Hello from Kuna Yala

Sunday December 21st 2014

Interim update; Kuna Yala (San Blas Islands)

Today we're anchored off our own bit of paradise. The uninhabited island of Gannirguinnitup, San Blas. No that's not misspelled! We're here with another kid boat we've been traveling with since Colombia called 'Perry'. The kids spent the day exploring the beach while the dad's tried their luck on the reef for supper. Quite a few undersized lobster and conch, and one spider crab that managed to get away, so no fresh seafood for supper unfortunately, oh well.

Great sights the last few days. Anchorages to ourselves, and some interesting Kuna villages that will get more attention in MC's next blog update. Definitely eyeball navigation here though. The GPS charts have been out up to 1500' since we got here. Last nights anchorage had two (!) boats wrecked on the approaching reefs in the past three weeks.

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Meghan on Amelie (Written in December 2014)

Hello everyone or should I say: Hola amigos! since Amelie IV is no longer in English speaking countries or even in North America anymore! We are still in the Northern Hemisphere but have set foot in the two other Americas by now!

I have to say for my first South American adventure, it was pretty spectacular to have it in Cartagena! It was also pretty close to what I was expecting but a bit different in that it was better than I expected! First of all, there were skyscrapers, malls, movie theatres and highways! I have seen the odd mall or movie theatre in other islands but I have not seen a big highway or skyscrapers since we left Canada! It felt a bit weird sailing into the bay next to waterfront towers and stadiums instead of sandy white beaches or palm trees or little huts like all our other destinations. 

Although the modern city was a treat for us, the old city was the most fascinating part of Cartagena. Like Quebec city, the older part of Cartagena is surrounded by walls built a long, long time ago. We can actually today walk on the wall just like the Wall of China (but much smaller than the Wall of China). Here are some pictures of the walled city.

Also, one night in the city park, there happened to be some dancing show going on so we went and checked it out. The outfits were beautiful and one of the dresses reminded me of a Spanish castanet dancer’s dress. The men dancers were dressed in traditional Colombian clothes which is: all white. Most of the dances seemed African but it was obvious which ones were definitely South American. 

Christmas 2014 on board AmelieIV

Thursday December 24th 2014

Merry Christmas !

As we've got pretty spotty internet here in the San Blas Islands we haven't been able to do a full blog update or even Facebook updates for the past few days so we'll have to do this with just a few photos for now. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We're thinking of all our friends and family this holiday season, wherever you are, and wishing you all the best in the New Year.

Mark, Marie-Claude, Matthew and Meghan