The San Blas Experience
Rich's 2025 World ARC PatBon Blog
Richard Hurd
Tue 28 Jan 2025 14:45
After a lumpy 36 hour crossing from Santa Marta to the San Blas islands last Thursday, we’ve moved 40 nautical miles west and left the archipelago. We’re now at anchor behind Linton Island, just off the Panamanian mainland coast and civilisation has returned- well sort of! It is clearly a popular sailing spot here, with a small marina, boatyard, well stocked chandlery and bar-restaurant. We’ve decided to stop here en route to Shelter Bay marina, which is at the entrance to the Panama Canal, so that Nathan can meet a monkey on Linton Island - or should that be vice versa!
So what are our thoughts after leaving the San Blas islands. We had heard a lot about them before arriving and they had been built up as being one of the jewels of the World ARC journey, so our expectations were high. I’ve asked all the crew to offer their own thoughts regarding these islands:
Rich - me first! I found the islands charming and the main thing that stood out for me were the Guna Indian people. They live an exceptionally simple life on sandy atolls with a few coconut palms and mangroves seemingly holding their patch of sand together. They were very friendly (and opportunistic of course) and while their beach bars ran out of wine and beer regularly, they were smiley, cheerful people facing grumbling yachties being starved of beer. Their shoreline is at the very west of the Atlantic & Caribbean and guess what, all the detritus that gets chucked into the sea ‘000’s of miles away ends up on their beaches and shoreline. Sadly plastic bottles and other crap entwined in palm and mangrove roots is another memory I’ll take away. Maybe the visiting yachts could organise a few hours beach cleanup parties to help the Guna recover from their plastic swamp! Otherwise stunning beaches and great beach shack bars. Definitely a place to visit if you’re in the area on a boat. We couldn’t see any tourist places, apart from the most rudimentary of visitor shacks on some islands. These are just unspoilt and one would think that the way of life hasn’t altered much for centuries - OK Starlink has arrived - but is that progress?
Peter - the San Blas islands are stunningly beautiful and quite unlike anywhere else we’ve been. I have to pinch myself some days and remind myself that this is all for real. Great also to spend a few evenings at beach bars catching up with our with World ARC friends after some very challenging sailing from Santa Marta - which must be the windiest place in the world.
Val - San Blas islands, beautiful, stunning but, disappointingly, a tad too much litter … We had a fab time though, meeting up with our new found World ARC friends, pina coladas, cuts and bruises from getting bitten by a gorgeous 12 week old puppy and breaking a hammock with a partner in crime - she knows her name! Over and out.
Nathan - the San Blas islands, or Guna Yala - as it is officially named in recognition of the indigenous people, delivered. The Guna Indians were very welcoming and friendly with a good sense of humor, the scenery was beautiful, and the snorkelling was fantastic - despite unsuccessful attempts to find the seemingly evasive nurse sharks patrolling the reefs. The moments that stand out in my mind are: (1) discovering not one, but two chest freezers FULL of local Colombian and Panamanian beer at the beach hut we arrived at on our first night - RESULT, (2) the gratitude of the fishermen who approached out boat in their dugout canoe when we gave them a couple of cold ones, (3) the games of night volleyball in Holandes with a ball produced by the locals that lit up💡when struck, (4) the skin diver that joked about swapping out his well worn fins for mine, (5) Germain, who told us about the wreck to snorkel off the beach in Chichime Cays and wanted a World ARC flag to hang up in his beach bar (sorry Eddie, no more flags), and finally (6) the dolphins splashing in the water beside us and One Distraction our last night on anchor. Sadly, it feels that we are leaving Guna Yala prematurely. However, our journey continues to Linton Bay to spot the monkeys (careful Dave) before preparations commence to transit the canal.
So that’s what Pat Bon’s crew thought of the place! We’ve now departed Linton and Nathan’s desire to spot a monkey has brought added excitement. We’ve got about 20 nm to go before we reach Shelter Bay marina, which is just inside the main harbour on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. The main city of Colon is across the water on the other side of the canal entrance and it has a rough reputation, so I don’t think many of the ARC crews will be venturing there. We’ll have 3 or 4 days in Shelter Bay before our allotted transit of the canal and into the Pacific.
Pat Bon has been booked to be lifted in Shelter Bay boatyard for a bum scrub and fresh antifouling paint in preparation for our visit to Galapagos. There is very strict bio-security for all yachts or ships entering the island waters due to the unique flora and fauna that lives on the islands. We get an underwater inspection for any form of life (weed or barnacles) on the hull and much of our fresh meat, veggies or fruit is not permitted. Even our freezer will have to be sealed until we leave the islands.
AIS is starting to show many large container & commercial ships at anchor outside the Colon harbour, so we’ll be weaving through these soon - just hope Trump doesn’t annex the canal before we’re through!
The Guna beach bar at Isola Pinos
The beach at Holandes
The water table at Holandes