Sailing Panama to Colombia
Since the only way to get from Panama to Colombia is by either plane or boat, we booked a 6 day sailing trip to Cartagena, not really knowing what to expect…
The public buses that we took to the port town were lively. Our bus was packed and full of chicken feathers.
We got to Portobello and headed to Captain Jacks hostel, where we spent the night before the trip.
Portobello had been one of the biggest port towns on the Caribbean side of Panama for the last few centuries. There's a couple of cool ruins to see, but thats it. It's a passer-by town, not a destination.
Still, it has it's beauty
After a much needed 12 hour sleep, we woke up, and went for a hike in the nearby forest with some people we were going sailing with. We then headed to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for the boat, mostly beer and rum.
We're sailing on the Micamale, a 50 foot mono-haul boat. Our captains were two Italians, Andrea (pictured here) and Rico. Andrea is in his 60’s, speaks OK english. Rico, is a little younger, in his 30’s - interesting character.
Our 8 crew mates were from all over the world, 2 Irish, 1 English, 1 German, 1 Colombian, and 4 Americans.
The crossing from Panama to Colombia is a pretty dangerous crossing (I find this out after we dock at our destination). That night we left Portobello and sailed to the San Blas Island amid a storm. The waves were ROUGH. Before we went to bed, Rico recommended we take a couple Dramamine (anti-nausea medicine) and smoke a joint. There were a couple times in the middle of the night that I felt like we were going to tip over. I could hear water splashing on the deck above us. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night was a journey in itself- I smashed into the walls a few times trying to reach the bathroom door. Not gonna lie, I was terrified.
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The next day I woke up in San Blas, a chain of at least 300 picture perfect islands with glass-blue water, white sand beaches, and giant palm trees. Gorgeous. We cruised around and ancorched to go through immigration.
The next day we headed over to another island and spent the day snorkeling and walked around the island. It was inhabited by a small indigenous group of people called the Kuna, who live a simple life in grass huts without electricity or plumbing. Up until the 90s, they used coconuts as currency. Today they use US dollars.
I found a mermaid talking on her shell-phone…
We had lunch in the Kuna village of about 10 huts. Coconut rice, octopus, lobster, and conch.
That night we had a BBQ bonfire on the beach, drank rum, listened to our captains crazy-ass life story.. and passed out under the palm trees. The next morning I woke up on the beach and went straight in the water to wash off the sand before we headed off to another island for New Years Eve.
Breakfast duties.
On our way over to the nest island we caught a 4 foot fish, which we cooked for dinner that night along with lobster that we caught that day. You can’t get any fresher than that. Best sashimi I've ever had. Garlic, olive oil, and sea salt - thats all you need.
For New Years a bunch of people from the sailboats wandered on to an island where we had a beach party with a couple fireworks.
Day 5 and 6 we were at sea ALL DAY. I was prepared for the worst, expecting rough waves and seasickness, but actually it was pretty mellow. When sailing on a boat with nothing to do but get to your destination, you have to embrace the stillness or you will go crazy. I spent the entire day reading books, listening to music, and staring at the sea.
Sailing is definitely a different lifestyle.
As we headded into the port of Cartagenea - the whole crew mooned everyone on the docks... a tradition by most sailors.
Yo ho-ho-ho.. A Pirates life for me ..
