The Pearl Islands and The Darien
Morning found us approaching the southernmost islands of the Pearl Island Archipelago. We were on our way to the Darien region of Panama but found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare, because we had made such good time overnight from Coiba. Right after breakfast and right on time, we spotted the tiny island of Galera, a point on the map but which turned out to be just what we were looking for at just the right time. A verdant green isle with an extensive white beach beckoned to us invitingly. In true Lindblad tradition, we decided to make a stop for a quick exploration of this tiny island we had never before visited. Apart from the beautiful beach, the island offered a wonderful coastland of tidepools with four-eyed blennies, sea hares and nerite shells, with brown boobies perched on overhangs dripping with fresh water sheltering delicate flowering plants. The rocks themselves showed tracings, lines in 3-D indicating where animals had left tracks millions of years earlier. Swimming and a bit of snorkeling was the perfect refreshing break under a hot sun before continuing onto the Gulf of San Miguel and the humid rainforest of the Darien.
By early afternoon, we were boarding our “Cayucos,” large dug-out canoes with outboards on the stern, and headed up the Mogue River to visit the people of the region known as the Embará. We crossed the large bay, splashed with sea water from the bow until we reached the smooth waters of the river itself. The generous and friendly people of Mogue village received us with clapping and song on the banks of the river which had narrowed to barely 30 feet across. Once in the village, we were honored by dances and shown incredible hospitality when invited into their homes, up on stilts, open on the sides, and open to our questions and eyes from another world so very different from theirs. As far removed as they are from the technical world as we know it, they are not so isolated as they once were, as the phone both in the village shows.
Intricate baskets woven over weeks of labor as well as carvings of cocobola wood (Dalbergia retusa) were shown and many purchased, an important source of income to these people living on the edge of the modern, supposedly more “civilized” world.
We returned home to the Sea Voyager at sunset, several degrees more aware of the other cultures sharing our true home of Mother Earth.
Morning found us approaching the southernmost islands of the Pearl Island Archipelago. We were on our way to the Darien region of Panama but found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare, because we had made such good time overnight from Coiba. Right after breakfast and right on time, we spotted the tiny island of Galera, a point on the map but which turned out to be just what we were looking for at just the right time. A verdant green isle with an extensive white beach beckoned to us invitingly. In true Lindblad tradition, we decided to make a stop for a quick exploration of this tiny island we had never before visited. Apart from the beautiful beach, the island offered a wonderful coastland of tidepools with four-eyed blennies, sea hares and nerite shells, with brown boobies perched on overhangs dripping with fresh water sheltering delicate flowering plants. The rocks themselves showed tracings, lines in 3-D indicating where animals had left tracks millions of years earlier. Swimming and a bit of snorkeling was the perfect refreshing break under a hot sun before continuing onto the Gulf of San Miguel and the humid rainforest of the Darien.
By early afternoon, we were boarding our “Cayucos,” large dug-out canoes with outboards on the stern, and headed up the Mogue River to visit the people of the region known as the Embará. We crossed the large bay, splashed with sea water from the bow until we reached the smooth waters of the river itself. The generous and friendly people of Mogue village received us with clapping and song on the banks of the river which had narrowed to barely 30 feet across. Once in the village, we were honored by dances and shown incredible hospitality when invited into their homes, up on stilts, open on the sides, and open to our questions and eyes from another world so very different from theirs. As far removed as they are from the technical world as we know it, they are not so isolated as they once were, as the phone both in the village shows.
Intricate baskets woven over weeks of labor as well as carvings of cocobola wood (Dalbergia retusa) were shown and many purchased, an important source of income to these people living on the edge of the modern, supposedly more “civilized” world.
We returned home to the Sea Voyager at sunset, several degrees more aware of the other cultures sharing our true home of Mother Earth.
