Travelling from Panama to Colombia with San Blas Adventures

What you will experience

• Amazing food
• Friendly and energetic guides
• Lots of volleyball
• Pristine snorkelling
• As much beach time as you could ever need

Must knows

• Read the FAQs on San Blas Adventure’s website. Then read them again.
• You will sleep in a hammock under a hut with the other guests and wake up relatively early
• You will get wet on the boat during windy season!
• Going from Panama to Colombia means more beach and island time, the reverse gives you more time in the local Kuna villages
• Bring a decent amount of cash for your onwards travel after the trip has ended (your guide will advise how much). The trip finishes in Capurgana, a small seaside town at the Colombian-Panama boarder and there are no ATMs here. Few businesses accept card, and those that do have a 19% surcharge. Due to poor weather we had to stay three nights here as all the boats were cancelled.
• Make sure you get the Panama entry stamp in your passport. Without it you are in for a very expensive fine and frustrating flight back to Panama City.  
• Be resilient if things don’t go as planned, you are in an extremely remote part of the world, and little inconveniences are a part of the experience!
• Packing a drone? It is hard to say with any certainty whether or not you will be able to use it. You need permission at each island and may need to pay a small fee, and at some Kuna Islands the answer will just be no, especially as some of the bathrooms and showers do not have roofs! If you are allowed, make sure you have a local sim card with data to override any geofencing (if you want to risk it) as there are a few small runways on nearby islands.

While on our trip through Central and South America, we knew that taking a motorboat or sailboat from Panama to Colombia through the San Blas Islands was one of our ‘must-do’ activities. Yes, it is more expensive than flying, but travelling through paradise for a few days was worth it to us. We chose to travel via motorboat with San Blas Adventures for a few reasons:

• Most sail boats only explore the very northern section of the San Blas Islands before having to start the ocean crossing to Cartagena, whereas the motorboats also explore the middle and south sections
• Despite the romance of sailing, we really wanted to spend more time relaxing on the islands than on a boat
• It was windy season, so travelling in the calmer waters through the islands was more appealing than sailing and sleeping on a boat through rougher seas
• We had some friens go with San Blas Adventures who had highly recommended them

The day before our trip with San Blas Adventures we had our trip briefing in Panama City. Here we got to meet our lead guide Val who was from France, as well as the assistant guides Kianu (an Australian), Tom (a New Zealander) and the rest of our travelling amigos. The team gave us an overview of the trip, how to pack our bags, information on snacks and drinks, what to expect over the next 4 days and to pay the remaining balance of the trip plus the jeep ride. This briefing was really useful and got us super excited for our trip!  

A little summary of what you will need:

• For the trip you take a small day bag, in which you pack everything you want access to over the 4 days such as swimwear, clothes, a towel, toiletries and cash. Make sure you also include your passport in this bag.
• The remainder of your luggage is kept in your suitcase / backpack which is stored on the boat. For this bag you need to line the inside of it with a garbage bag, and then put another garbage bag around the outside to prevent any chance of it getting wet.
• Snacks – despite getting really well fed, you will still want to bring some snacks to eat between the meals.
• A bottle (or two… or three…) of liquor, such as rum, vodka or whatever takes your fancy, even a box of wine! Cans of beer and mixers (mostly coke) can be bought on every island for $2 each.
• Enough cash (in USD) to get you drinks and souvenirs, as well as for onward travel in Capurgana

Day one

Day one started early with a Jeep scheduled to pick us up at 5:00am. It was Carnivale when we were in Panama City, meaning that a lot of the roads were closed due to the festival. The Jeep company is independent from San Blas Adventures, and they thought that they would not be able to pick us up in the historic district. However, with some persuasion from the San Blas Islands team they agreed to try and pick us all up from one hostel between 5am-6am which saved us a much longer walk. Any other time of year they will pick you up from your accommodation directly. Our jeep driver was very antisocial and continually used his phone while driving, causing him to veer over lanes and nearly into a parked police car! He also just stopped the car and walked away when we were at the supermarket to get any last minute snacks, so we had to track him down to see if this is where we could go shopping and that he would not leave us. We were the odd ones out, as most of the others in our group had good drivers. Unfortunately, Kuna Yala is a difficult region to get to yourself, so the jeep company is your only way, but they do reliably get people to the docks.

