Leaving Bocas behind was a bit of a downer, I had such a great time and met some cool people, also, the thought of an all day bus ride via the city of David back to Panama City wasn't too inviting. Luckily though, I got back to Luna's castle and proceeded to get my trip across to Colombia booked up. I met up with most of the other guys traveling on my boat the day before so it gave us all a good chance to get to know each other over a couple of beers. On Monday all 9 of us, myself, Robert from Rotterdam, Haineen from Taiwan, Carlos, Kev, Mark and Jonny from Manchester, and Kyle and Jackson from Oregon headed North to Porto Lindo on the Caribbean Coast. After a few hours on a bus, all 9 of us including luggage squeezed into one cab for the final hour up to the Port, that was an interesting experience!!
We all arrived on the catamaran 'Buon Vento' to gasps of 'ooooh' and 'sweeeeeeet'! It was a beautiful boat that is usually only available for expensive chartering but we got lucky as Edoardo, was heading down to Cartagena from Panama and wanted to make a bit of money on the way. After setting sail in the early afternoon we arrived at the infamous San Blas group of Islands. The 365 islands are largely populated by the Kuna tribespeople and as such has gained semi-independence from Panama. The sea was calm and blue, and with the searing sun the calm sea breeze was a welcome friend. After the first night of our Captain's Spaghetti and Salad dinner we all spent the night on the deck, drinking rum, and staring up at the amazingly clear starry night's sky. Spending the evening under shooting stars with new friends wasn't a bad start to the trip.
Paradise!
Waking up on the deck the first morning to coffee and toast prepared by our deck-hand, native Colombian Welleem, we headed out to some of the deserted islands and reefs for some amazing snorkeling. We saw rays, reef sharks, lobsters, hundreds of varieties of fish, many of them dangerous, as well as some amazing coral. It was an amazing day, so chilled out, drinking from coconuts picked off the islands, walking in shallow blue waters and not having a care in the world. Every night we all played high-light low-light, where you pick the best and worst parts of you're day. Several people described this day as the best day of their lives! I could almost agree. The low-lights were ridiculously insignificant and were genreally related to spending too much time in the sun.
Day 2 - Snorkeling!
Day 3 we all spent the morning exploring more islands and soaking up the sun before heading off for our 2 day open water trip to Cartagena. The open water trip was incredible, if a little choppy, but we ran into groups of dolphins who followed our boat, marvelled at the flying fish and the general tranquility of the ocean. Early evening saw our first really successful catch of a huge Yellowfin Tuna that we got the impression was the biggest Edoardo had landed. It was however too choppy to do anything with that night so it was filleted and put straight in the fridge ready for the next day. That night was pretty much sleepless, my cabin being located on the front of the boat, I was getting chucked around by the waves and regularly getting soaked through my leaky porthole. It didn't matter though, it was all part of the experience.
Me and Jonny chilling on the back of the Catamaran.
I can't even begin to describe the feeling!
Our legendary Captain, Edoardo Turatti and a beast of a tuna.
A group of dolphins swimming with our boat.
We woke on Thursday to find that we had somehow been going almost twice as fast as expected, and that we would arrive in Cartagena early, but that it would give us the opportunity to find our bearings and have a last meal together on the boat before going our separate ways the next day.
Early afternoon saw us dock in our Colombian destination and after a couple of drinks in town and a trip to the supermarket we all headed back to the boat, excited about our dinner and plans of craziness in Cartagena. Our Sashimi was prepared by Edoardo with some incredibly potent Wasabi, soy sauce and sticky rice. It was delicious. I found it a little odd however that the insides of my cheeks were starting to swell up, but generally thought nothing of it. 10 minutes later I had to lay down, a cracking headache and fever started coming over me. The sweats sank in and I had to excuse myself from the table and lay down in the cabin for a while. Thinking that sunstroke had kicked in, I tried to rest but my whole body started to itch. I felt terrible, we had all planned a big night out in Cartagena and I was going to have to bail. After half an hour or so I decided it would be a good idea to get some water and it was then that I found out the full extent of the damage. It was like the crew had all been hit by the plague, queues for the toilet and vomiting sessions were followed by bouts of moaning and scratching. Jackson found it all very hilarious, he was allergic to tuna so didn't have any for dinner. Kyle, nicknamed 'the man from the mountains' due to his adventures and trek from Canada to Mexico, admitted that he hadn't been ill for over 10 years, but he was really feeling rough. I saw Robert at about 4am, he said he thought his time may be up. And Carlos, well, his eyes looked like someone had just poured acid in them. Even our captain was up all night throwing up. Needless to say, everyone had bailed from our planned big night out.
Tuna Sashimi, tasted so good but at a price!
We made it in one piece.
Friday morning came and we all felt a whole lot better so agreed that we should do our big night out together that night instead. We strolled into town and all found a hostel together that several people had recommended called Media Luna in the old town area of Getsemani, Cartagena. Haineen, who spoke perfect Spanish, was recommended a small restaurant that was the only true local place left in town, so Robert, her and I went and dined on a meal of mixed vegetable and meat soup (delicious), beef with coconut rice and avocado (yum!), and the local speciality drink made with water and sugar cane (undecided) that is a natural diuretic, very sweet and regarded as the local version of red bull. We sat at a table with a local lawyer who was amazingly friendly and gave us hints and tips about the town. We paid 5900 Pesos each for our meals ($3) and headed back to the hostel. Time to hit the town with the rest of the boys. Cartagena, me gustas mucho!
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