Cartagena

After 5 days of exploring Cartagena, we have found it to be a fascinating place.  Leaving out the death defying street crossings, we have enjoyed it, lots of history here.   We have walked the fort walls and visited the forts and several museums.  Done some shopping and lots of walking around the city.  Also some great beaches here if your into that. 

      Our oldest solar panel failed and I managed to source one in Cartagena and hope to take delivery of it Monday. Got a 90 watt panel for 345,000Pesos or a bit less than $200 dollars, very reasonable.   Then Tuesday we hope to leave and visit a couple of the outer Columbian islands, nearby.  Then head for the San Blas islands of Panama.  There is not much civilization in the San Blas so we may be out of internet service and no blog updates until near end of December or start of January.

   Dec 11 we left Catagena and motored  out the main ship channel as this was on our way.  We motored by the main forts guarding the entrance to the harbour, but had to pause briefly to allow a ship through the narrow entrance.  Then we scooted out on his tail before another ship came in.  We sailed part of the 18 miles to Isla Grande and planned to anchor but the bottom looked terrible with huge chunks of corral and we did not want to snag our anchor or chain.  Then we noticed a couple of buoys near by and if we interpreted the spanish correctly they were park bouts.  They had a nice thick rope so we tied up.  If they dragged we would just drift out to sea.
   I then jumped in the nice clear water to clean propellor and found it completely covered in a 1/4 inch layer of barnacles, this was all from 10 days in Cartagena.
  The next morning we dinghyed to shore to look around.  A local showed us a large cage full of macaws and Toucans.  When we returned to the beach where we left our dinghy, we saw the engine was gone.  Stolen!  The local guy with us asked a few other people around and soon there was about 8 people involved and one guy found the engine hidden up in the bushes 50 meters up the beach. Whew, we got it back and it was okay.   We then left for the island of Tintpan about 25 miles away

INFO

-Anchorage at Isla Grande, mooring balls at 10 10.17N   75 45.04W and is two balls. About 18 miles W of Cartagena,  water very clear and lots of fish under boat.

-Anchorage at Tintipan anchored in 28ft at 09 47.310N   75 50.180W again very clear water here

-It is much hotter in Cartagena than Santa Marta and a lot less wind.  We never seem to get more than 12 to 15 knots in the anchorage, and from different directions.  (December)

-Before leaving the ABC'c we had read a lot of the info available on visiting Columbia.  A lot of it, I think gives you a wrong impression.  We almost did not take the boat to Cartagena going by stuff we read, and that would be a mistake.

      Perhaps some of the stuff written is by people who have only cruised the Carribbean or have just come from a big city in the states.  In Hindsight now we are glad we took the boat to Cartagena and did not just make a bus visit from Santa Marta, especially since we had to come this way anyway.   It is no hassle to clear in, just a few minutes with the agent and they do everything else.   The anchorage here is fine, I don't know what it is like in the wet season, but certainly it is fine now in the dry season. (starts Dec 1).  We have seen many places a lot worse on our trip around the world.  For a emerging third world country, it is much cleaner that many we have seen.  To visit from Santa Marta by bus would be much more expensive.  As the only costs here was the extra $70 dollars for the agent and a small dinghy dock fee.

-Club Nautico, where we are anchored, is still under renovation as of Dec 6 2013.  They take forever I here.  Maybe it will be finished by Christmas or maybe a few more months??  We get all the water we want and garbage removal for our dinghy dock fee, which is reasonable.  See last post for costs. It will be nice once the showers are working.   You can walk almost anywhere here or take a cheap taxi.  We have not taken a taxi yet here, just walk everywhere.  

-For internet we got a sim card for our old usb dongle and it works fine in the anchorage, though a bit slow.  For a week it was $15.00 for data for a week and $10 for the sim card.  Got this from a street vendor across from the nearby grocery store.

-My Solar Panel  I got from Energias Alternas  and Fernando was the contact who speaks perfect english.  He seems to have access to a wide variety of panels.  He does not have a store, but a office at Calle Larga #8B  55 of 103 Is a 25 min walk from anchorage.

    email:  fernando@energiasalternas.com.co   313 624 8977   0r  313 585 2214
      Note: This added later, we never did get delivery of the solar panel.  His two days turned into 3 days then 4 days and finally we had to leave and another yacht tried for us emails from both sides bounced so if want a panel here probably have to stay on Columbia time and allow lots. Will try Panama for a panel.

Gold artistry of the Zenu culture, which dates back to the second century BC. The Zenus inhabited a large part of northern Columbia until the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500's.

