sailing to San Blas and Colombia

the reason why I moved to Panama City was because I wanted to go to Colombia. is not really safe cross the border by land
due to the presence of paramilitary guerrilla colombiana, so I had 2 options:

by air, according to the seasons, the price varies from 200 to $ 400



by sea, sailing with a price that ranges from 350 to $ 420, depending from which port you leaving and type of boat, almost always include
food, reservation costs, customs fees. Few captains include alcoholic beverages in the price but not all of them so you must to bring on board
your own bottles of rum beer wine etc ....


to organize the trip on a sailing boat I have being directed to 2 hostels in Panama City " Mamallena and Luna castle" but since I've start my travel
I never booked, so I preferred to go directly on the coast, specifically in Puerto Lindo, where there is the biggest
port for this kind of travel, to try to deal a good price and also to meet the captain and the boat before paying!
honestly I have heard many stories of wonderful travel, but also many captains or boat absolutely NOT able to carry tourist, giving so many problems as
sailing under alcohol effect, missed collisions with merchant ships, left the whole boat without food / water / diesel / electricity in the middle of the sea .... etc
The biggest problem was that Panama city is far away from the port and the hostels give No guarantee because they are just a link between the captains and the tourist, and
they never seen the boats (except in photos)


Arriving by bus to Puerto lindo I've been to the yacht club asks to speak to a captain, I have been addressed them at "Hostel wunderbar"
which takes care of everything. I met a german couple with an adorable little girl of 1 year and a half, the price was $ 11 with breakfast.
As in Panama city also organize trips to Colombia, but here the is a remarkable difference because you are already were you need to be for leaving, then
can physically see the boats and especially the day before you leave you have a meeting with the captain who tells you everything
you need to know, wunderbar owners have been sailing the same route for years, carrying tourists and what I was happy to know
because 'they are the captains to choose with whom to work in order to haven't nasty surprises during the crossing.

the whole trip was awesome, the captan Pedro was very funny also the others travellers, in total we was 8 people,
san blas islands are a kind of paradise and Cartagena a very modern city were you can find everything....

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