There we were, all pumped up and ready to set sail. Somehow we ended up killing another day at the docks, but finally by Friday night we were ready to set sail! Right at sunset, we hoisted the sails and pulled out of the ports. It was amazing! Our bikes tied to the front of the sailboat, us getting some sailing experience, and eating the best food ever! (which was all cooked for us!) As we literally sailed off into the sunset Caption Pedro went below deck to get his GPS wired up straight. There was some pirate chick on the boat that just seemed to be getting a ride with us to the san Blas Islands. He had her hold the wheel. After watching her put us 90 degrees off course three different times I eased myself into the captains chair. I got the hang of it in like 30 seconds and had us due on course! Captain Pedro came up, looked at his instruments, and said, "wow, you really know how to drive a boat. You good to drive for a bit?" Of course I was. So he said, "Ok then, You're first mate! and I'm gonna take a nap for a bit."
Well a bit of a nap turned into him going to bed on the bench. Soo.... Dave and I drove the whole night until around 9 or 10am sat morning! Captain Pedro is one Unique guy. My spanish Swear word vocabulary increased 100 percent while were were on the boat with him! He truly took the Phrase "Swore like a sailer" to a whole other level. I was dead from driving all night so I decided to take a nap. Before laying down I dug up a spool of fishing line and a big metal spoon and slowly let it out behind the boat. I watched it for a while with no luck so I tied it off to a cleat and hit the hay for a few hours. I was soon woken up by Nian looking for my Pliers. Turns out Dave and Captain Pedro hand Pulled in a monster Tuna while I was sleeping!!
I was mad for like 4 seconds and then passed out again. When I finally woke up for good, dinner was set. TUNA! Captain had chopped it right up and fried it up for us. Seriously some of the best Fish i have Ever eatin! It was amazing as well because the one we caught was just big enough to feed all 8 of us really well! Pretty soon it started getting dark again which for my meant I was up to pilot the boat. This night me dave captain and Nian all took our turns at the helm.
After my turn I went and laid down right on the very tip of the bow and tried falling asleep. The moon and stars were so bright that I couldn't even keep my eyes closed. After two hours of Laying there awake, we hit a huge wave and my pad slid all the way over the edge and me half way over! Getting lost at sea is really low on my priority list so I got myself better situated on the bow and started drifting off. All the sudden a strange noise and splashing woke me up. ? I Looked around for like 10 mins with out seeing anything. Then all the sudden, I look into the water with is all Lit up with moon and star light. 15 or 20 big whiteish figures right below me at the bow. One rose up and made a huge splash, Dolphins!
Tons of em! I laid on my stomach over the bow for the next 30 mins trying to get one to jump up and touch my hand and watching em do all kinds of jumps tricks all around the waves the boat was putting out. After a while they all left and I finally got some sleep while dave and nian drove.
By the time I woke up Sunday morning we were only like 10 miles out of San Blas. I drove us most of the way in but Cap. Pedro took the help for the last little bit due to coral reefs and low water danger. Which is really funny and you'll find out why very soon!
We sailed ourselves between two paradisaical islands and Captain Pedro yell out, "Drop the anchor boys!" We did as we told which brought us to our new home for the night. As the boat stopped we of course all started flipping and diving off the top of the boat! The water was probably about 45 feet deep and we could see all the way to the bottom! So Blue and so clear! Turns out Captain had a big bag full of snorkel stuff! Of course we spent the next few hours diving around the reefs. There were so many amazing colorful fish, sting rays, and huge conch shells. After we felt how bad our sunburn levels we all headed back to the boat.
Captain was already busy cookin us up a huge meal! We all ate really well. After dinner captain took all of us over to and indigenous island while he stayed on the boat. It looked exactly what an island would look in my mind if someone were to say, "Ok, so youre on a deserted island." Just palm trees and a few indian huts. We walked all the way around the island which is when we got a great idea. Lets sleep on the island! Needless to say, Captain was soon dropping us off again with our hammocks, ropes, and blankets. We treked through the dark to the east side of the island. There we found two palm trees growing out over the water on a 45 degree angle. Dave and I shinneyed up Each tree and we tied all three of our hammocks up over the water.
