Last summer, a story went through the world press: «Klimawandel: Bewohner verlassen Insel in Panama», was the headline on ARD and «Gardi Sugdub: The Americas’ disappearing island» was the headline on the BBC. A sinking island is forcing its inhabitants to look for a new home on land. The island is called Gardi Sugdub and is located in San Blas, the autonomous territory of the Gunas, in Panama. An island paradise of more than 350 islands. Is Gardi Sugdub, the crab island, now deserted? Perhaps it has already sunk, we ask ourselves and set course for the island.
Continue reading →People & Country
Guna Yala
San Blas – The Mystical Paradise of the Guna
From Providencia, we’re cruising 270 nautical miles to San Blas, Panama. The archipelago consists of over 350 islands and islets and is governed by the indigenous Guna people, who call it Guna Yala. We clear into Panama on the main island, El Porvenir, and pay our contribution to the autonomous Guna authority. Porvenir is tiny, with little more than an airstrip and a few houses. While clearing in, one officer is mowing the grass while the other stamps our passports. Here, everyone does a bit of everything.
Continue reading →Charming cocaine island
On the nautical chart, you’ll only see Providencia if you zoom in very closely; that’s how tiny and charming the cocaine island is. Although Providencia belongs to Colombia, it’s much closer to Nicaragua. Here, traditions are upheld, and mass tourism is nonexistent. In 2020, a hurricane nearly devastated the island’s infrastructure, yet the islanders didn’t complain; instead, they considered the hurricane a blessing.
Continue reading →Mystery Mexico
After more than three days of crossing, exhausted and satisfied, we drop anchor in the bay on the northwest side of Isla Mujeres. The anchorage is calm with a light breeze. Here we want to clear in to continue sailing south in Mexico later. We go ashore and first of all have dinner in a marina. The island is a tourist hell, but after Cuba Mexico seems to us like a gourmet temple: guacamole and tacos, fresh fruit juices and juicy meat.
Continue reading →Cuba’s wild south coast
As we approach Cuba on an early morning in May, after three days and three nights on the open sea, we immediately realize that everything is different here. In the bay off Santiago de Cuba, on the eastern edge of the big island, men drift across the water on truck tubes, a paddle in one hand and a fishing line in the other. The sailing itself should also be somewhat unusual here in Cuba.
Continue reading →Paradise found and lost
Our journey from Antigua via Barbuda to St. Maarten.
On the morning of January 21, we leave Montserrat and set course for the neighboring island of Antigua. The distance to Jolly Harbor would be 22 nautical miles by direct route, but we have to tack upwind and that takes time. The waves are high and the ride is rough. We have one reef in the mainsail and initially one in the genua. Mabul rides the waves up and down so that the seawater flows over the bow and deck into the cockpit and from there back into the sea.
Continue reading →Montserrat’s disasters
A small, at first glance inconspicuous, island in the Caribbean away from charter tourism catches our attention: Montserrat. Two natural disasters have struck the island in the past 30 years, and now almost two-thirds of the entire island is off-limits.
Continue reading →Guadeloupe: Rhum and carnival
«Ten, nine, eight…..one! Happy New Year! Welcome 2023!»
A new year, a new life, a new island. We celebrate the turn of the year on SV Take 5 of Suzi and Emmanuel, together with our Dutch-Indian friends.
Dominica: Nature paradise
Finally, the real Caribbean again! That’s my first thought as we drop anchor in Prince Rupert Bay in the northwest of Dominica. We are immediately greeted by local fishermen offering buoys, fish, vegetables and everything else.
Continue reading →Martinique: Bonjour la France!
Martinique surprises us. Not because the island offers special nature experiences or a particularly interesting history, but because it is a kind of mini-Southern France in the Caribbean. Already on the first evening, after we wearily anchored in Sainte Anne on November 25 and cleaned up the boat, we make a short shore leave. Behind the dinghy dock of Sainte Anne is a small park, behind it a church, in between a post office, a few restaurants and a Carrefour Express.
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