I'm On A Boat, MOTHER

I left Bocas with a sad yet relieved feeling. What I forgot to mention about that place was that if you let it, it has the ability to swallow people whole. I stayed there for a week unplanned, some people stay for 6 weeks unplanned. You end up thinking, 'Which is more convenient: getting up early, pulling all my heavy things together and getting on a boat, or sitting here in the sun drinking margaritas?' It's amazing I left that party warzone in one piece, even uninjured. I won't go into detail but others weren't so lucky and did fall victims of harm to themselves. If left untreated by the doctors on the island, because of their sheer lack of judgement and mindset of invincibility as a tourist, things could have turned out quite poorly for them.

How to sail to Colombia in 10 easy steps, by Bailey Skaret:

1) Take the boat from Bocas del Toro back to the mainland. 20 minutes.

2) Take a bus from the edge of the mainland to Panama city. 10 hour bus ride (7pm to 5am)

3) On the bus you will meet 2 male Kiwis and an english girl. They will come with you to the Hostel: 'Luna's Castle.' in Panama city.

4) Wander with them for 2 days searching for more crew members, a Captain and a bloody explanation as to why you want to do this.

5) At the hostel you will meet your 5th crew member, Shawn from South Africa. You will also meet your Captain, Henry. He will be welcoming you to his boat, "Ashanty."

6) Take the mildly entertaining yet slightly risky 3 hour jeep ride, the very same road which ends at the Darien gap should you take it a mere 2 hours further, to the transfer area. A set of small boats. By the way, on that road you will see 2 eagles and 5 monkeys.

7) Get on the small boat with the nice Colombian/Panamanian drivers, and they will take you to Ashanty. Your paradise awaits.

8) Board your sailboat Ashanty. You will meet your 6th and final crew member, a Greek guy named Leo.

9) Give your passport to the Captain. He will take them to immigration via a short dingy ride, where they will then be shipped over the border for you. You will pick them up when you arrive. You are now lost between 2 continents, you are somewhere in the ocean abyss with a few strangers and not necessarily any documentation proving that you are in existence.

10) 4 of the 6 of you passengers will get seasick for 2 days. You will be one of them.

BONUS STEP: *You are now in Cartagena. Kiss the ground and go have a beer if you can hold it down. Congratulations.*

Nothing to it. Except that less of a challenge would have been to co-pilot the plane I should have taken.

It really was a beautiful trek, I've included a picture of the many islands we saw on the way, as well as all of us safely on the deck in Cartagena. The 'high seas' that Captain Henry mentioned at the beginning of the trip didn't quite go through my mind fully (or anyone's) until we were face to face and sailing through them. This boat trip is called "San Blas" islands, in which for a few days you don't go very far and experience total bliss as you visit tons of exotic islands and unlimited snorkelling, and then all of a sudden it's as if you became a crab fisherman overnight and everyone must fend for themselves as you tumble forth into the madness and experience what real sailing is like.

I will never take back a good or bad experience I've had traveling, but I can tell you now that it will be a while before I step onto a boat again. We just arrived on solid, non-wavering ground to our hostel an hour or 2 ago. We are about to go get something to eat, start our recovery process and look around a bit. Here's to the die hard travellers in Colombia.

Buenos tardes,

Bailey Sue