Adventures in the San Blas Islands

Since we started living aboard Sava in 2018, we’ve wanted to visit the San Blas islands. Small islands in pristine Caribbean waters, barely inhabited except by friendly people living off the land, and protected reefs you are only allowed to snorkel and free dive, the San Blas Islands sounded like a dream, and in many ways it was. It took us much longer than we thought to get there, but we did, spent 2.5 weeks, and had lots of adventures in the San Blas islands!

About The San Blas Islands

Map of Panama and San Blas archipelago
Panama Map with the San Blas archipelago

The San Blas Islands is an archipelago of 365 islands in the northeastern Caribbean of Panama. Occupied and governed by the Kuna/Guna people, less than half of the islands are inhabited. You may also hear them called the Guna Yala islands for their residents. The San Blas are one of Panama’s top vacation destinations because of their natural beauty in the Caribbean sea.

So yes, you can visit and stay in the islands: in hostels, resorts, or on a boat. Close enough to major cities that you can also do a fun day trip to visit the San Blas Islands! We are lucky to bring our home with us and moved around the San Blas over our 2.5 week visit.

anchorage San Blas Islands
Boats at anchor in The San Blas

Beautiful Anchorages

One of the best things about sailing in the San Blas islands is the assortment of beautiful anchorages. Everywhere we stopped had clear water, gorgeous skies, marine life, and tropical islands to admire from afar or walk along. Anchoring in this paradise wasn’t free: twice we were visited by tribe officials who charged us for use of the waters. Additionally, residents ask for small fees for visiting the beaches or building bonfires. No complaints, as it wasn’t that expensive and is worth it for visiting such lovely places far from the crowds.

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Sailing From Colombia to Panama

Our sail from Colombia to Panama began happily, since Brian fixed the autopilot! It was a relief knowing we would not be hand steering for the two day voyage. While that made things easier, sailing from Colombia to Panama was not a fun trip.

Autopilot worked sailing from Colombia to Panama
We love when autopilot works

It Gets Scary

When home is a sailboat with a 65 foot high metal mast and you’re alone in the middle of the ocean, you don’t want to see lightning. A lightning storm is a nightmare. We had a very small taste in Colombia and it didn’t prepare us for the scary lightning storm our first night sailing from Colombia to Panama.

It’s rainy season in Panama and electric storms are common. We saw flashes in the sky throughout the day Saturday, but weren’t concerned. We didn’t think it would get worse. And we were wrong.

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Selling Our House and Everything in It – Mostly

We just got home from a hectic month of selling our house and everything in it, well mostly. It’s been less than a week since we returned to the boat in Cartagena, and I finally feel relaxed. It was a mad dash to get it all done before closing and visit the people and places we wanted to in Toronto. This city was a great place to live and we will always enjoy visiting Toronto. Selling a house and moving out is a big life moment, but doing it to stay full time on a 46 foot boat and travel on it is life-changing. I also realized there are a lot of tips I could have used about how to purge, so I am sharing them here.

What to Keep

Selling our house and everything in it could have been traumatic. But we were primed for it through a combination of terrible tenants and a fun life on our boat. Other people have to do this under much more trying circumstances, and I am aware of our fortune. Here are some ways to make this process easier.

The hardest part is deciding what to keep. Will you use it and do you even like it? If the answer to both is NO, then don’t keep it. This time, our second and more final round of purging after 2.5 years on the boat, I was more cutthroat. I washed any clothes that seemed even mildly off – the beauty of an in-home washer and dryer – and piled up anything I have no chance of wearing anytime soon. If clothes were in good shape, they went into the DONATE pile. If not, straight into trash bags. On a boat, those would become rags, but we weren’t flying rags back to Colombia with us!

How to purge Give aways for Salvation Army Thrift Store
If you don’t need it, sell it or give it away
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