From the outside, the office looks like a nice looking bungalow. Inside it is unfinished. While the concrete frame is structurally sound, there is still a long way to go before the construction will be done. Electric cables have been run through the building, but things like light switches and plugs have not been put it. There is no ceiling yet. The back door was broken and so tattered that only a few beams of wood were left on it. It didn’t look like there was any lighting installed yet, but there was plenty of natural light.

The three officials were all housed in the same little building, which made finding them easy. All were dressed in casual western wear and are pleasant people. We asked the immigration officer where the airport was and he told us that the airport is “broken right now”. Needless to say, with no electricity, there were no computers and all paperwork was done by hand. The paperwork process was slow, particularly with the port authority officer who issued our cruising permit. The check in fees were $96.00, and there are some check out fees, so Panama is one of the more expensive countries we have visited in terms of administrative costs. It took a full hour for the three stops. We didn’t mind. We were happy to be on solid land. We’d say the port authority officer has a nice view from his office.

Several sets of boaters arrived after us, and got in line behind us. We can’t imagine how long it will take the people in line to get through. The German guys were first in line behind us and we started talking to them. It turns out that they also came from Bonaire, leaving the same day we did. Then one of them put two and two together and said “you’re the pirates!” It turns out these were the guys we were running parallel with last night. They had the opposite reaction to us as we did to them. When they first saw us, they thought we were fishermen and disregarded us. But when they realized we had been running parallel for over several hours, they got more and more worried that we were pirates looking for a good spot to attack. They shut off their lights and changed coarse to get away from us. They said we were very nice pirates.

After we were done, we walked around the island. The west end is a narrow point barely as wide as the building on it. Where the government office is, just next to the building on the tip, it is wide enough for two buildings, and behind the office is the mola cooperative.

Beyond the mola cooperative, the island suddenly juts out at a sharp angle and becomes significantly wider, wide enough to squeeze an itty bitty airport. On the other side of the air strip are three low buildings. One is a hotel. And that is the whole entire island.

We were glad to see the mola cooperative. We wanted to get an idea of what prices and quality of work should be before we made any purchases. We have to say that we are really impressed with the artisanship of the Kuna women. The quilt square sizes range from a few inches to as big as three feet, and almost all of the designs are just beautiful. Most are animal depictions, though there are a handful of geometric designs around. In addition to just the squares, there is an assortment of goods made with molas that are obviously geared for the tourists. There were some shirts, hand bags in assorted sizes, pot holders, appliqués of just the animals versus the whole square, etc. They are surprisingly inexpensive considering they are handmade and the high quality of work. Eric bought a shirt with some turtles.

We headed back to Kosmos. The women that Eric had told to come back in an hour were hovering near the cockpit awaiting our return. And they had brought friends. Also hovering was a second boat of women selling baskets and maracas. They were quite aggressive and we had a hard time getting them to leave.

The anchorage here at Porvenir is not very good and is unsuitable to stay at, so we needed to move to a better anchorage. While we were in significantly better spirits than when we pulled in, we were still tired and grumpy. We were unhappy about having to get the dinghy up and down for such a short trip to shore and unhappy about moving again. While we were raising the dinghy up, the weirdest thing happened. We glanced up at the sun and noticed it was ringed by a rainbow. No joke. A full rainbow making a complete circle right around the outer edge of the sun. We have never seen anything like it before. We aren’t sure why it didn’t occur to us to grab the camera and get a photo. We blame it on lack of sleep. Anyway, once the dinghy was secured, Eric went to start the engine. This time it cranked over a couple times, but didn’t actually start. Sigh. The battery has just been charged, so it must be officially dead. He used the house batteries to start us up and we were on our way a few minutes later.

We went to back to the Holandes Cays anchorage, 16 miles east of Porvenir. We were riding with the waves this time, there was less wind, and the seas had smoothed out some from this morning, though it still wasn’t calm. The ride was good as long as we were in the lee of the little islands, but whenever we were out of shelter, it got a little rough. Since the islands are so low, you can’t see the distinct land formations, so as you look around, it appears to be endless water with a clump of trees sticking out here and there. There are quite a few small dugout canoes and small powerboats buzzing around. Christi could not stay awake and took a nap while we drove.

The anchorage area is in the middle of a ring of 6 little islands. It is reminiscent of the Tuomotus, with the low flat islands set in aquamarine water, white shorelines, and swaying palm trees. But the little motus that comprise the ring of each Tuomotu island are generally significantly closer to one another and they generally make a much, much bigger ring. The Tuomotus are absolutely beautiful, but we have to admit this is even more scenic. We are in a post card. It doesn’t even look real.

It is possibly the biggest anchorage we have ever seen, and even though there were dozens upon dozens of boats in there, there was still plenty of room for dozens upon dozens more. We puttered through the anchorage, carefully ducking and dodging the mini reefs that pop up out of nowhere and the shallow spots that dot the area. We noticed two areas where there was a big congregation of boats, each close in to an island. We decided to avoid them and dropped anchor in the center of the anchorage, near three catamarans.

When we shut off the engine, we couldn’t believe how quiet it was. The only sound at all was the surf crashing into the reef in the distance. Ahhhh. We can see the waves violently crashing into the reef on the far side of a couple of the islands, and it is a marvel it can be calm here when it is incredibly volatile only a couple thousand yards away. The anchorage has no roll at all, but there is some bouncing from the small head waves that come in off the reef. Even though it wasn’t the flat calm we were hoping for, it still felt so good to be in an overall tranquil place. You can’t even begin to imagine how much we relished the relative stability.

Within a few minutes, a canoe approached us and told us it was a $5.00 anchorage fee. We got an official receipt, so it looks legitimate. The cruising guide had warned that someone will come to collect money at each and every anchorage.

To the best of our knowledge, the islands around us are uninhabited and there are no restaurants for our customary end of passage meal out. Christi wasn’t up for cooking, so we just had some frozen meals for a late lunch. Eric’s tummy is finally feeling better. Between the sick tummies and the rough seas, eating has been especially challenging this passage and we took great delight in being able to chow down to our heart’s content.

It had been gray and gloomy all day and it was getting late, so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening resting aboard. After the sun set, it was so dark it was eerie. The heavy cloud cover blocked all light from the stars and moon. The islands are deserted. The only lights around us were the anchor lights of the other boats in the anchorage. Much to Christi’s absolute amazement, Eric managed to stay up until 1930. He has gotten little sleep over the last 5 days, and no sleep at all since we neared the channel in the wee hours of the morning. She had expected him to pass out the minute he was done eating.