Destination Cartagena

A few more notes on Santa Marta…

Many of our boats were “dressed” while at Marina Santa Marta as there were many photos taken for press and the marina itself.  We met David and Thomas, two nice Irish lads from Belfast.  They were traveling on land through South America and looking for a lift to Panama.  We would have loved to have offered a ride but it’s way too complicated to add and remove crew from your manifest.  Hope they made it to Panama!

 

 

The passage from Santa Marta was about 200 miles.   Many of us anchored part way through for the night in Puerto Valero, a large bay with plenty of anchor space.  We arrived just before sunset and left at dawn, never having gone ashore.

 

 

 

Between Valero and Cartagena the Magdalena River, one of Colombia’s largest, flows out to the sea.  The change in water color is dramatic!

 

 

 

 

 

Approaching Cartagena we were quite surprised to see towering contemporary buildings on the horizon.  We had been instructed by the Harbor Master to enter the harbor at Bocachica at the southernmost end of the harbor and our anchorage was at the northernmost end of the bay so we had a tour of the entire area.  Also,  each boat had been assigned a specific anchoring coordinate just before arrival.  The anchor assignment caused a bit of a scramble as the numbers provided were in terms of 60 seconds per minute while we’re accustomed to decimal minutes.  First, it is unusual to be given such a specific anchor instruction then the confusion with the way the numbers were assigned had everyone on edge.  It took a bit of calculation and loads of radio communication before all boats had correct numbers.  Ultimately everyone ended up anchored as instructed with little drama.  Our anchorage was a beautiful spot with the old city as our view.

We had been sponsored by Club de Pesco  which was a great resource to our group.  Suzanne had worked with Lee Miles who was a wonderful host throughout our stay.  Upon our arrival there was a  cocktail party and a regatta named for us the following day.  The staff and club amenities were helpful resources to all.

 

 

Race day was great fun!  Following our introductory meeting with Suzanne and Lee we wandered over to the race area where the festivities were just beginning.  The guys were all agog over the bikini clad girls and were more than happy to accept cold Coors beer from them.  The regatta boat captains and rally members began to mix and agreements were made for OCC members to act as crew for the local boats.

 

Jeff signed on to sail on a Beneteau 473 which ended up with 5 rally members.  I signed on to a Dufour 30 that was docked next door at Club Nautico.   Jeff’s boat experienced an issue with their spinnaker on the downwind leg then proceeded to focus more on drinking than sailing.  My experience was completely different.  I signed on with  Nepentes which Santiago had purchased 6 months prior.  He and his crew, Ricardo, Gabriel and Chespirito practiced every Wednesday and handled Nepentes very well.  We were the smallest entry and they assured me we would be last in.  It was a wonderful and exciting sail in Cartagena Bay that day.  It’s been about 4 years since I went out for a sail rather than a journey and I truly enjoyed my afternoon aboard Nepentes.

Santiago is the director of Jardin Botanico de Cartagena, Ricardo is an architect, Gabriel is a student and was starting college in Bogata the following Tuesday.  Ricardo was quite familiar with where Jeff and I had sailed from as he did his undergraduate degree in Cincinnati.  I had little conversation with Chespirito since I am not quite up to conversations in Spanish yet.

 

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Santiago’s father had been the Colombian ambassador to Sweden and  in honor of the purchase of Nepentes he had given Santiago hats and a seal from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club which he and Chespirito proudly wore during the race.  I pointed out our Swedish member, Dan of Bla Elinor as the boat he was on headed out.

The event was such a great way to introduce us to the local people and we all came back with fun stories about our day and those we met.

The following morning Jeff and I headed off to explore El Centro.  This walled city is more than 500 years old and filled with structures formerly used as hotels, homes and cathedrals.  Today it continues as a bustling tourist and commercial area with lots to explore.  Over the following days we spent much of our time within the walls of the city could still have done more exploring had we had the time.

During our stay we joined a city tour with several other rally members where we visited Convento Del La Popa, which in itself was interesting plus it’s location is at the highest point in Cartagean and provides amazing views of the city.  We stopped by the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas,  a Spanish fortress designed by the same architect as the forts in Puerto Rico and we visited several spots in El Centro.  Another day several of us took a trip out the the Botanical Garden of Cartagena.  Santiago who I had sailed with in the regatta is the director of the garden and took us on a great tour of the area.

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We also visited a few different restaurants, two stood out and provided wonderful meals.  One was La Perla where we had a great evening with David and Suzanne of Suzie Too.  The second was Boutique Las Indias where we had another great evening with Bill and Helen of Alembic and Willem and Remco of Tiganello.   Club de Pesco hosted a “farewell dinner” for the rally on our last night there where we started with a little Salsa dancing and a nice buffet meal.

Lee Miles was such a great resource for us and invited a few of us to his home for a pancake breakfast on the morning of our departure.  He has a beautiful home overlooking the the bay and we watched a few of our boats starting their journey to our next stop.  Thanks to Lee for taking such good care of us!

Cartagena was yet another amazing stop on this wonderful adventure!

~ Jeff and Mary ~