Tues 20-Dec, Passage to Colombia, day 11: As my wake-up alarm goes off at 2am I can feel Cloudy is solidly in-the-groove. Stable and fast. Sail trim, heel, keel lift all in unison yielding a solid feel where I can sense each small rudder movement and not much wave motion. She’s like a stallion galloping home!
In the cockpit it’s confirmed. We are doing 9-11 kts with 30+kts of wind at apparent wind angle perfectly on the beam. With deck lights on, the foredeck view is awash with flying spray whipping from left to right and white foam is passing rapidly down each side the boat. Wave angle has moved aft, now on our port quarter. We are no longer getting the horrible hits on the side of the hull like yesterday, when the seas were beam-on.
Before Ray goes down to sleep, we discuss sail plan. We will very soon enter the wind acceleration zone caused by the mountains SE of Santa Marta. We decide to leave as it is for now because we are perfectly powered-up but not over stretched. Tweeting the sails now could upset this perfect balance. And in any case, we don’t have much mainsail left to reef, plus I want to maintain this pressure in the mainsail, to ensure the boom doesn’t swing inboard if/when Cloudy rolls to port.
Outside the sky is clear and starry. In front, we have the southern cross constellation (Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the Pole Star) clearly visible now we are this far south. And the moon just rose with but a tiny slither of crescent visible on its lower side. And an hour later, when it’s a bit higher, I can see it’s one of those moons where you get to dimly see the whole sphere, or outline. Add 2 eyes and you would have the perfect smiley-face emoji looking down on us.
At 9am with just 30nm to go we start the dance with the marina. I’d emailed them a month ago asking for space. They replied they do not take bookings but should be OK. “Call when you arrive”. So I emailed our ETA 3 days ago. No reply. Oana then emailed 2 other addresses. No reply. This morning she called them (in Spanish) and now they say they may not have space! Pffff. We really are in no mood to continue another overnight to Cartagena 🙁 I hope our fortune changes once we get there.
Now we are getting close, there is a lot of shipping going east and west. All going to or coming from the Panama Canal which is just 300nm to our west. Also saw a yacht (on AIS only) heading west. First yacht we’ve “seen” since leaving the US coast. Clearly not a time for sensible sailors to be out here. Well, you know what that say: “there’s mad dogs and there is Englishmen” 🤣
At 20nm out we start to see the impressive mountainous coastline. And by midday we are rounding Isla de La Aguja into the lee of the wind and waves. We then expected the last 4 mile run south along the coast to be peaceful, but it was anything but. The wind increased almost back to 39kts and in the lesser waves Cloudy was doing a final sprint to the finish. It wasn’t until we were almost level with the town itself that peace descended at looong last.
We then took a few minutes to fully unfurl each of the 3 sails and refurl them to ensure no creases and rolled nicely. They have done us well, so we need to treat them accordingly.
From our seaward view, our immediate impression of the town was very positive. Like a little Spanish coastal resort with beaches each side of the marine and backed by high mountains. Only eyesore is the commercial port. But that’s right to one side of the main town.
Then continues the drama with the marina. On the VHF we were told to enter the marina where we would be berthed. But once in the marine they told us they don’t have a berth for us. So we had to go out again and anchor in the bay. We kept calling the marina with no luck. But Oana kept calling them too and after a lot of hassle in Spanish she got to the manager who found us a place!
And while all that was happening between the marina office and Bucharest (!) I dived the propeller, where sure enough I found one very well washed ball of knotted Haitian fish-trap rope! I knew it! But thankfully my PropSpeed silicon paint still looked intact.
Finally, at 3pm we enter the marina and get placed between 2 other similar yachts. Then it’s off to the office for check-in formalities. The same ladies in the office who were difficult with me on the phone were now super sweet (“cute” according to Ray!) While they do the paper work, Ray and I sit and enjoy the air conditioning while our sailor brains try to tell us the office is moving ! – such is the reaction after being at sea for 11 days.
Check-in was very professional. Customs and immigration came specially for us. No doubt that will be reflected in the invoice!
We then have a quick tidy up on the boat while chatting to various other yachties who all came to see “the new boat in town”. Then we headed off for a beer, dinner, and a walk around town.
More description of the town tomorrow. Right now, I’m too pooped to even write! My berth is calling.