San Blas to Cartagena

I don´t think you could find a place more deserving of the title Caribbean Paradise than the San Blas Islands. We began our adventure by spending 4 days on Isla Narajana staying in sand floor, bamboo walled and palm roof huts 20 feet from the ocean. Our friendly Kuna hosts cooked us 3 meals a day of the freshest catches including lobster, conch, and bonita fish (tuna). There was a beautiful reef just off the white sand beach where we snorkelled every day. The most exciting moment was approaching a sting ray with a 4 foot wing span. There were also beautiful corals and tons of species of colorful fish. The San Blas Islands are a collection of 400 tiny islands following the Eastern Caribbean shoreline of Panama. Only 41 islands are inhabited. While the  archipelago is part of Panama, the indigenous Kuna people have gained political independence. They reserve only 4 or 5 islands for tourist infrastructure and closely protect their land from outsiders. One of our Kuna hosts gave us a tour of one of the heavily populated village islands. The children all run around naked and the women wear beautiful colorful dresses and beaded strings wrapped up their arms and legs. The bamboo huts they live in are centered around a basketball court, a school, and a meeting hall. The Kunas are the 2nd shortest population in the world. Because of the normality of cousins marrying there this population is noted for it´s unusually high numbers of albinos. They speak an indigenous language as well as Spanish. We celebrated Jordan's 21st birthday in paradise! We joined a sailboat tour to another island and along the way followed a pod of dolphins. After an afternoon tropical rainstorm, we enjoyed a fish dinner then Molly managed to surprise him with a birthday cake which was baked in probably the only oven in a village on another island.

Happy 21st birthday Jordan!!

Jordan shelling coconuts

On the 21st we took a boat to the Isla El Porvenir to meet the sailboat Nepanthe!

On one of these boats we sailed to Colombia

Our ¨crew¨ consisted of two women from Holland, a woman from Germany and a guy from Canada as well as Captain Luke from Australia, his girlfriend Sarah from Canada and their 4 month old kitten Gordii. The average age was around 28. The Nepenthe is a 40 year old 41 foot wooden sailboat with plenty of comfortable space for all 8 of us. The first day we sailed 1.5 hours to Isla Perro to snorkel on a shallow ship wreck then spend the afternoon on the beach. That night we slept on the boat anchored between a few islands. At 4am Luke and Sarah started up the motor (for lack of wind) and sailed/motored 4 hours East to the Cocobandero islands. We spend the next day and a half anchored there and taking the dingy to explore the various uninhabited surrounding islands. The second night we had a bbq on an island then camped on the beach! While it was a clear night in the islands, we watched lightening and heard thunder in the distance over the hills of the mainland.

Some of the islands are so tiny they only have a few palm trees Fishing off the boat Camping on an uninhabited island Another epic sunset! Gordii the sailor cat

Sunset was beautiful as we sailed away from the San Bas Islands the evening of the 3rd day. This began our 2 day sail in the open ocean heading NE toward Colombia! We were VERY lucky to have clear skies and mostly smooth seas. We all managed to avoid sea sickness and actually slept pretty well 2 nights on the rocking boat.

The morning of the first full day of sailing Luke who was keeping watch woke everyone up for a beautiful pink and purple sunrise. We had the unbelievable luck of being joined by a pod of dolphins as we sailed East into the rising sun!! There were 8 dolphins swimming, jumping, and playing in the wake of the bow. The water was glassy smooth and so perfectly clear that we could see their bodies and faces as they swam. They stayed for about 15 minutes then split off back into the sea. This was the absolute highlight of the trip!!

Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, luckily was not the story our voyage.

Because of some favorable winds and currents we arrived in Cartagena much earlier than expected on Friday after 39 hours of sailing. We were relieved and a little dizzy getting used to land again! Our passports cleared customs and we are now ready to explore Colombia!