We visited Gold Museums in both Santa Marta and Cartagena. Amazing intricate work.

Overlooking the city from San Felipe de Barajas Fort.

One of the guard stations at The Fort.

San Felipe de Barajas Fort is the largest fortress built in America by the Spanish Empire. Really impressive.

Thought this sculpture must have been done especially for us cruisers. Mexican train dominoes is a regular Sunday afternoon social event.

There is a whole bunch of these metal sculptures/artwork around the old city, thought this one was cute.

One of the San Pedro Claver church windows.

San Pedro Claver church, named after the first saint to be canonized in the New World.

Old town Cartegena has been beautifully restored. Very pleasant to wander around the streets.

Entrance to the old city of Cartegena

Cartegena's wall of white. View of the city as we approach by sea.

Arrival in Cartagena

Passage weather and Buoy weather was showing 18 to 21 knots for our area and we decided to leave Santa Marta Saturday morning.  I was thinking we should wait until Sunday for the winds to ease a bit, but we already had our departure zarpe and also the marina gets very noisy Saturday nights, in the end we decided to leave decision until Saturday morning.  Saturday morning we were up at 5:30am and there was a somewhat strong wind still blowing through the marina but we decided to go for it.  Jimmey Cornells world cruising guide says world sailors often find the passage along this coast to be among the worst in the world.  

     We had a bit of trouble getting of the dock with the wind blowing, and almost hit another boat before we finally got under way.   Out in the bay it was blowing 20 to 25 knots and then eased some as we left Santa Marta behind and we thought, nice we were in for a pleasant passage or so we thought, it actually turned into one of our 5 worst passages ever.

       After an hour the winds started to increase and soon it was blowing over 30 knots, then 35 and I had 3 reefs in our main.  Then the wind increased to 40 knots at times and occasionally a wave braking behind us would have spray blown of it into the cockpit. We also shipped a lot of water over the sides when we occasionally did a deep roll as the waves were on the stern quarter and not directly behind us. Our little 36 footer  has always tended to get water on decks easier than most boats. I eventually put our 4th reef in which we have only used once before, and all the head sail in except for the 2ft going out to our running pole still in place.  We were still doing 6 to 7 knots in seas that were very close together and steep.

      Our plan was to do the 110 miles to Cartagena over two days and spend the night at a anchorage about half way.   As we neared the Magellina river, which is about 14 miles from our intended anchorage,  the wind eased a bit to about 30 knots.  We could see the condo hi-rises of Baranquilla in the distance.  We rounded the headland where the river comes out about 4 to 5 miles offshore, the water turned a dark brown from the river outflow.  There is a reputation of junk coming down the river, but we saw no trees, dead cows or bodies,  we saw nothing but one tiny tree branch, perhaps because it had not rained much lately.   The sea state did not get any worse because of river, and  conditions eased a bit more as we rounded the headland.    The wind dropped down to 20 to 25 knots and we had a good sail to Punta Hermoso where we intended to anchor.  We motored around point and into bay which was still windy but had no sea state.  

     We motored up bay and anchored behind the only other yacht anchored out, and this was just across from the new marina.  Hook down about 5pm.   A navy launch followed us up bay and after we anchored came along side us and two men came aboard and checked our papers and filled out a couple of forms.  The other person went below for a quick look.  They were all polite and professional.

    

    Even though the wind blew hard for part of the night, we had a great sleep here and left at 6am in the morning to do the remaining 50 miles to Cartagena.   The wind started out in the 20 knot range but in a hour it was up to 25 knots from NE and we had a  rough sail again for a few hours until we rounded a major headland and started heading more South and then the wind and seas eased and as we neared Catagena the wind was down to 12 to 15 knots.  We ended up motor sailing the last 10 miles so we would get in at a good time.

   We took the Northern small craft entrance into the city which is much shorter.  As we motored between the two red/green buoys the water briefly got down to 11 feet for a few seconds, which caused a bit of worry but then it got deeper again.  The city is huge, hi-rise condos everywhere.  As we motored into our anchorage 20 minutes later we were surrounded buy huge office towers, and condos, also navy ships tied to docks and container ships on other side.  It is a stunning backdrop.  This was Sunday afternoon and the there were constantly speedboats and tour boats going buy.  The water did not appear to be as dirty as people had said.  We dropped anchor around 4:30pm and cleaned up the boat and then relaxed, we would deal with our check-in in the morning.

    

     Next morning we dinghied over to say hello to the Mojombo's and to pump them for information on the local scene.   Then we dinghied  over to club Nautico and payed our dinghy landing dock  fee of 58000 pesos for a week and this includes garbage and water.  Then they called up the agent suggested by our Santa Marta agent  to come and clear us in and then we were free to explore the city. 

