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December 2, 2007   Snug Harbor, San Blas, Panama  09 19.60N  78 15.28W

We are waiting on the weather window to cross and it looks like Monday, manana is the day, so even though Glide decides to leave on Sunday, we stay put and get ourselves ready and the boat ready for the journey.  The kayak is deflated and stowed away down below, the fuel filters are cleaned, jacklines are secured on deck, meals are prepared ahead of time so all I have to do is reheat them, and everything down below is secured.  We also switch out our jibs, and replace the genoa with the smaller 90.  We could be beating into the wind, so the smaller jib works better. 

The weather has been beautiful these last 3 days, sunny and the wind is moderating.

Depending on the wind, our destination has options.  San Barnardo is 125 miles but further southeast, 160 miles to the Rosarios, or all the way to Cartagena is 175 miles.  We plan on leaving at 930 am tomorrow with our good friends on Kaija's Song, Gary and Kaija, and their dog, Doc.

I wish we could stay longer here in the San Blas, there are so many wonderful places to see and people to meet, but we shall look forward to our return.

Farewell to the San Blas

December 4, 2007   Rosarios, Columbia  10.10.35N 75 44.95W

The passage to the Rosarios took 28 hours and it was a smooth crossing.  The seas were 2-3 ft and the winds were out of the northeast 10 knots, but shifted during the trip more to the north and then ended up westerly at the end.  But, there wasn't much wind, so we motored the entire way except for 1 1/2 hours, where we actually did sail.  A brief rainshower produced a gorgeous rainbow and during the night there was some squall activity but nothing bad.  All in all, it was a good crossing, uneventful.

December 5, 2007  Birdwatching then Big City

Pam and Denis on Glide made it to the Rosarios  at about the same time we did, but they had anchored in San Barnardo the night before.  We plan on leaving for Cartagena today along with them while Kaija's Song stays put.  But before we leave and after talking with Chuck and Teri on s/v Maker's Match, who tell us about the bird aviary that is a must see, we go visit the birdies.  In lieu of an admission fee, the caretaker, Delia, makes jewelry, so after our tour we check out her bead jewelry and I buy a set of earrings and a bracelet.

This place is impressive with all different kinds of birds from all over the world.  Apparently, the owner had a passion for his fine feathered friends and intended to charge an admission fee when he first opened up, but the government of Cartagena told him he could not, so instead it's free and the public reaps his efforts. 

On our way back to the boat from the bird aviary, the trail crossed thru a local family's yard.  It was obviously lunch time, since the two small children were eating their lunch seated in a crate. You gotta love this!

 At noon, we raise anchor and motor the 20 miles to Cartagena; and arrive just in time for happy hour.  As we enter the main shipping channel, on each side of the entrance are forts, since Cartagena has a rich history of pirates, treasure ships, and naval battles.  Our good friends, Sonny and Kay on s/v Valentina are here as well as Gene and Brenda on Queen Mary, but we soon learn that they are leaving tomorrow to head back to the San Blas, so after anchoring, they dinghy over and as our welcoming committee invite us over to Steve and Mary's on s/v Barefoot for happy hour.  It's great to see everyone and catch back up and on the news of Cartagena. Valentina and Queen Mary had their boats hauled out and a new bottom job completed, which is what we will be doing in February.

December 7, 2007   Breaker Breaker Breaker

10 24.72N 75 32.49W

We are anchored out in the designated anchorage which is just off of Club Nautico, a marina that caters to cruisers.  There is another marina, Club De Pesca which is more upscale.  But for $20 a week, boats anchored out can use the facilities in Club Nautico, the showers, water, and trash disposal.  The wifi internet costs $15,000 pesos, which is $7.50 US.  Yes, we are back in the land of the pesos, $1 US is equal to 2000 pesos.  The anchorage has approximately 40 boats and the boat traffic is busy, and large wakes get the boats a rockin.  A cruiser's radio net is broadcasted Mon-Sat on VHF Ch 67 every morning at 8am.  This keeps the cruising community informed of upcoming events, a weather report is given, you can buy, sell or trade items, and  other general info is available.  A propane run can be set up this way. As soon as there are enough bottles to be filled,  a local comes and picks the propane bottles left in front of the marina office and they are filled the same day.  We have a 10lb tank which cost $20,000 pesos.

