Adventure travel sailing charters in San Blas and 2021 packages! To get to San Blas you’ve got four options. You can fly from Panama straight into the San Blas Islands, take a sailing boat from Cartagena, take a speedboat from Capurganá, or take the bus from Panama City. Most backpackers travelling between Colombia and Panama choose one of these options. For a good reason: Travelling over the land border, known as the ‘Darien Gap’, can be very dangerous . This is a popular drug trafficking route out of Colombia to Panama and is not safe (plus it’s just untamed jungle the whole way!).
Our last stop, an island famous among sailors who know the best kept secrets in San Blas, gives you more time to swim in the beautiful calm waters. With two islands right next to each other and home to a big shipwreck, stranded on its outer reef, you can enjoy the pristine beaches and beautiful scenery. Between 3-4pm we will leave this island paradise and head back to the Port of Carti. Your driver will be waiting for you and safely drive you back to Panama City, dropping you off at your lodging by 7pm. San Blas is one of the last unspoiled and undeveloped places in the world and we hope you will get to experience the beauty of the islands and the innocence of the unique Kuna culture. For our guests who only have one day to travel to the “Guna Yala” nation, the San Blas Day tour is the best option and will surely make you want to come back again. See additional info on San Blas day trip.
One of Panama’s top surf destinations is Santa Catalina, on the Pacific Coast. This small but growing town has a laid-back surfer feeling about it. Small guesthouses and hotels, and funky restaurants, force you to slow down and relax. If you aren’t here to surf, great snorkeling and scuba diving spots are nearby, and horseback tours through the surrounding countryside are good options for those not interested in getting wet. One of Santa Catalina’s main draws is Isla Coiba. This lush island, now Coiba National Park, is almost untouched and is considered a biodiversity hot spot, with close to 200 bird species, crocodiles, turtles, and snakes. The scuba diving here is very popular due to the enormous whale sharks that frequent the area. These gentle giants are curious creatures and enjoy interacting with divers. Tours to Isla Coiba can be arranged in Santa Catalina. One of the most fun things to do near Boquete is visiting the local swimming hole at Los Cangilones. Set at a lower elevation than Boquete, the climate here is much warmer, and on hot days you’ll find a fun scene, complete with music, barbecues, food vendors, and Panamanians from far and wide splashing and jumping off the gorge edges into the crystal-clear, warm waters below. In this unique geological place, the river narrows into a gorge before opening up again in a shallow pool at the bottom. Daring adults and older kids jump off the edges into the slowly moving waters and then float down to the bottom, climb out, and do it all over again. Youngsters and visitors who are looking for something a little milder can wade into the shallow waters where the gorge opens up. The walls vary in height, so it depends on how brave you are and how high you want to go. This is very much a family destination.
Few attractions include Aticama Beach, The main attraction of this place is the gentle surf beach, along her find several booths where you can enjoy the famous dish made of scallops and for dessert, yaca snow.
The Pacific Coast of Mexico has been a great place for sport fishing and certainly in San Blas you can live a great adventure and find a variety of fish such as Dorado, Sailfish and Marlin, as well as Mojarra, Pargo, Sierra and Snook, depending on the season. Be sure to visit the famous International Tournament Sailfish, Marlin and Dorado which is held every year during the months of May and June.
We do use organisations with in whom we have confidence and have used for years, but this doesn’t mean that your trip will always go smoothly. San Blas is still basically third world country and things do not operate as they do back home. The transport is operatd on a shared basis and they have to pick up other passengers so will sometimes be late to pick you up and to return you home. They may stop along the way to make stops that are unscheduled, they may try to fit one extra person in the car. The music could be too loud and there could be mechanical problems. When you arrrive in San Blas you may spend time waiting for transport to your place of accommodation and it may seem like no one knows what is happening. But it usually works out and you’ll make it there. Bear with it and remember, you’re not back home! A little discomfort now will be worth it when you’re relaxing on those beautiful beaches.
San Blas adventure travel destinations are a fabulous thing to do in 2019. Can you take your luggage to San Blas? Nope! You need to leave your luggage behind in Panama City an pack a day-bag for San Blas. If you are in these small planes, you cannot take a big bag, you can’t fit it into these packed tourist Jeeps, and you can’t take it on the small boats out to the islands. Both our original “hotel” (really just a bed over the sand) and our sailing company told us no luggage. You could get by with a backpack 48L or less I suppose. Definitely no rolling luggage! We left ours at our hotel in Panama City when we checked out. They are used to this. See more info at San Blas Adventures.
