Since the first cruising yachts began arriving in the San Bias Islands of Panama, stories have appeared in various magazines and cruising books recounting the traditional lifestyle of the fiercely independent and proudly insular Kuna Indians. During a recent re – read of A Cloud of Islands, Bill Crealocks touchstone book about his visit to the San Bias in the early 1950s, I was fascinated by the romance of a tiny nation holding onto their traditions and ancient beliefs in the face of pressures from the Western World. At the end of 2010 I finally had a chance to cruise the area aboard our schooner, One World. What I found was quite different from what I had expected.

We made landfall in the western San Bias on Boxing Day after a roily eight – day passage from St. Thomas, arriving minutes before a strong cold front passage that left us with a week of blustery winds and rain. From my research I had learned that the native Kuna Indians do not refer to their island group as the San Bias, a name coined by the Spanish invaders, but rather by the name they have always used for their homeland: Kuna Yala. This homeland stretches from 50 miles east of Portobello all the way to the Colombian border. Hundreds of tiny islands dot the coastline, where untold numbers of charted and uncharted reefs abound just off a nearly impenetrable jungle on the mainland leading all the way to the central mountains. Numerous rivers meander into the virgin forests and only one road has yet to penetrate this area via a sketchy tortuous route toward modern Panamas developed mid – section.

Kuna historians speak of the three times they have fought against invaders that threatened their people and way of life. First were the cannibal tribes to the south, which were repeatedly defeated in the forests and mountains. Next came the Spanish, who despite 300 years of efforts were unable to subdue the fierce Kunas. Finally there were the Panamanians, who, while trying to exert their authority over the area in the 1920s, unleashed a rebellion that won Kuna Yala its independence from Panama while retaining Panamas sovereignty over the area as a whole. A strange truce was negotiated wherein the Kunas rule themselves but allow the Panamanian government to provide some services and to patrol their waters when necessary. This status quo has been good for the Kuna. Many villages have retained their cultural heritage in spite of the encroaching pressures of tourism via the few small airstrips and the occasional cruise ships that stop in the islands to the far west.

Kuna Yalas islands and people are beautiful. Somewhat remote, yet easily reachable by cruising yacht, their location near the entrance to the Panama Canal may become the largest threat to the survival of the Kuna culture in the 21st century. The biggest surprise for us on our recent cruise to Kuna Yala was the sheer number of yachts in the area.

There is an HF radio net every morning that is run in much the same way as many VHF nets in places like Georgetown, Bahamas, Southern Grenada or the Abacos. On a recent “role call,” well over 100 boats were counted in just a few of the more popular anchorages. Adding to this number the many yachts that dont check in or were in more remote islands, our estimate was that around 200 yachts were cruising in the San Bias area while we were there. The huge number of boats in a relatively small area has created a service culture for many of the Kunas, who regularly show up alongside offering traditional Molas and beaded jewelry, but also fish and lobsters and offers to fetch beer or groceries and to take garbage away. What we found, though, was that some of the Kunas, in an effort to supply the large demand for these services, are fishing the area out and so were offering baby lobsters that would be illegal to take anywhere else, very small fish and tiny conch. Worst of all, offers to take our garbage away were proven to mean that the bags would merely be thrown into the mangroves along the mainland shore, creating eyesores and an environmental hazard.

Cruisers seem to prefer giving business to the larger Kuna boats that now have outboard motors, eager to earn a quick buck. These Kunas appear to be giving the wish for profit precedence over any concerns for the environment or preservation of the Kuna culture. Cruisers are unwittingly encouraging the behavior by purchasing these dubious services and undersized catches. With the monies earned, many Kunas are giving up the traditional way of life of farming, hunting and fishing and instead buying outboard motors, TVs, video games, cell phones and other trappings of modern society.

On a walk through one of the northern villages, we found many older and middle – aged men and women dressed traditionally, but very few of the younger generation were following in their footsteps. It seems that the crews of some yachts are drastically affecting the very fabric of Kuna society in an adverse way by offering the temptations of easy money and treating the local Indians as a service force for their own hedonistic pleasures. A number of these cruisers have settled more or less permanently in the area and stay amongst themselves, not mixing with the locals except to use them as cheap labor to maintain their own insular lifestyle on the outer cays.

Although telling these truths about the San Bias may do little to affect the outcome of the continued erosion of the Kuna culture at the hand of tourism, perhaps with an increased awareness of this threat we visitors to the area can gently encourage the preservation of the traditional ways. We can express our abhorrence of the overfishing and unsound ecological practices, discourage the continued exploitation of the locals by cruising yachts, and thereby at least slow the rate of decline of this wonderful, centuries – old culture.