The marina's location is a good one, the Carulla's grocery store is just a block away, and a bank that has an ATM, Bancocolumbia, where you can withdraw a maximum of $400,000 pesos at one time is just 2 blks away.  Clearing in was a breeze.  We used Manfred, an English speaking fellow originally from Germany, and if you email him before arriving (manfred.al@gmx.net) he will email you a form to fill out and then you send it back to him.  This facilitates the checking in process; he takes care of getting your passports stamped by immigration and all the paperwork.  His fee for clearing in and out is $130,000 pesos. His wife, by the way, is a dentist and we both had our teeth cleaned for $80,000 pesos each.  She is very good and has a gentle touch.  We also motored to the fuel dock at Club de Pesca and got diesel ($2.85 US).  We tried to use our credit card to pay for fuel, but were denied.  A phone call later on, using Skype, accessed our credit card for use here in Cartagena.

It took us an entire day on Friday to find the breaker we needed.  We took a taxi to the central part of town, and had good luck in finding the electrical stores, but no luck in finding the right breaker.  So, we walked all the way back to Isla Manga, where the marinas are, and found a marine store next to Club De Pesca.  They had the breakers we needed at a buen precio.  Very good price for you.  Three 40 amp breakers cost us $257,000 pesos.  Ouch, $125 US, but when you need it bad, we were happy to have found what we needed.  These breakers were then installed with the help of Denis and the report is.......yes, we now have our inverter working again.  Good news, that is.  But, we still don't know if our watermaker will work.  The water in this harbor is nasty, so we will have to leave here to find out.

At happy hour onboard our boat, with Pam and Denis, O, our pet gecko, decided to join us also.  He has become quite the social gecko and hangs out in the cockpit or in his favorite corner in the galley where his bottle cap of coke is kept.  But, he was definitely in the mood for something other than coke this time, for he scurried down into Denis's glass and slurped up some rum and squirt.  Denis didn't mind since it was empty practically.  Good sport. We do have another gecko named P, named P because it follows O, and havent seen him in awhile, but here is with O, getting something to drink.  By the way, Pam and Denis found one at Snug Harbor at the beach and have named their pet gecko Q.  Why name it Q, it follows P!

December 10, 2007  Hasta Luego s/v Glide

The last two days, we have been walking, walking, walking, which is great exercise for cruisers who just sit on their boats all day doing nothing! We have enjoyed a night out down in the Walled City, which is an area of Cartagena, that is an historical area of narrow streets, colonial architecture, balconies with filled with tropical greenery, and shops galore. (kinda reminds of us of New Orleans) This area is surrounded by a limestone made wall, about 4 miles in circumference, which was built back in the 16th century to protect the city from pirates.  In some areas, it is 20 ft thick. Pretty amazing.

  With Pam and Denis along, we have walked all of the walled city and then some.  We also ventured forth to the Castillo de San Felipe, the oldest fort here in Cartagena and explored the tunnels within.  Just a quick note, the tunnels were made for short people.

But today is a sad day and it is our last time together with Pam and Denis on s/v Glide as they are headed back to Colon to place their boat on the hard at Shelter Bay and fly back to Maine.  They surprised us this morning by coming by our boat with a bottle of champagne and orange juice to fix mimosa's.  So as we drank we had our final discussions and made sure we had addresses to keep in touch with.  We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and this is one of the cruisers dilemmas, friendships are made in such a short time and then we have to part but hopefully, in the future, our paths will cross again.

