VIEWS OF CARTAGENA

Two amazing days in Cartagena.
Here are some photos:

the street in which we stayed in a little hotel

lots of wall paintings around town

out in the cool evenings

the main gates to the walled city of Cartagena

looking for a good restaurant

door knockers of all shapes and sizes..

sunset looking over the Caribbean

SPENDING TIME IN COLUMBIA

Santa Marta was a dusty town with quite a big population. The restaurants were good, with excellent local beef and tasty steaks. People were friendly but due to poverty there was some thieving going on.
We took a bus down to Cartagena for a couple of days stay and had an amazing time exploring the old walled areas of the town. We also visited the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas to see a coffee farm which was pleasant.

tourist part of town

at the end of the restaurant street

Cathedral

sidestreets

sleeping in the noonday heat

good food

good beer !

HEADING FOR SANTA MARTA IN COLUMBIA

From the island of Bonaire to the town of Santa Marta on the Columbian coast is one of the most harrowing trips you can make in the Caribbean. Skirting along the North sides of Curacao and Aruba you have to then round the North headland of the Columbian peninsula called Guajira, then South West along the coast through amazing katabatic wind conditions under the great Sierra Navada, one of the highest mountain ranges in the world that borders a coastline.
Arriving in Santa Marta on February 4th at 13.00, was like arriving in 'Mordor'..!  Horribly high winds with extremely craggy coastline. All locals covered their faces in masks to protect themselves from flying grit and sand. The heat was unbearable, but we managed to get a berth in the Santa Marta marina.

green water off one of the rivers in Columbia

There is snow ontop of those peaks..

Approaching Santa Marta the sea gets rough

Santa Marta bay beach

Kwanza on her berth

This was a quiet day.. Usually we had 40 to 60 knot winds and gusts..!

MORE TIME IN BONAIRE

We planned to spend a week in Bonaire but this was only a plan.. Bad weather kept us there for three weeks which allowed us to enjoy the island, renting scooters on a couple of occasions and participating in frequent local cruisers happy-hour meetings and so on.
We eventually found a weather window and left the island on the 2nd February at 04.00 hours.

old slave houses near the salt flats

our mobility scooter

the main windsurfing beach

watching windsurfers

beach bar 

North West coast of Bonaire

Flamingoes

Bleak North part of the island

highest point on the island

sunset

Kwanza on another mooring in a better diving area..