Guna Yala – Island Tour

Well sleeping in an over water cabin was about as amazing as I thought it would be (yes you should read that with a sarcastic tone). Although it did feel like I was back at girl scout camp, it was mostly hot and humid. The mosquito net somehow doesn’t allow for good air flow. It took forever for me fall asleep and then it was one of those nights of sleep where you feel like you never actually sleep (but I must have because I didn’t feel too terrible today). At 2:00 I got up to use the bathroom and then walked out on the back deck to find a nice cool breeze. There was a hammock on the deck, but not in good condition. Too bad. I would have chose to sleep out there. When I crawled back in bed I undid the mosquito net since there didn’t seem to be any bugs anyway. I think it helped a little. I woke up and could tell it was starting to get light out. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 6:10. I got up and sat on the deck. The sun was rising behind the cabin so unfortunately I couldn’t watch it from the deck. Although there was a shower in the bathroom none of us used it. It seemed pointless. Breakfast was served at 7:00 and consisted of scrambled eggs, an American cheese slice, and a bread that was almost like a donut consistency. Laurie made a breakfast sandwich out of hers, but I just ate mine deconstructed. I really liked the bread. I must have been pretty hungry because I dug right in and forgot to take a picture of it. They also only served coffee or tea to drink. Good think I’ve been working on trying to like tea. I had cinnamon tea and actually kind of liked it and drank 3 cups.

We had to be out of our cabin by 8:00 so they could clean it before the next group of people arrived. We hung out where we ate our meals. The water was super clear and we could see a bunch of fish swimming about. It was after 9:30 before our boat arrived to take us on the rest of our excursion.

The first stop of the day was to Nugnudub Island where we had two hours to swim in the water and relax. The island is super small and I was able to walk around the entire island in about 7 minutes. The water was great and without any fear of another jellyfish attack I got right in. The island was filled with palm trees and we had no problem finding one to sit in the shade under. It was nice to lay down and nap a little, until some really loud and obnoxious Americans disrupted our peace. This island was much more what I expected versus the island we had stayed on.

The second stop was to a natural swimming pool, which is just a really sandy, shallow area with a tiny island. I walked out to the island and snapped some pictures. It was a nice little workout walking against the current to the island. Near the boat there was a lone starfish in the water as well. This was a short stop of 20 minutes before we headed to the next island.

The last island for the excursion was Isla Perro Chico (the Guna Yala archipelago has 365 islands in total). On this island we had lunch (not included with the tour price . . .we had to pay an additional $10/person but it was worth it). We each chose fried chicken with french fries. Again I failed to take a picture but it was pretty good and hit the spot. After lunch Pete, Laurie, and I shared my mask and snorkel to check out the sunken ship that is just right off the shore. We saw plenty of fish and pretty coral on the ship. I think I read somewhere that the ship was sunk on purpose to build a place for coral, reef and fish. I’m not 100% sure if that’s true. Again the water was super nice and when we were done snorkeling we waded in the water.

At 3:00 we waited for our boat to pick us up and take us back to the mainland. Like every stop of the day they were late but everywhere around these islands are on their own time. We got back to the mainland and found that we had a new driver to take us back to our AirBnB along with one other couple that had stayed on the island with us. We got on the road at 4:00 and I found it super easy to close my eyes during the trip back. We got back about 6:30 and each one of us couldn’t wait to get in the shower. It felt great to get the salt, sunscreen, bug spray, and sweat off.

Overall I’m glad we did this excursion. Had we not made it Guna Yala I would have always felt like we missed something. The islands we visited today were very nice and the overnight experience was certainly memorable.

Stats of the Day

Steps: Have no idea. My watch died and I never put it on today.
How Long I Contemplated Getting Back In The Ocean After Yesterday’s Jellyfish Incident: 2 seconds
Number of Days Left Before We Travel Home: 1