Sailing Into Freedom

Just wait to you see the drone footage of the Hollandaise Cays, it is breathtaking, quite simply a jewel in the sea. Margarida takes a run on a huge sandbank and looks for shells and finds them in their 1000s although not quite what she was looking for. She also does her bit in reducing the local population of lion fish and enjoying it as smoked fish. It is delicious.

We borrow a sailing dinghy and I try to teach Margarida the finer points in sailing but I fail miserably and we have a fight. Dont worry we make up and discuss it openly for all to see. Ah couples ought not to try and teach each other sailing…oh no, kitesurfing is next in the future for Margarida. Should cause some dramas too.

Margarida greets the day by swimming to the nearby island.
I find a stick (yeah I know I am talented) and make a wakeboarding handle and we teach Margarida how to wakeboard. We are on the way to getting her skill level up to tackle kiteboarding.
We enjoy deep fried snapper over the bbq which although filling up our arteries saves my life from a falling coconut.
A happy girl on board means she must have happy hair so we go through Margarida’s routine and I take on being her slave for the hair and grooming process. Living on a boat has its sacrifices but who wouldn’t want a lifesize doll to wash and brush her hair well for a little while anyway.

We are told by an ancient Guna man of a bushwalk that follows a pipe that leads to a mystical magical lake where the Guna’s pipe their fresh water from. I get a first hand look at how Gunas do repairs on this pipe and I like what I see. Nothing but quality here too.
We visit a place called East Cocos Banderos and I visit the remains of a wreck and come face to face with a barracuda. On coming back we meet my second favourite bird, a booby bird, which doesn’t really seem to be scared at all of humans. And no I don’t like the bird because of its name.
A huge mass of sargasm comes to surround us so before it starts stinking we make our getaway and head to West Cocos Banderos and have a late afternoon BBQ of snapper.

Here’s a surprise, our dinghy blows a seem and captain bodge needs to come up with some dodgy rescue. We go to a local market to try and find some PVC glue and a water pump but we have no luck although I run in to a cousin of mine. Margarida takes a test drive of an underwater scooter and I can’t help but admire the water and bubbles.
I see to the water pump and get it going again by stripping parts from another broken pump and we take a look at Nargana, one of the main towns in Guna Yala where we can stock up on some fruit and veges.

Our water pump died so we find a well on one of the islands to wash up and clean ourselves.
The water has a bit of a taste to it but we dont care so I grab a 100 litres so we can live another week or so on the boat.
Margarida is spearing more fish and catches us all dinner as well as getting us some coconuts for a treat. We also rig up a slackline. We thought slacklining would be easy but we are a bit hopeless so we make it look hard.

 

Margarida is keen to learn to spear so I rig a gun for a her and give her a lesson. She ends up impressing me no end with her breath hold and her relaxed unhurried stalking on the bottom. End result, she spears her very first fish. We test out our new dodgy smoker to smoke the fish and surprisingly it works a treat. The day ends at sunset with Margarida taking a nudey bath at the back of the boat with a 3 meter crocodile swimming close by.

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