San Blas Adventures
Here we basically had a meet and greet with our head guide Marco, our assistant guides Anna & Dennis, and of course the rest of our awesome crew of fellow adventurers. After a half hour of info we were sent on our merry way to get passport stamps out of Colombia and tie up other loose ends before we jumped on a boat to Sapzuro with all of our stuff.
The group all got dinner together and had a few cheeky “get to know each other” bevvies in our Sapzuro hostel that night before having an early night.
Next morning we were up and ready by 7:30 with all our stuff and in the boats. We were warned the first 2 hour boat of the trip would suck, and although we all did get fairly wet, it luckily wasn’t nearly as bad as our boat from Turbo.
Halfway through the boat ride we made the compulsory stop to enter through Panama passport control and customs. Just slightly more annoying than normal here having to unpack all our gear from our waterproofed plastic bags buried on the boat for the sniffer dogs to go through. Old South American stereotypes die hard…
Communication was a bit tough at times as lots of older Kuna villagers only speak “Kuna” and have Spanish that is worse than ours, but plenty of smiles and handshakes were shared. The kids here were super cute too. They were unbelievably keen to play with the strange light skinned giants whilst showing off their acrobatic skills and practicing a few words in English and Spanish. One little girl however seemed to burst into fearful tears every time she saw us walk past, and despite our best efforts, could only be consoled by her 5 or so year older brother.
After a good night sleep in some big, comfy hammocks, we were off to the second island, where we offloaded our gear and spent the arvo playing in the sun with plenty of footballs, footys and frisbees. The water wasn’t super clear here but there were some nice areas to hang out in the sun and shade and it was still nice to go for a swim.
Another nights sleep in hammocks and cabins, and after breakkie we were off again.
And then dinner. Which was the best thing I have ever seen, let alone eaten. Our boat captain showed up with 2 huge crates of lobster, which we proceeded to eat all of. There was enough lobster, rice, salad and octopus that people were getting full and there was still octopus and lobster left over. Now I’m not one to waste food, and
it’s a tough job to take up the responsibility of making sure no one else does, but someone has gotta do it. Honestly I think I ate at least 7 lobster but I lost count.
A night of rum and bonfire followed, and the next morning we woke up to shake off the cobwebs in the beautiful blue Caribbean. We had lunch on the island before jumping back on the boats for the last time followed by a 3 or so hour 4wd ride to a hostel in Panama City and an early night for me.
1 more day left in Panama City to relax, and next stop – Jamaica!
Looks like you guys had a blast! ✌🏼