Panamania at sea

Back on the road - Johnny and I on a chicken bus in Nicaragua

One of the parts of the Central American trip I had most been looking forward to was my plan to sail from Panama to Colombia. Jo and Johnny, whom I had met in Nicaragua both intended doing the same trip. However, we were all on slightly different time schedules. I was planning on doing the trip during Christmas, spending December 25th on the boat, Johnny was planning on being in Colombia before the 25th and Jo - well, she wasn't actually planning on doing the sailing trip until we informed her otherwise! We had all gotten on really well together in Nicaragua and figured it would be an idea to rearrange our plans slightly and make the sailing trip together. It also meant that at least when we'd be stuck at sea for a week we'd be able to torment each other rather than complete strangers.

The sailing route from Panama to Colombia

The dates we settled on for the sailing trip would have us in Colombia by December 17th, just in time to meet Johnny's buddy Joe (yeah, another Joe/Jo) who was joining the trip for a few weeks. It was already December 4th, so it meant we'd need to get through Costa Rica and Panama and be ready for the trip in just two weeks. Having already spoken to many people who had been traveling from the south to the north of Central America and who and already been to Costa Rica, the general consensus was that, yes it's a beautiful country, but it's a lot more touristy than the rest of Central America, a lot more expensive and no more beautiful than any other country there. We decided to travel straight through Costa Rica, stopping for just one night in San Jose and head straight for Panama. In fact, after spending nearly 60 bucks for a dinner between the three of us in San Jose, being used to spending 3 or 4 bucks each on dinner we were pretty glad we weren't hanging around there for too long.

Crossing the border from Costa Rica to Panama - one of the more interesting border crossings, you leave the bus, and walk about a 1km across an old railway bridge before going through immigration.

Our next stop - Panama, more specifically Bocas del Toro, an archipelago of islands on the Caribbean coast of Panama. Six tropical islands and  scores of uninhabited islets with great surfing, diving, snorkeling and cheap rum - why wouldn't we stop off here??

Bocas!

Even the water-taxi trip taking us from the mainland to the largest island as spectacular. Powering our way over deep blue waves winding around densely forested green islands.

On the water-taxi heading to the islands

Once we arrived on the island we realized that the main reason people come to this place isn't necessarily to surf and dive, but more to chill out and have a good time. Quite a bit more built up than Isla de Ometepe where we had spent our last week, but still very relaxed with a strong Caribbean feel.

We spent a few days there recovering after the long trip from Nicaragua, and making the most of being by the sea.

Relaxing in the Sea

One of the highlights of our stay was a boat trip to a magnificent desert island and the shoal of dolphins we saw on the way. Well that, and a rather epic night out we had at the Aqualounge a bar right on the water at a neighboring island. We also meet some cool fellow backpackers, including two crazy Canadians, Sarah and Kathy and had plans to meet Kathy again in Colombia.

Dolphins! These guys were jumping clean out of the water - they just didn't want to do it on camera.

Paradise!

The sailing route between Panama and Colombia is a busy one - no, not because of drug trafficking (okay, well maybe a little), but mostly because there's no easy to get from Central to South America. There's three options: 1) you can fly - expensive 2) you can travel overland through the Darian gap - this will take days of hiking and four wheel driving, you'll probably be robbed, kidnapped, killed or all of the above 3)  or you can travel by boat - there's lots of charted sailboats making this spectacular trip sailing via the magnificent San Blas Islands. A lot of backpackers chose option number three and as a result finding a good boat to sail with can be difficult.

After three days of trawling through the internet, reading reviews, mailing fellow backpackers, mailing companies and a few skype calls later we were finally booked on Luka, a Polish ship manned by Tomak, his wife Beata and their dog Wasak ?? They had great reviews and we sailing on the exact date that we needed so we hopped on a bus for Panama city for a quick stopover before we headed to the port town of Portobelo from where the boat was leaving.

Panama City

Stepping off the bus in Panama was a refreshing change. Panama is most definitely the most developed city in Central America. The taxi ride from the bus station had our eyes wide open as we once again remembered what it was like to be on a huge highway with a modern city skyline in the background. Depending on where you were you could have easily been in an US city, but step onto the wrong street and you were very quickly reminded that you were a white tourist in an Central American country.

Myself, Jo and Johnny checking out the old part of the city

After a very brief stay, we bussed our way from Panama city to Portobelo to catch our boat. The town of Portobelo was small but nice, filled with the ruins of Spanish colonial fortifications. There we met Tomek our captain,  (we just called him Tom), Beata his wife and Wacek the first mate - a lively little Jack Russel Terrier. We were introduced to our fellow travelers: Anni and Asne, both from Norway, Peter and Lisa, a couple from Switzerland, Corinne and Flurina, two girls also from Switzerland, Guss and Floris to guys from Holland. None of us were too far apart in age, ranging from 19 to 29 and we all got on vey well from the outset.

