again. We enjoyed the surroundings and the lovely waters, where Mel did a bit of snorkelling and we both went for a few swims in the beautiful waters.

Snug Harbour received its name from the English schooners that used to stop for coconuts in the days of sailing merchant ships.

After spending two nights in Snug Harbour, there was an opportunity for us to sail, yes SAIL, further up the island chain, so we took it. We were running very low in a few basic food stuffs, which was pretty good considering the last time we had done any shopping, bar a few tomatoes and bread rolls from

Snug Harbour.

Ustupu, was in Santa Marta. We decided to go to Rio Diablo or Nargana before we headed for the true, tropical and touristy part of Guna Yala, where there are the beautiful clear blue waters and white sandy beaches framed with palm trees.

Nargana is not your traditional Guna village as the people have decided to adopt the more western type of living and dress code. Many of the buildings were concrete and not the traditional stick and coconut palm construction. The anchorage was huge and quite active as there were many boats coming and going due to the small airport. Every morning, we would see a few small aircraft land and then take off back to Panama City. In Guna Yala, there are chartered boats, but they are not like in other Caribbean places as the crew are locals. You can not just charter a boat and go off sailing; you must have a local crew. Nargana was a dropping off and collection

Nargana 

point.

Next time, I will write a bit about the revolution as the national day is on February 25, with huge celebrations planned.

So……until then……Take care, keep well, and stay safe.

Best wishes, always

Mel and Caryn

 

Ustupu.

The boat being towed away from the village water pipeline.

Mamitupu.

A trade boat from Colombia.

There is so MUCH plastic on many of the islands, carried over from across the Caribbean Sea.

I am slowly making progress with my bread making skills. Here are some bread roll

Snug Harbour. 

No.8 - Passages 2025/2026 Panama – our sail to Puerto Obaldia and the Guna Yala/San Blas Islands.

PLEASE NOTE: As of writing this post, our Starlink modem has stopped working, so we are now back to the days, when we relied on mobile network coverage. I will NOT be able to upload any videos.

 

The WIFI where we are is absolutely awful – when I have better coverage I will add photos to our blog. Please bear with me as I face a few technical issues.

We've managed to get some WiFi  - 2 March 2026.

Well, here we are in Panama. A significant place in the world due to the Panama Canal. There have been a few times since arriving here, that I pinch myself as I often say to Mel, 20 years ago, I would never have thought I would be in Panama.

We eventually left Santa Marta marina as planned after lunch time on Wednesday 14 January and spent the night anchored in the bay, ready for an early morning start on Thursday morning. We had obviously

At anchor outside Santa Marta Marina.

been monitoring the weather and knew we had a small, 2 – 3-day weather window to sail to Panama. When we plan our sailing route, we use an app called Predictwind. You put in parameters of our yacht, how fast it can go given the angle and speed of the wind, length of boat, how low must the wind be before you switch the engine on, etc. All this information assists us in planning when to depart and when we are expected to arrive at the destination. Remember, we are dealing with the weather which has its own plans despite us mortal humans trying to make sense of it.

 During any long-distance sail, we download the weather twice a day (morning and evening) and during these times there can be quite a few different and conflicting information depending on the different weather models. (This is when Starlink is working)

We decided to leave Santa Marta and say ‘Goodbye’ to Colombia by 5.30am on Thursday morning. The anchor was up by 5.25am and we were motoring out west towards Panama. To begin with, the swell was unpleasant and for the first time in a VERY long time, I suffered from seasickness for the first day of our three-day sail.

By our second day of sailing, we realised that we might arrive in Puerto Obaldia, late Saturday afternoon or early evening which wasn’t a great option. Puerto Obaldia has an extremely bad reputation for being an awful anchorage, particularly if you are in a monohull. We never like to arrive in any anchorage in the dark, plus by the many reports, this was an anchorage you wanted to leave as soon as possible. We also knew that we needed to give ourselves enough time to be able to sail/motor to a safe, calm anchorage, after checking into Panama at Puerto Obaldia.

Pleiterik, who had arrived in Panama about 10 days before us, warned us about how bad the swell was in Puerto Obaldia and the struggles they experienced to put their dinghy down into the water, to go ashore to check in. We had also read on NFL (NoForeignLand.com) a mixture of reviews on arriving in Puerto Obaldia.

