Kuna Kids

Our time in the San Blas Islands of Panama was filled with stunning beauty.  The fish filled reefs, the native rainforest, and the palm fringed beaches were all spectacular (see our Sept. and Oct. postings for stories and pictures of this area).  And we found the native Kuna people to be just as beautiful as the landscape.  We loved connecting with the Kuna people, and developed some rewarding relationships with many of them.  And, the children we encountered were particularly delightful.  Kuna kids seemed to be, well, simply happy.  See for yourself in this slideshow of some of our favorite snapshots of Kuna Kids...

Nuedi!

Snorkeling Adventures

Explorers R Us

The cut, with current.

          The other day we went to explore a tiny island close by.  As we were driving around the island we noticed a narrow passageway and we realized it was actually two islands but they were very close together.  

It looked there was only one island but somebody cut them apart.  We went to go and check it out.   We stopped between the islands and decided to go snorkeling there.  We found a VERY fast current ran between the islands.  We saw a bunch of baby barracudas, coral, a big huge crab, and sponges, and lots of sea grass.  Then we decided to go some somewhere else to snorkel.  We saw a big sting ray and a bunch of of cormorants, frigates, seagulls, snowy egrets, and blue heron.  We had fun. 

Snorkel fun.

Just after seeing the Ray...

Wreck site from sea level.

Fish on the wreck.

                              
The next day we heard a roar of a dingy engine coming toward us and noticed it was our friends from the anchorage.  They said that they were going to go snorkeling on a wreck close by.  
So we hopped in our dingy and followed them to the wreck.  We anchored and jumped in the water and snorkeled on the wreck.  it was really cool.  There was lots of coral and fish everywhere. 

Jamie launching from the dinghy.

Thumbs up.

  
I (Brady)  also found a small anchor on the bottom and after diving six feet down several times I managed to bring it up from the bottom and put it in the dingy.   By BRADY and JAMIE 

Brady's first salvage treasure.

Gearing Up

Our plans are beginning to gel.  We've set a departure time-frame (December 2012), and are busy with details like figuring out home-schooling options, plans for boat projects, trip-planning, etc. etc.  My hope is to begin blogging more often about our preparations, and as we get closer I hope to have to boys begin to contribute to this blog on a frequent basis as well.  I expect that journaling and blogging will play a big role in the boys' schooling while we are "out there".  Stay tuned.

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