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Sailor songs and plenty bottles of rum
Why take an airplane when you can sail on a boat for 5 days? That's my logic!
Going to Colombia from Panama is not possible by land even though the two countries are connected. There is simply not border crossing. So it's either air or water, and luckily the water way goes through the beautiful San Blas in the Caribbean Sea.
Line and I prepared ourselves for 5 days at sea with high priority of sunscreen and rum! Many litres of rum!
In the smallest fisherman village, we met our group and it consisted of an Australian couple, a Kiwi couple, a Polish couple on their honeymoon around the world, one American guy from Montana, the Argentinian female captain Danila, her Colombian co-pilot Edwin, Line and I.
We counted and together we brought on board 41 beers and 16,5 L of rum and after the sun had set we took off.
We got up to a beautiful sight of small white-sand-and-palm-trees islands in the clear, turquoise water. From day 1 we didn't wear any footwear, only swimwear, sunscreen and sunglasses.. And we had 5 days like this. No wifi or connection to world outside. No need to know what time it is - and if you would ask, the answer would be "rum'o'clock".
The following days was like being in paradise. Our boat crew cooked us delicious food and we could jump in and out of the water all day, or floating around with a drink in the hand. We visited some of these amazing islands, where maybe 1 family lives or none.
We played beach volleyball, sailed around in a kayak, had limbo competition, played around with yoga balancing poses, relaxed in hammocks, watched beautiful sunsets, listened to music and a lot of singing along!
Not to mention the world class snorkelling we had available in the San Blas. To me it's some of the most beautiful snorkelling I have done! Soooo many colourful corals and fishes, just amazing. I will never forget, also as I accidentally hit a coral with my leg and even though it was a small, surface scratch it burned like crazy and now - writing this almost 5 months later - I still have the mark, looking like a scar that's going to stay.
The last day of sailing was open sea to reach Cartagena in Colombia. In these 24 hours our captain didn't recommended drinking as the waves was big, and on top of that we had a storm coming at the evening. Impressively enough we were done with all the rum so it fitted perfectly.
The Australian guy catched a beautiful Mari-Mari fish, killing it by pouring rum down its mouth, and it died instantly and we all enjoyed it as sashimi appetiser.
After early dinner our Captain recommended all to take seasickness pills and go to rest. We did and good we did! What a storm that hit us! Sleeping in the front, I felt thrown up in the air several times and looking out of the tiny window the lightning stroke again and again in the ocean not far from us.
I wasn't really scared as I didn't allowed myself to be, because what use was that. I simply trusted in the Captain and her co-pilot, who have been sailing this route weekly for years and they didn't seem too worried.
We woke up all safe and sound in the harbour of Cartagena. Having breakfast talking about the storm, the boat crew did admit this was one of worse they have seen for a long time, but all went fine.
Saying goodbye to the wonderful boat Sailing Koala 2 that had been our home for 5 great days in San Blas and hugged our crew goodbye, we got to land, got shoes on and with it got sea legs for the next days...
Our group all went out for dinner together that night were we ended up bar hopping and dancing salsa in the smallest bar with the sweetest local people.
Following day we all started to continue our travels in different directions and as always, I was saying goodbye to an amazing group of friends!
I hope everyone going between Panama and Colombia takes the opportunity to sail through San Blas as it's a beautiful experience in so many ways.
My San Blas family - you were a blast to share this great experience with. Thank you and may you always have good wind in your sails :)
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