Panama to Cartagena

Columbia certainley was not on the cards but travelling by yacht from Panama to Cartagena via the Archipielago San Blas was to tempting. Well tempting once you manage to put the thoughts of pirates and drunken sailors at rest.

There are lots of boats that leave regularly but it is finding one with a good reputation and a good captain that is key. I booked to travel on Esmirelda with captain Olivier, French Canadian and experienced Sailor. The rest of the crew were three Swiss Germans, Pascale, Pascal and Dominic.

There was to be one more passenger and thankfully he decided not to come. His name was Armin, upon first meeting him it went something like this -

Armin - Hello you must be Sara, you were announced for yesterday why are you late.
Sara- i decided to go to Isla Grande and party for the night.
Armin - Where are you from
Sara - England

Armin - Well i am a German and i hope you are not offended by nakedness. At which point he whipped off his trunks and proceded to dry himself with the worlds smallest towel. Oh yes i got an eyeful. Nakedness i am comfortable with but this was outrageous, he was stood about a meter and a half infront of me. So, i was pleased when he pulled out, i could not have put up with a week of that!

Aboard Esmirelda looking over Isla Grande.
There is no photoshop on this, the water really was this clear, this was looking more like the paradise that i appear to have been searching for. the weather was a little coudy once we got out to sea but it did not take away from the beauty of the Islands that we were approaching.

The San Blas Archipelago, part of the Comarca de Kuna Yala, is a chain of approximately 400 islands stretching along the Caribbean coast of Panama. Picture football field-sized cays covered with palm trees, ringed with pearl-bright beaches fronting the dazzling Caribbean Sea. Small indigenous villages cover some of the islands, while others remain uninhabited.

Chi Chi me Island. We anchored in between two islands for two days. We swam to them and relaxed under the coconut trees, it was so peaceful. There are only 10 inhabitants on the island so we tucked ourselves out of the way so as not to intrude to much.

Locals selling fresh fish and crafts. The dug out canoes are facinating, it really is just a dug out tree trunk.
The other island, also Chi Chi Me, it has gradually spilt. A little different but not much, white sands, coconut trees and clear water. We did sot around eating fresh coconut, a little chocolate and it would have been perfect.

The first of may amazing sunsets. Me with Esmirelda in the backround. We had bbq fish and rice as the sun went sown, and a few beers.

The sunrise.

This is Venicio, he lives of Chi Chi me and is the master behind my new purchase. The Kuna Indians are known for their decorative art, known as molas. Molas are usually very bright and colorful and are often worn as clothing. Before the missionaries converted the natives to Christianity, they wore few clothes but decorated their bodies with colourful designs. When encouraged to wear clothes by the missionaries, they followed their body painting designs in their Molas, which they wore as clothing.

There were so many massive starfish hanging out in the crystal clear waters.

After the dissapointment of Little Corn Island in Nicaragua i was happy that i really had found paradise.

Makeshift sail boat

We met many people here that had packed up life, bought a boat and were travelling where ever the winds took them. Some made jewlery and sold it to tourists, many of them were self suficient and caught their own food. They were interesting people but i don´t think i could likve like this.

Looking out to some of the other small islands. The islands are owned by different clans, somre are inhabited and many are not. I don´t think i would have any problems staying here.

fishermen, who are actually quite naughty. They were catching lobster that was to small. We spoke them, as there are laws, and they threw them back. Well, for that day anyway, they don´t understand that if they take them that small there will eventually be none to take at all.

We did have a lot of fun, this is Dominic, complete with war paintbuilding sand castles, the afternoon was finnished off with coconut football.

Getting ready to set sail.

We took in turn throughout the night to steer, by this point Pascale was feeling really sea sick and the captain was drunk. The boys took the night shift and i did the early morning 5am to 10am. The seas were a little rough and it was quite scarey out there on your own.

It has seriously made me think about my dreams of crossing an ocean. It is true, you do see things in the dark and you have no idea what it is. Dominic thought we were about to crash into an Island, there was no fear of that we were still 15 hours away from land.

Finally enough wind to get the sails up.

Another beautiful sunset

The walled city of Cartagena, and not a moment to soon. I think all four of the crew were about to make the captain walk the plank. He was partial to a glass of vino, normally starting at about 11am. He was more than a little opinionated!

The left side of Cartagena as we came in the port, looks amazing but, 70% of them were unfinnished. It was a large building site with lots of half finnished buildings.

The old town of Cartagena, very impressive. It has a great history and many impressive Colonial Buildings.

The crew, Pascal, Pascale, Domonic and me. Ready to leave the boat and have some beers on dry land.

I didn´t spend long here, four days to be exact. It was enough time to take in this beautiful city, see where they sold the slaves, walk around the wall and get a much needed pedicure and a chinese meal.

I will leave you with some photos of the lovely Colonial walled city of Cartagena. I will return to Columbua one day and see the rest, everyone we met said it was one of their favorite countries.

There was one other little excursion to Volcan do Lodo El Totumo. This was advertised as a natural mud volcano with minerals. It really was a hole filled with mud where you climbed in for a dodgy massage and then sat there for 40 mins. The mud was so dense that you floated on top.

Dominic and Pascal had a mud fight, apparently it didn't taste to nice!