Arriving in Portobelo, we finally met with our Captain: the plan was to put our bikes on his 50-feet sailboat, the Fantasy along with two other bikes. We would sail from Panama to the San Blas islands, an amazing archipelago of nearly 400 islands where we would stay two days and then sail the last two days to Cartagena, Colombia. In addition to the Captain and another crew member, we would be a total of 4 bikers and two other passengers. The bikers seemed really cool, Gus from Canada on a BMW and Ido from Israel on a V-Strom just like Chad's, whom we coincidentally had met about two months ago in Guatemala. The trip would be about 4 nights and 4 days. The boat was beautiful and all of us bikers were looking forward to testing the life on a sailboat for a few days.
A really rough night at sea
Shortly after we arrived late afternoon, we were immediately put to work: loading the bikes on the deck of the sailboat, tight them down and wrap them in plastic to protect them from the saltwater. The first step was a little scary but not that hard after all: a little launcha came to the dock and five guys helped us carry each motorcycle into it, brought it to the sailboat that had a pulley system to lift it into the boat. The four bikes were pretty quickly in the boat and we all tied them down securely. As it was getting dark, we stopped our work there and waited for the next day to package the bikes. The next day, after a late breakfast, we started the long process of spraying all the metal parts with WD-40 and wrapping them entirely: we used a lot of plastic wrap to cover them, and added another layer of plastic and tightly put a tarp on top of it. You really want to avoid any contact with salt water during the trip as it damages the electric connections and rusts the metal. This took each of us a few hours as there are so many small parts on the bikes to protect. Chad and I also put electronic grease on all the connectors and taped everywhere they were cracks around electronic pieces (lights, commands on the handlebars).
Captain D. then broke the bad and good news: we had a storm right now over the ocean and the water was pretty choppy out there but the good news is that we could wait until sunset and the winds would probably have calmed down a little by then. Waiting seemed to be the good option and we relaxed on the boat for the rest of the day in the calm bay. Right before sunset and on the Captain's advice, we all took a Dramamine pill and rightfully so. As soon as we left the protected bay, the whole boat was moving up and down, right and left, fighting 8 feet high waves. It was terrible: you could do nothing but lie down as any attempt to move would throw you on a wall of the cabin or on the floor. We were quite lucky however compared to Ido, who just spend the entire night vomiting his guts. Chad was able to sleep some, down in the cabin and not throw up and Caroline spend the night on the deck, close to the Captain. The medication worked as we were not really sick but it was a really tough night, when both of us worried for ourselves and the bikes. The next morning, after 16 hours of sailing, we made it to the islands, where the water finally was calm and crystal blue. We had survived!
Discovering the Kuna culture on true paradise islands
We were so relieved that we had made it safely, all of us and the bikes, still standing tall on the deck, despite the movement and the high water splashing them. D. confirmed that today was a play day and that we had gone through the roughest of the trip. He was going to take us to two islands today in the San Blas and we would get to meet the Kunas, one of the only remaining indigenous population, that even if part of Panama, still has their own autonomous government. They are one of the last populations left with their own economic system, language and culture. Among all the islands of the archipelago, only 40 were inhabited. We would see two of these today and anchor at the second one to spend the night.
The first island we stopped at only had a few houses and that taste of paradise you only find in a few places on earth: transparent water, white fine sand beach and palm trees all over the island. After some food that our bodies were finally grateful to receive, we put our swimsuits on and jumped into the water to swim to the shore close by. Man, that water was just perfect, the right temperature, only a slight current and the sun was of course out. We relaxed on the beach for while, walked around the island (quite small) and met our first Kunas. They were pretty friendly, selling cold drinks to the very few tourists on the island. The women were wearing traditional clothes with their top and skirt made of local fabric and decorative patterns. They were also wearing colorful beading around their arms and legs and all of them had a golden ring in their nose. The men on the other hand were wearing western like clothes. They seemed happy and peaceful, living on their small island, in their wood and thatch houses and fishing what they needed with their small launcha.
We went back on the boat and headed to our second island, Nalunega, only an hour sail away. This one was much more developed than the other one, if such a word applies to
the San Blas islands. There was a whole village there, that we walked through in 5 minutes, each little house cramped to the one next door. The little kids were so friendly, saying hi and asking our names. We even stopped at one house to help set up a TV antenna: they really had almost nothing in the house, very simple, but they had a TV! At the basketball field in the center of the village, we watched the game for a little while before going back to the boat. Since the water was now all quiet and the boat docked, we checked the bike and then enjoyed the dinner cooked by the crew: fresh barracuda caught that day in a spicy soup with rice. Our stomach content, we both decided to sleep in the cabin that night, only gently rocked by the smooth ocean. This was the polar opposite experience from the first nigh and we enjoyed it fully as we were unsure of how the rest of the trip would be.
We really had a rough start on that sailing trip, wondering every minute of the first night why we had not shipped our bikes by air and taken a plane to Colombia. On biker had it worse on the ship as at least we were not constantly sick, only worried by a crazy journey on a wild ocean that hopefully would not endanger our lives or damage the bikes. Captain D. seemed to always be calm and serene, confident about the trip and backed up by 10 years of experience on this route. He knew this area by heart and when he took us after our first night to these amazing islands, we felt better about it all, even if we still had a long ways to go. We will see how the other days will play out on the sail boat. And hopefully Captain D. would continue being good and reliable, despite a strong tendency we had already observed of drinking on the boat. Guess this is what sailers do: drink like fish and yell at their crew. 
