Burning the Inheritance

Off the Caribbean coast of eastern Panama. The indigenousKuna Yala tribe have authority over the islands. We signed up for a 5-6 day sailing adventure through Blue Sailing (blue sailing.net) to take us from Panama City to Cartagena, Colombia.

We met up with 1/2 of our fellow passengers as we set off for a bumpy 3 hour ride to the spot where we caught a very wet boat taxi out to the sailboat. There we met our captain Fabian , a seasoned sailboat captain with many years experience, which as it turns out is a good thing when making the crossing of this particular passage. Ritchard and I met the remaining passengers, 10 in all, ranging in age from 19 to 31 years.

We so much enjoyed the group of young people we spent this adventure with (4 from the Netherlands, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Switzerland, 2 from Germany, 2 from France). We spent the first 3 days sailing within the San Blas archipelago enjoying swimming, snorkeling, reading and culminating in the freshest grilled fish dinner and a bonfire.

Before you begin to think this was unbelievably idyllic, let me explain the concept of a boat shower, which we were able to access 1 time over the course of the trip. So, you go to the back of the boat in your swimsuit and hop into the sea to get wet, then you sit on the back ledge of the boat and soap yourself up and then back into the sea to rinse off the soap, then back up on the boat for the final 60 second fresh water rinse. You would not believe how fresh you feel after that! The final 2+ days were spent with all the hatches battened down as we crossed through rough seas and lots of wind. Sailing into Cartagena, Colombia was such a beautiful way to begin to grasp the magnitude and layout of a city.

From the moment we arrived at the sail boat our shoes were collected and we didn’t see them again until we were disembarking in Cartagena. We continued to enjoy the company of many of our fellow crew exploring Cartagena, more to come on this beautiful city.