San Blas Sailing Adventure

There are only two ways to get from Colombia to Panama
1. Fly to Panama city… short and sweet, or
2. Sail the two day Carribean crossing to the Islands of San Blas, then spend 3 days cruising and exploring the islands before heading inland back to Panama City.

Obviously we opted for the boring flight! Ha ha, Just kidding (otherwise the name of the blog post would be a little misleading).

We set sail from Cartagena at around 8pm, and we would sail for 2 full nights and one full day in order to get to the islands, however much to the delight of Larly the sea’s were absolutely flat with little to no wind to be found. Meaning that we motored almost all the way even though we had our sails up, we wouldn’t be going fast enough to get to the islands on time otherwise. This in turn meant a very nice and gentle sailing experience for all – Calm sea’s, Tick!

We’d never really been sailing out in the open sea’s where there is no sign of land for such a long time, a fairly surreal feeling makes you realise how big this worlds ocean’s are and just how much water there is (Which we are constantly polluting, but that’s another story!) The best part of the day sailing, was the colour of the “Big Blue” water that at most parts are between 3km – 4km deep… Immense!

Before you pick the sail boat which you will be taking, everybody advises heavily that you do as much research about the boat and captain as you possibly can. Each boat is run as an independent charter and depending on the captain and boat it can really make or break you trip!

Luckily we managed to get onto the “Trade Wins” boat with an awesome captian (Humberto) and his lovely sailor (Sarah) who were nothing short of amazing. Humberto had been sailing the Pacific crossing for over 25 years and his intense keenness for good quality snorkelling was a winning combo, and I can highly recommend sailing with Humberto in the future (for all those doing their research!)

As well as an awesome captain and co-pilot (sailor), we had a really enjoyable group of people on board, including an Agentinian couple who had just gotten engaged a few days before (ahhh), a Brazilian who had decided to drive from Sao Paolo to Alaska and back again, and an English artist who was probably one of the most interesting people I’ve met in a long while. We were always going to have a great time 🙂

The food which we were served up each day was really awesome and included Mahi Mahi (caught fresh off the boat :-), a crayfish dinner on one of the islands where I officially ate more crayfish than I have ever eaten before… 2x large Crays in one sitting! On a side note, we’ve been lucky enough to eat loads of crayfish while being away, to the point last week while in Bocas that I ordered rice with chicken, but they didn’t have any chicken so they gave me crayfish instead for the same price – So awesome!

We got to the islands on schedule and I was utterly astounded at how picture perfectly beautiful the islands and the turquoise waters were. There are 365 Islands in the San Blas (365 days in a year- coincidence, I think not!!) and each of them are literally like they’ve been taken straight from postcards. White sandy beaches lined with palm trees which hung over the edge of turquoise waters that were so full of aquatic life I’d never been surrounded by so many fish at one time. Amazing!

During our numerous snorkel sessions over the first day on the islands, we had seen sting rays; sand rays; spotted rays, moray eel, sharks, schools of red snapper, barracuda’s, tiger fish, Starfish and about a thousand other coral fish species all at the same time!! I think all up we managed to get 7 good (1-2 hour) long snorkels over the 3 days. Perfect reef snorkelling – Tick!

A definite highlight for me was making bioluminescence angels one night when we jumped off the boat in pitch blackness and lighting up all the algae in the warm water, something I have always wanted to do. Such a great experience, that unfortunately wasn’t able to be captured on camera, but sometimes that’s what makes it so special. Swimming in Bioluminescence at night – Tick!

We’ve been traveling during the off season which also happens to be the rainy season, great as everything is fairly cheap and not crowded at all. However it does mean that there will no doubt be rain at some stage during most days which hasn’t really been as issue thus far. We woke up on the 4th day to very stormy skies which followed through into a full blown tropical storm. The heavens opened up (as they do) and bucketed down with thunder and lightning all round, the next thing an almighty BANG and Flash of light like I’d never seen before, absolutely everybody jumped, even captain Humberto! As we looked back we could see sparks falling down from the top of the mast… We’d actually been stuck by lightning!

The lightning managed to fry the GPS, onboard computers and shorted the fuses onboard, never a good thing. Luckily nobody on board was touching anything metal meaning that other than all getting the fright of our lives, nobody was injured and nothing caught on fire. It did mean that the Captain would have to sail back to Cartagena with no electronics on GPS onboard which I’m sure would be no easy feat, in order to get the repairs done. – Being struck by lightning and surviving – Tick!

The following day we got our 72 hour visas and heading to the mainland where we would be transferred to Panama City and have our first taste of Central America – Welcome to Panamania!

I’d like to put a very special thank you to both Humberto and Sarah for the amazing trip, it really was a trip of a lifetime and we’re so glad we did it on ‘Trade Wins’. You were both amazing the entire time and Larly and I can’t thank you enough. To the others who were on the boat, it was wonderful meeting you all and swopping stories about all things, thank you and I look forward to hearing more from your adventures. If any of you are in Sydney we’ll always have place for you to visit – Or live!

Enjoy the pictures, I enjoyed taking them – how could I not!