San Blas Islands

Early start that's for sure. We got picked up at 5.15am for our 4x4 journey to the pick-up point for boats in the San Blas. Along the way we stopped to pick up more passengers – not usually a problem but these Israeli's were not particularly sensitive to the needs of others and they kept us waiting for over half an hour (without apology) because they weren't organised enough to go shopping beforehand. We eventually left and then took the rollercoaster ride on the new road through the jungle into Kuna land (Kuna are the people of the San Blas region and have complete Governance over their land) and eventually found ourselves on our boat, the Sailing Koala.

Fabian is a Colombian capitan who has been sailing backpackers and other tourists between Cartagena in Colombia to San Blas islands in Panama for 14 years. He is professional, polite and gets along well with the Kuna. It was hot hot hot on the water with little breeze and clouds, so Bernard and I were eager to get into the water – after an hour or so crusing we were taken to this lovely island where we were based for most of our trip. We snorkelled for hours around the reef using our new camera, realised we were getting burnt so tried to hide from the sun. We ate lobster for dinner that night, prepared by the Kuna on the island. We tried to sleep in our cabin, but it was just too hot with both of us in there, so I ended up sleeping outside underneath the stars. It was just lovely – then the sun rose and it got hot again. We saw dolphins – the first time I was swimming and they were about 3 metres away from me – the second time we saw a mother and baby swim right beside our boat.

We went diving off old ship wrecks (very cool), kayaed around the islands and ate fish, seafood, rice, chips and lentils for nearly every meal. When weather turned we enjoyed the comfort of the boat, sleeping well whilst it stormed outside, the gentle rocking motion soothing rather than disruptive. We visited a traditional Kuna village and bigger modern township of Carti – both lifestyles remarkably impovrished but resilient – the Kuna are in desperate need of better waste disposal (sewerage and rubbish). The traditional dress of the women is just lovely and the sense of community in this area is very strong.