San Blas Islands🏝️

5 nights tour (Colombia to Panama; or vice versa)

Another highlight of the trip has been the San Blas Islands, which are just off Panama's Caribbean coast. If you have the time and budget you must add this into your itinerary, it is completely worth it! The San Blas boat tour is the coolest way to travel between Central and South America, sailing from Colombia to Panama or vice versa. This trip is a six day, five night tour, with the idea that you go via boat instead of flying between the countries, stopping at some of the pristine islands on the way. It is the ultimate Caribbean crossing and involves an epic 210 mile journey, 24-52 hours of open-sea sailing, before spending three days exploring the remote islands. The route connects Cartagena, Colombia to mainland Panama City (ending in Puerto Lindo or Porvenir).

Choosing your Company

There are two main companies to choose from, we booked our trip with Blue Sailing, which are the main company licensed for this boat trip. You can check out the different boats on their website here. However, out of a majority of people that we spoke to, we were the only ones who booked with Blue Sailing, whereas everyone else all booked with San Blas Adventures. Both companies are for backpackers travelling from Central and South America, however, San Blas Adventures can be seen as more backpacker friendly, because it is overall a cheaper company than Blue Sailing. You can do your own research on which company is more up your street, but I would overall 100% recommend Blue Sailing and here’s why:

Blue Sailing:

• More expensive than other companies, however:
• You get 3 delicious meals a day.
• You get filtered water included. However, you have to bring your own soft drinks and alcohol.
• You get picked up in Cartagena and dropped off in Panama City.
• You sleep on the boat.
• The first two days of travel are over open water (from Colombia to Panama).

San Blas Adventures:

• Up front cost of the tour is cheaper, however:
• The additional transport costs, food and water can all add up.
• Some food is included but not all, and not to the standard we got with Blue Sailing.
• No filtered water is included. You have to bring your own water, soft drinks and alcohol.
• You don’t get picked up in Cartagena, you have to travel to Neclocli, which is by the border of Colombia and Panama, and an additional 8 hour bus from Cartagena. This journey you have to organise and pay for yourself.
• You sleep in hostels on the islands.
• Travel from islands is done by speed boats, you don’t cross any open water.

With Blue Sailing, we went with the boat Koala X, which is a smaller, fourteen man boat, which was recently completely refurbished. If you are looking for a more party boat, the two popular boats are Sovereignty Grace and Wildcard, which I think both go from Panama and Colombia once a month. You can ask Blue Sailing when they are scheduled to leave and plan your Colombia route accordingly. If you want to go with either of these boats, make sure to book your spot ahead of time, as they book out very quickly! Sadly for us, those dates didn’t align with our schedule. However, even though those two are known as party boats, it can depend on the people you get on your boat, so there are other boats who have just as much fun! Overall, our tour cost 1,467 USD for the both of us, which for what we got and the experience we had, is truly worth every penny! We paid a deposit when we booked our spot and then the rest, is done on the day of departure.

3 nights tour (Panama to Panama)

If you don’t want to do the six day trip from Colombia to Panama, a cheaper option is to do the shorter, island hopping boat trip from Panama City. Blue Sailing also offers a three day trip, solely on exploring the incredible islands, without having to cross the open sea from Colombia. If you are not good with seasickness, this option will be much better for you and it could overall work out cheaper depending on how much your flight to Panama or Colombia is.

The San Blas Islands, as a whole, is a perfect mixture of paradise, with a fun and cultural experience as well. The islands are not a standard Caribbean resort destination, like The Bahamas or St Lucia, it is an autonomous indigenous territory. The Guna (Kuna) people govern the islands and strictly control tourism to preserve their heritage and environment. There are no large commercial hotels or modern buildings on the islands. If you end up staying on the islands, with San Blas Adventures, you will spend the night in rustic, Guna owned and operated hostels, cabins or hammocks, built by the local indigenous communities.

As you explore the islands, local Guna people will also come up to the boat to sell you fresh produce or souvenirs. They travel around in their handmade canoes and paddles. We also had local Guna women come up to our boat whilst we waited at immigration to sell us handmade souvenirs, so I bought a couple anklets for birthday. Please note that if you want to take any photos of Guna locals, make sure to ask them beforehand as sometimes they don’t like it.

Lastly, the atmosphere and lifestyle of the boat trip makes it so fun. Even though the backpacker vibe is to drink every night and have a party, it is also about a digital detox and relaxation, which Ned and I were both excited about. Being off grid for six days was so nice and after such an intense few months of fast travelling and staying in dorm rooms, this boat trip was a really nice way for us to relax and do nothing. Ned started the trip fighting off terrible sun stroke, tiredness and food poisoning, so the rest was really needed for him. The three days exploring the islands consisted of swimming, reading in hammocks, on the beach or boat, snorkelling and eating some of the most insane food.