Two of the main weather models on Predictwind said that we would have to put the boat’s engine on at a certain point as the wind would be below 4 knots. We decided that we would spend an extra night out

Mel dealing with the swell.

at sea by NOT putting our engine on, reduce sail and just bob along, hoping to arrive in Puerto Obaldia between 6 – 8.00am, Sunday morning.

 The wind was a lot higher than forecast so we only had a handkerchief of a sail out and managed to arrive in Puerto Obaldia as planned, just before 7.00am.

But…oh my goodness….. the swell!!!!

Firstly, no sailor is comfortable anchoring on a lee shore – that is having the stern/back of the boat towards the land and the wind howling and pushing you towards the shore. It is dangerous for obvious reasons. Thankfully, we knew from the various reviews that the holding in the anchorage was great.

As always in situations like this, Mel put out plenty of chain.

This was only the beginning of the fun and games…… We now had to put the dinghy down in 2-metre swells and try to attach the outbound motor to the dinghy. We had been in situations like this before BUT NEVER with such a swell. Pleiterik had advised us to have the engine on the dinghy before we arrived, but we couldn’t do that as our outboard motor is quite a heavy one and it would damage the whole arch and fixtures at the back of the boat. It just wasn’t doable. Eventually after a rather tense period of trying to work out what we should do, Mel decided he would row to land. So that is what happened.

The pier in Puerto Obaldia.

Thankfully, we had not anchored too far from the closest pier but there was more to come.

The immigration and customs officials were all very friendly and we had completed what we thought were all the formalities within less than an hour. However, the military had other ideas. We knew from Pleiterik that the military would want to ‘board’ the boat. Let’s just say there was a slight misunderstanding or communication mix up. We went back to the boat and waited a while, only to realise that the official would only be coming to our boat on our dinghy. So, Mel, left me on the boat and he rowed back to the pier to collect the officials.

Two Officials decided to come out to our boat…….. well Mel had rowed halfway, when they told him to take them back to the pier. As I came onto deck to assist with their arrival, I saw one of them take a photo of Passages, then indicate to Mel to take them back. As Mel was rowing, he was wetting one of the officials who must have got fed up with being wet. Anyway, who cares as soon as we could we hoisted the dinghy back onto the boat, lifted the anchor and headed to Puerto Escoses anchorage, 20 NM away.

A bit of history about the San Blas or as the traditional Kuna Indians prefer you calling it the Guna Yala. San Blas is the colonial name of the area. It is spelt Guna Yala, but you say Kuna – K.

 The Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus is where I have obtained the following information about the Kuna Indians.

The San Blas Islands consist of over 340 islands. They are unique in that they are home to the Kuna Indians who have and are trying hard to reserve their culture and traditions.  This area of Panama is also one of the most preserved and untouched areas of natural rainforest left in the world. Some areas haven’t even been explored yet. The Kuna Indians control this area of Panama and have a deep respect for the area. Nobody owns the land as it is not divided by fences. The Kunas are small people, like the pygmies. They are very friendly and peaceful and have a strict hierarchy of tribal leaders.

“Each village has three ‘Sailas” (chiefs) who hold the highest authority at the village level. Three “Caciques” or high chiefs rule the nation as a whole; each represents his part of the land. Of these, one is elected supreme leader of the Kuna Nation. Sailas are much more than political leaders as they are holders of the Kuna spiritualism, poesy, medicinal knowledge and history” – this is taken directly from Eric Bauhaus’s book 3^rd edition pg. 205.

 We eventually dropped our anchor in Puerto Escoses, which was surrounded by tropical jungle. The

Puerto Escoses.

waters looked calm, but we knew we would not be able to swim as crocodiles were in the area. It was so peaceful and calm but extremely dark once the sun set, which made for the evening sky to look spectacular with all the stars.

Soon after settling down for the evening, we were visited by one of the elders in their wooden dugout canoe/boat, called ‘ulus’ to pay an anchoring fee. We were expecting this as this is the norm here in Guna Yala country. We had to take a photo of the money transaction taking place as evidence that the money had been received. In other islands/anchorages we knew we would or may receive a written receipt.

We slept like babies, as we were exhausted after our sail to Panama.

The following day, we pottered around on the boat and were visited by one of the local families who

Cesio - without the shirt and his home and family.

asked us to charge their battery banks and mobile phone. Cesio, one of the men, could speak some English. This is also a common practise to be asked to charge mobile phones, etc., especially in the more remote and isolated islands and anchorages. We were later invited to their home and had our photo taken with them. The men seem quite outspoken whereas the women seem quite shy and reserved.

