Sailing to Colombia was something I wanted to do from the very beginning of organising this trip as the infamous Blue Sailing, the company that runs the trip, is very well known and I had heard this trip was the highlight of many peoples Central America trip. It is a 4 night sailing journey -but can also be 5 nights depending on the weather- that takes you from Panama through the San Blas Islands and then onto Cartagena, Colombia.
Day 1: The 4×4 jeep picked me up from my hotel at 5:10am to take me from Panama City to the other side of the country, Colon, which is the departure place to enter the San Blas Islands. The San Blas Islands are an area off the Caribbean coast of Panama that consist of over 300 islands and cays. The islands are owned by the Guna Yala indigenous tribe of Panama. The group on my boat, ‘The Yamato’, consisted of 11 people; 5 blokes and 6 girls. 2 Danish, 2 French, 4 dutch, 2 Scottish and 1 Australian. We had the captain of the boat, Daniel, and 1 cook, Catalina, who were both Colombian. We got on a little dingy boat to take us to the Yamato where we got an introduction to the boat and the islands and got acquainted with our beds for the next 4 nights. Next was straight into the water for a swim which was so warm. We chilled in the water and on the boat for an hour or 2 and then went to one of the islands for dinner and drinks. For dinner was fresh fish that was caught by locals that day and then sold to our chef for us to eat. Everyday small local boats would come up to our sail with fresh seafood, fish, lobster, octopus that they had just caught trying to sell them to the boats, no doubt for a fraction of the price for what you’d get in the supermarket. We sat in the hammocks and drunk beer and played volleyball whilst we waited for dinner. The islands honestly didn’t seem real, like they were something out of a windows screen background.
After dinner we stayed on the island for a few more hours, drinking and chatting, before before making the trip back to the boat. We watched the stars from the deck of the boat, before departing for bed.
Day 2: Whilst we were sleeping, Daniel had moved the boat, now docked up next to a new island. The routine of awakening, jumping in the ocean and then having a nice cooked breakfast was easy to get use to. We snorkelled the new island in the morning before going there for lunch. Lobster on the menu this time round! No complaints from me. We lounged at the new island for the afternoon, some playing volleyball, some sleeping, whilst others made an early start on the beers. I was probably a combination of the three. Catalina cooked us a lovely fish dinner and then we enjoyed the sunset from the island and like true sailors, made a start on the rum. Not long after, celebrations were momentarily stalled when rum provisions dwindled dangerously low. A daring paddleboard expedition to replenish our stock from the boat ensued, led by yours truly:
Day 3: Another day and another new island to explore. Nothing dissimilar to the prior couple days; lots of swimming, lots of chilling and lots of fun. We had lunch on the island and then at 3pm headed back to the boat for a meeting on the open sailing that was about to commence at 4pm! It was our last chance to swim before we would be on the open water and boat ridden for 40 hours so we made the most of the water and then all had our 10 second fresh water shower from the boats hose, the most we were allowed to have each day lol. Daniel recommended that we all take seasick medication, whether we were prone to sea sickness or not, and then the most tragic rule of all; we couldn’t have any alcohol whilst out in the open water. We quickly savoured and drank our last few beers on the boat before departing for Colombia.
Day 4: I woke up and went to the front of the boat to see nothing but open water. The nights sail was very calm and no one got sea sick, despite Daniel’s ominous prediction of a third of the group usually succumbing to seasickness. Now for the boring part of the trip; 13 people stuck on a relatively small boat with no opportunities to swim and no alcohol! We passed the time by playing games, reading and napping. The seasick medication made everyone a little drowsy which wasn’t a bad thing when there wasn’t much else to do. I actually finished the novel ‘Normal People’ in one sitting, which was lent to me, I think a first for me ever (reading a book in one sitting, not reading a book in general lol). I didn’t read it in one sitting because it was particularly engrossing, actually, quite the opposite, I was reading it waiting for something to happen. ‘Surely something will happen next chapter…. ‘and then I had turned the final page. It was fun reading the direct quotes from the book that were said in the series, though. Can confirm series much better than book. The other negative thing about the open water was that the meals took a dramatic turn because of Catalinas limited resources to cook. From lobster and fresh food to toasted sandwiches was a tough mix up.
Day 5: I woke up at 8am to a Colombian stamp in my passport and already docked at the Cartagena dock. Daniel said it was one of the smoothest crossings of the year and the reason for docking in so early. I had heard horror stories on some of the sea conditions from this trip if the weather isn’t good so I was glad to make it so comfortably. We had a final breakfast before bidding farewell to Daniel, Catalina and The Yamato, marking yet another memorable chapter to my trip.
Lekker man