We spent about 1.5 hours on the boat to get to our first slice of paradise – a small island with few facilities. Here we were introduced to our first excellent meal of the trip, a selection of fresh salads, coconut rice and fresh fish – an absolute treat! Some local Kuna from a nearby island were there to sell fresh coconuts, coca cola and beer while we snorkelled and swam in the crystal blue waters. Over lunch we chatted and got to know the other people on the trip a bit better – everyone seemed really friendly and laid back, we definitely had a great group. There were many different nationalities on the trip, including Swedish, German, British, Dutch, Italian, Canadian, and American… and surprisingly, we were the only Aussies (which doesn’t often happen overseas, they also seem to pop up!).

A short boat ride later that afternoon and we got to the second island of the day, and where would stay for the night. This island is actually owned by a big group of Kuna relatives, with each of their families taking turns living on the island and selling their handicrafts and drinks to visitors. On arrival we chose a hammock to sleep in for the night… yep, we were definitely having the true island experience! The island fun then continued with games of volleyball (played with the Kuna crew), drinks, swimming and snacks including yuka chips – yummmm! As the evening continued on dinner was served, which was sensational to say the least – another great selection of salads, octopus ceviche and lobster caught that very afternoon! Some of the lobster would have been considered undersize in Australia and the USA which was concerning, but some research shows that they are (hopefully) caught sustainably in smaller numbers through free-diving, leaving large areas of reefs safe for most lobster due to their depth. After dinner the guides lit a bonfire for us to sit around and enjoy, and also treated us to some marshmallows. Being in such a remote area also meant that there was barely any light pollution, and we had an amazing view of the stars. Given our early start that morning most of us were quite tired and began heading back to our hammocks for our first sleep in the San Blas Islands! We found sleeping in the hammocks reasonably comfortable, and some quick tips are to sleep a little diagonally and to choose a hammock that does not hang as low as the others – you’ll sleep flatter (and less like a banana).

Day 2

The day started at around 7:00am with our guide Val coming around and gently waking us up and telling us that breakfast was ready – it was so cute and a nice way to be woken up! Breakfast was good, with lots of fresh fruit, muesli, oats, yoghurt and locally baked bread. We then climbed into the boat and set off for our next island. For the windy season, the seas were very calm, and what was expected to be a 2-hour boat ride was only 1 hour 20 minutes. This island was larger again than the first two, and even had grass to lie on. The snorkelling was beautiful, the water was warm, we played even more volleyball, and lunch was yet again amazing… more fresh salads, hummus and fish.

After lunch a new game started, the “San Blas Killers”. You each get a wrist band to show you are alive and are then tasked with ‘killing’ someone else in the group with a specific item in an equally specific location. Once you get them, you then take on their mission. At our last dinner together the person with the most kills gets a small prize and all the glory!

The rest of the day was spent swimming, snorkelling, sleeping, reading, playing volleyball, and drinking rum… pure bliss. Dinner was another delicious meal of chicken, coconut rice and bean wraps with pumpkin puree. After dinner some of us played cards, and we then had another bonfire with toasted marshmallows. After chatting and drinking around the fire we retreated back to our hammocks for bed.

