Yes we did it! the sienna is a 40' container heading for Colombia and now we have to get there to start the daunting tasking of getting it out. Now we have 2 options of getting there, 1 day by air cost $380 pp. or 6 days by sailboat at $475 pp. Lets take the longer and more expensive route oh, did I mention Ji, gets sea sick really easy and we found the perfect boat for her to throw up on a 55' sail boat named Windwalker, captained by Henry and assisted by Sara. Henry is Brit with loads of experience and Sara's a spirited Amerianca that helped sail and keep everyone fed. Of what we saw and heard this is best backpackers boat doing this run between Portobelo, Panama and Cartagena, Colombia. The crew only takes 8 people, stocks the boat well with food, water, a icemaker plus they let you bring your own drinks and chills them, and to top it off wifi internet via satellite feed doesn't get much better at sea unless you get seasick easy like Ji' she thought she was going to die on last day because we had to sail 28 hrs none stop to reach Cartagena.
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| Ji, on last day of sailing she had only 2 positions for last 24hr this one and over a bucket |
Day 2 to 5 was spent around the San Blas Islands, clearn blue water with white powder sand and lined coconut palm trees. It's like waking up to that desktop wallpaper that everyone has of the perfect island. There are about 380 islands, the larger ones have the Kuna Indians living on them, we heard they charge people to step foot on their islands but we anchored at one that welcomed us and showed us the village that had 3 families living on it, they had a fresh water well in the middle and from what I could see they diet comprise of coconuts and what every they catch in the sea.
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| windwalker |
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| setting sail for San Blas islands at sun down |
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| arriving at the first set of islands early morning |
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| Ji, just learned to swim |
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| strolling the islands |
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| beautiful children of the village |
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| talking with the chief of the island |
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| $5 lobsters and .75cent beers |
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| Sweds showing off |
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| shipwreck was so interesting |
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| two palm tree island the smallest of them all |
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| Tarzan needs coconuts |
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| Henry and Sara |
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| Jason, Julie, Lisa and Matilda |
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| Paul and Rachel |
Overall the sailing trip was a great experience but we don't see ourselves doing it anytime soon, spending 6 days at sea in the hot sun, no proper shower, basically wearing the same clothes and the odd time feeling sick was no fun, with that aside we will remember the experience forever.
