Kay Chung
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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Kay Chung
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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Kay Chung
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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Kay Chung
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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Kay Chung
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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Kay Chung
Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings, South America
Day 1 (August 25, 2015): Rather in rush, we left Curacao at about 10 AM. The wind ranged from 15 to 20 knots throughout the day. Days earlier, there was a hurricane ‘Danny’ (later changed to tropical storm) in Atlantic which affected the trades weakening them and giving us a great weather window for Colombia. We took it! We heard this sailing route is one of the five most difficult sailing routes! During my watch schedule, I saw hundreds of dolphins playing around our boat following the waves. They stayed with us for more than an hour.
Night 1 (August 25,
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Kay Chung
Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings
When we first arrived in Curacao, we saw ‘Dushi’ (Sweet) signs everywhere. Staying here longer, we are seeing ‘Sushi’ signs more often. ‘Sushi’ means ‘Trash’ in Papiamento, the local language in Curacao.
Curacao is the country I have stayed the longest in so far other than my birth country (South Korea) and my adopted country (USA). During the last three months, we have met lots of cruisers and local people in Curacao. “Thursday Night Cruiser’s Dinner” at ‘The Pier’ Restaurant was a great social event. Grocery shopping, hiking, snorkeling, and playing ‘Mexican Train Domino’ games with other cruisers,
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Kay Chung
Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings
We made a day sail to Klein Curacao which is 15 miles away to the East when our friend Charlie visited us for a week.
The sail was nice with a 15 knot breeze and a 4 to 6 foot sea. We arrived in Klein Curacao and dropped anchor in less than 10 feet of water in deep white sand away from a beautiful beach. We went to shore and did a quick walkabout the island.
The next day we got up early and John and Charlie tried to kitesurf. The wind wasn’t very good, and they came back within a couple of hours.
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Kay Chung
Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings
Curacao allows US citizens to stay up to six months for each visit. By applying for residency (a Declaration of Admission by Law), US citizens can work in Curacao as the Dutch do. We have been staying here for almost three months. I have multiple travel guide books and maps on Curacao. Been there and done that! My mind is already on our next stop which will be Santa Marta in Colombia. In the meantime, reading has been my main hobby here in Curacao.
There is a bookshelf (outside) by the dinghy dock at the anchorage. Some cruisers leave books on the shelf and others take them.
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Kay Chung
Posted in Caribbean Islands, Sailings
‘Bon Bini’ means ‘Welcome’ and ‘Dushi’ means ‘Sweet’ in Papiamentu, the official language in Curacao, “originated from different African languages, complemented with words from Dutch, Spanish, English, and Portuguese.”
Sailboat for us seems like a water RV. The other day, John and I figured out that we sailed less than 10% of our total time since leaving North Carolina in November 2014. Sailing lets us go from one place to another place. Once we get there, we anchor, live on a boat, and travel the country. This is the remaining 90%. We are more nomadic travelers than sailors.
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