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Published: October 27th 2015
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Panama to Cartagena (South America)
As we had a spare day in Panama City, Trev,Kim,Dean and Burt took a cab and went to the Panama Cannel Visitors Centre and museum,while Gerardo,String and I went to the biggest Mall in Central America to pick up a few things to make life a little better while on the road.
We were staying in a hostel,recommended by Ludwig, the Captain of the STAHLRATTE. The ship that would take us and our bikes to Cartagena in Columbia.
Another couple of German bikers joined us here for the boat trip.
After a good nights sleep,we were ready to face the challenge of getting out of Panama City and head to San Blas where the boat was waiting for us. I checked my Google maps on my phone and made notes on a paper of the way out of town from our hostel,as my GPS has not always been correct. Ludwig had given us the GPS coordinates,so I loaded them in and hopefully that would get us there along with his detailed instructions.
With every one ready,I led the team out of town, only falling off the motorway once at a toll booth that gave Motos free
access, but we were soon back on track and heading South (well East actuality) on the Pan American highway.
We turned off the Pan American Highway towards San Blas, this unfolded to be one of the best riding roads so far on our adventure, with tight twisting turns with steep hills and valleys, with some of the dips had rough rocky sections to negotiate.
We soon came upon a police checkpoint where we had to show our passports, then 50 metres on was another checkpoint,this time operated by the local Indians,where we each had to pay U$23.00 for us and our motorcycle to ride in their indigenous territory.
We arrived at San Blas to find the Stahlratte moored just off shore.
We parked our bikes on the wharf, removed all our luggage and were taken to the boat,with our luggage and allocated our sleeping quarters.
Gerardo and I opted for a double cabin in the stern of the boat,down a steep ladder behind the engine room,the others were in a dormitory style with 2 bunks per cubicle,Trev and Kim had the honeymoon suite up in the bow.
After a meeting of all the other passengers,during a sumptuous brunch and a
briefing on what we can and can't do on board,we all sorted our gear out and prepared an overnight bag. .
Later that day,we all went off in an open boat to another Island called Porvinir,where we stayed the night in pretty basic units. This was one of the few islands in this group that had an airstrip.
During the night,we had an amazing thunderstorm and lightning display that I have ever felt or seen.
The following morning the small open boat took us back to San Blas to be reunited with the Stahlratte and our loaded and secured motorcycles. After a hearty breakfast and we had received all the cleared paperwork,we motored for about 3 hours to another island where we stayed for two nights.
This is a very laid back holiday type of place,with many very affluent people arriving in their huge yachts to laze around like us poor folk. The local island natives bring fresh lobster and fish for us as Capitan Ludwig has a very good relationship with these people and lets them on board and feeds them after we have eaten. The first night here we had a BBQ on the beach,where we chose our
meat and whatever else to make our own kababs, this was a very pleasant evening with people shuttling back to the boat when they had had enough. Others just went on and on until the we small hours.
The next day was spent either on the beach,in the water snorkelling or just lazing about on the boat.
5.30am and the big 4 cylinder diesel kicked into life as we had 30 hours of sailing/motoring to reach Cartagena in Columbia. The wind was favourable,so we hoisted up the sails and had a lazy day heading east. We arrived in Cartagena around 5.15 am,this was the fastest crossing this year.
Late morning,we made our way ashore and to our hotel in downtown Cartagena.
As we had a free afternoon while our papers were sent to customs for clearing early tomorrow, Gerardo and I got a cab and went to the city centre and had a look around.
Tomorrow we have an early start to get our bikes off the boat and passed by customs.
So until my next blog, keep calm and ride on. Rosco
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
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