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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Sailing from Curacao to Cabo de la Vela in Colombia

Posted on by by 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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‘No Sushi’ Signs in Curacao

Posted on by by 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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Klein Curacao and a Three AM Food Run

Posted on by by 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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