Start All Over Again!

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. Spending about 5 US Dollars gets me a whole bag of tropical fruits (Big Soursop, Papaya, and Bananas) and vegetables (Green Beans and Green Peppers). A bottle of beer cost about 65 cents. John paid about $3 to fix his kitesurf harness (re-enforcing and resewing) and less than two dollars for his Merrill hiking shoe repair (gluing and resewing by hand). I got a new hair cut for $7.

Since we are staying in a Marina, we plan on accomplishing lots of boat projects (below). We have so much to do dealing with vendors and part orders, seeing doctors for health exams and dentists for dental exams, and of course, sightseeing in Colombia as well as polishing our Spanish language skills. Also, John plans to join the fitness club and I plan to attend local yoga classes. Life gets never dull on ‘Bad Bunny’!

*** Bad Bunny Boat Projects in Santa Marta Marina in September 2015 ***

• Order and Install a new AIS system
• Replace the water maker high pressure pump
• Change water maker high pressure gauges
• Change a water maker hoses
• Re-adjust the auto-steering wheel
• Troubleshoot a splitter issue between AIS system and a VHF Radio
• Repair a leaking front hatch
• Clean the bilge
• Replace a new bilge pump
• Wash/wax the whole boat
• Sand/varnish teak on the deck
• Wash/examine anchor chain
• Sand/repaint dinghy
• Repaint the air compressor motor
• Clean/wax/polish all wooden surfaces and ceiling inside of the boat
• Empty and clean all the drawers and cabinets on the boat
• Re-surface any worn-out places
• General cleaning
• Thaw and clean freezer
• Re-provisioning for our next trip (San Blas Islands), and more…