What to Bring

For the sailing trip, you have to pack a smaller backpack and then put your big backpacks underneath the boat, wrapped up in bin bags to keep them dry. You won‘t have access to your big bags for the whole trip, so make sure to pack everything you need in your small bags. We lived in our swimsuits for the whole six days and only had a couple of outfits to have dinner and the evenings in!

• Clothes: (swimsuits, shorts, vests, towels).
• Toiletries: (suncream, bug spray, toothbrush & toothpaste. shampoo & conditioner (you don’t have access to a proper shower until the last day).
• Drinks & snacks (coca colas, hydralytes, bottled water & alcohol).
• Electronics (phone, camera, GoPro, portable chargers).

It is then recommended to bring some extra cash with you. We decided to bring 500 USD extra cash, which Blue Sailing exchanged for us. We gave them our Colombian Pesos and they swapped it for USD, following the XE exchange rate. This cash is for any soft drinks you want to buy on the island, coconuts on the beaches, alcohol or snacks. You also have to pay 20 USD each for the National Park taxes and then around 30 USD for the taxi, which takes you to Panama City.

Tipping

Tipping, again is not compulsory, but is appreciated by the crew. We had three crew staff, a captain, chef and then an all rounder, who helped to do everything on the boat. Their job is hard! They have to get you to Panama safely, cook in the smallest kitchen ever, which constantly rocks, be sociable and fun. It doesn’t matter how much you tip, but they will appreciate whatever you give them.

Itinerary

Below will go into detail our day-to-day itinerary, but bear in mind, this can change depending on your boat, crew and the weather!

Days 1 & 2

Day one included a meeting beforehand, which took place on the boat and where you meet the crew and other passengers. You then also pay the remaining of the tour here. They prefer you to pay in cash, however, our card kept getting declined so they allowed us to bank transfer them instead, which we had to send three days in advance, rather than on the day of departure. For our boat, we luckily only had six of us in total, which meant we had a lot of extra space for us to relax. Another Blue Sailing boat, that was also leaving on the same day as us, was fully booked out and I can’t imagine how cramped they were, especially during the open water travel!

After the induction, you then have the whole day to do whatever you want, before meeting at 7pm to drop your big bags off and get ready for the trip. After the bag drop, you get the opportunity to go to the shops to grab any extra drinks or snacks that you may want. For us, we left Cartagena at around 12pm that evening. Your departure time can vary depending on your captain and the weather. They make the decision on what they think is best and safest. The other Blue Sailing boat left a bit earlier than us, and they actually ended up having a small accident when they arrived in the San Blas Islands. This is because it was pitch black at the time, and they couldn’t see the bank clearly (the boat got stuck in the seabed), and they had to get pulled out by another boat. So, overall, I’m very glad that our captain chose to go when we did.

Day two is completely travelling over open water, heading towards Panama. As it is open water, the sea can be extremely choppy, depending on the weather. Make sure to stock up on sea-sickness medication beforehand, if you get bad motion sickness, you will definitely need it for these two days. After a delicious breakfast of granola, yoghurt and fruit, we all spent the day relaxing and lying down on the boat or in our cabins to deal with the rocking. We were even graced with a little pod of dolphins who kept us company whilst we travelled. In terms of meals, everyday we had breakfast at around 8-9am, lunch around 12-1pm and dinner around 7-8pm.

Day 3

Day three is when you finally make it to the San Blas Islands and where the journey becomes a lot smoother. As soon as you dock to the first set of islands, you realise that the last two days of seasickness were completely worth it.

The islands are absolutely stunning and feel like they are not real, with how beautiful they are. The last three days of the trip made us feel extremely lucky that we were able to do this experience and visit these islands. They are the ultimate desert-island fantasy. All the islands we visited were tiny, so tiny that we could walk a lap of the island within a few minutes. They are all covered with the brightest and greenest palm trees, the finest, white sand and surrounded with the most clear and turquoise water. There are no words to describe how blue the sea is, and the pictures really don’t do it justice. We were extremely lucky with our weather having sunshine and blue skies for a majority of the trip.

We started the day parking up to a cluster of three small, beautiful islands. The waters around the islands are also pretty insane for snorkelling. With Ned being such a huge marine lover, he was able to swim off easily around this island, exploring the colourful reef. Here we saw different sharks, and hundreds of different species of fish. This first island, was one of the best snorkelling spots of the trip. The other two islands at this spot, you can either swim or get the boat to, and where you can relax on the beach and take in the incredible views. We were at these islands from breakfast to lunch, so spent around four hours here doing whatever we wanted.

