San Blas islands are the perfect paradise you’ve seen but never heard of

IF you have turned on a computer in the past decade, you’ve probably dreamt of visiting the perfect azure water that popped up on your wallpaper. Here’s how to get there.

Do you remember the default Microsoft Windows wallpaper of a lonely island surrounded by turquoise seawater? There was nothing on the island bar a couple of palm trees, white sand and endless bliss. Have you ever wondered where that picture was actually taken?

Let me tell you, my friends, that perfect little island is just one of 365 — known as the San Blas islands — part of an archipelago off the coast of Panama.

And yep, it is actually paradise on earth.

Windows XP wallpaper beach palm trees desktop picture.

With natural beauty that rivals the better-known Maldives, this is a haven for ecotourists due to its barely-existent commercial footprint. What does this all mean? You won’t find one single resort on these islands — or herds of tourists.

Instead you will encounter a mixture of friendly locals and adventurous travellers who have sailed from all over the world. Your choice of accommodation is either a basic ecolodge on an island that are sometimes no bigger than the average Australian home, or sleeping on the boat you came from. Or if you feel like it, you can string up a hammock between two palm trees after a bonfire on the beach with your new friends.

Tropical island paradise you've never heard of.

The San Blas islands are one of the most culturally and environmentally preserved places in the world. They are inhabited and controlled by the Kuna people who are indigenous to the land, and environmental sustainability is high on the community’s agenda. Despite constant pressure from local and international governments and tourism boards, the Kuna people are determined to protect their home.

And best of all, visiting the San Blas islands is relatively easy and inexpensive (depending on your definition of “easy” and also your comfort levels). Anyone who has ever backpacked through “the gringo trail” — between Central and South America — has at least heard of the San Blas islands.

Due to extremely expensive international flights across the continents, and the notoriously dangerous undeveloped swampland known as the “Darien Gap” making travel by land almost impossible, taking a boat to get between Panama and Colombia is a popular option for travellers.

Unfortunately for me, time constraints meant I was forced to travel by air when I first visited Latin America. After repeatedly hearing time and time again that San Blas was “hands down” the best experience of everyone’s trip, I decided to go back two years later to make the journey myself. And the wait was worth it — visiting San Blas turned out to be the best experience of my life.

Tropical island paradise you've never heard of.

The best way to visit the San Blas islands is by sailboat or catamaran, or companies that run speedboat tours for a faster option. If you’re not fortunate enough to have access to your own boat, there are many private charters that run five or six-day tours. I booked my tour through an agent in Colombia.

As each boat is privately owned, there are differences with the vessel and crew members to provide a unique experience. I chose a boat called the “Wildcard” based on its sturdiness, as I was concerned about seasickness. Admittedly, I also liked that the captain had crazy dreadlocks that made him look like he was straight out of Pirates Of The Caribbean. And he didn’t disappoint — the first thing he did when we got on the boat was confiscate our shoes and ban all references to time.

Tropical island paradise you've never heard of.

The first two nights were admittedly pretty terrible. We encountered unusually rough conditions and I spent most of my time in bed trying not to be sick. At night, the waves were so strong that the boat was constantly on its side — at one point the boat tipped so far over that a guy sleeping in the bunk next to me fell into my bed. But that was all forgotten as soon as we arrived and watched the sun rise behind the palm trees on an island, before spending the day floating around the sea with a beer in hand and not a care in the world.

Tropical island paradise you've never heard of.

You would be surprised how much there is to do in a place that seems to have nothing at all. If soaking up the endless perfect days of blue skies and swimming in the warm Caribbean Sea doesn’t do it for you, there are also tours of the islands to learn about the local communities, sport fishing, windsurfing, and just about every underwater activity you can think of. However, I spent most of my time drinking straight rum out of a coconut and pretending to be a pirate with my new sailing buddies.

Tropical island paradise you've never heard of.

For some people the idea of sharing extremely tight living quarters in hot and sweaty circumstances, potentially not showering for a week, and living without the arch-enemy of adventure (Wi-Fi) sounds like absolute hell, which is completely understandable. But if you’re ready to challenge your ability to live without the luxuries of modern life, you’ll be rewarded with an experience that you’ll treasure for a lifetime. Words or pictures don’t do the San Blas islands justice, although I’m pretty sure these images speak for themselves.