On our way to Central America: crossing the Darién Gap

Island days
Island ways
Snorkeling, sand & sunny rays

 

In half a year, we overlanded 7 countries in South America.

Before starting new adventures in Central America, we had to cross the Darién Gap, a small break of 100 km in the Pan-American between Colombia and Panama. Filled with dense jungle, dangerous animals and drugs trafficants, the only way to get from Colombia to Panama is by boat.

We found other overlanders to share a container with for the our cars and loaded Suzy into the container Tuesday 30/06 by midday. That left us just enough time to get our passports stamped and embark on our own boat. Because yes, we also would cross by boat!

That same Tuesday evening we set sail (well, actually, motor because there wasn’t enough wind) and 36 hours later we arrived at the notorious San Blas Islands. Good thing we had those sea sickness pills!
Together with 11 other travelers, 3 crew members and a dog we spent 3 more days island hopping before setting foot on Central American soil for the first time! And no, nor we, nor the dog got sea sick. 🙂

 

To summarize the sailing trip:

The good:
Sunshine all day every day, picture perfect sceneries, turquoise water and white sand beaches, palmtrees, fresh langosta and pulpo, tropical views under the sea, starfish and super nice people on board.

The bad:

  • Besides catching up on our reading, snorkeling and tanning, there was not much else to do. To be honest, another day on the boat would have been overkill.
  • The dog was lovely but since there was no tree on board, it pissed and shit on deck. Of course, try to guess who was the one to set in it right after sunset? Right… Luckily there was plenty of water to wash it off though 😉
  • There were no showers on board. The combination of sunscreen, sweating and salt can make one grumpy after a couple of days 🙂

 

As for the rest of Panama, the original plan was to go visit Bocas del Toro as our highlight. After we realized we were overspending and Bocas del Toro is again a snorkel paradise, we decided to go straight to Costa Rica instead.

Special mention for Panama City: we just drove through it, but it was nothing like any of the big South American cities we’d seen before: super modern with lots of specially designed sky scrapers! But we had a special date to catch soon, so we didn’t really stop 😉

Enjoy our paradise pics 🙂
That’s all we got to offer from Panama!

 

 

4 Comment

  1. I love how you addressed the “nino-problem”… 😀 It was great getting to know you on that trip!

    Too bad you didn’t see more of Panama, we’re enjoying it very much. But meeting up with your mom (in law) obviously comes first. Enjoy it, and your birthday, of course! And: would you mind sending me the group picture and the one of eveyone swimming in the sea? I’d really like to have those! Take care! :-*

    1. Dimitri says: Reply

      Hi Patricia (and Marcel) 🙂

      thx for your message and sorry we didn’t approve it sooner 😉

      Sure we can send you the group picture, send us a little email at hello AT globalhoneymoon.com we can reply to. Where are you guys now?

      Sarah & Dimitri

  2. Hello, we’re planning to do the same in reverse. How much was the shipping with a shared container? BTW nice rig. We spent 8 months all throughout Central America in 2012 with the same truck and tent set up. Safe Travels.

    1. Dimitri says: Reply

      Hello Bernard,

      The shipping itself was 2200 USD to be split by two. No idea what the extra charges are on Cartagena side but they charged us 500 USD (to be split by two) for container handling in Colon. I paid kind of the same money in Montevideo, Uruguay 8 months ago so you can probably expect something similar in Cartagena…

      I’ll check out your blog in a minute 😉

      Enjoy the sea!

      Dimitri

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