Laying in our bunk hammocks over the water was unreal. Every star in the sky was out. Small waves and sounds of the islands are all we could hear. Really one of the most amazing campouts of our adventure.
We woke up with the sun the next morning. We rolled up our hammocks and met captain Pedro on the beach.
He took us back to the Night Hawk 2 and yelled for us to hoist the anchor. We were a short 10 miles from the port. We anchored off shore and went to the island immigration office for our visa stamped Captain Pedro came up to Dave and I and said, "Thanks for everything guys! I've never had such an awesome group of people on the boat. Here you go." He gave us each $25 American Dollars! haha He paid us for all our work on the boat! He then told us that whenever we wanted to sail the Caribbean that we didn't need to worry about money. Just call him and he'd take us and our friends for free! Way Awesome!
Soon we were back on the boat and sailed around towards the port. Captain did a loop through a huge pod of Dolphins. It was pretty cool. When he looped around we got slightly off course. I was on the front deck uncovering the bikes when I felt a huge Jolt.. then BLAM!! Scraping sounds, and I'm laying on my back! The next thing I heard was Captain Pedro Yelling Puta!!!!... and Meirda!!!.... Over and over again! Just a slurry of Spanish swear words for the next hour! He and run the Night Hawk 2 right into a shallow coral reef!! Just when we thought the trip couldn't get any crazier, we're shipwrecked in the Caribbean.! Captain Pedro tried pushing us backwards with the dingy while Dave Reversed the motor turning back and forth. Soon and old Indian man showed up in a wooden log canoe. He dropped a huge rock for his anchor, tore his shorts off, and dove in wearing only some skimpy underwear and a snorkel. I grabbed a snorkel and followed suit. When I got under the boat I discovered that the Rutter was blocked by some rocks from behind, and the fin was completely buried under a bunch of rocks about half my size. So what did we do... The old Indian man and I would to a 1.. 2... 3.... Swim down, Grab a boulder, and walk it along the bottom away from the boat! It was pretty awesome! and Scary. The waves we're rocking the boat deeper into the reef. We were hurrying as fast as we could as the tide was going out. the ship would be left high and dry and if we were unable to free it fast. It took the old man and I about half an hour to move all the rocks. When I got back on the boat all I saw was madness. More Indians had showed up with bigger motorized canoes and boats. Somehow Captain Pedro had tied 4 motorized boats up to the back of the Night Hawk 2. They all floored it at the same time and it was crazy! Boats were crashing into each other, Close-lining each other, and Almost sinking! So crazy! When that didn't work Captain Pedro decided that we needed to get us and our heavy bikes off the Night Hawk. We untied the bikes and hooked em one by one to top of the mast.
We hoisted each bike up in the air, swung em out over the water, and lowered em into canoes! Once again, we all looked at each other and thought, "Is this really happening?" haha We put Daves bike, Nians bike, all our bags, and ourselves in one big canoe. My bike went with 4 other guys in a smaller canoe.
Once we were all off the Night Hawk, the four motor boats began pulling again, two dingeys pushed from the front, and captain Pedro at the helm full throttle backwards! The battled it for a few mins and The Night Hawk 2 was free!! We were a hundred yards away already. We heard Pedro yell a loud slurry of swear words and then, "I'M FREEEEE!!! haha So awesome!
We were already on our way for the main land. This canoe ride was super nerve racking! I was squatting on the bottom holding each side. The water was only like 6" from top of the canoe! Twenty mins later we were going up a river inlet with indians everywhere. The boat drivers took us to their friends "Port." We unloaded our bikes and were informed that we had to pay them $35 American dollars each bike. We only had the $50 dollars that Pedro had given Dave and I. So, we gave em $5. They were PISSED! I was ready for and Indian Fight. We tied our bikes up and told em, "Sorry, we don't have any money." After like 30 mins of arguing they finally accepted out rappelling rope as payment. We road down Jungle dirt roads though mud, mountains, and rivers for the next two hours. Panama's Mountains are soo pretty! After a wild mountain ride we made it to asphalt. I looked down at my GPS and..... Sure enough, We had made it to the Pan-American Highway! 7000 kms up the Hwy would put us at the Texas border! At 3:00pm Monday April 19th WE HIT THE ROAD FOR THE ULTIMATE RIDE HOME!!!
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