The Darien Gap

We have now reached the top of South America so had to decide how we cross the 'Darien Gap' to reach Central America. The Darien is an area of jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama with no road through it - see map.

The options for us were to fly or go by boat, we decided on a combination of both. The bike is travelling by sea from Cartagena in Colombia to Carti in Panama on the Stahlratte sailing Schooner.

We will fly from Cartagena via Bogota to Panama City and then collect the bike from Carti. The first job was to load the bike.

We enjoyed a mini cruise around the bay to a different area before being taken back to shore. 

We met some other bikers taking the trip. One young couple had originally paid to go on a smaller boat. Their bike was loaded on board and they were enjoying a cold beer prior to leaving port, when Colombian customs boarded the ship. The ship was searched and many bags of cocaine were found! Their bike was confiscated and they spent a couple of scary days in custody before being released. They got their bike back but lost their money for the trip!

This pic was taken when the captain was arrested with 110 x 1kg packets of cocaine on the quay in the foreground!