December 13, 2007   Boatyard Research Blues

Wishing my Dad, a Happy Birthday from across the miles and miles to the Land of Oz, Kansas!

We hail a taxi and make a deal with the driver to spend the next 2 hours taking us to and from the boatyards located at the other end of the bay. We are planning on placing our boat on the hard in February while we return to work in the states.  Then, upon our return in Dec. 08, we will hire workers to apply bottom paint and gelcoat; so the boat will be on the hard for about a year. So off we go, and in about 20 minutes we arrive at the gate of Todomar Boatyard and the guard allows us to enter. Good to see security.  Now, as we walk around the yard, we notice that new speedboats are being built under a big shed, there are about a dozen sailboats up on cradles and the lift, which is 40 ton, is more than capable of handling our boat.  This all meets with our approval and we ask an employee, "Donde es oficina?" We are directed to a small office, where we meet Yovanis, a young man, who is the yard manager, who speaks Spanish only.  Well, this is going to be a challenge. We manage to communicate to him that we are interested in hauling out and storing the boat here for a year.  He works on a quote and gives us the printout.  Wow, for $13, 417.500 pesos, his buen precio, (good price), we receive the haulout and launch and 362 days on the hard.  (three days are free).  And if we pay in cash up front, there is another 10% discount. 

Stunned, we leave in our taxi and head to Ferroaquilmar, the next boatyard not too far away,  thru the guarded gates and there we meet Pura, a woman in her late 40's, who speaks very good English.  What a relief.  My head is still reeling from trying to communicate to Yovanis!  As Pura works on a quote for us, we ask some questions in regards to storage, and  apartments are available here for rent: $18/day while you're boat is being worked on.  That is a bonus and one that Todomar doesn't have.  But, we discover as look around the yard, it is smaller and dustier here.  The printout is handed to us with our quote and we have a small heart attack and ask if this is her best price.  She makes a phone call and another quote is printed out; $6554.00 US for haulout and launch and 362 days on the hard,( three days for free).  Well, with all this in hand we head back to Club Nautico, pay the taxi driver $40,000 pesos for his time ($20 US) and chill out on our boat.  This is going to be more than we had expected to pay. 

We also get a quote from the other smaller boatyard, Manzinillo, and even though, Tom, the yard manager, who speaks very good English, says that their lift can handle our boat, we are skeptical. It is a 40 ton, but it is smaller.  Their quote is even more expensive than the other two.

In the next few days as we talk to other people, we find out that at Todomar, the owner's son named Frank, speaks very good English; in fact he attended college in the United States, so we make one more attempt in our boatyard research and I email him that we would like to set up an appointment with him to discuss our haulout.  He replies back the same day and says he is available anytime so we set an appointment the next day.  This time we take our dinghy and make the trip by water which only takes 15 minutes.  Once at Todomar, we meet Frank, a young man in his late 20's who oversees the yard, a huge responsibility.  While we visit with him, we are interrupted several times by workers asking questions, but our questions are answered and we feel much better knowing that we can communicate with Frank while we are gone via email.  So, our decision is made.  It will be a Todomar haulout experience in the coming new year.

 Dec 21, 2007   Cartagena City Life

Well, we have been here in Cartagena over two weeks now and we are getting to know our way around, have met many new friends who pass along information pertaining to events happening around the city, and other important info like where to buy the best bread, or which bank allows you to withdraw the most pesos, better yet at BancoColumbia you can withdraw three million pesos at one time if you go inside and see Sophia.  Wow, we are millionaires here in Colombia! 

 We now have a phone that works.  The phone we had bought in Panama needed a new SIM card, which we bought but it still didn't work, so we gave it to Manfred who knew a person who unlocks the phone so it will work here in Colombia.  We purchase minutes from Carulla's grocery store, $20,000 pesos gives you approximately 20 minutes of airtime calling the USA.  It is better to use Skype, and Carulla has a nice internet cafe with Skype capability, $2000 pesos for an hour.

