catcharter

I spent 500 $ to sleep on the floor, one night in front of the fridge , the other night outside or even on an uncomfortable sofa, were the captain got angryevery time and than because the pillwos were not in the right order.He did not even offer a little mattress, we slept on tiny cushions!! The food was just awful, we got instant coffe whereas the Captain Eduardo had prober Italian Coffe. The food was never enough, we did not see any nice spots like the wreck, whe always had to stop where his diferent gilfriends were and than he left the boat overnight. During one night we had to take night shifts whereas the Captain was sleeping and I was very seasick. The only thing captain was worrying about was, that people did not though up on his boat, I nearly felt in the sea. The last night we had to stay in the Port of Cartagena and leave the Boat on the next day very early in the morning. So we did not even have a last day. He was very dodgy with our passports. And everytime we wanted to know something, like plans or food , he did't give us an answer. I felt pretty much betrayed for all that money I had to pay.

I just returned from San Blas Island where I was few days. A local friend of mine arranged to fly with a small flight from Panama city ( we were only 4 passengers and the pilot- one hour flight , else you can drive for 3 hours in the forest) . My friend had chartered several times in the area but it was the first time with this crew and he told me that it was the best crew he had : Franck french man who lived everywhere and its brazilian girlfriend Joselina... just a terrific couple!!! We felt spoiled from the moment we stepped on the boat until the last moment. I usually charter bare sailboat (without crew) but I was very happy we did because I could actually enjoy fully my vacation without thinking to problems!! We had a lot of fresh fish (that we were fishing ourselves at night!!) and lobsters (these bought from Kunas fishers) , the treat of fresh backed bread in the morning and fantastic fresh fruit juices..Franck is a real character and if he starts telling you about his life ....you will hear some good stories!!We arranged this through an agency that my friend uses all the time , but these are the contact shttp://www.sanblassailing.com/en/?page_id=4070+50761094570mauricebernardd@gmail.com

Our cruise ship docked off a small island in the area. It was literally 400 feet by 400 feet. It looked really cool from the ship. it was all palm trees and sandy beach. The problem was the the cruise ship did nothing to make your time on the island enjoyable. No food or drink or places to sit under shade. The beaches were difficult to swim and the wind side of the little island was like a wind tunnel. They did not tell us that there were shacks on the island where you could buy some questionable food and drink and perhaps rent a broken down chair. It could have been great, if this was a Seaborne Cruise. Windstar is a far cry from a first class cruise line.

my gf and i flew to Panama just so we can sail to colombia and visit the beautiful San Blas islands.. When we go to Panama on 24th of November 2012 we only had a few options to chose from in terms of chosing the sail boat down to Cartagena. You can usually do this trip for around 300-500 USD dollars depending on your budget and your neeeds. Captain Edoardo's boat Buen Vento is one of the most beautiful catamarans that does this trip for sure, however he does also charge $600 for a private room per person. My gf and i thought splashing an extra 100 bucks would be ok to do this once in a life time opportunity. Everything is amazing except for the captain..The boat supposed to fit only 11 or so people however we had 15 people. There are only 3 double and 2 single rooms available for guests, the rest of the people who paid $500 slept literally on the floor and the cushions in the inside deck. thank god we splashed the extra 200 for a room. By the hostel we booked it through we were told we could bring our own alcohol which was one of the reasons we picked this boat as it was already expensive and we didnt want to get hit by a huge alcohol bill. Once we got to the boat we were told we can not bring our own alcohol as he doesnt like people too drunk in the sea and he wants to control it, fair enough we thought however once we were on the boat he wouldnt stop eeding us alcohol the whole time and people being drunk was his last worry, he just wanted make more money.. We were constatnly hungry on the boat, they never made enough breakfast, lunch or dinner for all of us. We were just eating alot of sliced white bread to keep ourselves full. The promised fresh seasfood and lobster were nowhere to be found. and his excuse was that the local indeginous people who come to our boat in small boats to sell us fish was nowhere to be found, which is bullcraap because many times he turned them aweay and told us they were just trying to sell fruit. we caught his lie when we got off toboat to swim to one of the nearest islands to see the same people who has alot of fish that they are trying to sell.. One of the enligh guys on the boat has caught two tunas and another HUGE fish that would be enough for 20 people at least, however the captain had his own agenda with that fish. Once we get to colombia we were going to have the fish that we the passangers caught but captaine doardo was in a rush to get off the boat once we got to cartagena and without giving too much information he said we need to call him on his mobile the next day at 5 pm to see if our passports are rready for collection. nobody told us this and we were lucky enough to check into hostels withiout our passports. Oh did i mention that he took 70% of the fish that we caught with him to his wife? we didnt even get to eat the fish we caught. THIEF! we also didnt get our passports for another 2 days which causes inconvenience for alot of people... things you should be careful for. * he advertises 4 nights and 5 days however itsrealisticly 3 nights and 4 days in total while sailing and you spend the last night at the dock in cartegena and forced to leave the boat at 9am the next morning (the so called 5th day)*you dont get the promised lobster or any seafood. On our first day he made a seafood spaghetti which was actually amazing but that was it, we never saw another seafgood again. infact everymorning he gets made eggs for himself and we only got eggs once, mainly bread and cereal.*he doesnt like to be put in spot. he avoids any serious questions about the sailing or food and gets really frustrated.*you actually get boiled sausages and rice for dinner on the second last day hile sailing the hard seas from san blas to colombia and his excuse is that the waves are too hard and he cant cook. Any normal captain would know that inadvance and would prepare that nights dinner the day before and reheat it. *The so called snacks are actually a single bowl of fruits which was finishes on the 2nd day and there were no more. This guy really insults your intellegence and i didnt say a word to him because my gf and i spent so much money to be in that part of the world and didnt want to make it a negative experience for her but he made this trip hell. we constantly felt like prisoners.. These islands and the secenery are soooo amazing, sooo next level that it would be actually really hard for anyone to be able to ruin it however Captain Edoardo did it very easily.If you have any respect for yourself, dont do it.

