Eastern San Blas, Panama

to

Colombia

We left the tranquility of Green Island this morning and sailed to Snug Island, about 25 miles away.  The anchorage is a little rolly due to the current and the wind in different directions. 

Rich and Jan on S/V Slip Away are traveling with us.

We arrived and dropped anchor at Snug Harbor at 2 p.m.  A local named Daleon rowed up to us in his ulu and promised to bring us bread in the morning before we leave.

We heard S/V Blow Me Away on the VHF radio this morning and they are at Achitupu, so we are changing plans.   We are stopping and spending one night at Achitupu to reunite with old friends.

After anchoring and securing the boat, we walked around the island of Achitupu.  The kids were very friendly.

Then at 5 p.m., Blow Me Away invited all the boats in the anchorage to their boat.  The other boats are Better Days, Wind Dancer, Slip Away and Valentina.  It was good to meet the new people.  They are all headed west and Slip Away and us are headed east.  But, out paths will most likely cross again.

After anchoring, we went in to the island.  We had met several friends previously when we were here, 15 months ago.

We visited with Romelo and Messalina and their three boys.  Romelo came out to the boat this afternoon to visit.

We saw the baby that was named after Sonny, when we were here before and he is 15 months old now, walking around.    He?  We understood when we were here before that it was a girl, but when we saw him this time, without a diaper on, he is definitely a boy.

His momma spotted us walking down the path and started beaming and ran to get baby Sonny for us to see.   She is now a single mom, as the father has already left for another island.

There was also a S/V Queen Mary mola on the island that one of the Kuna women has made.   Brenda (Queen Mary) had emailed us and wanted us to get the mola if we found it.    And, we did.

Rich talked to Chris Parker, a weather guru, and Chris said that in two more days, we should have a pretty good window to head to Colombia.

But, plans are always written in sand when you are cruising.

When we got near the island of Isla Pinos, Sonny called Rich and Jan and said he was going to stick our nose out in the open water to see how it feels.   Rich and Jan agreed.

After our nose got wet, we decided to go ahead and head towards Cartagena.  The seas were 6-8', but on the forward beam, and not uncomfortable.  We had enough wind we could both sail, so new plans are being made.

We sailed 13 hours with nice wind and seas.  Then the wind started clocking around to the nose, and we motored for 10 hours, then sailed 2 more and we were in the Bay of Cholon, about 15 miles south of Cartagena.

The Bay of Cholon is like home to us.   We spent several months here last time and probably will again.   It is beautiful and totally protected with clean water, much unlike the anchorage in Cartagena.

We saw Robert and Carmen and his new shrimp boat he is refitting.

While we were in Baru, we stopped by to see Edgar and Angela at our favorite tienda.   We buy our phone cards from them.

Then, we were on another street, and Kathy Kay, our 13 year old friend, ran up to Sonny with a big smile and hugged him.  She was just getting out of school.  She walked around with us, then we gave her a ride near her home in our dinghy. 

At another tienda, we were buying small plastic bags that we tie up and use for making ice.  When we were leaving a man called, "Sonny!"   We turned around and it was Peio.  We knew him when we were here before.

Roberto and Carmen invited the boats in the anchorage up to their house for a pot luck dinner.  Kate and DJ (S/V Hello World), Josie and Jeff (S/V Stravaig), Rich and Jan (S/V Slip Away) and Christo and Olga (S/V Serena).

Our handle on our outboard motor on our dinghy broke off a few days ago.  So, Sonny worked on it today.  The stainless steel 3/8" shaft to accelerate the motor broke, so, he drilled a hole in the shaft and placed a pin in.  Now it works perfectly again.

We talked to Paul on S/V Lizzy Jean this morning on the net.  They have just come from Sapzurro to San Bernardo, right behind us.  But, last night they had a storm pass through and had 5-6' seas on anchor.

We gave them waypoints to get into the Bay of Cholon for a tranquil anchorage.

Rob and Paul are both 27 year old guys from Canada who bought a sailboat in Panama, a month later, set out cruising, having never sailed before.  They are doing great and now in Colombia with us.

