Sailing the San Blas Islands
- ionaweir
- Jul 31
- 12 min read
Updated: Aug 17
My plan once in Panama City had initially just been to spend one night there, and then fly straight to Cartagena for another work exchange in a hostel, but alas this was not to be. I'd been feeling quite run down and tired whilst in Panama and realised I was really not feeling another work placement (especially as this would make three back to back !), so I cancelled very last minute. I blamed it on the protests in Panama oops. But I definitely think it was the right choice. I instead decided to do a six day sailing trip from Panama to Colombia via the San Blas islands of Panama ! It's quite a popular trip with backpackers as it's basically impossible to cross between the two countries by land, so your only options are either plane or boat - and a sailboat is much more fun ! The reason you can't cross between North and South America on land is due to the Darién Gap - a dense jungle spanning around 100km, with a large presence of criminal groups alongside its deadly terrain, and a reputation for being one of the most inhopsitable regions in the world. So a boat it is for me. No complaints. I enquired about the trip and recieved information of all the different boats (there's around 20) and their next departure dates from Panama. They also sent the nationalities and dates of birth of all the passengers already booked on each one so I just picked the one with a soonish leaving date and passengers a similar-ish age to me, which ended up being the Amande I (very french).
Because of this I ended up having a bit more time to kill in Panama City, so I mostly just chilled and caught up on sleep to be honest. I really didn't love the city - there's the old town which is pretty and feels quite safe but the rest of it is a bit of a no-go area for tourists so there isn't really much to do. On my last day however I did go to see the Panama Canal which I surprisingly loved. Included in your entry is a documentary with a full on cinematic-imax experience, narrated by none other than Morgan Fucking Freeman. The documentary depicts the reasons for creating the Canal, how they managed to achieve it, and the impact it's had on global trade, alongside popcorn and 3D glasses. Brilliant. It was super interesting and visually beautiful to watch as well. Except when the massive mosquitos come at you in 3D. I also managed to time my trip perfectly as right after the documentary finished there was a big cargo ship coming through the canal, so I went out to view that. I must admit the mechanics of canal systems don't hugely fascinate me (despite my growing desire to live on a canal boat in the South of England), but it was still very cool to see as it's obviously such a monumental point in the world.
That evening was my last night before the boat left, and I also had to change hostels (unfortunately to one which was giving hospital room vibes), but I met a girl from the UK there who was going on the same boat as me to Colombia which was very nice. We went out to the Coca Cola Cafe for dinner, which was the first ever cafe in Panama (although it was kinda mid) but still fun. It's also the only establishment in the world allowed to use the Coca Cola trademark name. Fun fact for you there. The next day we had a super early shuttle to Puerto Lindo, where we would be sailing from, and it was here where we met everyone else (11 of us in total) who would be stuck on a boat with us for a week ! Although everyone was rather mute as I think they were still half-asleep. Things livened up a bit over breakfast at the port where we decided to play a game to remember everyones names. Mine was Iona Irn Bru which I thought was good, but it turns out none of the Germans knew what Irn Bru was. Shame.
After a quick briefing and meeting the captain and the two crew (and a small payment of $700 cash), we set sail for our first island in the San Blas. It was gonna be a whole day spent on the boat however, as it takes around 7 hours to get there so we wouldn't arrive until dark. Everyone was in good spirits, with some even getting out the bevvies, but the vibe quickly went south within about ten minutes when it reaaally started to rain and got quite choppy. Literally everyone's faces went grey. I generally pride myself on my lack of motion sickness but even I must admit even I was feeling a bit dizzy. It didn't help that the weather was too bad to sit outside so we were all cooped up in the small seating area next to the kitchen. Except for the people who were busy hurling up down the side of the boat. The wrong side as well. The crew had to hose the boat down later. There was one guy from the States who kept on insisting that drinking beer helped with the seasickness, so chugged a beer, proceeded to throw up said beer, chugged another beer, and continued the process. He ended up so shivery and dehydrated that the captain had to warm him up with a pink floral blanket. Not so macho now.