The entire trip was wonderful the Captain Eduardo was a deserving of every bit this praise from, his cooking and host detail right to his immense outstanding of the San Blas Islands placing us in the most picture post cards places I have ever seen, his skills at sea are unquestionable and the entire experience is not to be missed...If you to San Blas go with the Buon Vento!!!

We took the Buon Vento from Puerto Lindo to Cartagena, it was an awesome trip! The boat is in brilliant condition, and Captain Edoardo and his first mate Welly worked their socks off. The islands are paradise, there's great snorkelling on two reefs, and the chance to buy goods from the indigenous Kuna's. We were also really lucky to have a great group of people on board. An unforgettable experience!Edouardo talked himself up as quite the chef, and his food did taste great - we were just a bit disappointed with the portions. Even when we'd caught 4 fish the portions were small. Ho-hum. Also, would recommend taking some of your own soft drinks, the free one's on board ran out on the second night... and there's no shops till Cartagena! All tasted great though!When we reached Colombia, we found the passport procedure a bit bizarre, but think it's just the way it works... Edoardo left with them on the Friday night when we docked, and we didn't get them back untill late morning on Sunday... A bit risky if you're needing to move on quickly.Would definitely recommend the Buon Vento to anyone that wants to travel between Panama and Colombia. Beats flying any day!

We took the buen vento from panama to cartagena. What a great pick! The very experienced captain Eduardo not only gave us a very safe passage, but combined with the comfort of his catamaran, the excellent food on board and of course the natural beauty arround us made this trip an unforgetable experience!! If you do it, do it right!

To start out, let me state that I have been sailing all of my life. My parents have always had a yacht, I used to teach sailing, and I have owned my own boat for the last 5 years. I therefore feel qualified to make the following comments.The boat itself looks to be a fairly good boat, but if it is 4 years old as the captain claims it is, then it has not aged well at all. That is where the good points on this boat/captain/trip end.When we booked this trip, we were told that there would be a maximum of 12 passengers onboard, and were told to make our way to a port on the north coast of Panama. Things started going wrong when we were told that actually we needed to get to another port - no problems though, the captain would pay for the 1 hour boat journey that we needed to take. As it turned out, the boat journey was 3.5hrs, the boat was dangerously overloaded, and the captain had decided that we would be charged $15 each.It also was very apparent that there were 15 passengers onboard. We were unsure about what the sleeping arrangements would be, as there are only 10 berths onboard. 2 of these are right up in the bows of the catamaran, and I think are only accessible from hatches on the deck; another 2 are taken by the captain and his girlfriend. It turned out that the captain expected 7 people to sleep on the saloon seats inside and outside.Given that the trip from Panama to Categena includes 2 days of open water sailing, and that only a week or so earlier a catamaran had sank during the journey, we asked the captain if we could see the lifejackets and liferaft. On top of our own knowledge, we have read in several places to make sure that the boats have safety equipment, as some of the boats that do this trip are vastly inadequate for the trip. He begrudingly showed me a handful of lifejackets (I think there were 4 or 5), and got very upset when I asked him if there were at least 18 on board (15 passengers plus the captain, his girlfirend, and someone else who I had assumed was a cook). When I asked him to show me the liferaft, he started shouting at me, telling me that he was the captain, and so if he tells me that he has the equipment, I need to believe him. At that point, we decided to get off the boat, and got dropped off at Porvenir. I firmly believe that he did not have sufficient safety equipment onboard.When we caught up with the people who stayed on the boat in Cartegena, it became apparent that at no point after we left did the captain give any sort of safety briefing. There was nobody else on board who could sail the boat, and so the passengers had to be on night watch during the 2 day open sea trip whilst the captain slept. There was no cook (not sure what the Colombian girl was doing on board, perhaps just there so get around regulations?) - the passengers had to cook. One night the menu, under the direction of the captian was: tinned hot dogs cooked in beer and tomato ketchup! Not quite gourmet food!I have since done some research on the type of boat, and have found that under EU rules, the boat is certified for a maximum of 20 people for 'Inshore' waters; a maximum of 14 people for 'Offshore' waters; and a maximum of 12 people for 'Ocean' waters. Given that another captain who does these trips regularly told us that this stretch of water is one of the worlds roughest passages, I do not think that it was appropriate for this captain to have wanted to have 18 people onboard.I have also since discovered that boats who are registered with 'Blue Sailing' are all guaranteed to comply with Colombian regulations for safety equipment, so I would only recommend doing this trip with boats listed with them.. (They told me that they would never take on this boat, as the captain is a **** and were not surprised to hear of our concerns regarding the safety equipment).In conclusion, I would strongly recomend against travelling on the Buon Vento (sometimes written Bon Vento) from Panama to Cartegena with Captain Eduardo.