She picked up a new modem for us to have wireless internet on the boat 24/7.   We are just so excited.   After being in San Blas since March with 'no' internet to having in on board....I am afraid our project list will be put on hold for a few days until we get our fix of it.

We have Skype and a camera, so we can call our kids and grandkids and talk.....and see them.....for free.   Just awesome!

And, we can update the website anytime!  Just too cool.   Yes, we are excited.   It doesn't take much to make our day, does it?   A simple life.

Kay returned on the bus, departing Cartagena at 12 and arriving back near the boat at 3 p.m.  The bus was so full of supplies, 50 pound bags of rice stacked up, coconuts, lumber and whatever else would fit inside.

We stayed up late talking to the girls and getting caught up with the latest news in their families.

Tonight, we got a call on Skype (through our computer).   It was our son Garrett.   He had been on vacation with his wife Madonna and our grand-daughter Kylie in Hawaii to visit Madonna's family, then stopped in Maryland for a few days to see some more of her family.

They took the kids to a park to play, when Kylie fell down off the monkey bars.  She broke bones in her upper and lower left arm.   After surgery, three pins and a rod, she is out of the hospital recovering.

It was wonderful to be able to see her, using Skype with our camera on our computer and talk to her, check out her x-rays, and her new cast.   And, see that she is OK, and mom and dad are doing OK too. 

I think it was harder on them than Kylie.

Get well Kylie!

Check out a tour of Cartagena above from YouTube.

We pulled Valentina up to their dock so they could all come on board and see a sailboat.   We had a 'boatload' of good people!

Have we mentioned lately how much we love our solar panels and batteries?  They are wonderful!  We have been here, almost two weeks, using the laptop all day (with internet, of course) using the watermaker, and one afternoon, even used our big icemaker.  We have not had to charge our batteries at all. 

We have an update on our grand-daughter, Kylie.   And, thankfully, she is doing good, already back to school.

After we returned to the boat, we met with Barne, a local wood craftsman.   He hand carves fish, coral, and marine life out of a piece of ceiba wood.  We found a perfect spot where we can display his wood art in our settee.   It should take him about 5 days to complete.   It costs $80 mil (or around $40 US).

We sure have enjoyed Skype.   Tonight, we talked to Rob and Donna Bartley, old friends from Lake Texoma.  It is so good to hear their voices; it has been a very long time.

A Map of Colombia

Colombia's Flag:

There were no fish though, for eating.  But, some pretty ones to look at.

Sonny waxed the bimini and cleaned on the prop, while I cleaned on the hull.

While landlubbers, we mowed grass, but on Valentina....we clean the hull.  A fair trade but we would rather be in the water while working.

We went up to Roberto and Carmen's house for dinner and watch the sunset.   Being at his house on top of the hill, we could see rain coming.  So, we scurried down the hill back to Valentina.   Only to find, the rain skirted around us.   We were wanting to gather rain water....maybe  manaña.  

We received a call from our friends that had come down to their house from Cartagena.  We dinghied over and enjoyed the day with them, swimming and eating lobster and crab.

It took us about 4 hours, but we needed to run the water maker on the way before we arrived in the dirty Cartagena Bay.   We do not run our watermaker while we are on anchor there.    If we have to stay longer than 3 days, Sonny will flush the watermaker system with water we have made, rather than use the Bay water.

Here is a picture of the change in the color of the sea water as it meets the Cartagena water.   We were still several miles out to sea.   We have seen it much worse in rainy season.

Cartagena on the horizon......

After anchoring, we went ashore to the Club Nautico marina.   They are completely tearing down the existing buildings and building new ones and some new docks.   It is a total mess right now though.

No water No showers No washing machines

We went to find an ATM machine, some ice cream and dinner.   Don't you like our priorities?    After being away from any restaurants (and did I say ice cream?) for five months, we are ready to indulge.  And, it was delicious!  Double dips of chocolate.....  ; )

But, to us, Cartagena is do three weeks of work in five days.  We love the old city and the culture, but not the anchorage.  So, when we come into Cartagena, we begin early in the morning and run, run, run, until we finally get to relax in our cockpit at sunset to admire the sun set over the skyscrapers.

