Adventure travel in San Blas, day trips and autumn 2020 deals! The people in your group will make it what it is. That’s a fact that you can’t change.But the chances are that most of the people you will meet on these types of trips are open minded, interesting and willing to get to know you. So don’t worry about that too much and just look forward to meeting them. Below you can see the image of our group – representing 7 nationalities: English, German, Chilean, Dutch, Canadian, French and the US.
Arriving at your first destination you will be greeted by a tropical palm-fringed island paradise and calm waters with various shades of blue and green inviting you to dive in and play with the multitude of colorful fish surrounding you, while snorkeling on the sunken shipwreck reef located close to the beach. You will have plenty of time to relax in the shade of a palm tree, to explore the island, to meet the amazing Kuna population or to bath in the crystal clear ocean, surrounding yourself with the iridescent turquoise water colors allowing for postcard perfect photo shots. We provide all of our guests with free snorkel equipment to marvel at the colorful reef and the multitude of fish species surrounding the wreck. On our second stop, a typical San Blas paradise island, you will be served a tasty and freshly prepared lunch, with a choice of fresh fish, mixed seafood or chicken (note: we also offer alternatives, if you have diet restrictions). Spend time exploring this beautiful island, meet the friendly Kuna family that inhabits it and learn about their culture, or just relax in the shade of a palm tree. Read additional info on San Blas day trip.
Panama’s most famous attraction is by far the Panama Canal, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Watching a massive ship, piled high with colorful containers, gliding quietly into the locks reveals the true enormity of this great feat of engineering. Taking a boat tour through the canal gives you even more perspective. If you want to simply see the Panama Canal, the best place to do this is at the Miraflores Locks, about 25 minutes from downtown Panama City. You can see the canal from the five-story visitor center, complete with a small museum, a restaurant, and an IMAX theater in a separate building.
Few locations include The Contaduria Fort, Historical place where battles were fought to protect the harbor. Find traces of guns and the Temple of the Virgin of the Rosary, and enjoy a privileged view.
In this place the first Spanish settlement in the area was built in the early seventeenth century and was also where San Blas was founded. On the San Basilio Hill the most important Colonial Ruins on the Pacific Coast are found. The old fort of San Blas also known as La Contaduria (now semi-restored) and the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary «La Marinera» dating from 1769, where you can find the famous bronze bells immortalized by Henry W. Longfellow in his posthumous poem «The Bells of San Blas.» These Colonial ruins are not restored but well worth visiting… The church is beautiful and gives us a clear idea of the Spanish community that settled in San Blas in those days.
There’s not a great deal to do on the San Blas islands – in a way, that’s the point. Much of the time you’ll be swimming, snorkelling or reading on the beach. Normally there will be day-trip or two, to a nearby island that offers something different; that could be a shipwreck to explore, or an area full of starfish. Meals will usually be rice and fish. Once the generator cuts out in the evenings, it’s time to bed down. As the better tour operators will tell you, when you visit the San Blas islands you are doing so as a guest of the Kuna – and they are an indigenous group, not a tourist operation. So the jeep that picks you up from Panama City might be late, or might make unscheduled stops. The water taxi at the port might take a while to turn up. The toilets will be very basic. And so on. It’s certainly worth reading this list of what to expect before you go.
San Blas adventure travel locations are a fabulous thing right now. Can you take your luggage to San Blas? Nope! You need to leave your luggage behind in Panama City an pack a day-bag for San Blas. If you are in these small planes, you cannot take a big bag, you can’t fit it into these packed tourist Jeeps, and you can’t take it on the small boats out to the islands. Both our original “hotel” (really just a bed over the sand) and our sailing company told us no luggage. You could get by with a backpack 48L or less I suppose. Definitely no rolling luggage! We left ours at our hotel in Panama City when we checked out. They are used to this. Discover extra info at San Blas Adventures.