Firstly - Let us apologise for the gap since our last blog. It is not because we have not had time to do it, it is because we have not had the facilities to do it. In the last 2 weeks we travelled from San Jose in Costa Rica on 17 hours bus trip to Panama City, the following day took a 10 hours trip to the north coast of Panama, Puerto Lindo (nearest shop 2 hours away, 1 bus a day from the village and no internet cafes!), killed time in Panama for 5 days and then were sailing across the Caribbean for 6 days. We have been safely on dry land for a few days and are now back in the groove.
So - why caravaning to Colombia? Caravaning is how I described a particularly difficult sailing holiday I went on around Majorca about 5 years ago. Cramp spaces, cooking on gas, plastic seats, lots of rain, hand pump toilets, limited showers - all the key components of a ´summer´ caravaning trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s. The added complication of caravaning on water is that the ground is constantly moving under foot. Whilst no particularly good insights or witty stories developped from our sailing trip - I think a good narrative is worthwhile - to try and persuade you how my caravaning comparison is valid.
Day 1
Up at 0800 for brekkie and a shower. Jump on the one bus out of the village at 0900 for the trip down the coast to our departure port. We had already met a couple of our hastily assembled crew: Stephen and Suzie, British couple, also travelling the world, having also started in Mexico City a few weeks ahead of us, Jose, Spanish software guy, who manages to travel and work all over the world and Narine, on a 2 week vacation from her job in the Dutch travel industry.
As we got on the bus, we thought we knew the name of our captain, but very little else, not too sure where we were to meet him, what was the name of his boat and at what time he planned departure. Fortunately it was very straight forward, Nicola and I had already scoped out the village, found the dock and when we walked on to it - our skipper was waiving from his boat. In no time at all the skipper had ferried ourselves and our bags on to the boat and he introduced himself and his boat. The captain was called Frederico, half French and half Brazillian, the boat was called Sacanagem (meaning: one sexual and one about small disappointments - or something like that). Both skipper and boat were experienced and responsible. The boat was a Dufour cruising yacht, 4 double berths, galley upstairs under a hard top and about 45 ft in length. The skipper lived in Colombia, had three daughters, a small poodle on board (Reina),was a good chef and sociable.
After settling on board - Frederico told us he had to pop to the shops (6 hour round trip) and that we should look out for another British couple who were our next instalment of crew. We were given a quick lesson on how to sail the dinghy and with Suzie as his assistant went on their mission. It turned out to be quite a mission too as the taxi from the supermarket broke down!
About an hour went by before a pale skinned couple appeared on the dock, we could not see the looks on their faces, but their body language resembled the same hope that we had when we turned up on the dock a couple of hours beforehand. Stephen and I jumped in to action, motoring the dinghy across to them, stalling it just before arriving at the dock and welcoming our new crew, James and Michelle with our best English accents! I found meeting the skipper very reassuring (confirming we were in the right place at the right time etc), I can´t think that myself and Stephen, novice sailors that we are (sorry were) would have the same first impression. James and Michelle are another British couple also travelling the world. James started in the US, but Michelle started in Mexico City too. So all the crew nearly assembled. Just one more to come, but he would be joining us the next day, further down the coast.
When the skipper and Suzie returned we found out the swell out at sea was pretty big at the moment and we would not be leaving on day 1, we would pop in to the village, have some dinner and then sleep on the boat and leave first thing the next morning.