In the mornings, you will here the fruit vendors yelling out "Aguacate, pinas, mangos, melon, naranja" They say it very fast and repeat it over and over as they push their cart.  On the street right outside Club Nautico, a local sells arepas, which are fried corn tortillas stuffed with eggs and meat.  They are delicious and sell for $1500 pesos, less than a dollar. At night, as we sit on our boat, we can hear  bands playing all night long and fireworks are set off whenever they feel like it, sometimes at 3 am.  Cruiseships make regular stops here, and when they do, the town is full of people and English can be heard.

As we walk along the streets of the old walled city, street vendors sell items such as blender parts, belts, shoes, Cuban cigars and cigarettes, jewelry and paintings. The artist, Botero, who is famous for his oversized versions of life, has a statue in the Plaza Bolivar, which is called the "Reclining Woman". Some vendors are very persistent and will not leave you alone until you say "no gracias" at least a dozen times.  Emeralds are mined in the rural parts of Colombia and sold here:  an entire block of the walled city is dedicated to nothing but stores selling emeralds.  It is my favorite gemstone, afterall being born in May.

 The public bus, which is not air conditioned, will take you along its route for $1000 pesos, wherever or however long you decide to ride.  The bus that is air conditioned costs $1500 pesos.  They both make many stops, sometimes every block and never go over 35 mph and sometimes much slower.  Pam and I rode the slowest bus ever when we were heading back from BocaGrande and its route took us all the way around the Walled city before making its way to Isla Manga where Club Nautico is located.  I had the best laugh I have had in a long time as we sat there experiencing just how slow the bus was going, maybe 10 mph.  It took us almost an hour, where a taxi ride is usually 10 minutes.  But the taxi sets you back $5000 pesos, so if you are crushed for time or don't care for a very slow city tour, pay the 4000 pesos more and get on to your destination.

We went to see the box office movie,"Love in the Night of Cholera", which was filmed here in Cartagena and in the country.  The book is written by a well known Colombian author, Gabriel Marquez.  It was in English and the theatre, located in BocaGrande, was air conditioned and buttered popcorn was devoured.  What a treat.

December 25, 2007   Merry Christmas to All

Tis the season to remember all the faces, and the places that were home.  Tis the season to remember and to count up all the ports of call we've known and to thank his mercies tender for we're never far from home. Merry Christmas to our saints and guardian angels who protect us as we roam, tis the season to remember, no we are never far from home.   Jimmy Buffett

 We spent this glorious morning, watching one of our favorite movies, "The Christmas Story".  It's a tradition.  Then the cruising community all got together and celebrated the holiday with a potluck dinner at 3 pm at Club Nautico.  Everyone pitched in setting up tables and chairs, and bringing a dish to share.  There were over 100 people in attendance and a gift exchange was organized as well as a live band, consisting of talented cruising musicians and Christmas carols were sung into the night.

December 28, 2007   Power to the Pump

Our watermaker still has issues.  What would us cruisers do if we didn't have something that  needed to be fixed?  Aaron took the low pressure pump apart since it had seized up and in doing so the O ring had expanded and needed to be replaced before putting it back together.  Thankfully, after asking John, on s/v Honu Kai,who has had extensive work done on his boat,  knew exactly where to go for O rings and told us how to get there.  So we hired a taxi since we didn't want to take all day on a bus, and found the O ring place. There were all kinds of O rings displayed on the walls.  We were helped by a very courteous guy behind the counter, who eventually found the perfect O ring to fit our pump.  We had taken the section with us of the pump so that we could be sure that we bought the right one.  Now, after finding the part, the bill was 40,000 pesos for a small piece of rubber!  But, when you need it, and you have found the part you are looking for, you pay gladly.  Now, back at the boat, Aaron begins to put the pump back together, only to discover that the shaft seal was bad and leaked terribly.  So, we call Manfred, and he tells us the best place in all of Cartagena for fixing pumps. With pump in hand, we hail a taxi and fortune was smiling on us, for we met Andy, who speaks very good English.  Since I couldn't understand Manfred when he told us the shop's name, Turbinas y Magueleras,  we called Manfred again and asked him to repeat it to the taxi driver, who knew exactly where it was.  Andy was very helpful as Aaron told him what was wrong with the pump and Andy then translated it to Mr Turbina, who had the pump torn apart in minutes and diagnosed the problem.  With a quote of 78,000 pesos and a return fixit time set at 5pm, Andy then said he would be glad to pick up the pump for us and return it to Club Nautico.  So we gave Andy, 100,000 pesos to cover his fare and the pump bill.   What service, wouldn't you say? 

