Sailing the World - San Blas

 Behind schedule by three months (due to problems on terra firma not nautical) we hurriedly sailed 2,500 miles in six weeks to enable us to witness for ourselves why the San Blas is “a place to see”.  We are also preparing for the Panama Canal experience, traversing the magnificent Pacific Ocean and heading home to Australia.  We left Demopolis Alabama (which is approximately 200 miles north of New Orleans, up the TennTom River), then bumped and ground our way south towards the Grand Caymens where my Dad, Roy, patiently waited.  “I felt a bit like Robinson Crusoe” he says, “waiting for my ship”.  We prised him away from his luxurious hotel in exchange for a 33ft boat, disturbingly lacking in air con, maid service and fresh linen.  Noel and I kept quiet about what the trip across Caribbean Sea offers, as my Dad has only sailed in protected waters.  But Mother Nature took pity on us and presented a stalling low, enabling us to gain plenty of easting and rest for a night on Jamaica’s shores.  The prevailing south easterlies are constant and strong across the Caribbean Sea.  We took advantage of the gift of a suspended low, then rode on its back in a north easterly.  A bouncy but speedy ride delivered us safely into the sanctuary of the San Blas islands.