We left Isla Isabella for San Blas at about 8 am. We had a great sail back to the mainland but were a bit apprehensive about the local Meany – Norm Goldie and getting into the estuary. We’d read his recent rants in Latitude 38, and readers’ responses and we’d spoken with other cruisers. Some said he wasn’t a bad guy, others said he is very controlling and just wants your money. We weren’t sure what we’d find. We’d downloaded a San Blas Cruisers’ Guide that had waypoints into the estuary.
Tom did a great job getting us over the sandbar, and then we ran aground after going to the left side of the green buoy outside the marina. It’s a sand bottom, so no harm done; we just backed her off and went to deeper water. There were only about 3 boats in the marina, one other boat in the anchorage. As the guide advised us, we found Pepe and got the hook up for landing our dinghy.
We spent four nights in San Blas – what a great little town. The only challenge was the 2:30 am “freeway” that passed on both sides of the boat. The fishermen would leave to go out at that hour and race by the boat without regard to the proximity or speed that they would pass by. We took the dinghy further up the estuary. It was nice; we saw lots of birds, but no crocodiles.
Mark located a “wisero” – a healer – named Beto for the body surfing injury to his shoulder. Beto had lived in Los Angeles for several years in the 1990s. He and Mark became fast friends. A highlight of our stay there was dinner at a local restaurant called El Hehenero (the name for no see-m bugs). What a great feast – we had smoked marlin (it was cooked to perfection and tasted like swordfish), fish ceviche, shrimp ceviche, tostadas and salsa and cold beer, of course!
We really enjoyed San Blas. The Mercado was great, the town wasn’t touristy and the prices were cheap. The bugs were not as bad a rumored to be so that was a relief.