Cartagena

Here’s our course from Curacao on the right to Cartagena, Colombia on the left. (Click on it to biggerate). The blue was the planned route. The two stars show where we actually were at on each morning of the 3 day trip. Conditions were decent till we got to Punta Gallinas. From there to NW of Santa Marta the seas were 8-10feet and made for a rolly time. Winds in the 22-29kt range with a few rain squalls. After Santa Marta the seas laid down and the last day was a pleasant downwind sail. All in all, decent passage.
An offshore visit from the dolphins. Chris got some nice GoPro footage of the dolphins at play. I’ll try uploading after she edits it down to a small chunk.

We arrived at Cartagena at sunrise. Lots of tall buildings – reminds me of Miami Beach. While 5 miles offshore we got a call from the Port Authority over the radio requesting our arrival time and when we would like to take onboard a Pilot to enter the harbor. After I explained we weren’t a thousand foot cargo ship and didn’t require a Pilot, he wished us a Good-day.

We anchored off of Club Nautico and went in to start clearance. We instantly knew we were back in Central/South America. Check this guy’s improvised cardboard hat to cut out some of the brutal sun. The rebuild of Club Nautico has been going on for something like 4 years. To the left in the picture is the new Laundromat. It has nice new washers and dryers. It has water, but no electricity yet. We needed to get some laundry done, so we dropped the bags off at the marina office. The place that picks them up and does the washing had electricity, but no water today. Dirty clothes for another few days.

You have to use an agent to clear-in to Colombia. The price for us was $200,000 pesos (about US$92). It is close to triple that if you stay longer and therefore require a temporary import cruising permit.  The agent, David, said we could get by with a few extra days.

A couple of pictures from our visit with Rose and Jani, in Curacao. Not sure what you get at the Rasta Car Wash.

Here’s Bill in the foreground with Rose standing by her rental car, under the brolli, in the light rain. Note the unfortunate boot on the rear tire. We forgot to put money in the parking machine. A quick call to the number on the sticker they slapped on the window and $25 Netherlands Antilles Florins (aka 18 bucks US) and they came and let the car out of jail.

Paul