Negative Feedback

I have started my research about the San Blas Islands and transiting the Panama Canal. It has been quite an eye opener.

 

First, the fee for transit is now $1,000 US. The days when “little boats” could transit for a couple of hundred dollars are long gone. But what is more troubling is the web feedback. It can be summarized as follows:

 

• Crime is rampant both on land and on the water
• You don’t want to cruise without the company of other boats
• The marinas are very expensive
• The marinas are dirty, unfriendly, and in general undesirable.
• The weather is terrible

 

Reading the web feedback one wonders why anyone would choose to go to the San Blas or Panama. Obviously lots of people do this trip. This brings to mind one of the major problems of the Internet – negative experiences are highlighted while positive experiences are overlooked. One remembers the posts of the two or three boats that had problems rather than the hundreds for whom a transit was uneventful.

 

More research to follow.

 

Fair winds and following seas.