Well, it has been an interesting week.
We had some friends visit for a few days. Jean (France) and Ivonne 
(Germany). Jean is a sailor in Europe and I finally got to sit down and talk to someone about the reality of sailing the Med.
I’d love to visit Europe but I always hear the same two stories. “It’s expensive, cold, and you need to spend money on marinas & moorings”.
First of all, I hate being in a marina even if I could afford it and I don’t trust moorings. Secondly, people I usually talk to don’t understand that what’s “expensive” for others (themselves) isn’t expensive for us. We don’t buy packaged foods at the market, we buy staple items. We don’t eat out, go to bars, rent cars, or do expensive tourist things. Expensive to me is “how much does it cost me to enter the country, how long can I stay, and are there protected free anchorages?” If we can manage that, I can pull it off given I’m not hassled by police all the time like Florida.
As long as I can find a free place to anchor and leave the dinghy safely ashore we’re in business. Having the right to fish is a big bonus.
If we do decide to cross the Atlantic for the Med, I’m thinking it might be doable? I would need to buy liability insurance which would probably cost $500 for the year.
I believe checking into the EU is free and I think we would get 6 months to visit. If we crossed in May I’m sure we would spend a fair amount of time in the Azores (Portugal), before visiting Spain. Jean pointed out a bunch of free anchorages where we could stay and get ashore. After possibly dabbling around France I’m guessing it would be time to check out of the EU and find some warmer cruising grounds for the winter. Well Tunisia may be the key to the puzzle.
Tunisia is in Northern Africa (South-central Med) and sounds pretty sailor friendly? I hear it’s a bit too hot in the summer months but hopefully we would sail to the Eastern-Med in the spring and spend the following winter in Turkey after exploring the North-Eastern Med (Italy/Greece).
This plan however is contingent on a few key variables:
1, I don’t believe or like making plans.
2, It’s just as likely that we transit he canal for the Pacific.
3, I/we may never want to leave San Blas again, it’s just so perfect here.
4, I want to finish my projects on Splendid.
Hummmm, best not to make plans!
So, back to the San Blas and our explorations here.
Although I’m almost finished with the watermaker project, I’m still waiting on a few parts. We ran out of water the other day and had to sail to the mainland looking for water.
We came upon a funny little island (Soledad Miria) that was crowded with 200 huts and 1000 Kuna. It had a dock and a spigot with fresh potable water. This was the first time Splendid has visited a dock in over 3 years. 
You can see Splendid’s “current position” page and check out satellite photos, it’s under the members tab at the top of your screen.
Every square inch of the island was used for something and walking around was more akin to traversing a maze than going for a stroll. However it was surprisingly serene, pleasant, and filled with smiling faces. The men take particular pride in their sailing skills.
After about an hour of filling jugs the chief of the island came to meet us. Carla showed him many pictures of Argentina and the snowy mountains, he was very interested in the snow. I also gave him a
Panama guide, and an old pair of sunglasses. The Panama guide had all the charts of San Blas. Kuna don’t know/use charts so he was quite happy to have it. He invited us to a Kuna party that night to see some traditional Kuna dancing but by the time we showed up at 8 pm, the party was over, BUMMER!
We spent the night in a very rolly anchorage and I was happy to raise anchor with first light.
My plan was to sail back to the eastern lemons but the wind was 20+ on the nose and I just wasn’t up for beating into it doing 1.5 knots so we sailed east looking for a protected anchorage.
We are anchored behind Salardup island. The ground isn’t so good for 
the anchor but I have an anchor-alarm on and plenty of sea room behind me so I feel pretty comfortable sleeping.
Carla and I are looking for a symbol for Splendid. Something that will convey her Chinese history that we like. Carla is pretty good with a marker and paper and came up with this, based on an old stencil she had seen once.
Cheoy Lee built a dragon model after the Midshipman but and I’ve always wanted my own dragon for the forward hull. I think it’s pretty cool but Carla is drawing other dragon designs.
We met some nice people that had para-gliders and para-motors. How damn cool would it be to have one of these on the boat to explore by air? Anyway they gave us some amazing pictures of the San Blas by air and I wanted to share them. This place is just so damn beautiful!!!!
Anyway, $150.00 a night buys you a bunk on Splendid including food & 
wine. If you want a dose of paradise our plan is to charter as much as possible over the next few months. We have 2 more confirmed in the next two months but would like a few more. I’m planning a major haul-out around July and will be changing all the threw-hulls to Marelon and painting the bottom. Does anyone have experience with copper coat?
Peace from Paradise.
– alex