Sailing to the San Blas Islands - A night in Puerto Lindo

It takes about 2 days to sail from Colon to the San Blas Islands. A lot depends on the direction of the winds, wind speed and swells. Our plan was to sail the first day to Puerto Lindo which is about 24 miles. Puerto Lindo means “pretty island”.

The sail from Shelter Bay to Puerto Lindo took about 8 hours. The winds were blowing out of the northeast 20K - 25K - we sailed up the coast of Panama pointing into the wind. We had to tack several times to get to Puerto Lindo so we could anchor for the night, making the trip longer...the swells were 10'-12'. There were many times the rails were in the water!

Along the way Mark caught a couple of fish – yellow fin tuna – which we ate for many amazing dinners (Mark is a fabulous cook). I had taken some medication the night before and again in the morning to make sure I wouldn’t get sea sick – I didn’t, but the pills made me sleepy so I kind of just moved from port to starboard – back and forth for 8 hours while dozing off and on. And of course when the fish were being bled, I intentionally drifted off.

We didn’t go ashore, but I heard some colorful stories about a couple of the locals –one man lives with a sloth…and another raises peacocks!

The way Puerto Lindo island is situated, wrap around swells and opposing winds, kept the boat rocking when we were anchored – it was tough walking around the boat and sleeping was crazy – I had to surround myself with pillows so I would roll around.

We left early the next morning and the winds were about 18K – 20K blowing NE and we were headed due E so luckily no tacking - the swells were 4’– 6’. Still the sail was another 7 hours. But, seemed easier then the day before and I couldn’t wait to see the San Blas Islands and buy some Molas!