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Anchorage: Peaceful Night or Wild West?

Posted on by by Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings, South America

The moonlit and the sound of a remote drum woke me up. After sleeping deeply and sweetly, I felt refreshed and recharged when I opened my eyes. I decided that I should get up and look out in order to see what was going on with our three boats. We had left Santa Marta Marina with two other sailboats from France and sailed/motored to Puerto Velero yesterday. While sailing together, we periodically spoke to each other on the radio. I thought that it was very nice to listen to the French converse on the VHF. John sometimes teases French people by saying that the best French food ever invented,

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Easy Trail but Go Slow – Hiking to Iguaque Lake in Colombia

Posted on by by Posted in Sailings, South America

I once read that Colombia is roughly the size of Texas and California combined. Colombia is also a mountainous country which means winding roads. The roads are sometimes a bit rough, and there is a lot of construction going on, they wind along the mountains and valleys. There is no direct path from one town to the next.

Even though we are staying in Colombia for three months, we narrowed down our inland travel. I wanted to hike the El Cocuy National Park (the highest peak in the El Cocuy is 17,550 feet) but I substituted it with ‘Laguna Iguaque’.

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‘Lost City’ Jungle Hiking in Colombia

Posted on by by Posted in Sailings, South America

Doing the Lost City Hike was the top on our things to do list in Colombia. It sounded mysterious, visiting a lost city in the jungle. It is only available through a tour company. We did the Lost City from October 27 to 30, 2015 with the guide, Edwin Rey who has been working for TurCol company as a guide for 25 years. ‘I saw all’, he said. His father was a part of the ‘Lost City’ discovery team and his son is now studying ‘Archelogy’. ‘Lost City’ was destroyed by ‘Gold Hunters (?)’ when it was found in 1975.

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A Family business that does great business! (Boat Repair in Santa Marta)

Posted on by by Posted in Boat Projects, South America

We recently had a lot of boat plumbing issues and have made many trips to a hose and fitting supply store Correas, Guayas Y Ensambles S.A.S., located at Carrera 11a. No. 11-23, in Santa Marta.

It is a family run business that specializes in hose assemblies both hydraulic and water, they also do cable assemblies. They have a huge inventory of parts and have been able to solve so many of my problems. If they do not have it, they know where to get it!

The owner and his son both speak quite a bit of English and with our little Spanish communications were possible.

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Evening with Colombian Families, ‘No Posible Ingles’

Posted on by by Posted in Boat Projects, South America

Our boat projects are almost completed.

We cheered when the ‘Water Maker High Pressure Gauge’ was successfully installed. At first, we thought we had to send the parts to the USA. Sending and receiving parts takes more time and also may involve 28% import tax. Magically, a local hydraulic store solved our problem (*Store Name: Correas, Guayas Y Ensambles S.A.S., *Address: Carrera 11a. No. 11-23, Santa Marta, Colombia).

With pleasure, we invited the owner of the hydraulic store and his workers and their wives over to the boat for an informal evening of drinks and snacks.

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Happy Halloween in Santa Marta Marina

Posted on by by Posted in Sailings, South America

What a scary and surprise morning!

Haunted ‘Bad Bunny’ in Santa Marta! When and how this happened… Waking up and opening the entrance door, I found Bad Bunny has a new look, a haunted sailboat! We were sleeping too deep not to notice anything last night while someone came on our boat and decorated her. This is scary but we were very tired because we came back from the jungle hiking the ‘Lost City’ for four days.

Time to get lots of candies. Happy Halloween!

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Fun in Cartagena, Colombia

Posted on by by Posted in South America

Cartagena is a place to enjoy food, music, shopping, architecture, history, and lots of walking. We stayed here for three days and two nights.

Our bus ride from Santa Marta to Cartagena was long (5.5 hours) but the A/C in the bus was great. On the way, the bus driver stopped to pick up a snack sales person. The first vendor sold ‘Airy Puffed Cheese Tasty Balls’. It has a distinct cheese smell. I liked the ‘Airy’ part. It looks big but actually it is almost like eating air. Good diet food! Along the way, there are many road vendors looking to be picked up by a bus driver.

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Seeing Colombian Doctors in Santa Marta

Posted on by by Posted in Caribbean Islands, Medical Service Experiences, South America

We don’t carry health insurance as good US health insurance is very expensive and we are away from the US while living and traveling overseas. When necessary, we see a doctor or a dentist in whatever country we happen to be in.

One of our plans during our stay in Colombia was to do our physical exams. After arriving in Colombia, I looked for an English speaking doctor in Santa Marta. Either because Santa Marta is a small city; or I am too new in the city, I was not able to find any English speaking doctors. This was very unexpected.

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Start All Over Again!

Posted on by by Posted in Boat Projects, Caribbean Islands, Sailings, South America

We are in Colombia. A New Place! It’s time to start all over again. Immigration and Customs process (via Santa Marta Marina), getting Colombian money (Pesos), learning the local system, finding out the stores, getting to know new people, and etc. In all of our previous stops people were either bi, tri, or even quad Lingual, so getting information was pretty easy. Neither one of us speaks Spanish very well nor do the majority of the Colombians speak English.

Food prices have made our jaws drop here. We can easily get a good lunch for two to three US Dollars.

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Biggest Fish While Sailing to Santa Marta

Posted on by by Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings, South America

As soon as the sun rose on August 29, 2015, we left Cabo de la Vela. It is about 150 nautical miles to sail to Santa Marta!

Local fishermen were already at sea. Leaving the anchorage, I was at the front of the boat to avoid catching the plastic bottles the local fishermen use for their fish trap floats. Those traps may be their only source for feeding their families and paying for their children’s education. We have not had much luck catching fish in the Caribbean for last 8 months so we almost gave up. Thinking back,

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