{"id":3223,"date":"2025-03-15T18:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T18:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2025-03-16T07:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T07:55:10","slug":"a-day-in-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/a-day-in-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/6766f4022dc5d9b993aeca62\/67d5c1b91807f0dc08ac1bb3\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3228\" src=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-scaled-600x450.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4637-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So far the record is seven years &#8211; I met a German who said had spent seven years in the San Blas and not left the islands even for a day. There are said to be 365 of them and the climate is perfect all the year round (you do get a few rain squalls in the summer but they soon pass).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mind you, that\u2019s not for me. I wouldn\u2019t want to stay in the same place\u2026 although I\u2019ve just realised I\u2019ve been at Bug Island for a week now. Originally, I had plans to move the anchor to a better spot now that there are only nine boats in an anchorage which will comfortably accommodate 50. But somehow I find I can\u2019t be bothered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not really called Bug Island. The Guna people of the region call it Banedup and there aren\u2019t really any bugs. The anchorage is \u201cThe Swimming Pool\u201d because, being surrounded on all sides by reefs and islands covered in palm trees, it is as calm as a swimming pool.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of the island\u2019s attraction is Ibin\u2019s Beach Bar and Restaurant, a collection of ramshackle huts &#8211; some on stilts in the shallows (some of the tables are in the shallows too, but not on stilts.) People come from all over the world to get married on the beach at sunset, party until dawn and then crash out in the camping hut. It\u2019s such an institution, it even has it\u2019s own entry on Google Maps:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Banedup\/@9.5831643,-78.6738236,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!2sBanedup!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd!3m5!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMxMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Banedup\/@9.5831643,-78.6738236,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!2sBanedup!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd!3m5<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Banedup\/@9.5831643,-78.6738236,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!2sBanedup!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd!3m5!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMxMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D\">!1s0x8e54f98970b98ed1:0xdfdee27232697c5!8m2!3d9.5831643!4d-78.6712487!16s%2Fg%2F11mvmzdhmd?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMxMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But after the revellers depart in the high-speed <em>lanchas<\/em> back to Porvenir (which is just big enough for a miniature airport) the sailors take over again. The other night 18 of us gathered for barbecued lobster.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, like the wedding guests, I wasn\u2019t up very early the next morning &#8211; but that\u2019s e beauty of life in the islands: I had plenty of things to do, just nothing that I abasolutely had to do. There are still three weeks before I fly back for the family skiing holiday (that\u2019s if Donald Trump doesn\u2019t invade Panama first.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, I needed to find out what was wrong with the battery for the electric dive system. This is a floating pump connected to a 10m hose and a diving regulator &#8211; a lot less bulky than SCUBA gear on a small boat. Yesterday, I spent the best part of an hour cleaning the weed and barnacles off the bottom before the battery expired. Now I just needed another ten minutes to finish up, but after four hours on charge, the LED status showed four red lights. Surely, that should be \u00a0four green lights. I started looking for the instructions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking for things on a boat really is one of the most useful activities. To begin with, I looked in the chart table. I keep the instructions in two plastic folders &#8211; one for mechanical devices, one for electrical. But now so much stuff is electrical &#8211; and the instructions are so much more extensive that they\u2019ve taken over the mechanical folder as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Besides, there were instructions in there for stuff I threw out years ago. Also, it seems that Arnold the Rat had paid a visit because a lot of it was in small pieces &#8211; and what was eggshell doing in the chart table?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyway, no instructions for the dive system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I did find some rubber wedges that really ought to be in Toolbox #5 under the foot of the starboard berth &#8211; and that in turn led to some elasticated Velco I\u2019d forgotten about which might do for immobilising the Aries when the Remigo outboard is on its bracket. I really should look for things more often. It\u2019s important to know where stuff is &#8211; who knows when I\u2019ll need to find the headsail luff feeder in a hurry?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also I found the sieve &#8211; a bit late, admittedly &#8211; I bought another in Puerto Lindo. But I never did find the instructions for the dive system. It was only after a whole afternoon of unexpected discoveries that it \u00a0dawned on me they might have instructions online.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s how I learned that four red lights means \u201cfully charged\u201d. They don\u2019t do green lights (where&#8217;s the logic in that?) So I went over the side again to finish up the bottom (although I have a sneaky suspicion the weed was re-attaching itself as soon as I looked the other way). Never mind, I sawed a bit off one side of the boarding ladder to make it level and then decided to reward myself with a beer at Ibin\u2019s &#8211; I could order fresh bread for breakfast tomorrow at the same time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beer turned into a beer and a Pi\u00f1a\u00a0Colada &#8211; although, as cocktails go it wasn\u2019t much to write home about on the family WhatsApp group. This meant I had to stop at the beach bar opposite the anchorage for a proper one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And now I\u2019ve woken up at three o\u2019clock in the morning finding that I never actually went to bed and the washing up&#8217;s still in the sink.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Never mind, tomorrow is another day in Paradise\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3225\" src=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712-300x196.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712-300x196.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712-600x391.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712-1024x668.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712-768x501.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4712.jpeg 1277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3226\" src=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-scaled-600x800.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4705-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3227\" src=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-scaled-600x800.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_4711-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in my books: <a href=\"https:\/\/oldmansailing.com\/books\">https:\/\/oldmansailing.com\/books<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So far the record is seven years &#8211; I met a German who said had spent seven years in the San Blas and not left the islands even for a day. There are said to be 365 of them and the climate is perfect all the year round (you do get a few rain squalls &#8230; <a title=\"A day in Paradise\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/a-day-in-paradise\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about A day in Paradise\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3235,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions\/3235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}