“The Cap had been drinking beer after beer since the early hours of the morning. His drunken jargon was impossible to understand…”

Sailing from Panama to Colombia through some of the most pristine tropical islands in the world sounded like a dream come true, so how did it morph into such an unbelievable nightmare?

I hooked up this ‘dream trip’ through a guy I met in a little pirate town on the Caribbean coast. Always had I dreamt of being a pirate and this was my chance. Finally my lengthy facial hair would come in handy…ARRRRRRRGHHH!

After two hours motoring in the open ocean, the engine started spitting fuel below deck, leaving 3-4cm of diesel and instant headache fumes throughout the boat.

There was NO wind; the captain told me that drifting at night would be suicide as we were in the shipping lane for the Panama Canal. We would need to swap shifts and sail through the night. He gave me a crash course and off we went into the moonlight.

The Cap had been drinking beer after beer since the early hours of the morning. After 1am we were still sailing. His drunken jargon was impossible to understand and as my shift came to an end I wondered how we would make it through the night.

The next morning a storm was brewing on the horizon. While grabbing a 7am beer he announced that we were an hours sailing from the islands, which were now visible. As I watched the ferocious front swallow the islands and head for us I found that impossible to believe.

The rain and wind felt like someone throwing darts at my face. The swell smashed over the sides of the boat heaving us horizontally underwater as we bobbed around like a cork. This was now a seriously fucked up situation and I was quietly freaking.

I thought long and hard about what I could do to protect myself in this situation, the captain had gone from someone I trusted to my enemy. We sat at separate ends of the boat and didn’t talk for 5 hours. At 7pm still drinking and totally done he passed out at the helm again. A local in a nearby fishing boat jumped aboard and took the wheel calling another boat to come and help, eventually towing us in after the steering broke.

It was 1:00am and the islands looked like paradise in the full-moonlight. I was too exhausted to appreciate it. I told the captain I would be getting my $200 US back in the morning and leaving him in the islands to continue my journey by foot.

From there it was time to make a decision. I had crossed Colombia off my list but had no idea how to get off the paradise I was stuck in. I spent the day swimming in the most crystal clear water in some of the most perfect islands I have seen and then it was time to go.

The travelling that followed seemed endless: a fishing boat for 2 hours to the mainland, a 4-wheel drive for 3 hours through the jungle to Panama City, a 14-hour bus to Costa Rica plus a local bus to the Pacific Coast. It was time to continue my adventure, a little rattled but stronger for the experience.

Costa Rica has crabs BAD… When it rains there are thousands of bright red, angry crabs reaping havoc on the town. It’s a wild place with naughty monkeys in hotel rooms and crocodiles in the surf. After what I had been through the last week or so I needed to find something which had been alluding me…Waves!

I went and checked out a well-known spot and scored some really good waves in a beautiful setting, finally I felt back on track.

Now the accent back up to Mexico begins…

Note: Missed The Taco Diaries II = Click here