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..

A GREAT TIME IN BONAIRE.!

Bonaire is one of the Dutch Antilles and situated just off the coast of Venezuela (which is a highly dangerous area these days). It is part of the three island group called the ABC Islands. Bonaire specialises in scuba underwater diving since it has amazingly clear water.
The other islands in this group are Aruba which has all the casinos and is an American holiday destination, and the bigger island on Curacao is a budget holiday resort.
The trip to Bonaire took us three days of sailing in some quite rough seas, along the north side of the Venezuelan Los Roques islands.
The fear we had about arriving in Bonaire was that yachts are not allowed to anchor anywhere, they have to pick up mooring balls, and these are very few.
So on arrival in the late evening we were very lucky to find a spare mooring close to the passenger ship dock. That was at 22.05 on Friday 12th January. 402 Nautical Miles from Grenada.

Bonaire was beautiful and the shops were full of Dutch products (cheese and fricandel.!)

Kwanza on a mooring in clear blue water right over the diving area..

a view along the shore from Karols bar

Dinghy parking at Karols bar

frequent cruise ships which very quietly glided onto their dock..

Kwanza basking in morning sun..

DEPARTURE FROM GRENADA TOWARDS BONAIRE

After leaving Woburn Bay we motored around to Prickly Bay and picked up a mooring ball for a week. We had to have our new AB dinghy repaired. This was done with the agreement of Budget marine under warranty.
So when the dinghy was repaired we sailed to Saint George's bay as a last staging point before we headed West to Bonaire. We fuelled up at the Saint John's Club fuel dock then spent the night at anchor before we headed out into the deep blue on the 10th January at 06.55.

Provisioning......

Then off we went..

initially quite calm but the seas soon mounted high...

This is our usual downwind rig...poled out genoa..

crew on watch..

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS IN GRENADA

With all the delays due to the Hydrovane installation (waiting for parts etc.) we decided that it wasn't such a bad idea to spend Christmas and New Years in Grenada. There were plenty of yachts and other cruisers present so lots to do and see. In addition we were moored right outside a wonderful restaurant run by French Canadians who were pretty damn good cooks.

Candles of course.. To get the 'ambiance'

very varied weather. But glorious anyway..

Christmas trees and lights in the Caribbean at 28 degC

Local brewery

Happy cruisers..!

REPAIRING THE RUDDER BEARING AND OTHER WORK

The play (looseness) in the rudder had weighed on my mind the whole year. Its not an easy job and in addition when you take something apart there is always the possibility that you will find other problems.
So I have included some boring photos of the rudder rework..
In addition to this we had a total failure of our battery chargers (Cristec) so had to order new ones. We also had pretty bad window leaks on the saloon side windows. The problem here is that the bonding material which glues the window panels in place deteriorates in the heat. This is a Beneteau inherent problem. We also had a new bimini and sprayhood made, and the water maker had to be repaired.

The rudder and shaft are dropped down for access to the bearing bushing

here the bushing has been cleaned and glued back in place.
Ensuring that the looseness has been eliminated.

this is the bushing that goes into the rudder tube

the bearing surface on the rudder that runs in the bushing

More work...This is the rebuilding of our water maker high pressure pump

this is the Hydrovane installation partly done. We had to wait for lost parts to be shipped in

Kwanza sitting pretty with new bimini, spray hood and new Hydrovane installed

PREPARING KWANZA FOR THE LONG CRUISE WEST

We are planning to sail West very cautiously, because although we intend to go through the Panama Canal this year we are aware that everything can change in the yacht cruising world, and already this season has started slowly with all the problems we have had with the rudder bearing rework and the installation of a Hydrovane self steering system.
So after we launched Kwanza in Clark Court boat yard we stayed on the dock for a few days then we anchored out in Woburn Bay. We were waiting for additional parts to arrive for the vane..

Woburn Bay

On a mooring just off Whisper Cove marina

A lovely little 'night heron'

Whisper Cove marina