Panama & the San Blas
More than 350 Guna-governed islands scattered across a coral-strewn Caribbean shelf, and — fifty-odd miles south — the lock-by-lock passage that has carried ships between two oceans since 1914.
Panama offers a pairing no other charter ground can. Guna Yala — colonial maps called it San Blas — is a self-governed comarca (an autonomous indigenous territory) of more than 350 low coral islands scattered across the Caribbean shelf, and a permit here is arranged through the Guna's own Congress rather than assumed on arrival. Fifty-odd miles west, the Panama Canal offers the single most storied transit in yachting: an admeasurer to inspect and measure the yacht, an agent, four line handlers and a rising-and-falling procession through three sets of locks between one ocean and the other. Shelter Bay holds the Caribbean end, Flamenco the Pacific, and the dry season, December to April, is when both halves of the trip run calmest.
“Guna Yala keeps its own parliament, its own calendar and its own permits — a charter here answers to the Congreso General Guna before it answers to anyone else.”
Signature anchorages
More than 350 reef-fringed islands on the Caribbean side alone — this is tender country and eyeball pilotage in good light, a mothership that anchors off rather than threads the reefs herself.
- El PorvenirGuna Yala's historic port of entry — a 600m asphalt airstrip and a ruined Spanish-era fort share the small island. Permits and check-in are handled here or at the nearest checkpoint; moderate shelter, sand bottom, the practical start or end point for the western cays.
- Chichime CaysTwo islets inside a horseshoe reef a short hop from El Porvenir; good shelter behind the reef, sand-and-coral holding in 4–8m, snorkelling straight off the swim platform.
- Coco Bandero CaysA scatter of palm islets further into the archipelago; moderate shelter between the cays, sand in 5–10m, no village and no facilities — nothing but the postcard.
- The Lemmon CaysBetter-protected water than most of the chain, with several Guna-run island lodges close by; good holding, and about as settled a night as the archipelago offers for anything drawing more than a shallow charter catamaran.
- Isla Perro (Perro Chico)A small cargo ship, sunk in 1958, lies a few dozen metres off the beach in 0–5m, now colonised by coral and reef fish. Shallow, tender-and-snorkel work rather than a deep-draft stop.
- Cayos Holandeses (the Hollandes Cays)The outer reef line — clearer water and far fewer boats than the inner cays, but open to Caribbean swell on the ocean side. Settled pools inside the reef; a fair-weather anchorage only.
- PortobeloThe mainland crossing point toward the Canal: a deep, well-protected bay below Spanish fortifications standing since the 1590s, good holding throughout, and the most useful stop between Guna Yala and Colón.
Guna Yala, in three moments
Self-governance, a craft older than the comarca itself, and the revolution that won it both.
The Congreso General Guna
Guna Yala answers to its own parliament before Panama's — the Congreso General Guna, sitting since the autonomy negotiated after 1925. It licenses operators, sets the comarca's cruising permit and collects the fees that keep the islands run on Guna terms.
The Guna Revolution
Twenty-six days of talks at Ailigandi in February 1925, led by Nele Kantule of Ustupu and Simral Colman of Ailigandi, produced a short-lived declaration of independence, the Republic of Tule. It ended in a negotiated peace rather than a republic — but that peace is why the comarca, formalised in 1938, still governs itself.
Mola
Guna women hand-stitch mola panels by reverse appliqué — cutting through two to seven layers of coloured cloth so the design shows through from beneath, around sixty hours' work for one panel. Sold from the islands themselves, they are the one piece of Guna Yala a charter can actually carry home.
The Canal, in three moments
A first transit, an expansion a century later, and the fortified coast that guarded this stretch of water three hundred years before either.
SS Ancon's first transit
The cargo-and-passenger ship SS Ancon made the Canal's first official transit on 15 August 1914, some two hundred dignitaries aboard, Cristóbal to Balboa in roughly nine hours. Fifty-odd miles, and the Atlantic and Pacific have been a day's work apart ever since.
The Neopanamax locks
A third lane of locks — seventy feet wider and eighteen feet deeper than the originals — opened on 26 June 2016, doubling the Canal's capacity for ships roughly one-and-a-half times the old Panamax limit. The original locks never closed; they still take every small-craft transit through by hand.
Portobelo's fortifications
Francis Drake died at anchor in this bay in January 1596; Spain founded the fortified town the following year to replace Nombre de Dios as its Caribbean treasure port. Henry Morgan's privateers took it by force in 1668. The forts have stood since — UNESCO-listed in 1980, and on the World Heritage in Danger list since 2012.
Table & stay ashore
Casco Viejo, Panama City — a short taxi from Flamenco Marina, and the city half of the trip either before or after the water.
Dónde José
Panama's most exclusive table — sixteen seats around an open counter in Casco Viejo, a ten-course tasting menu built from small Panamanian producers, no à la carte and no compromise.
Caleta
Chef Mario Castrellón's Casco Viejo dining room, set in a restored colonial building with sea views; Panamanian ingredients taken through serious technique, patacones (twice-fried plantain) reimagined alongside them.
Central Hotel Panama
Built in 1874 during the French canal era and rebuilt after an 1878 fire, Panama City's oldest grand hotel faces Plaza de la Independencia in Casco Viejo — closed for eight years, restored, and reopened in 2008.
American Trade Hotel
A 1917 department-store building on Plaza Herrera, derelict by the 1970s and restored by the Casco Viejo preservation group Conservatorio with the Ace Hotel team; fifty rooms reopened in 2013 inside the city's old commercial boom.
A week, sketched
El Porvenir, Guna Yala
Fly Albrook to El Porvenir's airstrip, clear the Guna Congress permit at the checkpoint on arrival, and board for the short hop to Chichime — a first night inside the reef.
Chichime & Coco Bandero Cays
A slow day working east through the reef — snorkelling straight off the boat at Chichime before the run on to Coco Bandero's scatter of palm islets, no village and no facilities in sight.
The Lemmon Cays
Deeper into the archipelago and better-protected water, with Guna-run island lodges close by for a look at how the islands host their own visitors; good holding for a settled night.
Isla Perro & the Cayos Holandeses
A short hop to the 1958 wreck at Isla Perro, sunk in water shallow enough to snorkel straight from the swim platform, then on to the outer reef at the Hollandes Cays — the clearest water in Guna Yala, and the fewest other boats.
West to Portobelo
The long passage day, back along the coast to the deep, well-protected bay below Portobelo's Spanish fortifications — UNESCO-listed since 1980, and the water where Francis Drake was buried at sea in 1596.
Shelter Bay Marina, Colón
On to the Canal's Caribbean end and a night alongside at Shelter Bay, the former Fort Sherman base — admeasurer, agent and line handlers all arranged ahead of tomorrow's transit.
The Panama Canal
Up through Gatun's three chambers, the crossing of Gatun Lake, then down through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores to the Pacific — a full day's transit, ending alongside at Flamenco Marina with Panama City's skyline dead ahead.
Pair with
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The year, measured
Monthly means at the heart of this water — daily maxima averaged, wind as mean daily peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air, day °C | 28 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 |
| Sea °C | 28 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 29 |
| Wind, peak kt | 17 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 15 |
ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo · 2019–2023 means · sea temperature 2022–2023
The yachts that run these waters
Profiles from the record — introductions via the harbour desk.
Read on: WAKE — the magazine · the guides · the glossary