Day 2
Up at 05:00 to the rumble of the start of the engines, Jose and I were up to see us depart Portobello. Before long were we out of the bay and heading out in to the Caribbean. The swell was already pretty big, but not too much on an issue. Jose had previously sailed for 27 days from Fiji to Australia and quite early on he warned us that with the swell this big relatively close to land it would be an issue further out to sea. The wind on the day was not very strong, but more importantly it was coming from the wrong direction. This meant we had to head further out to sea in order to tack back on to line to hit our evenings anchor point. After 3 hours the swell was 3 meters tall, i.e waves the size of bungalows tossing us around and around and around. I can´t be sure of the exact order, but I think Jose threw up first, then Suzie, then Stephen. James and Michelle, were still below deck at this time, but James slowly emerged looking the same colour of yellow as the rest of us. He sat down and I reassured him, “yes this is bloody awful” – 15 mins later he was sick, then I gave it a go too. Nicola had taken sea sick pills the day before and so up to this point was doing okay. Unfortunately she became complacent and when the offer of an omelette came up she took it, ate it and 15 mins later had joined the throwing up club. Michelle, still not above deck had made some progress – but only to the toilet – the throwing up club annex.
The swell stayed bad for 4-5 hours and then eased, not stopped just eased, but everyone was in pieces, no speaking, definitely no eating. We finally made it to our first Caribbean island at around 1900, only just managing to beat sunset through the coral reef entrance to the Kuna Yala Islands. We anchored up, had a swim/bath (Men not allowed showers, women allowed one a day, no washing of hair) and had a very light dinner.
Day 3
We woke up, sun shining and swam the 50 meters to the island – everybody feeling better than the day before. Frederico got our passports stamped out of Panama and our final crew member, Fernando from Venezuela joined us. We set sail for 4 hours to get to the island, after an hour or so of really quite easy water, Fernando joined our special little club – all aboard!!! We soon came to our next island, swam to shore, explored the island – 3-4 houses on it, inhabited by the Kuna Yala indigenous people of Panama. They do embroidery to sell to the yachts that moor off their island, they sell fish, crabs and coconuts aswell. We bought the first, but stayed away from the latter. You can see pictures of the embroidery on the blog. Apparently we are going to make them in to cushions when we get home – WE! That evening we had a lovely dinner, but the rain started, then the thunder, then the lightening – it felt as if we were in the middle of the storm with each crack of lightening happening about 5 meters from our boat. Enough wine and beers inside us all, so we slept well.
Day 4
Another 4 hour sail, very flat water, but the rain from last night had not ceased. It went on to rain all day. We followed the same routine as the day before, swam in the sea, went to the island, Fernando bought a crab for dinner and then returned to the boat when all the rain became a bit too much. Another good dinner, a few too many wines and we stumbled on the topic of politics!! In bed for 1230 – far too late for the next day, but we all fell asleep when our heads hit the pillow.
Day 5
We woke early, but we had to check the weather before we set sail – this was the big day. Ahead of us was a 40 hour sail to Colombia and importantly our second continent. The weather was average, the swell no where near as bad as day one, but still enough movement to shut everyone up. No-one was sick, bar Nicola, but this was more to do with the malaria tablets than the motion of the ocean. We sailed well all day – with the wind bang on line for Cartagena and blowing pretty hard – during the day we were doing 8 knots and I believe more than 9 that night.
Day 6
Our last day – but a long one. Sailing all night meant no one got much sleep. The wind had dropped slightly, but we were still making great progress. Even with high seas, if the boat is moving fast you feel okay, not necessarily due to added stability, just because any ordeal will surely not take as long. The morning dragged, but as our clock counted down to our arrival, spirits on the boat started to lift, by 1500 we could see land again and for the next 4 hours I think everyone enjoyed sailing again. We even cracked open a couple of beers, the sun came out, we caught a fish (Stephen expertly brought it in) and by 1700 Cartagena high rise apartments were sucking us in. By 1800 we were pulling in to the bay and by 1900 we were back on dry land, well dry-ish – we were welcomed in to Cartagena by a large rainstorm – but we were nonetheless glad to be here.
So – another sailing trip, with more unclement weather, throwing up, hand pump toilets, cramped sleeping spaces and plastic seats. As I said at the start – Caravaning on water! Overall – a great adventure, but very hard work indeed – I think I will struggle to get Nicola on to another boat any time soon!