After lunch, which was homemade burritos, we made our way to our next island, which took around an hour to get there. From here we were parked up for the rest of the day, staying overnight. At these islands you can do more snorkelling, with the opportunity to see nurse sharks and spotted eagle rays.

The Kuna Yala locals also popped by for a visit and offered us freshly caught fish. We bought this huge barracuda from them and they descaled, gutted and prepped it for us, which our chef then cooked for lunch the next day.

In the late afternoon, we got the dingy to the nearby island, which had a gorgeous beach to relax on, a bar, hammocks in the sea and a volleyball court. We spent the whole evening here, walking around the island, meeting other backpackers and having a few drinks. We then went back to our boat for a late dinner.

Day 4

Day four started with an early swim and breakfast before moving on. Our breakfast was a delicious spread of fresh fruit, homemade arepas and scrambled eggs, a perfect way to start the morning.

Our next spot was another cluster of three small islands. You can snorkel here, but the current is pretty strong, so make sure to wear a life jacket if you are not a confident swimmer. We were lucky to see more rays, a couple of different species of sharks, and all kinds of fish. To break up the swimming, we made our way to one of the smaller islands to explore, relax and have fresh coconuts on the beach.

After our fresh barracuda for lunch, which was the most insane, freshest meal we have ever had, we spent the afternoon doing more snorkelling, lounging and sunbathing on the boat, doing dive competitions. We then took the dingy to the island, where we met up with the other Blue Sailing boat, had a few competitive games of volleyball, before watching the sunset together and having some drinks. We then went back to our boat to have dinner, with the idea of going back to the island for some more socialising and drinks. The weather, on the other hand didn’t comply and we had a lovely rainstorm instead!

Day 5

Day five was our last full day! We got up early and had a delicious breakfast of homemade, thick American-styled pancakes and fruit before making our way to Immigration. When you pay the remaining of the tour on the first day, the captain of your boat will take and keep your passports until you go immigration, as soon as the paperwork is done you get it back. Whilst our captain took our passports to the office, we waited on the boat, sometimes they ask you to go into the office and sometimes they don’t. At the end, all we needed to do was go in the boat with lifejackets to collect our captain, they checked our passports again and then let us go. It took a couple of hours but was pretty straightforward and easy.

After immigration, we went to our last cluster of islands, with the main one being Chichime Island, and where we spent the rest of the day. This island is incredible, it had a huge beach for us to relax on, play volleyball and there were a few bars to get drinks from. You can snorkel around this island, but the current here is ridiculously strong, so strong that even Ned had trouble getting to the reef. I didn’t even attempt, because I was worried about getting swept away. We decided it was safer to sunbathe and lounge in the hammocks instead. For lunch, we had a huge beach BBQ, before having more free time to do whatever we wanted.

After lunch, we walked a lap of the island to burn off all the food we just ate. The lap took around twenty minutes and is a must do. The whole island is beautiful, the other side has white sand beaches, some local stalls selling souvenirs and other spots to go snorkelling. Just on the other side, we stumbled upon a small bar with swinging chairs that you can have a drink at. As cool as it was, don’t get roped into the cocktails because they cost a bomb! We then played a few competitive games of volleyball with the other boat before watching the sunset, where we were graced with a beautiful pink sky for our last night. This island also has proper showers, so we took advantage of it and had the most needed, refreshing shower!

We then had dinner back on our boat before going back to the island for a fun evening of karaoke. Other boats joined us and we made a night of it singing our way into the early morning. A lovely way to finish our trip and bring in my birthday!

Day 6

Day six started with another delicious spread and a surprise birthday cake for me. My birthday luckily fell on our last day, so our chef surprised me with a chocolate cake for breakfast, something Ned organised without my knowledge! We spent the morning having one last breakfast together, before getting our things ready and saying our goodbyes to the crew.

From breakfast, we got a speedboat to Puerto de Carti pier, which took around an hour to get to after pickups. Normally, we go to another pier, but our boat had a small malfunction, so they changed our pick up location. This actually worked out better for us as it cut down our travel day by a few hours. From the pier, we all had to pay for a taxi jeep to take us to Panama City, which was around a three hour journey. We then got dropped off in turns to our accommodation and said our goodbyes.

Overall

All in all, the San Blas Islands boat tour was incredible. I would highly recommend doing this trip as it is such a fun way to get from South to Central America (and vice versa). You can meet so many other backpackers on this trip, with it being perfect for solo travellers, groups and couples. This completely lines you up for Panama or Colombia, as you will make friends with people who most likely will be travelling similar routes to you! Blue Sailing overall is more expensive, but the tour with them was fantastic! The food, staff and overall vibe of the trip was immaculate and we had no issues whatsoever!