LEAVING SANTA MARTA

We were trapped in Santa Marta for much longer than we wished, and this was due to the extremely high winds just off the coast. These are seasonal Katabatic winds which lasted too long this year. Everyone was fed up with the conditions especially the yacht people.
Next stop was the dream island nation of San Blas. These islands are inhabited by the Kuna tribe of people who are starkly opposed to being integrated into the general Panamanian population.
We left Santa Marta on the 27th February at 09.00. Leaving in daylight in order to cross the Barranquilla River entrance with good visibility. This river drains the whole of Columbia so has a lot of debris which is dangerous for boats. Our course passed close to Cartagena and then on to San Blas. Needless to say the night sail was pretty scary with high waves and above average winds..

weather grip file showing high winds off Santa Marta

Kwanza was strapped in well and truly..

on the trip to San Blas we picked up a lot of flying fish during the night.
This is a sign that it was very rough sea. The fish get confused and don't know which way to fly.

arriving in the calm San Blas islands

some other yachts anchored of BBQ island in Hollandes Cays.

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..

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..