Panama to Colombia on the Tango

My Omi always told me not to rush things. And she was right – we got to Puerto Lindo and spent all day searching for a sailing boat. There was a massive choice of a whole 2 boats. *Joy* We could have stayed in the town for a few days, or gone to another port, but we were getting anxious about having enough time in South America we hopped onto the less shitty boat – the Tango.

The Tango, our 10m sail boat.

Owned by a Frenchman, David, the Tango is a whopping 10m boat with no fridge, small beds that stank like petrol and no shower. We met the other passengers, 3 Kiwis and a German (Jochen), plus the first mate which came to a total of 8 people.  We were even more dis-heartened when a luxury catamaran pulled up with a bunch of Australians telling us how it was one of the best experiences they have ever had! FML…

We decided we should make the most of it and look at the positive side, so we cracked a beer and watched the coastline of Panama. The weather was crappy, it was choppy but worst of all it was overcast so the San Blas Islands won’t be as picturesque. We paid $430 each for this? Oh dear…

OK to be fair, it doesn't look that bad, but when you see everyone else's photos of how amazing it is, you will be bleak!

 Due to the choppiness we were all seasick except for Rob. We finally made it to the San Blas, which is a chain of tiny islands scattered along  the east coast of Panama. They are picture-perfect with white sand, palm trees and the Khuna, which are indigenous people. We camped the first night on the island for $5 dollars where we made a bonfire and chilled with Jochen.

Our tent was squeezed under the rain cover that the Khuna so gratiously gave to Jochen as a 'tent'.

 It was a really lovely island, except for the massive amounts of rubbish. It was frustrating to come to a beautiful beach and see plastic bottled, nappies and tons of other trash everywhere. We swam in the water and found a coconut, so we opened it with our machette. Out of no-where the Khuna appeared, unfriendly as anything, and demanded an extra $5 for swimming on the beach. They then wanted another $1 for the coconut and $5 for a photo of them. I’m all for supporting indigenous communities, but that’s ridiculous. We refused to pay and walked away. Things keep getting better.

The death of the coconut.

The coconut we opened with our machete and ate, with Jochen.

Haha! I have a photo of you. Try and get money from me, I dare you.

I know this blog post is very negative and depressing…I’ll make it happier. We spent the next full day on the islands where we had a fantastic barracuda braai. Sadly the captain purchased the food with a small bag of white powder and a few dollars. I was oblivious to it, but Rob noticed and I think it’s disgusting. The food was great though, a truely delicious meal, and I’m eating as much as possible to get my money’s worth (I ate more than anyone on the boat…).

Fantastic baracuda meal on the San Blas! Food always makes me happy!

Yay! We are happy after the lovely meal - jump for joy!

 That night we camped on the island again and met some other travellers who came from Colombia. They had an awesome boat, great food, showers, private bathrooms….the works. Seems like everyone is rubbing it in our faces! We had a good night though, sitting around the campfire chatting.

The next day we started sailing to the last few islands.  We got to the beautiful islands and the weather started getting better. Things were looking up, and we became comfortable on the boat, it’s not so bad. Our captain made things better when he organised huge crabs for lunch, and his cooking was amazing! We were nestled between about 5 islands, where we could explore and snorkel.  The snorlelling is not very good, starfish and that’s about it

Huge crab!

The weather cleared up and we had a great afternoon!

 Rob and I were chilling on the boat while everyone was out exploring or chatting with other captains. I stood on the deck and noticed how the other boat was moving forward. Then I saw how the island was moving too and realised our anchor was being dragged. We were heading straight for another island. Ahhh! I had no idea how to start the boat, but luckily a captain from another boat jumped to our rescue and saved us. Close call!

That afternoon we set sail into open water for the next 2 days. We were content with the fact that we weren’t on the best boat, but what can you do? I tried my best to catch some tuna – I had the lines out all the time, but no luck. I also started to wonder about the crashing tuna stocks, because we saw tons of them! Although, they were tiny and not yellow-fin… It was the most bizaare thing I’ve seen – the tuna behaved like dolphins and were riding the waves in front of the boat.  It was amazing! Their colours are also unexpected, with luminous purple and metallic blues, it was a great sighting.

Incredible! Tuna following us for kilometers, acting like dolphins!

We spotted a pod of dolphins that played in our surf. In the distance we saw a whale, so we tried to get closer but it disappeared. David allowed us to have a quick dip in the big wide ocean. I was poep scared! All I could think of were the hungry sharks under us decideing which one of us to chomp. I’m such a wuss, so we kept close to the boat. The water was spectacular – the bluest blue and the perfect temperature. Our captain and first mate set up the sails, and everytime the first mate did so, his balls would hang out. Ewwwwww! I was the only one who always seemed to be unfortunate enough to spot it. Rob thought it was hilarious. Thanks babe. Things were greatly looking up, and we only had until the next morning to see South American soil!

Dolphins being dolphins!

Having a quick dip behind the boat, things were looking up and our boat was getting more fun!

Rob in the big deep blue sea.

Good morning Colombia! We had arrived! The trip started off really badly, but ended well with the gorgeous sunrise greeting us. Cartegena is not what we expected at all. The city was modern, with huge skyscrapers along the beach that looked like Miami or something. It seemed so first-world, it was quite

unexpected. Apart from the few mishaps on the boat, it was an experience! 

Cartagena sunrise, our first view of Colombia!