Colombia

After a few weeks in the San Blas, it is time to go. If Erin was still on board, I certainly could have hung out in the San Blas for a lot longer! It was beautiful but a bit quiet for only one person on the boat. Dave on m/v Jenny and I plan on buddy boating over to Colombia but before we do, we’ll get some snorkeling and spear fishing in.

Spear fishing…my new addiction! Dave and I ran into another cruiser who spear-fished for just about his whole life. We went out with him for the morning and I nailed my first fish! Sharks were around so you had to be a little cautious. They’re not any harm to you but if you’re holding a dead fish in your hand underwater, well…..enough said. You keep the dinghy near by and if you get one, you get the fish up and into the boat as quickly as possible. I was down around 30 feet and a brown grouper swam right at me. I held my breath (joke) and pulled the trigger. Got him right behind the gills. It was so violent but fun, only wish he was a little bigger!

Dave and I threw him on the grill that night and I found my new favorite fish to eat. White, flakey…perfect with a little lime and a cold beer. We pulled anchor on the 29th and decided it was time to make the 200 mile passage to Colombia.

Colombia, back in the day, was known for pirates and violence. In the past 5 years, it cleaned up (well at least Cartegena) and is now a favorite stop for cruisers. From there, boats hop off to one of 3 main destinations: The ABC Islands, Jamaica or back towards the Canal and up to Bocas del Toro and then Belize/etc. I plan on the ABC route but just like I’ve been running it for the last year, I’ll decide when I get there. I really need to start planning on how I’m going to leave this lifestyle. Although I have another season of cruising, I need to decide where to bring my boat for the next hurricane season. At that point, I’ll most likely be selling her and with today’s market in the US, not sure if that’ll be the spot. A lot of Europeans are buying boats in the Caribbean and taking them across the Atlantic, making the most of the Euro and low dollar. We’ll see…tomorrow’s a different day.

It’s 1:00am and I’m about 60nm’s out from Colombia. My ETA is about 9am. We plan on anchoring outside of Cartagena, scoping out some local anchorages that cruisers retreat to when they want to get away from the city. Plus, you don’t swim inside the bay so many take their boats out once every 2 weeks to swim and clean the bottom. Anyway, I’m going back topside to have a look. I lost my radar during the lightening strike and I’m truly missing it. Dave gave me a 2hr head start this morning, leaving him about 5 miles ahead of me now. He’s been giving me updates on the SSB regarding traffic as my VHF doesn’t’ reach out that far. Lost that antennae as well during the storm. Hopefully, I can fix that in Cartagena but I have a feeling the radar may need to wait until I get somewhere that carries such items. Anyway, I’ll write more later!

Dan