@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 2

One day charter

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 3

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 4

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 5

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 6

@Southern San Blas Islands: Overnight Cruise - photo 7

23 hours

Flexible dates

Panama

Nargana

Holandes Cays

Isla San Blas

Coco Bandero

Corazón de Jesús

About the tour

Elba 45 "Batamaran" is a sailing catamaran around 13–14 meters long, stable on waves and well-suited for island-hopping in the San Blas archipelago. It features four cabins and sleeps up to eight guests, with a layout that works equally well for families and mixed groups.

Navigation, docking, and piloting are fully handled by the professional crew.

Suggested route (09:00–08:00 the next day):

The journey begins in San Blas, with the first stop at Chichime. Two nearby sandbars form a calm, sheltered lagoon with convenient depths and a few scattered homes of the Guna community. It’s an ideal spot to anchor, paddleboard along the reef edge, and go ashore briefly - with the islanders’ permission.

Next, the catamaran heads to Isla Perro. Just off the beach lies a shallow sunken ship, surrounded by schools of fish, coral colonies, and sponges. The site is a local favorite for snorkeling, with gentle depths and warm water access from the lee side of the island.

The night is spent anchored in Cayos Holandeses. Sailors have nicknamed this area “The Pools” thanks to its flat sandy bottom and protection from an outer reef. The reef edge is perfect for snorkeling, and scattered coral patches nearby offer excellent visibility. In the morning, there’s time for a short visit to a nearby sandbar before returning to the starting point.

Tour itinerary

Nargana is a densely built Guna island where most of the shoreline is reinforced with coral rock and concrete slabs. The village has a compact grid of footpaths, wooden houses mixed with later concrete buildings and a central congress house used for community gatherings. A short bridge links Nargana to Corazón de Jesús, creating one continuous settlement across two small islands. Family docks line the waterfront, and carved wooden ulus rest on the shore between the houses. The interior holds no forest or open land, only tight residential blocks and several communal structures.

The Hollandes Cays are a group of small sand and mangrove islands in the northern part of Guna Yala, ringed by a shallow barrier reef. The cays form a broken arc with narrow channels cut through coral heads, and most anchorages sit behind the outer reef where the water stays calm even in the trades. Several of the larger islets hold small mangrove pockets and thin lines of coastal scrub, but there is no permanent settlement. The reef edge drops quickly into clear water with spur-and-groove formations typical for this section of the coast.

Isla San Blas is one of the central cays of Guna Yala, set inside a wide reef flat with shallow channels leading toward the outer barrier. The island is uninhabited and shaped by sand ridges and low coconut groves planted decades ago by Guna families who used the cay for seasonal stays. The shoreline is a mix of sand pockets and coral rubble with clear access for a tender, and the lagoon side is protected from swell except during strong northerlies. Off the eastern edge lies a hard-coral platform with scattered bommies and patches of soft coral typical for mid-archipelago reef structures.

Coco Bandero is a tight cluster of small sand cays in the northern part of Guna Yala, set behind a broad reef flat with narrow cuts leading toward the outer barrier. The cays are uninhabited and edged with shallow coral rubble, low coconut groves and short strips of coastal scrub shaped by the trades. Inside the lagoon the bottom is a mix of hard-coral plate and scattered bommies that create short, sheltered passages between the islets. The outer reef drops into deeper water with spur-and-groove formations typical for mid-archipelago structures.

Corazón de Jesús is the eastern half of the twin Guna settlement linked to Nargana, but the island has a noticeably more open waterfront. The shoreline includes longer straight sections used for small boat landings, with several concrete pads and repaired coral blocks showing continuous use. The interior has wider footpaths than Nargana and a looser layout of houses, including a few older wooden buildings that survived multiple storm seasons. A small waterfront square and the community buildings around it form the center of daily activity. There are no forested areas; the entire island is shaped by long-term habitation.

Travel route

Boat & accommodation

Sailing catamaran Elba 45 "Batamaran"

Cabins

4

Places

8

Toilets

4

Year of construction

2015

Length, m

11.55

Equipment

Autopilot

Ice maker

Wi-Fi & Internet

Refrigerator

Stand up paddle

Air condition

Tour organizer

Maksim Smirnov

Experienced captain

Languages

English

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

About me

Maxim Smirnov
Yacht Skipper • Sailing Instructor • Racer

About me:
Sailing since childhood, yachting since my teens, and a life at sea.
I’m inspired by the adrenaline of race starts and the thrill of fighting for seconds, but nothing beats the pleasure of an unhurried cruise: when the sail catches the wind and there’s good food, easy conversation, and a crew you truly want to share the sea with.
I’m happy to share the helm, become part of the team, and help others feel the boat the way I do.

How I can help:
— Skipper for cruising and racing projects
— Instructor for beginner and advanced sailors
— Participant and organizer of corporate regattas and team-building events
— Preparing yacht crews and boats for racing

Key facts:
— Sailing since 1987; graduate of a St. Petersburg sports school (classes: Optimist, Cadet, 420, 470)
— Cruising yachting since 1994 (Quarter Ton class, Open 800, Raketa 970, and charter yachts)
— Independently built and skippered the yacht Flavis (32 ft, Raketa 970)
— 10+ years of teaching experience in yachting (IYT, ISSA)
— 10,000+ miles on offshore passages

Licenses and certificates:
— RYA Day Skipper (since 2012)
— ISSA YachtMaster Offshore (since 2016)
— GIMS, Ministry of Transport (sailing vessel skipper, since 2012)
— STCW-95, VHF, First Aid

Racing experience:
— Regattas on dinghies and sport yachts
— Podium finisher at the Russian Cup in Quarter Ton and Open 800 (GP26) classes
— Participant in ORC European Championships and Gotland Runt (AF Offshore Race, Sweden)
— Regattas in Turkey, the Baltics, Sweden, and Russia

Corporate projects:
— CG Sailing Cup (Montenegro, Croatia)
— Synergy Business Regatta (Montenegro)
— TechnoRegatta 100Captains 2024 (Montenegro)

Deliveries:
— Canary Islands – Madeira – Málaga (46 ft, skipper)
— Le Havre – Lisbon – Barcelona (53 ft, first mate)
— Malta – Canary Islands (53 ft, first mate)

The sea for me is work, sport, and a way of life.
And every new project is a chance to share this passion with a crew and make another journey unforgettable.