{"id":2646,"date":"2014-05-05T12:51:18","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T11:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danielebesana.com\/blog\/?p=2646"},"modified":"2014-05-05T23:07:46","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T22:07:46","slug":"sailing-panama-cartagena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielebesana.com\/blog\/life\/travels\/sailing-panama-cartagena","title":{"rendered":"Sailing from Panama to Cartagena"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pan<\/a>The Pan-American highway<\/a> runs for\u00a047,958 km (29,800 mi) from\u00a0Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
\nBut… is not complete. A 87 km gap exists between Panama and Colombia.
\n87 km of rainforest, swamps, guerrillas, called the Darien Gap<\/a> that was crossed for the first time only in the 1960!<\/p>\n

So, there\u00b4s no road<\/strong> between Panama and Colombia. \u00a0To cross the Darien Gap, you can take a (relatively) expensive and boring plane, or be adventurous and go via boat.<\/p>\n

I choose the boat indeed. There are sailing boats that runs without a fixed schedule and take people on a 4-5 days trip passing through the paradisiac San Blas islands for something like 450$…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DAY 0 – twist of mood<\/h2>\n

The last days in Panama I felt a bit down for the first time in my trip.<\/p>\n

I had to wait 3 more days for the boat trip to Cartagena, I didn\u00b4t meet interesting people in the hostel and things were not going as I expected<\/em>*.<\/p>\n

* bloody expectations!<\/em><\/p>\n

Then things suddenly changed.<\/p>\n

I asked if there was any boat leaving earlier than the 9th June and YES, the catamaran “Fritz the Cat<\/a>” was just about to leave the morning after and seemed promising as 5 people from different nationalities<\/em> already booked in.<\/p>\n

It was very important for me to have a look at the participants names before joining a 5 days boat trip… last thing I wanted to do is to share a tiny boat for 5 days with a group of American teenagers or a group if post-army-service Israelians.
\nIn the first case I could understand what they say, in the second case not, anyway I don\u00b4t know what\u00b4s worst \ud83d\ude00\"Fritz<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to the story, the captain (Mr Fritz) was in Panama that very moment and could pick me up the same afternoon, saving me from a 5am wake up the day after. Perfect!!<\/p>\n

I felt happy and excited.<\/p>\n

I got picked up by a jeep with Mr Fritz and few more guys, then they drove us across the country towards the Atlantic sea, to the hills of the Kuna Yala province and after them, down to the seaside where a little boat was waiting for us, to reach the catamaran “Fritz the Cat” at the end of the day.
\nIt\u00b4s an amazing sailing boat and I like it!!<\/p>\n

On board there was a good mixed crowd, ranging from a couple of honeymooners from New York to a Corean guy traveling alone, passing from some hippies and another fellow Italian.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0346.jpg\"<\/p>\n

We went onboard, and got the “life on board” rules and then started getting to know each other. Cool people. No girls around (except the honeymooner) but it\u00b4s probably better like this. People are more relaxed \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Watched the sunset colors, pancakes for diner, then enjoyed few beers outside talking with the crazy dirty Mr Fritz.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DAY 1 – realizing I\u00b4m in Paradise<\/h2>\n

Early wake up on the boat to watch the sunrise… but no alarm required, everyone woke up naturally.<\/p>\n

Good breakfast onboard and then Mr Fritz left for Cuba with our money.
\nCaptain Roland, a 2mt giant that found his space on a little boat, put anchor up and\u00a0gently moved the boat reaching a little island called El Porvenir… truly a gem!<\/p>\n

I was shocked by the beauty of… everything<\/em> around. This San Blas archipelago is even better than I could imagine, I let the pictures talk! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0383.jpg\"<\/a> \"IMG_0378.jpg\"<\/a> \"IMG_0395.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0369.jpg\"<\/a> \"IMG_0385.jpg\"<\/a> \"IMG_0390.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“It\u00b4s like living in the Windows desktop background!”<\/em> someone said \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

From this moment on, the days became hopping from one micro island to another, jump in the water, swim and snorkeling around the coral reefs looking for manta, barracuda, star fish and a miriad of colorful fishes.<\/p>\n

Those islands are inhabitated by the local tribe of Kunas.\"IMG_0443.jpg\"<\/a>
\nThe Kunas survive doing 4 things:<\/p>\n