Boat from Cartagena to Panama?

[JimVanMorrissey]

Anybody out there looking to sail from Cartagena to anywhere in Panama? I just got to Cartagena yesterday and spent the day poking around the Nautical Club, and there seem to be two boats leaving on Thursday. One is Fritz the Cat and the dude wants $950 for me and the bike. It's a 4-night trip.

I'd vastly prefer to get on a boat that's going straight to Panama, without any futzing around in the San Blas islands. A friend of mine managed to find one of those a few months ago, but as it stands most folks down at the Nautical Club say that, nope, boats doing a direct 1-day trip to Panama are a rare bird, and chances are I'm not going to find one.

Anybody out there have any experience with this? Should I be looking elsewhere, or do the only boats taking bikes leave from the Nautical Club?

I popped in to the Pesca club down the street, and the hoity-toity dude there told me in no uncertain terms that no boat would be taking me to Panama from his marina.

Cheers,
JVM