Sailing from Panama to Colombia

My friend Elise and I took a 5 day sailing trip from Panama City to Cartegena, Colombia.  We were on a 60ft boat with 10 other passengers (all great, fun folks) and 4 crew.  The first 3 days, we anchored at different islands in San Blas.  

San Blas is a district of islands along the Panama coast.  The islands were amazing!  We did lots of swimming, snorkeling; we say starfish, stingrays, fish galore, etc.  the food on the trip was also FANTASTIC!  I was way impressed with the crew and what they busted out for meals, especially since they were working with a tiny little kitchen.  One day, a local guy from one of the islands brought his canoe out to our boat and loaded us up with a cooler full of lobster. Our last night in San Blas we ate like kings, on the boat deck in the middle of the Caribbean, surrounded by beautiful islands, and cool ocean breezes.

At one point our captain briefly brought two local Indian women onto the boat.  They came aboard with molas (really nice layered fabric designs), and beaded jewelry to sell.  The indigenous women of San Blas wear the molas and beaded jewelry everyday. The molas are part of the shirts, and they wear beads up much of their legs and arms.  

The last 36 hours on the boat were miserable......open sea stinks.  We even hit a storm during the night to make it even better.  The first 24 hours of the open sea sailing part of our trip, NO ONE moved from their beds.....the only comfortable way to sail was laying flat on your back, so you moved with the boat.  The cabin was hot, humid, and uncomfortable, and by this time, it had been days since we all showeed.  Those 36 were some of the worst of my life.  It was brutal!  Getting up just to pee seemed like an insurmountable task.  But low and behold, we made it to Colombia!   Afterwards though, glad I did it. The 3 days in San Blas were worth every minute of the crappy 36 hours.   Plus, I learned a little about myself too.....the sailing life is not for me!

I am a little behind on posting.....it's hard to keep up when I am moving around so much, but I will try to get small blurbs and pics up when I can.  More to come.....