We reached Wunderbar around 15:00. We chose 2 beds in the eco-dormitory, a traditionally built hut. Kayla (New-Zealand) and Rob (
While cooking the fish we bought down in the small
Set sail 23/07/08
At 16:00 we were loading the luggage in turns, using the dinghy, up to the
Leo carefully tied the biked on the deck and we covered them to protect from the salt water & air.
Leo magically made the luggage disappear into his Mary Poppins boat, gave us a quick tour (kitchen + salt water, toilets + manually flushing, etc.) and we were off.
We were impressed by the skills of our young captain (28), the ease in which he set sail and handled the boat. We sailed near the shore, 2 islands on our left, mountainous jungle on our right, leaving the
Going to the boat.
Don´t forget the beers!
The dinghy.
The Odyssey.
Excited. Safety first!
Lulu and the bikes.
careful...
Leaving the bay.
Passing a nice sailboat.
Quite quickly Gal got seasick. Later, Erika threw-up on the front deck, where Lulu and Mandela, the 2 small (too) friendly dogs usually littered.
Rami fell asleep on the mattress on deck, while Gal was sleeping on a small bed, inside (we arrived last to the boat, all the ‘good’ big beds were taken). She woke up sweating in the middle of the night, barely managed to pee in the moving toilets, and joined Rami outside, with the wind and the stars. Turns out, this was the best spot to sleep (when it didn’t rain).
A short remark about peeing on the boat:
Being seasick, standing in a small moving booth, searching for the light, while the door bumps at you, with the boat movement, one minute of pumping/flushing with salt water, feeling you’re in a sauna… makes you want to drink less water.
Sunrise.
Gal, half dead, sleeping on deck.
Rami woke up very early and helped Leo, as we entered the San-Blas Archipelago. We waited for the
Leo took our passports through immigration and later we sailed another hour between many small islands, till we anchored near ‘our island’ for the night.
Lulu, sleeping on the deck.
Towards our island.
Our island.
What can we say? The water was turquoise, the sand white, the sun up in the sky and nothing but coconuts on the island (and one small wooden shack). It was more than just beautiful; there was something else that intensified the feeling, maybe the thought that it was our own private island?
Rami jumped and swam to shore and walked around the island in 30 minutes.
We spent the day on the beach. In the late afternoon, on the way back to the boat, while walking near the hut, the fisherman called us, offering the 7 langoustines he caught (still fighting in the net). We bought them and 40 minutes later they arrived, on his canoe, cooked with coconut rice. Buen provecho!
Cold beer on our island.
Enjoying the hammock.
Buen provecho!
Playing with the dogs.
This night Leo & Angela slept on the deck and we slept in another place outside. We enjoyed another morning on the beach and set sail towards the tiny Colombian
Gal, on the helm.
Colombia.
Gal sleeping.
Gabriel, Angela’s son, swam to the boat. He was there with friends, on vacation, waiting to join us back to
In the morning, Gal saw that “someone” didn’t flush the toilets (again) and shouted at the girls. Later, we took the dinghy to shore. The girls told us that crazy Leo yelled at them about the dinghy. Gal explained the girls that if the dinghy is gone and we need to use the inflatable rescue boat, they get on it last!
Sapzurro, Colombia.
We hiked through the jungle an hour & a half, to Capurgana, a bigger village, connected by crummy boats to Turbo (the ‘big’ city, 8 hours, no road). The village was charming, sleepy.
The tiny port was more alive, with one bar filled with men & empty beer bottles and one waitress, luring them all. Goods were unloaded from a tiny cargo boat; mainly beer, but even bananas!
The bay of Capurgana.
The tiny port.
The bar.
A donkey, taking the goods.
We set sail around 15:00, towards
This is a good time to discuss the “all included sailing tour”. The ‘others’ came with an attitude of “we paid money, we don’t want/need to do anything!”, not cook, wash dishes, help with the sailing, flush the toilets, etc. Irrelevantly, they were antipathies, to us and to the captain. And the cost, $300 ($50 extra for the bikes, if anyone is interested), for 6 days + crossing to
This attitude is part of the general attitude of backpacking. It’s becoming less & less about learning & experiencing, and more about fun-fun, drinking beer with other travelers every day (not that there’s anything wrong with this, but, you can do that back home), not learning the language, not communicating with the locals, maybe even condescending. Most don’t put and effort in learning Spanish. Nick learned Spanish, in one of the Spanish schools in
What about jumping on the opportunity and learning a bit about sailing and living in a sailboat (not so simple to cook in high seas) and get to know nice interesting locals Latinos (our captain and wife). And even more basic, 8 people on a small boat for 6 days – wouldn’t it feel nicer if people were more helpful and friendly?
Maybe due to our previous sailing experience, 4 months ago we knew that help will be needed, even in washing the dishes.
Finally, the perfect position.
With Angela, Leo & Gabriel.
And… we’re back!
On the first night we had good winds and our heavy metal barrel was ‘flying’ at 6 knots (with the help of the engine).
The next day passed with 2 incidents: at one point we had a small group of dolphins, about 20 playing with the boat. The other was Leo being a bit worried about the lack of diesel and no wind.
The day passed quickly. It was cloudy, so not too hot.
Land ahoy!!! 29/07/08
Around 02:00, while Gal and Leo were on watch, tired, very tired, they saw lights, and more lights.
With her eyes half closed, Gal had to steer the boat towards the harbor entrance, 2 blinking lights among millions. As the boat came closer, Gal went to sleep and Leo brought us in.
We woke up around 06:00 to see the big city around us.
We were kicked off the boat with only our backpack. We disembarked to the dinghy to find out that its’ engine didn’t work – ♬ row, row, row your boat... ♬ ♪
Leo & Angela – thanks for a great sailing experience.
Leo y Angela – gracias para una buena experiencia de navegar.
For those looking for sailing trips
Our captain, Leo (who was very gentle with our bikes), highly recommended:
Email - LeoEnAmerica@hotmail.com
Cellular - (
Or, for other boats and dates: Silvia at the Wunderbar.