As most people weren't up to chatting, I mostly just chilled and listened to music the whole day. I was also scared to move as although I wasn't feeling sick, it was really hard to move around as the boat was so wobbly and I really wasn't used to it. We had a light lunch as the majority weren't eating, but Teresa (our chef for the week) was very impressive with her ability to cook on a very wobbly boat. Luckily the weather did start to clear up a bit at around hour 5 so me and some others went to sit out on the bow. Good thing we did as all of a sudden there was a pod of around 50 dolphins swimming alongside and underneath our boat ! They were playing with each other and jumping out the water and all sorts it was insane ! I've seen dolphins a couple times before but never like this - a big big highlight of my travels and it was only the first day on the boat. The dolphins stayed with us for around 20 minutes before eventually leaving and they really brightened the mood.
We arrived at our first island at around 7pm, so couldn't see a huge amount as it was dark; had our first dinner on the boat; did a bit of stargazing of course (saw three shooting stars!) and prepared for the first night sleeping on the boat. I unfortunately drew the short straw and was the only person to get a top bunk. Usually I wouldn't mind this too much but logistically it just meant it was very hard to actually get onto the bed as there was so little space in the cabin. And even harder to do so without hitting your head. I did find that once I was in the bed and if I didn't move at all it was pretty comfy though. Yasemin, Tabea and I were all in a cabin together, and then there was another boys shared cabin, and then the rest were all privates. Some people even had their own bathroom ! Learning how to flush the toilet was a challenge in itself. Especially with the added pressure of knowing how shitty (literally) the situation could be if you did it wrong. However, all went well and aside from the intense humidity of being in a box room in the Caribbean with no good fan, the first night was a success.
Our first full day was spent on one of the more touristy islands of the San Blas. These islands are an archipelago in the Guna Yala comarca of Panama consisting of 365 islands and cays, some of which are completely uninhabited, and is home to the indigenous Kuna people. They are an autonomous community with a more traditional way of life, focussing on agriculture, fishing and craft production. The captain told us that our first island was apparently home to the King of the Kuna people. How true that is i'm not sure but we met him and he was very friendly.
We spent the morning swimming and snorkeling at the beach, when the Captain told me to get in the dinghy very quickly and to not bring anything except my snorkel and fins. I was a bit confused as to what was happening but he picked up a few more people from the group and took us out on the dinghy to another part of the island where he told us it was a lot better for snorkelling. He was right to be fair. It was a lot deeper which meant a lot more fish and you could see all the coral and sea caves and stuff. There was one part though where the coral stopped and it was just very very deep ocean which freaked me out a bit. I heard someone shouting at one point and convinced myself they were shouting about a shark. I was quite relieved to get back on the dinghy. I'd also not suncreamed my back as I hadn't been expecting to be snorkelling for so long so was rather pink, which this one German woman wouldn't stop pointing out. Not appreciated. I was aware. After that we had a barbecue lunch on the beach, of which the vegetarian option was a whole barbecued pumpkin. Rogue but very nice. We then motored to a more remote beach for the afternoon which was stunning. Although the captain got a local guy to climb a tree to get a coconut and then presented it to me saying it was a "magic potion to make me fall in love with him". This was one of his many advances throughout the week which was a bit awkward for me. Bear in mind this man was a 45 year old, short Spanish sailor whose teeth were so white they glowed in the dark. It's lucky I've never presented any signs of daddy issues as I fear this may have been the perfect fit... Anyway aside from that, the evening was so nice - we had some drinks and watched the most delightful sunset. We had to piss in the sea as there were obviously no toilets on the island but they were the most picturesque pisses I've ever had.
