After a long period of complications, the situation in San Blas (Panama) now seems to have returned to normal. Boat captains will now be able to pay an annual fee (tax) and thus carry out their charter activities legally in the San Blas Islands (Panama), and in agreement with the Kuna authorities. This new measure puts an end to a long period of conflict between sailboat rental operators, the Kuna authorities and the Panamanian government itself.

Indeed, for more than a year (February 2018), the Kuna authorities had firmly decided to ban all charter activities on sailing ships present in the san blas... This prohibition had notably resulted in the closure of access to persons wishing to go on a boat to the san blas (sometimes even causing problems for the boat captains themselves!...) and also in the imposition of fines on all persons (taxi or lancha) carrying persons wishing to go on a sailboat...

However, this prohibition was confronted with another reality, namely that Panamanian law clearly stipulates that Guna Yala province has the power to exercise its own laws throughout its land territory, but under no circumstances on the maritime territory, which remains above all the territory of the Republic of Panama (and therefore complies with Panamanian laws, and not Kuna Yala...)

It is therefore an ambiguous and disturbing situation that has been experienced by boat rental companies based in san blas for more than a year and which has not been without its problems (passengers and crew forced to "lie" about their destination when crossing the Kuna border, regular fines and licences withdrawn from certain taxis and lancheros, reduced economic activity for the population, etc....)

But all this is now a thing of the past, since it is therefore planned by the new Congress in place (Kuna authority) that the road will very soon be reopened again for people wishing to go on a sailboat to the san blas.

Visitors, tourists, can now come and enjoy cruise holidays in the islands of san blas, which remain, if it were necessary to remind you, a particularly privileged destination in the Caribbean Sea, with an incomparable fauna and flora, magnificent landscapes worthy of a postcard and a unique and authentic population...

To find out more, and request a free quote for your next holiday in the san blas, visit the sanblastour.com website, a long-standing partner of the local Kuna authorities and offering tailor-made sailing holidays, and for all budgets to visit these islands...

The best time to visit the san blas is between January and April, which is the dry period. It is also possible to come to these islands all year round, taking care to avoid the months of October or November, particularly rainy and stormy...