This morning, we took our propane tank in to get refilled, then we talked to Edder about getting a new mattress made for our v-berth, and searched for Tuttie to arrange some woodwork.

Then, at 8:30 a.m. we walked a couple of miles to the beauty shop and both of us got haircuts.   The total price was $8,000 mil.  That is $4 US for both of us.   I got my money's worth, mine is pretty short.

Then we continued our walk to the clinic for physicals and EKG for new health insurance.

We stopped to eat at our favorite restaurant, La Carretta.   You get a lunch plate of meat or chicken, salad, rice and cooked plantains with a big bowl of soup for $3.25. 

Then, we met Edder at our boat and he took some measurements of our v-berth and we explained to him what we would like.   We all piled in a taxi and headed to a local factory and he began talking very rapidly in Spanish to the workers.   He told us the price, which was very reasonable and we agreed to proceed on with the project.

Edder is going to come tomorrow to make a pattern of our v-berth then take it to them.  We are using 4" of firm foam with 2" of soft foam on top, then covered in a mattress cover.  Valentina's v-berth was ready for a new mattress, and we were too.  

Then we came back to the boat and enjoyed the business of the anchorage, watching boats and dinghies come to and fro.   A boat came in loaded with 8 backpackers who were anxious to get their feet on land.   They now are charging backpackers $375 p/p to bring them from Panama to Cartagena.  That includes their immigration and custom fees, their food, and their travel.   Multiply that times 8 and it makes for a nice trip.  Not for us, though.

Diesel currently is 6,100 (or ~ $3.05 US) and gasoline is 7,490 (or ~ $3.75 US) a gallon.

After donating our blood, we were told to return at 5:30 p.m. today for the results.  It is amazing, you get your results the same day here!

We walked a couple of miles to Old Town and found the store Ken on S/V Makai told us about, to buy a small amplifier for Sonny's harmonicas.

On our way to lunch, we heard Beseeta.   We have not seen her for a year, and when she saw us in the distance, she began calling, "Mi amore! Mi amigos!"

We met Edder at our boat to make a pattern for our new mattress.

We were anxiously awaiting our blood test results, as they tested 39 different things for our insurance request.  But, we are so very thankful for our good health.   Everything, of the 39 items tested, came back very good on both of us.   We breathed a sigh of relief with thankful hearts.  Maybe eating our oatmeal every morning and a healthy lifestyle is paying off for us.

To continue the cruising lifestyle, our health is of utmost importance.  So, when we have any test run, we are always somewhat nervous, until we receive the results, as we know how quickly our plans can change.

The Port Captain made rounds to several boats today in the anchorage.   We were one of the boats he visited because we are anchored outside the boundary of the designated anchoring area.   So, we moved further inside.

Near Old Town in Cartagena, hundreds of people were out flying kites.

This scene went on for miles, all lined up around the wall to the city.

We walked to Home Center to complete our list of stuff we needed for the boat.

Cartagena is not a good anchorage for a storm.  Boats drag.   Fortunately, the owners of the catamaran in front of us were on board when the storm hit.   They did drag, but pulled up their anchor before they got us.

Sonny brought our new mattress back to the boat and we are very pleased with it. We probably did not need to sew a zipper (black) between the two pieces, as the fit is pretty snug.

But, early this morning, we went to the local grocery store and did some provisioning so we can hang out in the islands for a few months.

Then, at 10:30 a.m. we pulled up anchor and headed for Cholon.   We tried to sail, but the wind was on our nose.  So, we motor-sailed.  It is good to be home.  We started to re-write the words to John Denver's song, "Hey, it good to be back in Cholon again...."

Then, I made a big pot of vegetable soup and some guacamole dip for later.

Then, we looked at the clock....and it was 10:15 a.m.  Whew...what a good morning.

It just feels so good to be back.

We talked to our youngest son, Gentry and our grand-daughter Bailee tonight for the first time on Skype.   They have a new computer, with a camera, so we could see our youngest grandbaby.

How cool is that?