I know there are alot of info about the darian, but maybe this up to date info is of great use to fellow cheapskate adventurers like myself....
Are you more about saving your money than your time, then try this.

I crossed the Darian gap from TURBO (Columbia) to Carti (PANAMA) for 230 Dollars. This is 500 dollars than the next cheapest way from Cartagena to Carti for 750. On a tour boat (e.g. panama_cartagena_tours_es )

It could be easier than this but when I turn up somewhere I dont like to wait around, I like to go on, even if it is only to the next stop. Which is not always the best course of action but the one that I take.



1st boat
Turbo to Capurgana, on the New Jerusulum, 50 dollars
day and a half, I couldn't go with it.. cargo only.. (I went on a speed boat 20 dollars)
went well ....my bike arrived
...
2nd
Capurgana to Puerto Olbidia 40 dollars
Puerto Olbidia is just across the Panamanian border, 45 min trip
Huge waves, small boat, I was soaked to the skin, so was bike
...
3rd
Puerto Olbidia to the El Arfi in a small boat, 6 dollars,
El Arfi couldnt get to the dock
Went fine.
...
4th
Puerto Olbidia to Carti in the El Arfi, 100 dollars
8 days it was to take, but it took 9.

...
5th
Carti to the LAND in small boat (lancha) 14 dollars.


That is how I did it, and how I saved 500 dollars -thats a hell of a lot of s.

but now knowing what I know I would just call Rafa, the boss of the El Arfi and ask him when he is going to be leaving Turbo for Panama and plan your trip in advance, this way you could get your bike onto the El Arfi in turbo all the way to Carti, or if you have more time, you could go on to Porvenir. He reglarly makes the trip although from turbo to carti would be more than 9 days.

You get to see alot of the Kuna indian villages outside the corrupting reach of the San blas tourists and this for me was good. If you want to see pictures or read more about this journey check out my blog post for the boat trip Argentina2Alaska's Travel Blog at Footstops.com - Free Travel Map & Photo Blog for Travellers

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My bike was a BMWF650, if your is a 1200 or another big bike he will try to charge you more and with a hardly valid reason, weight.
but then its time for your bargaining skills to kick in. Good luck

Rafa (Raphael), Boss on the El Arfi
PH; Columbia 827 2592 or Columbian Cell phone 311 627 8420

There is also another boat called the Cisne that travels a little bit faster than the Arfi but it only goes between Puerto Olbidia and Carti.

If you are staying in Capurgana (real nice village) contact Joey Silver of ¨Cabana Darius¨, he can help you out with boat info and accomodation, a nice guy from hawaii joeysilver@hotmail.com or phone columbia 314 6468 974

Suerte !!

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Thanks
Stephen

For adventure, crashs and breakdown stories go to www.footstops.com/argentina2alaska

Thanks for the detailed info! I'm bookmarking this for later reference

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AtlasRider.com
Sport Touring Blog

most excellent information

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www.throttlemeister.net

Cheers for that. I'll be up that way Nov/Dec and will make good use of the info.

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ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

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ShortWayRound/Facebook

That's 30% of the going rate these days, even though it seems the OP may have missed out on the Islas San Blas. Excellent if you are on a budget. Good Info.

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How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “forever”? - Pablo Neruda

Hmmm... I hate to bring bad news, but I crossed the Darien Gap in the same fashion as Ste IRL but had a completely different experience then him. The small cargo boat that I left Colon on had the engine break down while at sea, then the sump pump broke down, then we got stuck on a sand bar dangerously close to land.

At Puerto Obaldia the cargo boats usually can not use the dock to unload because there is no protective harbor and the dock is usually in a state of disrepair from the last storm. This means that you have to unload your bike while at sea with the boat rocking in 4 ft. waves off the side of the ship and into a lancha that is 6 ft. lower. If you are lucky like me you will get the lazy ass lancha captain who refuses to go get tires from the dock and wants to lay your bike on a couple of 2x6 wood planks.

The crew on the cargo boats will not care about your bike. Expect to have multiple broken parts when you arrive. Three of my turn signals broke, an oil temperature sensor, and my rotor was smacked against the concrete on a dock.

The DAS in Colombia refused to stamp my passport when I arrived in Turbo because there was a stamp that I was supposed to get in Capurgina that no one told me about. Capurgina, Colombia is right next to Sapzurro, Colombia which is right on the remote border with Panama. Even know I had written permission from the Colombian police in Sapzurro the DAS guy in Turbo would not stamp my passport and told me that I had to go to Cartagena first (without a stamp) and pay a $220 U.S. fine.

To cross the Darien Gap by myself again I would pay the $750 that the established sail boat captains in Portobello charge. If I had two friends that I was riding with then I would do the cargo boat option again. If you do the cargo boat option just make sure that you are prepared for things to go wrong/bad. It took me 14 days to get accross and originally I thought it would only take 5 days.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)