Hello, FlyerTalk! I am a long time reader, first time poster. I have been travelling a lot in last 10 years. I usually travel long-term and slowly, no jetting around the world in 10 days. My trips rarely include planes and I'm new to this miles and points game. I hope to learn about it more though! Nevertheless, I think my recent trip on a sailing boat might interest some of you. Have you ever dreamed about island hopping in the Caribbean on a private yacht? Well, this is a perfect budget version of that!
Sailing from Cartagena, Colombia to Portobelo, Panama was a small part of my big trip. Since September 2013 I am cycling the Panamerican Highway with my friend S and my dog Tulku. Panamericana is a very popular route among cyclists, motorbikers and campervans. And all of them deal with the same problem - skipping the Darien Gap.
Darien Gap is a 70km gap in the 'longest highway' in the world. There is no road in those 70km, just wild jungle, ruled by guerillas. There are 3 ways how to skip this gap:
1. Get a machete and cut your way through the jungle. I have met quite a few travelers that did it and all of them have crazy stories to tell. Sadly, there are many of them who attempted the trip, but never made it alive to the other side.
2. Take a plane from Panama City to Cartagena, Medellin or Bogota. This is the cheapest and easiest way for the pedestrian travellers, but the ones with a vehicle need to arrange the shipping. Flying with 2 bicycles, 80kg of luggage and a dog is much more complicated and expensive. It's also fun to tell about it afterwards, but no fun actually being a part of it.
3. Take a sailing boat. The main route is from Cartagena, Colombia to Portobelo, Panama or to El Povenir, Panama. There are many sailing boats that frequently sail this route. You can find a boat by yourself (either online or just by asking around in the harbour) or via agency. There are at least two agencies that don't charge extra for finding you a boat, so we used the service of one of them. The agency provided us with a list of the boats and their departure dates as well as short descriptions of the boats. Some boats are better for couples and relaxing while others are better for partying, so you can choose whatever suits you better.
We decided to skip the Darien Gap by taking a sailing boat. I found an agency online and started the booking process. Let the fun begin!
Me: Hello, I would like to book a sailing boat transfer from Colombia to Panama.
They: Yes, of course. Here is the list with the boats we trust and recommend.
Me: Ok, we are two people and we have two bicycles and one dog.
They: Oh... Well... It will be very hard to find a captain that will take bicycles and a dog. There might be extra costs too.
Me: Yes, we are aware of that.
They: Ok, we will do our best to assist you. Please check the list we provided and tell us your prefered dates and boats so we could start somewhere.
The conversation with the agency set a tone that it will be hard to find a sailing boat for us. It wasn't a big surprise for me as we look like a circus on wheels anyway. I sent them a list with 3 boats that would suit us the best. We had only few days left until our (extended) visas expired, so we needed to leave the country. We also started looking for the flights and found out that it would cost the same as the sailing trip. Next day I got the answer: "We contacted the boats you preferred and 2 of them are willing to take you with no extra costs. The third one is already full. Please let me know which of the two boats should I book.". That was good news and before anyone had a chance to change their minds we booked a tour on a boat called Micamale.
A day before the beginning of the sailing trip we had a meeting with a captain. We met the captain Andrea, cook Sarah and 4 other guests that we be sharing a boat with us. Usually this boat carries 8 passengers, but we were lucky to do the trip with less people. That meant that there will be more space, more water and more food for us. We also found out that there will be one more crew member. Sailor Felipe was on his way to Panama where he will start his new job at another sailing boat. The agreement between him and the captain was that he works as a helper during our trip as his payment for the transfer. Usually the guests help around the boat with cooking and cleaning, so that turned out to be awesome. Felipe was very motivated to show his good side to the captain, who was a close friend of his future boss, so all the guests were treated as royalty. 'Can I help you with the dishes? Oh no, let me do that!'.
Cartagena was the last point in South America for us, after cycling 11.000 kilometers. We had only 2 days in the city and it was very busy days. We had to run a lot of errands, but we also found some time for sightseeing. We loved Cartagena and had great time there. Our journey to the other continent started in the evening.
S going to our boat in Cartagena
Tulku and my bicycle
Trailer
In the next segments I will tell about the itinerary, our boat Micamale, Guna Yala islands, seasickness and food. I also promise more photos.