San Blas Sailing and more...
 

Hi all,

I'm really hoping that someone can help me out with this one! My husband I are looking at using San Blas Sailing
(sanblassailing.com) to sail around the San Blas islands for a few days in October.

We are very interested to hear about any experiences with the company or knowledge about the company.

I know that in one of the previous threads I read (after doing a search), travel88 mentioned the company and that it was "unsafe and dangerous"! Obviously, travel88, if you're reading this, I'd really like to hear more details about your negative experience with the company... Any more information would be very helpful - what happened - why was it unsafe? ... Plus, any other opinions on the company would also be great... there is not much information on this board about the company, so hopefully some of you will be able to help me out!

Oh and one more thing: has anyone ever stayed at the Burbayar Lodge in the rainforest and/or done any trekking in the area? We're thinking of combining a stay there with our sailing in the islands...

Thanks so much!

Jenn

One more thing... (sorry!) - what do you guys think about the idea of sailing in the area in October? I've been in contact with the company and they've told me that the rains don't hit the area fine and so it's actually a great time for sailing... I must admit that I don't know much of anything about sailing, and so just wondering - do you think the weather will be alright for sailing? Do you think sailing is a good/not-so-good way to see the San Blas?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

ttt

Haven't heard anything back from you yet... so I thought I'd bring this up to the top one more time... We have to book shortly and would love any opinions on either San Blas Sailing (sanblassailing.com) and/or the Burbayar Lodge...

Thanks,

Jenn

I was hoping you would get some replies. The thought of sailing to San Blas is certainly appealing.

We stayed at Dolphin Lodge this past January. I was just looking at pictures the other night, it really was a lot of fun.

Glad to hear you had fun... I'm also hoping someone will reply...! We're actually going to be staying at the Burbayar Lodge in the rainforest for a day or two, and then we're going to hike for about 7 hours to the San Blas archipelago, where we'll board our sailboat. The lodge and hike sound great, and then we plan on staying on the ship for about 3 days - all is included in the price - food, drink, fishing, snorkelling and visits to the different islands to see the sights and meet the local people.

San Blas Sailing arrange charters on privately owned yachts so the experience can change from one boat tothe next. They do operate their own boat too.
I have not heard anything negative about SBS other than from the locals in Kuna Yala and they may be more a case of jealousy...
As far as I can tell from reports here in Panama they have a good operation and I have met the owner and he seems very concientious.

October is a decent time of year in the islands but it's always hit and miss with the weather over there... Never usually rains for long though, not like in Bocas where it can rain for days at a time.

Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks AndewW ! It's great to hear - we're really looking forward to our days at sail!

We are thinking of using san blas sailing-how was your trip?

we learned that sanblas sailing does not have permision from the indigenous leaders of the general congress. they only hire a couple local fisherman for the day of work. (burbayar they said has similar trouble) they say they have local permission, but they are resented by most of the locals. We went with a local kuna operator and had a wonderful time in teh communities. Kuanidup was amazing.