The islands
Sand cays with four palm trees, reefs a swim from the shore and sandbanks in the middle of the sea. This is what a day tour looks like.
Every photo on this page was taken on our own tours, with real customers and without colour grading. We say so because in San Blas it needs saying: a good part of what circulates online is stock imagery from other Caribbeans, or the same place with the turquoise pushed two stops.
The water in San Blas really is that colour. What the photos do not tell you is that electricity runs on a schedule, fresh water is rationed and there is no phone signal.
Sand cays with four palm trees, reefs a swim from the shore and sandbanks in the middle of the sea. This is what a day tour looks like.
Many of the cays you see can be crossed on foot in two minutes. It is not a lens trick: four palm trees and little else fit, and that is exactly the point.
By mid-morning several boats can be on the same island. If you want the empty postcard, stay the night: from five in the afternoon the island belongs to whoever stays.
You are nine degrees from the equator, on white sand, over reflecting water. People burn in an hour. Sunscreen and a shirt for snorkelling.
They are ours and our customers'. If you want to use one on a blog or on social media, write to us and we will happily say yes, asking only for a link back. What is not okay is using them to sell a tour that is not ours.
The best light is early, when the boat has just arrived and the water is still. If the photo matters to you, that is the argument for staying the night.
Yes. It is white coral sand under shallow water, and that produces the turquoise on its own. Close to the coast the water turns greener after heavy rain, because the rivers carry sediment; out on the cays it holds.
Ask first on each island. Several communities do not allow it, and over inhabited areas it is considered disrespectful. On uninhabited cays there is usually less of a problem, but the guide has the final word.
Little, and only at times. Electricity comes from a generator that runs for a few hours, usually at dusk. Bring a power bank charged from Panama.
Early morning and late afternoon. At midday the sun is vertical, it blows out the white sand and flattens the colour of the water.
A sandbank in the middle of the sea, far from any island, where the water does not go above your waist. You get there by boat and walk through the middle of the Caribbean. It is on the route of almost all our day tours.
Yes, in specific shallow sandy areas. They are not taken out of the water: out of it they suffocate within minutes, even if they look intact. Look and photograph them underwater, without touching.