Guna Yala / San Blas Islands, Panama

“Guna Yala” is the indigenous name for the area the Spanish called “Golfo de San Blas,” an archipelago that borders the northern Panamanian mainland and the Caribbean Sea. This area has over 340 beautiful small islands, many sandy beaches, and significant stretches of underwater coral reefs. In the 1600s when the Guna people first encountered the Spanish, they were living on the mainland near what is now the Gulf of Urabá,Colombia. Conflicts with the Spanish pushed them northwest along the coast and through the jungle, and by the 1800s they had made their homes on islands near freshwater rivers that flow from what are now the mountains of northeast Panama.

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about Guna history

The Larabeck's route while visiting Guna Yala / the San Blas Islands

Our favorite little island
Waisaladup

These photos sum up how awesome Larabeck's anchor spot here was...

Video of Sichidrub Island

Underwater video from multiple locations in San Blas

Many modes of boat travel

Guna visited us in every anchorage and offered fresh lobster, crabs, conch, calamari, and fish for sale. Many travelled in hand-hewn dugout canoes called “cayuco” in Spanish and “ulu” in Guna. The Guna’s are experts at paddling these boats great distances, and when there is wind, they add a sail rig. One man tacked expertly up to our Larabeck to offer his fresh catch of the day. He had a small girl in the with him, whom we gave a cookie before the two of them sailed as smoothly away as they had come.
More Boats
Some Guna use outboard motors to power their dugouts or fiberglass boats, like the veggie boat from Rio Azucar (*1). We went ashore in our RIB or "Rigid Inflatable Boat" (*2). The couple on the motor sailor Blue Skies makes their home in San Blas (*3).

Meeting the Mola Makers

The Guna also brought out a variety of molas, their traditional multi-layered needlework textiles, and wini beads—strings of glass beads for legs and arms. It was a difficult to pick out our favorites from many colorful designs including tropical birds, sea creatures, and abstract patterns. Molas have become a bannerof Guna identity around the world, and we had fun meeting the artists who make them.

Trash

Plastictrash in the ocean is a problem around the world, including in Guna Yala. People buy goods in plastic containers, which are then thrown in the ocean with the expectation they will float away, never be seen again. However, it doesn’t just disappear. We saw many bottles, shoes, and other plastic items floating in open ocean areas. Eventually the trash washes on shore of an island beach as seen in these photos. Though we all dream of visiting uninhabited islands, “uninhabited” means no one picking up the trash to keep the island beautiful. The cleanest islands we saw were the ones that were inhabited or visited regularly by someone who picked up the trash! This experience gives a new appreciation for the work organizations like Ocean Conservancy do toward making our seas trash free.