Colombia!

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Santa Marta and Cartagena

            We arrived in Santa Marta, Colombia on the 19^th and had quite an exciting end to our Journey. With the Caribbean Sea spraying into the cockpit being driven by 40kt winds, we finally rounded the last point and found ourselves in the protected (sort of) Santa Marta Marina. We later learned that just a few weeks ago, the winds got up to 50+ kts in the marina, and we saw several boats getting bimini tops and covers repaired. Santa Marta is one of the biggest cities in Colombia, but we spend most of our time near the marina on the main road with a few shops and restaurants. We took a taxi ride over to the nearby fishing village called Taganga for lunch and a visit to a dive shop for some needed parts.  The next day we heard about a nearby town on top of a mountain where Coffee beans are grown called Minca and scheduled a ride up. We met up with our guide and piled in his Land Cruiser for a ride up the dirt road and arrived in time for lunch, before heading out on a hike to a beautiful waterfall. We cooled off with a brief swim and a leap from a little cliff into the deep pool at the bottom of the falls.

            After 5 days in Santa Marta we departed for Cartagena, and broke the trip into 2 days by spending the night in an anchorage along the way. We experienced high winds again along the way which made for a rough and rolly ride, and were relieved when we turned into the harbor and out of the big seas. This time of year is incredibly windy in the south western Caribbean Sea, and some of the Oysters have experienced winds well over 50 kts.

            Cartagena had a new marina that is not yet open to the public, but the owners were nice enough to allow the Oysters to tie up for a few nights. Pandemonium beat us there, and a few days after arriving we were joined by Purusa and Aequitas. Cartagena a very old city with a rich and interesting history, however, you have to be fluent in Spanish to learn anything from the museums. Luckily I knew a few keys words in Spanish that have allowed me to get by: Bano, Cerveza and Wifi. I was also fortunate enough to stumble across a Hard Rock Café in the old walled city which, to my relief, had a few English speaking waiters.

            So far we haven’t had the best luck fishing, and are still waiting to get one on the boat, although I had a 45 minute battle with a 75 lb Wahoo, he was able to get off the hook while I was hauling him up onto the swim platform. Hopefully our luck improves soon.