We spent five nights anchored in Puerto Escoses and enjoyed the quiet seclusion of the anchorage as all we could hear were the birds or the howler monkeys early in the morning. During our time, a few other men came from another part of the inlet asking us to charge one of his power tools and we charged a boom box, another mobile phone and power back for Cesio and family.

A bit of history about Puerto Escoses – in 1698, William Patterson organized and financed an expedition to establish a settlement in the Bay of Puerto Escoses. William Patterson was the cofounder of the Bank of England. Fort Andrew was built by over 1000 Scots who ended up having an awful time with disease and starvation. After 2 years, the project came to an end. As they returned to Scotland, another expedition left Scotland and had another go to establish Fort Andrew. This was also a disaster, as out of the 3000 people involved, 2000 people died. In 1702, the project was scrapped for good. It is difficult to see and find any remnants of Fort Andrew. - Information from Eric Bauhaus’s book 3^rd edition pg. 278.

From Puerto Escoses, we motored to Suledup which was just under 6nmiles away. Unfortunately, in this part of the islands, due to the direction of the wind, motoring is the norm.

Entering the anchorage at Suledup needed us to keep an eye on the depth and coral heads but once we were passed the tricky parts, it was magical. Pure paradise. We were completely protected by either the hill or the reefs and mangroves around us. We were not alone as another boat from Turkey, Dalyan, the

Suledup anchorage.

skipper’s name is Meyrick, had arrived a few minutes before us. The water was suitable for swimming and for making water. Thank goodness!

The nearest town to the anchorage is called Caledonia. We dinghied over to the island, skirting around the mangroves and reefs. We eventually found somewhere to tie up the dinghy, and it felt good to be able to be on land and to stretch our legs. We knew we had to be respectful and not take photos of people only buildings. We also knew from NFL that we could organise a meal at Doña Amelia, so we arranged to have Sunday lunch. The view was spectacular and the meal consisted of deep-fried chicken and plantains. A very traditional meal in this part of the world.

While in Suledup, we had quite a few local people coming to the boat asking to trade mangoes or plantains for something. We also knew this would happen, so while in Santa Marta, we had bought quite a few small packets of rice and bottles of oil, plus some lady products and school essentials.

On Australia Day, we decided to move a little further north, to the anchorage at Isla Pino. Most of the journey was behind the island of Caledonia, weaving between some very shallow areas. We arrived in our new anchorage by teatime ready to enjoy some cup-cakes I had baked to celebrate Australia Day.    (Blue berry cupcakes – I added some cranberries, so they represented the Australian flag).

Isla Pino or Tupak as it is also referred to, means whale in Kuna as the island resembles a whale coming out of the sea.

This island had been used for centuries by pirates and sailors as a landmark. In 1571, Sir Francis Drake planned his attack on Nombre de Dios (Nombre de Dios was the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the continental Americas. Developed as a major port of call for the Spanish treasure fleet,^[2] Nombre de Dios was the most significant port for shipping in the Americas between 1540 and 1580. It was dominated by Spanish colonial traffic. –  information taken directly from Wikipedia).

The boat, Dalyan later joined us in Isla Pino, and we organised to meet at the main village dock the following morning, where Juan David would welcome us and show us around his community. Juan David introduced us to one of the three chiefs, who gave us permission to be shown around the village by Juan David. He explained various aspects of Guna life. Juan David is very passionate about his heritage and spreading this knowledge to others. His English was pretty good. He has a few students

who he is teaching them English as he wants to encourage tourism on the island and provide opportunities for the younger generation. However, like in many or most parts of the world, the use of mobile phones and the internet have eroded away some of the traditional ways of life, as the population in the village is dwindling as more people move to Panama City or Colon.

 Our current plan is to slowly move up north, along the island chain, weather dependent. For example, according to Predictwind, we are expecting strong winds at the start of next week (1^st week of February) and where we are is partly protected from these winds. Ustupu, the next anchorage we are planning on visiting, has good protection, so our current plan is to leave Isla Pino on either Friday or Saturday. We will be motoring – unfortunately due to the direction we are heading and the direction of the wind – both north. Passages is a heavy boat, and she sails better than she motors, so we know it’s going to be a long, slow journey up to - Ustupu

Until next time…..

Take care, keep well, and stay safe.

Best wishes, always

Mel and Caryn

The Village of Caledonia - where we had lunch.

The toilets - over the water.

Isla Pinos

The Congressa