Friday, May 9 - Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I left Portobelo, Panama at 6 am Friday (May 9) morning via sailboat to the San Blas Islands. It took us 13 hours to get from Portobelo, Panama to the San Blas Islands. We had ten people (A couple from the UK, a couple from China, two girls from Denmark, 1 guy from Canada, captain Marcos and his wife Paula. We were all on a 44 foot sailboat, and I would say we had more people than the boat could handle, but of course they are going to jam the boat to make more money. The trip there was a choppy ride that made you feel like you were on a roller coaster for 13 hours. It was neat to see a few dolphins jumping in front of our boat on the trip to the San Blas though.
We spent 3 nights in the San Blas Islands after arriving Friday evening around 7 pm or so. It was amazing to sleep on the sailboat the first night and look up at the stars on the water while relaxing in a hammock on the front of the boat. Of course around 2 am it started to pour down rain; I had to take down the hammock and relocate for shelter in the boat. Once I layed down in the covered area in the back of the boat by the cockpit the rain was still coming in from the sides because this was not a fully enclosed area. As a result, I relocated to the ground in the middle of the two seats where I would not get as wet. The captain came over after the rain continued and told me to jump on the other boat (that he had connected to this boat) because he had a bed ready for me there. I made it through the night sleeping in the other boat, but it was quite stuffy and not much ventilation. It was not quite like sleeping outside in the fresh air, but I didn´t melt.
There are 365 Islands in San Blas with about a 150 mile radius. The water there is AMAZING, and our captain took us out on some snorkeling excursions each day. We saw all sorts of fish (sharks, barracudas, trigger fish, snapper, bonefish, grouper, etc.) Whenever we snorkeled the captain always brought a spear gun for spearfishing. He caught a nice snapper, barracuda, bone-fish, and also a trigger fish. They cooked up the fish for us and let us eat away. The meals that Paula (the captain Mark´s wife) cooked were all awesome. They even cooked us up a butter ball turkey as well. When we arrived in Cartagena ( Paula´s home city) she even baked us a cake quick before we took off to our hostel. This was definitely a great experience! Everyone was great on the boat, and fortunately I found out I don´t get sea-sick. On the first 13 hour trip to the San Blas it was very choppy and rough conditions (I felt like I was on a rollercoaster). I was actually the only one other than the captain that didn´t throw up. On the last day of snorkeling I ended up ripping my shorts while under the water. They ripped right down the front, so I was down to my only other pair of shorts. This will be the second time I have repaired these shorts, but I like them because they are so light weight and they dry quickly. It makes it a little difficult to wash my only other pair of clothes when I only have two pairs, and one pair is non-functioning...lol.
After a great time and three nights in the San Blas Islands we were off to Cartagena at 6:30 am Monday 5/12/08...it took us 34 hours straight through, and it was quite a long trip! It was nice to finally arrive and I was so excited to take a shower after 5 days of nothing but salt water covering my body and eating up my skin. Once our group arrived to the hostel from the boat they only had one working shower in the whole place because there water was down, and of course there was a long line for this shower. None of us were too thrilled to hear this after five days without a shower. Finally, though I ended up getting into the shower, and it felt AWESOME...the things you take for granted.
It is now my first day in Cartagena, and it is very warm here!
