Panama, San Blas Islands, Holandes Cays, Eastern Holandes – You know it is time to move on when:

Isn’t if funny how the smallest things can ruin your enjoyment of an anchorage.

We love this anchorage in the Eastern Holandes so much it takes a lot to make us move on.

We have put up with neighbours that like to skinny dip, charter boats with 15+ guests paddling by.  Also, straddled between two of the busiest anchorages in the Holandes, just a little bit of passing traffic.

None of this has ‘put us off’. We love having our own deserted island ‘usually’ to ourselves and a choice of reefs to snorkel and lovely views of sun rises and sun sets.

BUT you know it is time to leave an anchorage when…..

1) Your boat has become mistaken for a natural reef.

It is true! Anchor in a spot long enough and passing shoals of fish will use the hull of the boat as shade and protection. It does not take long before you have a whole thriving colony living around your boat. At first it is entertaining. ‘Oh look at all the shoals of teaming tiny fish around the boat. Aren’t they pretty?’ But remember your food chains from high school science? Little fish attract bigger fish to feed on them.   Jacks and Cira came to chase our little shoaling fish around.

They were particularly acrobatic in the mornings and evenings. Dinners became punctuated with loud splashes all around the boat that continued into the wee hours. Finally all this ‘hub bub’ attracted the big guys. Tarpin started schooling around the boat at night. Fishing rods came out of the water as these are the last thing anyone wants to catch. Still nothing that would make us move on YET.

2) But then you get some big time predators moving into the neighbourhood.

There are a few top predators in the San Blas Islands that take advantage of cruisers that stick to one anchorage for too long. These intelligent beasts have survived through the ice ages on their wits alone. They follow our routines and assess if there is any feeding advantages for them in our behavour. They are ‘ambush’ killers and one of their favorite snacks is domestic live stock and pets. Welcome to the salt water crocodiles of the San Blas Islands.

Happy to live in seclusion feeding on fish most of the time the sound of a barking dog is a tempting offer not easily ignored. These creatures are not restricted to any one island. They are great swimmers and will use this to their advantage to move from one feeding ground to the next. We watched in horror as a big one swam right by the back of the boat ‘checking out the menu’.

He continued swimming to the next island and we thought we had seen the last of him. But no. I will let Steve give you the full details in his VISITORS VIEW. But it appears this was just a rouge to give us the confidence to keep visiting our little deserted island and for him to organize his ambush.

You would think that would be enough to make anyone move, but not us. We were surrounded by a multitude of islands I could go walking on. As long as we did not follow a set routine and kept a look out, it was unlikely that the crocodile would sneak up on us again.

But it is the ‘little things’ that finally break you down.

3) When the ‘migges’ come a calling.

Migges, noseams and sand flies are just a few of the names given to these tiny, almost unseen flies that swarm and bite you on these islands. Like a mosquito, they usually come out and feed around dusk and are ‘put off’ by the wind. You are usually safe on open beaches well away from the bush.   You can go to the same beach a hundred times and it is lovely. But then, just the right conditions appear and, the place is swarming in migges. It is like a mass hatching or something. I, and some humans, are not bothered by their pesky bites. Unfortunately Steve is not one of us.

Time to change anchorages!

VISITORS VIEW

So you enjoy swimming in clear open water between these small tropical islands, and why not? The water is cooling, it keeps you reasonably fit and you get to stretch those ‘sea legs’ on land.

The sighting of the crocodile swimming past but away did not particularly bother me. I headed off much later in the day and swam a deep channel between the islands for about 30 minutes or so and then headed ashore. All good so far; the half weary eye for the croc across did not pick up anything too troubling. Not long after arriving it became clear that it was not the big stuff that was going to cause me the problems but the small stuff – the midges were swarming and enjoying the ‘fresh meat’. Barely able to see these small pests I was having no trouble feeling them as they settled into their freshly delivered ‘take away’. Not a time to hang about so I headed back intro the water but was a tad concerned by what I initially thought may be a couple of floating coconuts in the channel I would be taking to avoid getting cut up on the coral. I thought discretion may be the better part of valour and waited in the shallows as Cain kayaked over with Quinn. Cain arrived and his sharper eyes convinced him that this was a lurking crocodile – I was still not sure until the ‘coconuts’ started to track and follow the dog along the beach at a consistent 20′ out to sea. I was pretty sure, however, when a sudden surge meant the crocs tail came fully out of the water, raising its body up so that you could get a clear view of its 7′ length. And it was clearly tracking the dog; all very well as we could normally wait it out apart from the fact that I was getting eating alive and sitting in the shallows to use the water to keep the bugs off put you in striking range of the croc. It was like a tag team working on an opponent at a wrestling match. After waiting (or rather being sampled as part of the bug menu) for the best part of 45 minutes with the croc tracking our moves along the beach it became clear he would be able to outwait me – he clearly was comfortable out there and I was full of nip marks. So we got the dog aboard the kayak and tried to place him as best we could to ensure that a tip from the croc would not render him as the crocs snack, the midges having been sated by me as the first part of this native species buffet. As we paddled wide of the croc he again changed track and began to follow about 15′ behind the kayak. No worries if he stayed there – slightly more troubling when he chose to submerge and go out of view. It made for an increased tempo of paddling to get back to the boat pronto. Still the ultimate score was, thankfully, midges loads and the croc zero; though I am sure that at as much as we saviour delicacies such as corn fed chicken or sea grass lamb a chunk of free range, European, beer fed human may have slipped down rather nicely!

And finally, for all you folks who are getting peeved with pictures from paradise, remember everything has a price and here’s one to prove the point!