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[mercenarri]

Hi there,

I'm planning a South America trip that you can check out over in the SA folder, and part of the trip includes traveling to Panama after Columbia. The idea was to stop at Panama and check my funds, and if I'm still good I could travel further up to the States and even a bit of Canada.

However, my friends have just come back from traveling the Pacific Islands as part of a crew on board a ship. They told me I could ask around in Panama to see if anyone needs crew members, and the answers would almost always be yes. They also said I could board a boat heading to the Pacific for around $20 a day and head to the destination the boat is heading. From then on I could Island hop on whichever boat heading to the destination I want to see, i.e. Tonga, Vanuatu, etc.

Is this plausible? I just wanted to check on here whether this had any truth to it. I'd much prefer checking out the Pacific Islands from Panama and leave the States for another time.

Thanks!

[starlagurl]

I don't have much direct evidence with this, but I met a guy in Saba that crossed the Atlantic (not Pacific) doing this. He'd just go to the marina and say "Scrub your decks?" to everyone and eventually found a nice family to travel with.

If you can do it over the Atlantic, I bet you could do it over the Pacific too, but I'd probably assume that less people are headed that way, than in the Atlantic... Sorry I don't have anymore info than that...

[kris]

you'll have to update us when you get there, sounds like a great adventure i'd be up for..

[mercenarri]

Cheers guys, I'll keep asking around and I'll post any info I get on here.

[salemk]

Cheers guys, I'll keep asking around and I'll post any info I get on here.

Yes please do, I'm very interested as well. That sounds like a great way to travel.