December 30, 2007   Happy #18 Anniversary

Today is the day 18 years ago that we said "I do",, and have shared throughout these years a dream that we made come true.  Look how far we have come! And still, the best is yet to come!   We strolled downtown and visited the Artesian's  market, located in the vaults within the Old Wall.  These used to be dungeons that were used to hold prisoners, but now they are put to good use, 18 separate shops selling all kinds of souveneirs.  Aaron bought a hat, at my insistence.  At San Diego square, we came across an Art Fair, featuring artists from all over the world.  Unique jewelry made from flowers and butterflies then placed in a silicone like protective covering, paintings that made us think of our granddaughter Drew's , whose 5 yrs old, drawings, and baskets made from the Weguer palm tree.  Back on board, we drank the very special bottle of Dom Perignon that was given to us by Marc and Craig, our very good friends, before we left Florida.  We have sinced saved it for this very special occasion.  Later on, we walked to the De Olivia restaurant and enjoyed a  delicious dinner.  Steak that was so tender it melted in your mouth!  But still, not as good as good ole Midwest beef!  It was a very memorable day spent with each other celebrating our love, friendship, and memories.

   December 31, 2007   Feliz de Ano Nuevo

The last day of the year and it's hard to believe another year has passed.  They go by so fast anymore.  It's another beautiful sunny day here in Cartagena and we have invited friends over to celebrate with us at happy hour.  Our good friends, Chris and Magie on s/v Contigo, which is the same boat as ours, who are currently in Tahiti, cruised this area of Cartagena and San Blas for 4 or 5 years before crossing thru to the Pacific.  During that time, they met Doug and Linda on s/v Que Linda and Tom and Julie on s/v Kiwi (they have since purchased s/v Gris Gris).  Now Chris and Magie had told these two couples about us, and they made it a point to come to a Club Nautico happy hour to meet us.  Which they did and we have since become fast friends.  I'm sure that Chris and Magie's ears are burning as we share our experiences and memories of them.  With them aboard plus Maria Elena and Bert s/v Not so Interim, Tony on s/v Andiamo, and Gary on s/v Kaija's Song, (Kaija had to fly back home for a family emergency) and Jade and Don on s/v Pedoja, we started off the night with appetizers and  a lentil soup made by Maria Elena that brings good fortune.

  Colombians love to celebrate the coming of the new year, and so do we, and as we walked towards San Diego square, most of the streets in the Old Wall city were blocked off and the restaurants had set up tables in the streets.  In Santo Domingo square, the biggest and most popular one, tickets to get into the party there cost $300,000 pesos each, which included a 4 course meal, and a half bottle of scotch, and champagne at midnite.  San Diego square is much smaller and free, at least for us.  If you had purchased a ticket in advance it was $70,000 pesos each.  The live band was playing salsa music and the dancers were heating up the dance floor.  Our merry band of partyers, with Aaron's help, donned the gold cone hats, and did our best salsa.  At midnite underneath the stars, fireworks were set off, and confetti fell from the sky.  It was truly a magical place to be.  For good luck in the coming new year, Colombians eat 12 grapes and make a wish with each one.  Lots of grapes were being consumed!