 Myself, Johnny and Anni chilling out on one of the old forts in Portobelo

The gang getting to know each other

Our captain, Tomek, standing 6' 8" was quite an imposing guy but was more of a big friendly giant than anything else. He has probably spent more time at sea than on land and we were delighted to have such an experienced captain. He's in the Guinness Book World Records for being the just the sixth person to sail solo around the world against the wind - on Luka the very boat we were on. Wacek, the dog also noted on that very same record - does that still count as a solo sailing trip!?

We picked up supplies in town loaded and said goodbye to solid ground for a week.

Did we get enough rum? It was only 5 bucks a liter - can you get enough rum when it's that cheap?

Wacek guiding the way to Luka, our home for the next week

When we arrived on the boat, we were pleasantly surprised - it was 56 feet long with plenty of room for everyone and stocked to the gills with fresh food for the trip. We quickly settled in and prepared ourselves for the first leg of the journey. We left that evening, sailing to the San Blas Islands aiming to arrive early the next morning.

1 of 378 San Blas Islands

The San Blas Islands of Panama is an archipelago comprising approximately 378 islands and cays, of which only 49 are inhabited (thank you Wikipedia!).  Close your eyes and picture a desert island - white sand, tall palm trees blowing in the breeze, crystal clear blue waters - now picture 378 of them! This place was the very definition of paradise. The weather wasn't great for the first day or two over cast with a bit of  rain but when the sun did shine we certainly made the most of it.

One of the islands we stopped off on

Not a bad spot for a game of beach volleyball

Jo about to make a splash

The girls comparing tan lines after our first day of sun!

Anni, Johnny and I rehydrating after a swim

We spent three days in the San Blas Islands, filling our time with chilling out on the beach, swimming, snorkeling and just hanging out on the boat. We also met some other backpackers on some of the islands and found out how lucky we were to be sailing with Tomek and Beata. One group had 10 on their boat which was only 30 feet long and had been eating canned food for the entire journey. We on the other hand had been feasting on some amazing meals prepared by Beata. We all agreed that after two months traveling, the food on the boat was the best we had eaten all trip. One evening we had dinner on one of the islands feasting on fish they had just caught that day.

Dinner with locals. Beata and Tomek are in the left-foreground.

After leaving the San Blas Islands we had at least three days at open sea on the way to Colombia. This is the part of the journey I would have been happy to skip. The seas were pretty rough and each night we hit some really bad storms. It wasn't uncommon to be woken up by the crash of thunder and have entire cabin lit up by lightning. We were so lucky to have a captain we could all trust in. Everyone felt pretty ill (well apart from Tomek, Beata and Wacek of course). We were all popping our seasickness tables which really just ended up making us drowsy and seasick instead of just seasick! The days weren't too bad as we could sit up on deck and felt much better with the fresh air, but once darkness fell we were all ordered below deck because if someone fell overboard in the dark of night that would have been the last we'd see of them.   

Spot the folks who've taken seasickness tablets!

Three days into the open sea part of the journey we were all delighted to hear (can you sense my sarcasm?) that the engine was after breaking down and we were dependent solely on the wind to power us the rest of the way. That would have been fine if we had wind, but it seems that mother nature decided some pathetic fallacy was in order and that the wind should die when the engine did! It took us five days at open sea to reach Cartagena. Seeing the skyline of Cartagena in the distance was quite the site for sore eyes!

Victory Beer!

We arrived late in the evening and had the coast guard tow us into port. That evening we celebrated with a few beers - I'm not sure were we celebrating the fact that we made it to Colombia or the fact that we could finally stomach a beer again!

While there may have been times when all I wanted to do was get off the boat, I am really glad I went on the sailing trip. I though I'd enjoy the trip primarily because of the amazing sights along the way it was most definitely the people that made it. We got so lucky with such a great group of people, I couldn't have asked for better. We ended up traveling with many of them for weeks afterwards. Thank you guys for such an amazing trip!

All the gang. Starting clockwise at the bottom: Johnny, Floris, Guss, Corrine, Flurina, Peter, Jo, Anni, Lisa, Asne

And least I not forget Tomek, Beata and Wacek. After speaking with many backpackers I reckon we must have gotten one of the best boats possible to do the trip. Tomek and Beata were not just our crew, they were our travel companions. Countless times you'd be walking through the wheelhouse when you'd start chatting to Tomek or Beata. Without realizing it you'd have found yourself to have spent hours discussing some really interesting though provoking stuff. Tomek, especially, had a talent for reading people and everyone had some deep philosophical conversations with him. The guy has clearly spent a lot of time at sea with his thoughts and as a result is a very calm, thoughtful, intelligent person. Here's a little bit I came across about him online, written by Beata: http://zeglarz.net/English/TheSailor.htm

Captain Tomek

The following morning after our arrival in port we repacked our bags and headed for solid ground in the form of the city of Cartagena, Colombia. It was sad to leave Luka behind but thankfully we weren't leaving our friendships on board. We were all ready to explore what Colombia had to offer...

More pictures here:

• Panama
• Lots more photos of the sailing trip