Day 3

Our final official day of island hopping! Breakfast was similar to before, with the addition of some tasty scrambled eggs. We were on the boat again early to get to our next island for the day. This island was very hot and sunny, so a lot of time was spent in the shade or reading in a hammock – absolutely relaxing. Lunch was yet another delicious meal, more salads (seriously, the salads are amazing!) with fish and homemade bread. As the afternoon cooled, we got into some volleyball and swimming. Before we knew it, local Kuna’s came around the corner on their traditional canoes. They handed these over to us to paddle ourselves as pairs or groups of three to the hostel for the night. This was a lot of fun! The paddle was not far, but the boats are quite unstable and steer very quickly – a few small collisions later, as well as some teamwork and we all got to the jetty.

We were shortly welcomed by the Kuna people with a traditional dance and wooden flute performance before a walk around the village. Our guide Val later talked us through events of the Kuna Revolution and the genome pool of the Kuna people which was very interesting. Although Val was a great storyteller and very knowledgeable about the Kuna culture, we thought it would have been more authentic if told by our Kuna guide (and translated to English for those that don’t speak much Spanish / the Kuna dialect). We did have a Kuna guide for our trip, but we felt their interaction with the guests was very limited and we would have loved to have more of an opportunity to ask and learn about their culture from them.

Dinner that night was at a local restaurant – we had a choice of octopus, conch, or KFC (Kuna Fried Chicken). We opted for an octopus & conch mix, along with the KFC. The restaurant also had lots of locally made bracelets and other small handicrafts that most of the group bought. They are a lot cheaper to buy in Colombia, but it is nice to support the local Kuna people when you consider the comparative wealth we have as tourists/travellers!

The hostel for the night was in actual beds, with the couples having private rooms and the singles in dorms. I was quite restless and by now preferred sleeping in the hammock!

Day 4

Our biggest ‘travel’ day, and the seas were getting a lot rougher with basically everyone getting wet. Today we were to travel to the Panama Immigration services for bag checks and passport stamping. This was pretty quick for our group, but it varies hugely based on which Immigration Officers are on and how they are feeling. If you are coming from Colombia, it is pretty much guaranteed that your bags will be searched by the Panamanian Officials. The sniffer dog ran over our bags, and then we were off to the Immigration Office for our stamps, as well as a cafe for a donut and coffee while we waited.

Lunch was a short boat journey away in Sapzurro, Colombia which was Tamales! A little bit of swimming and volleyball before we set off to Capurgana – here we could chill out, go to our hostel and wait for the Colombian Immigration office to open late in the afternoon. We were all together for our last dinner at an Italian restaurant which was delish.

Day 5, 6 and 7

Not official parts of the trip, but the seas had become significantly rougher and the Colombian Coast Guard stopped all boats travelling to and from Capurgana. For us, this meant an extra night’s accommodation and meals were required before we got a boat to Necocli – the roughest and wettest boat yet. People and bags were soaked within 5 minutes of the 1.5 -2-hour journey, so wrap your bag in plastic well! There were 4 boats catching up on the backlog of passengers, and a lot of luggage was put on the wrong boats, meaning some passengers who got the first boat didn’t find their bag until several hours later. For these delays I was glad we had some extra cash as a safety net, as trying to get more cash requires a hefty 19% surcharge. You can book a combined boat and bus ticket in Capurgana, though if you speak good Spanish you may be able to get a better price for the bus once in Necocli. We tried this with our basic Spanish and paid about the same, if not a little more than had we booked the combined ticket. There are flights twice a week (Monday and Friday) to Medellin as an option too – which for a little more money saves you an entire day of travel.

We really do highly recommend this trip. We met an amazing group of people, stayed on some of the most picturesque islands, had some time to relax and learn about Kuna Yala and the Kuna people. We did get exceptionally lucky with the weather for the time of year, but we were prepared to get wet. 🙂

There were no negatives, only a few small things that could be improved that we mentioned – those being it would have been good to get the history of the local Kuna people directly from a Kuna local (with a translator if needed), greater interaction with our Kuna guide (something that is promoted on the website a lot) and some reassurance about a few concerningly undersized lobsters.

So if you have time to get between Panama and Colombia, it is a must do!