We dinghied back to the boat to briefly have dinner before a bonfire on the island. Whilst we were back on the boat, the captain told us that there were sharks in this area (failing to mention it 10 minutes earlier when people had been swimming in that exact spot), but that if we threw the dinner leftovers into the sea they would probably come up. Very soon after we saw the two biggest sharks i've ever seen (I think around 2 metres) and we could see them so clearly it was so cool. It turns out sharks love quinoa. Harvey leant over as a joke and very nearly fell in. He luckily grabbed onto a pole just in time but I really thought that was it for him. Apparently the sharks weren't super aggresive but I feel like if a fully grown human being fell on top of them they wouldn't have been too happy. We went back to the island for the bonfire, a lot more cautious now that we'd seen sharks, and spent a couple hours there before heading back to the boat, where the captain invited himself to stargaze with me. Really awkward. He even invited me to his "weed doctor" friend's 50th(!) birthday party in Santa Marta with him once we were in Colombia. I obviously said no. He really couldn't take a hint.
The next two days were kinda just spent doing more of the same. We moved around some of the different islands, did lots of sunbathing and swimming, and just chilled really. We met some of the indigenous people which was really interesting, and it was just fun living on the boat. I can't say I learnt much about sailing but I was allowed to steer at one point - which didn't go too well. The shower situation was also fun. We had a hose at the back of the boat which we were allowed to use once a day very quickly. I decided to shave my legs in the sea on one of the islands as there was no way that was happening on the boat - it went quite well to be honest.
Our last morning in the San Blas was very nice, just relaxed on another uninhabited island and made the most of our last real opportunity to tan. We then headed back to the boat for the safety briefing, as we now had around 2 nights sailing the open ocean in order to get to Cartagena. Luckily nothing seemed too complicated and i must say I was rather excited. Although the captain had been telling me the previous day about the time he crashed into rocks and all the passengers had to swim to the nearest island... I thought it might be best to not mention that story to the other passengers until we arrived safely in Colombia.
The first night was really quite rough and I had to grip onto the side of my bed super tight to make sure I didn't fall off, but I quite enjoyed the rocking of the boat. Felt like a little baby in a crib. It was rather soothing. A lot of people were once again quite sea sick so took their pills and were conked out for basically the whole duration of the crossing. In the day I just lay out on the bow listening to music which was great. The waves were really quite big at some points so I did get a bit soggy but all worth it for the vibes. Funnily enough it ended up being one of my favourite days as it was just so relaxing. In the early evening everyone started emerging to sit out on front to watch the sunset which was absolutely stunning, and kinda hilarious as we really had to grip on tight so as not to fall in - and after Harvey's near miss with the sharks the other day no one was taking any chances.
We went back down as it was getting dark and Harvey hosted a pub quiz for us all, which Yasemin and I won, although it wasn't really fair as most of the questions were more related to British pop culture but still. Than night was also super rough, which was a little scary at times but very cool. I was trying to brush my teeth when a huge wave came over the boat and soaked everything which was kinda funny. Plus just trying to brush my teeth without falling over was a challenge in itself. I also really struggled climbing onto my bunk that night as the boat was so rocky I couldn't get up. Almost consigned myself to just sleeping in the kitchen but got lucky with a 20 second window of calm waves so quickly got myself up with no serious injuries. I didn't sleep too bad that night but we did find out the next morning that the boat had lost power for around 4 hours in the middle of the night, with no lights or anything, whilst there was another boat near us. Apparently the crew had to use red cups to improvise navigation lights. Another thing best not known at the time. That morning was beautiful as I could see the Cartagena skyline as we sailed in through the sunrise. We also arrived on time so didn't have to wait long before we could anchor at the marina and get stamped into Colombia! It was also really nice as most of us on the boat were staying in Cartagena for a few days so met up quite a bit whilst there, but more on that later.
All in all, I had suchh a good time on the boat and I'm so glad I changed my plans around as it was potentially the highlight of my trip so far. The San Blas islands are absolutely beautiful but I also just loved living on a boat for a week it was so much fun and everyone was so friendly. It really gave me the boost for solo backpacking through Colombia as I'd been a bit nervous for this, but I felt so much more energised and confident (and less diseased - I guess sea air really does do you good !). I was also very excited to be in Colombia as this was my first time in South America ! Big big love to everyone on the boat as I had such a great time and I honestly just loved freeing the toes for a week, anyway speak soon - Iona xoxo.
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