This was the most amazing trip through the San Blas Islands. We left from Cartegena and the captain and crew were fantastic. They treated us like friends and did everything they could to make us feel welcome and comfortable, the food was really really good and the boat was just lovely. The double cabin we stayed in was great, and compared to other boats around the same price we had a lot of room inside the boat, even our own bathroom. Just loved it and did not want to leave!

5 days aboard the Buon Vento in the San Blas Islands was absolute paradise!Captain Eduardo was a fantastic host and made sure all aboard felt safe, comfortable and relaxed with his warm Italian humour. The Buon Vento is a great sailing vessel and very spaciois- the variety of spaces to relax a real bonus. Our favourite had to be suspended 1 m above dolphins on the netting.Sailing in style in crystal clear turquoise water, picturesque tropical islands and fresh lobster to top things off.........what more could you want???

Después de 50 horas desde Cartagena, llegamos. Increíble, anclamos a unos 200 metros de la isla, unos 10 metros de profundidad. El fondo parecía que estaba a 20 centímetros de lo transparente que era el agua! Vale la pena seguir viendo las demás islas que hay.

Este lugar es un verdadero paraiso en la tierra. Las formas de llegar son por agua. Recomiendo llegar desde Panamà en lancha. Hay que hacer una vida de camping y llevarse todo lo necesario porque salvo en los alojamientos no se consigue nada. No hay nada fuera de estos lugares. No obstante vale la pena visitarlo, es muy bello. Al llegar se ve la barrera de coral que lo rodea y se atraviesan los manglares que son muy bellos.

Che dire delle San Blas stupende! Poi fare una crociera con Edoardo è stata una cosa stupenda...! Parecchi anni fa avevo già fatto una crociera in queste bellissime isole.. memore della bella esperienza ho voluto ritornarci... Però questa volta sono stata molto fortunata ho incontrato Edoardo vecchio lupo di mare con una notevole esperienza...dico solo questo dovevo fermarmi il tempo di una crociera che sono circa 5 o 6 giorni invece ci sono stata 1 mese...Il Buon Vento è un catamarano bellissimo pulitissimo e si mangia da dio! Quasi quasi sono andata in overdose di aragosta....

Nous avons traverse la mer des caraibes du Panama a la Colombie en passant par les San Blas. Ces 5 jours ont ete paradisiaques: les iles et l'eau sont absolument superbes. Eduuardo est un Capitaine attentionne et chaleureux: il prepare les langouste a merveille!!!Pour finir, le Buen Vento est un bateau tres confortable et stable. Les cabines sont belles et pratiques; le pont est rempli d'endroit pour lezarder au soleil ou bavarder avec ses compagnons de voyages.Ces 5 jours ont ete fantastiques.Merci Eduardo et bon vent!

Partendo dalla bellissima Cartagena, una delle baie piú interessanti al mondo, costeggiando le isole di Baru e del Rosario, dopo una notte meravigliosa, siamo rimasti senza fiato vedendo apparire le Isole di San Blas dove abbiamo passato una settimana tra un'isola e l'altra. Indigeni Cuna, artigianato Cuna ( las molas) acque dal turchese allo smeraldo, spiaggie bianchissime, pesca sub, tante noci di cocco. Il tutto col tocco di lusso del catamarano Buon vento, l'eleganza del suo Capitano, l'eccellenza dell'attenzione e la squisitezza del cibo. DA RIFARE