A really rough night at sea
Shortly after we arrived late afternoon, we were immediately put to work: loading the bikes on the deck of the sailboat, tight them down and wrap them in plastic to protect them from the saltwater. The first step was a little scary but not that hard after all: a little launcha came to the dock and five guys helped us carry each motorcycle into it, brought it to the sailboat that had a pulley system to lift it into the boat. The four bikes were pretty quickly in the boat and we all tied them down securely. As it was getting dark, we stopped our work there and waited for the next day to package the bikes. The next day, after a late breakfast, we started the long process of spraying all the metal parts with WD-40 and wrapping them entirely: we used a lot of plastic wrap to cover them, and added another layer of plastic and tightly put a tarp on top of it. You really want to avoid any contact with salt water during the trip as it damages the electric connections and rusts the metal. This took each of us a few hours as there are so many small parts on the bikes to protect. Chad and I also put electronic grease on all the connectors and taped everywhere they were cracks around electronic pieces (lights, commands on the handlebars). 
Captain D. then broke the bad and good news: we had a storm right now over the ocean and the water was pretty choppy out there but the good news is that we could wait until sunset and the winds would probably have calmed down a little by then. Waiting seemed to be the good option and we relaxed on the boat for the rest of the day in the calm bay. Right before sunset and on the Captain's advice, we all took a Dramamine pill and rightfully so. As soon as we left the protected bay, the whole boat was moving up and down, right and left, fighting 8 feet high waves. It was terrible: you could do nothing but lie down as any attempt to move would throw you on a wall of the cabin or on the floor. We were quite lucky however compared to Ido, who just spend the entire night vomiting his guts. Chad was able to sleep some, down in the cabin and not throw up and Caroline spend the night on the deck, close to the Captain. The medication worked as we were not really sick but it was a really tough night, when both of us worried for ourselves and the bikes. The next morning, after 16 hours of sailing, we made it to the islands, where the water finally was calm and crystal blue. We had survived!Discovering the Kuna culture on true paradise islands
We were so relieved that we had made it safely, all of us and the bikes, still standing tall on the deck, despite the movement and the high water splashing them. D. confirmed that today was a play day and that we had gone through the roughest of the trip. He was going to take us to two islands today in the San Blas and we would get to meet the Kunas, one of the only remaining indigenous population, that even if part of Panama, still has their own autonomous government. They are one of the last populations left with their own economic system, language and culture. Among all the islands of the archipelago, only 40 were inhabited. We would see two of these today and anchor at the second one to spend the night.
The first island we stopped at only had a few houses and that taste of paradise you only find in a few places on earth: transparent water, white fine sand beach and palm trees all over the island. After some food that our bodies were finally grateful to receive, we put our swimsuits on and jumped into the water to swim to the shore close by. Man, that water was just perfect, the right temperature, only a slight current and the sun was of course out. We relaxed on the beach for while, walked around the island (quite small) and met our first Kunas. They were pretty friendly, selling cold drinks to the very few tourists on the island. The women were wearing traditional clothes with their top and skirt made of local fabric and decorative patterns. They were also wearing colorful beading around their arms and legs and all of them had a golden ring in their nose. The men on the other hand were wearing western like clothes. They seemed happy and peaceful, living on their small island, in their wood and thatch houses and fishing what they needed with their small launcha. We went back on the boat and headed to our second island, Nalunega, only an hour sail away. This one was much more developed than the other one, if such a word applies to
the San Blas islands. There was a whole village there, that we walked through in 5 minutes, each little house cramped to the one next door. The little kids were so friendly, saying hi and asking our names. We even stopped at one house to help set up a TV antenna: they really had almost nothing in the house, very simple, but they had a TV! At the basketball field in the center of the village, we watched the game for a little while before going back to the boat. Since the water was now all quiet and the boat docked, we checked the bike and then enjoyed the dinner cooked by the crew: fresh barracuda caught that day in a spicy soup with rice. Our stomach content, we both decided to sleep in the cabin that night, only gently rocked by the smooth ocean. This was the polar opposite experience from the first nigh and we enjoyed it fully as we were unsure of how the rest of the trip would be.We really had a rough start on that sailing trip, wondering every minute of the first night why we had not shipped our bikes by air and taken a plane to Colombia. On biker had it worse on the ship as at least we were not constantly sick, only worried by a crazy journey on a wild ocean that hopefully would not endanger our lives or damage the bikes. Captain D. seemed to always be calm and serene, confident about the trip and backed up by 10 years of experience on this route. He knew this area by heart and when he took us after our first night to these amazing islands, we felt better about it all, even if we still had a long ways to go. We will see how the other days will play out on the sail boat. And hopefully Captain D. would continue being good and reliable, despite a strong tendency we had already observed of drinking on the boat. Guess this is what sailers do: drink like fish and yell at their crew.
Looks like you guys are spending a few days in paradise. Enjoy the beaches for the rest of us stuck at home in January weather...
ReplyDeleteNow that was an ADVENTURE!!!
ReplyDelete