Cruising Bocas with Babilé

March 11, 2016 kate brand

Last week we arrived in Panama, after 7 days sailing down from Guatemala. We dropped anchor in front of Isla Colón which is part of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, off the Caribbean coast of Panama.

To our absolute delight, the same day we arrived, our favourite cruising friends Natali and João, of S/Y Babile, appeared in our anchorage - reunited after almost 2 years!! We spent a few days anchored there, resting and exploring the island, enjoying the restaurants and bars of the little surf town.

As usual, we started getting itchy feet quite quickly and decided to head off to the surrounding, more remote, islands with Babile and another French boat, S/Y Spip. We did a day sail to the Zapatilla Islands and from there to Bluefield Lagoon where we did an overland trail to the beautiful beaches of Kusapin, a well known surf spot, in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé Indian Reserve.

We filled our days with spearfishing, beach barbecues, swimming, walking in the tropical forests, surfing and enjoying time with our friends over good food and local beer.

Next stop is the mainland city of Colón where we will await our turn to go through the Panama canal!

seeing our favourite Brazilian and Portuguese friends, Natali and João of S/Y Babilé, for the first time after 2 years!

anchorage in front of Bocas Town, Isla Colón

one of the waterfront restaurants in Bocas towm

interesting characters at the Kraken restaurant

there are lots of places to stay in Isla Colón

on our way to the dinghy dock at Hotel Olas, after provisioning for our trip out to the other islands

Portugal, Brazil, South Africa and France brought together by a beach barbecue in Panama

our makeshift "table" courtesy of Babilé

Natali's delicious octopus salad, caught the previous day

barbecues and good food always bring people together

Welcome Party

August 2, 2014 kate brand

the last time we were in Trinidad we had an exceptionally bad experience. I won't go into details but when we finally were able to leave we swore we would never NEVER go back.

never say never... because here we are again, 17 months later. thankfully this visit has been much better and it is mostly because of the friendly Power Boats team (the yard we are currently working in, on Melody) and most especially the great friends we have made with our fellow yachties.

we did a 16hr overnight passage from Grenada to Trinidad and as the sun rose we got our first glimpse of the island. to start the day off on the best note possible we also had a welcoming party, a large pod of dolphins, that escorted us into Scotland Bay, just before our final destination of Chaguaramas.

these guys were huge, some of the biggest and oldest I've seen, and very playful. they stayed with us for almost an hour and when I eventually dared to leave the bow seat and get my camera, that's when they really started having fun - spraying me almost every time I tried to take a picture. they jumped up to touch my outstretched feet and a few acrobatic performances for us off the starboard beam. it was a good start.

Grand Anse

July 26, 2014 kate brand

Grand Anse is one of the best beaches we've visited in Grenada. we came upon it quite by accident while unintentionally walking half way across the island.

we were supposed to go grocery shopping at the 'big mall' and then join friends for dinner in Port Louis. we ended up walking most of the way from Prickly Bay, except for a 3min taxi ride, which we probably could have walked faster for the million times it stopped for passengers.

it was one of those "I wonder where that road leads to" or "I wonder what's around that next bend" and "it can't be THAT far to the next taxi stop?". well it can be THAT far to the next taxi stop and after a long sweaty day of walking our friends thankfully still allowed our smelly bodies onto their boat for, quite possibly, the best burgers we have had so far. ever. in our lives. (more on these awesome weirdos later - our friends, not the burgers).

Dragon Bay

July 25, 2014 kate brand

it's been a while... my sincerest apologies. we've been in Trinidad, on the hard for well over a month and trust me, there is nothing more uninspiring than living in a hot dusty boatyard where the water is so siff there's more oil and plastic than sealife and the mosquitos literally eat you alive 24/7.

having said that, we can sit and complain or we can make it nice for ourselves and we have decided to do the latter - it's all about your mindset! we've met some great new friends and we've been seriously productive boat wise - new additions, upgrades and repairs. we are feeling proud :)

before I start posting on Trinidad though, I want to cover our Grenada experience, which has been the best so far. the community is great and there is so much to do. the islanders are the friendliest we've met and there are many beautiful bays to visit.

our first overnight stay was in Dragon Bay, and where Rufus decided to whip out his fishing gear. Contrary to what he name promises, there were no dragons (sorry Game of Thrones fans) but there was an abundance of fish. although he didn't manage to catch one large enough to braai for dinner, he did have a LOT of bites on his chicken baited hook. the greedy little guys were just that, little, and so all of them were returned (very much alive and flapping) to their watery home.

even though we weren't successful on the food front we did discover that fish are very keen on fresh chicken and that served us well later on ;)

contemplating deep things like 'should we braai or make ceviche'

Ruf wins the 'best smile' contest as far as I'm concerned

Tobago Cays

June 22, 2014 kate brand

Tobago Cays is a small group of islands in the Grenadines, famous for its (mostly) untouched beauty and my favourite: turtles and manta rays! It is a protected marine park so there are no human residents. The cays are surrounded by beautiful reefs and the islands themselves are home to large tortoises and iguanas.

We stayed one night and swam with the turtles as soon as we arrived. It's a special experience and I wouldn't have thought it but those little guys have quite a lot of personality. Some of them are very relaxed and not phased by us weirdo looking humans, all googled and finned up. Others are more grumpy and don't like to be disturbed while they're having dinner (most of them were eating while we were there). The rest are kind of playful and you can swim with them as they cruise around their little bay.

Unfortunately the bay was quite rolley and it wasn't comfortable to stay very long. We anchored in a protected channel for the night and were greeted by a family of manta rays, around the stern of the boat, as we prepared to motor on to Union Island the next morning. I've seen larger rays before, off Grand Cayman island, but never babies like the ones in this group. Too cute for words. Unfortunately I left the camera below so no shots of the rays. Next time!

the water really is this colour and this clear

the locals are always ready to "help" and accept a cash "thank you" after

the Marine Park has strict rules about not getting too close to the turtles, even when they came towards us we moved away to maintain the right distance. can't say the same for the other disrespectful tourists.

every couple needs and under water selfie ;)

unfortunately the focus of this dive was cut out of the shot (we dont have a screen on our go pro yet) but I was pointing a giant bright red starfish, the biggest we've ever seen.

view no 1, from our anchorage for the night