Day 1

We were up and ready to be picked up at 5.30am, sat waiting for our lift to Carti, where we would be meeting the boat. First we had to stop and register for the journey so we got a brief look at our boat mates. After a crazy 2 1/2 hour journey along roads suited for world rally championships we arrived into a river port.....only to figure out ourselves that we had not been taken to the right place!!...eventually we got into a different car and got taken 5 mins along the way to another port......only to see that no one else from our boat trip was there either!!! We got told Carti had 3 ports, and we had no idea which one we were meant to be at!!! So after getting a local to ring the given number a few times with no reply we were getting a bit desperate so Phil stayed with the bags, while Shane went for a speedy walk to try to locate our transport to the boat!{we were a bit concerned as we had been told on an email that if we miss our connection then we have to catch up with the boat ourselves, and pay any costs!!!} Luckily Shane recognised the boat from the website and managed to get a little boat to take us over!!! Needless to say everyone else was settled on the boat by the time we arrived!!!

Luckily after this shaky start things just got better and better!!

The boat we were on is called One World, a 64ft tall ship, with 11 passengers on it, crewed by 2 young Americans. Our first lesson on board was how to use the head {toilet} properly, which involves a lot of pumping so was a fair workout at times! After that we set off sailing and headed to our first stop in the San Blas Islands, which is where we were anchoring for the night. We were straight off the boat and into the clear blue water to check out the snorkelling. We were not disappointed; there was an abundance of starfish, as well as some bone fish, lovely coral and a heap of other smaller tropical fish!

The first evening was spent getting to know our fellow passengers, and luckily they all turned out to be sound!! We landed on our feet in terms of having a friendly group.

Day 2

We woke up to beautiful sunshine and jumped straight into the sea...no better way to wake up in the morning! After a very tasty breakfast of banana and almond pancakes {which we are still craving!} we headed to the island airport, so that immigration could be dealt with. Luckily we didn't have to deal with this at all (that was a job for the crew!), so whilst paperwork was being done, we played Frisbee in the sea, snorkelled and visited a local Kuna island village. The Kuna people are very protective of their land, no outsiders are allowed to own anything or run businesses there. Coconuts used to be there main source of income, but tourism has taken over in recent years...not that you would know this from their friendliness...or lack of it!!!Once our passports were in order we headed to our second sleeping spot. On the way we managed to pick up 2 local mackerel and 7 juicy lobsters from the local Kunas- this was going to be a tasty dinner!!! It's amazing that the locals free dive to get these, up to 70 feet.

The secret that Shane was a chef was out!!!So he was put to good use, and managed to rustle up a seriously tasty mackerel ceviche. Next up was the lobster, which Shane had suggested to the captain would be really nice with a bisque!!!So he sweated it out in a tiny, rocking kitchen, in order to give us all a tasty dinner and teach the captain how to make it going forward!!! After dinner we headed onto one of the islands for a bonfire!!!..oh and a few drinks of course!!!....we were also feeling inspired after our volcano climb a few weeks ago, so bought some marshmallows to toast!!! A very popular decision on our part!!!

Day 3

We headed out snorkelling first thing again, before we were heading to our final destination in the San Blas. We got to see another nurse shark here, as well as the usual coral and tropical fish.

Then it was an interesting 3 hour sail to our next spot. Everything was going smoothly until we came across a squall! Which bought with it heavy rain, lightening and very rough seas, which sent most the passengers downstairs, leaving the crew to deal with the rough weather!!!

We made it through the squall and anchored, just past a ship wrecked vessel! There was just time for a quick snorkel before dinner. Shane was lucky enough to see a pair of eagle rays gliding through the water...no pictures though!!!

Day 4

Our last morning in the San Blas islands...and we decided on a snorkel!!!:} We were gone for a good couple of hours...the highlight this time was a puffer fish....It was onto the boat then and we were getting ready for the big sail to Colombia!!! While sailing we always had a line out trawling and today we caught a zebra mackerel.

Day 5

We woke up to a fish on both lines!!!In his excitement, the captain lost his fish, but luckily Shane and Grant {the deckhand} had the other side under control and managed to land a massive, beautiful Mahi Mahi. They are a gorgeous looking and tasting fish!!!

Following that excitement, about 50 dolphins decided to come and play with the boat!! They seemed to be coming from all directions towards us. It was amazing to see them all leaping and playing around the boat. We have never seen anything like it before. There are some picturess and a video, but they can't really show just how many dolphins were around us.

After all this excitement, we settled in to a good few hours of wind, rain, lightning and thunder!!!Needless to say we got soaked!!!!....this aside it was pretty much straight sailing. Unfortunately this was pretty rough at times, with the boat rocking and the cabins very hot. We were getting thrown across the boat, nothing was easy to do. We can easily say that is THE worst night sleep we have ever had!!! No matter what you tried to do it just didn't work, so we couldn't get comfortable at all!!!

Day 6

We woke up to glorious sunshine in Cartagena and said our goodbyes to the crew and headed to shore