INFO

- About 1900 peso's to a dollar

-Left Santa Marta Nov 30 2013

-We noticed no adverse currents  along our route to Cartagena, and possibly a favourable current for part of the way.   Talking to other yachts and our own experience, it seems the stretch of coast around Santa Marta to Baranquilla (or Magallena river) has its own local conditions and the winds are typically 15 knots or more stronger than forecast, so 20 knots forecast may turn out to be 35 to 40 knots in reality.  Probably want to leave Santa Marta on a light wind forecast.

-Rounding the headland with the Magallena river was a non issue, no problem in the strong winds we got and we were 4 to 5 miles off shore, the sea-state did not get any more difficult.   Also saw no debris in water, but water colour was muddy.  Though we were getting into the dry season.  We did see a big log and scattered tree branches a few miles South of Punta Hermosas bay, the next day on our way to Cartagena. 

     Both us and another yacht we talked to that rounded a week earlier  in similar conditions, found the winds eased as we neared the headland with the Magellena river.

-Anchorage at Punta Hermoso is 60 miles from Santa Marta.  The sandpit that forms the bay extends quite a bit further than the chart shows.  Use this waypoint for turning in 10 56.07N   75 03.22W I got this from another writeup and it worked fine, lots of water under keel.  Then we anchored in 24 feet at 10 56.44N   75 02.41W.

    This is not necessarily the best spot to anchor, the head of bay may be better, but it was fine for us and even though wind got up to 30 knots during night, the chop and boat motion was fine and holding excellent.  A great anchorage and room for a 100 boats, nothing  much in here and it is half way between Santa Marta and Cartagena.   We never checked out the new marina, there was about 10 yachts in it that we could see.  Marina is called Marina Puerto Velero.

    

-We stayed on the edge of the bank marked on charts has we headed south from Punta Hermoso to avoid the heavy ship traffic, and were in 50 to 60 feet of water.

-As we neared Cartagena we took the small craft entrance to city.  Use waypoint 

   10 23.4N   75 34.4W as initial approach until you can see the two red and green bouys that you go between.  The water depth shallowed to 17 to 25 feet and then as you go between the bouys drops to about 11 feet for a second or two then gets deeper again. After that is easy to get to anchorage near club Nautica

   We anchored in 47 feet at 10 24.46N   75 32.50W

-Clearing in.   Turns out our agent did a good job in Santa Marta because we had no paper work issues.  The Cartagena Agent "David" showed up 15 minutes after being called and he had good English.  His phone # 313-523-0742 and he charged us 140,000 pesos or about $70.00 to finish our clear in and for our exit zarp later.  He charged less since we had done most of the paper work in Santa Marta.  So our total paper work expenses was $220 plus $70 or $290.  Expensive if you only staying about 3 weeks, like us, in the country.  But with this fee we were good for 3 months at least and we have the paper work to visit the outer islands as well.

-Provisioning in Columbia.  We have noticed the selection of canned goods is very small compared to anywhere else. So good to stock up ahead of time.  The prices of groceries is not too bad, similar to the ABC's and some things cheaper.  Fresh fruit and veggies are often very cheap. 

_Cartagena is a World Heritage site and seems pretty clean compared to Santa Marta.  The water in the anchorage is not too bad, definitely cleaner than Chagaramas in Trinidad.  I think people sometime mistake the discolouration of river outflow into a harbour for polution.

  

    

Exploring Santa Marta and Getting Ready to Leave

    We have been in Columbia about ten days now and found it a interesting place with its own culture, unlike the ABC's 

The main annoyance is the clearing in process, probably the slowest of any country we have visited.  You have to have an agent and we tried to get the Romovela agency but neither of the email addresses we had worked and when we asked for them on arrival at Santa Marta, the marina gave us someone Called Jose.  He is nice enough, but his english is almost non existent.  After ten days we have accumulated 4 pieces of paper to do with the clear in process.  We are not sure if we are fully cleared in or not.  It's the agent that makes everything take so long I believe.  After about three days here he brought out the customs agent onto our boat to fill out some forms.

      Today, which is Wednesday, we happened to see the agent in the yard here and we told him we would like to clear out and have everything done by Friday as we wish to leave early Saturday morning.  We brought him into the marina office and got the english speaking clerks here to translate for us to make sure he understood.  So we shall see what happens.  

      During our last ten days here we have done lots of exploring.  We took a jeep ride up to Minca, a tiny little village in the foothills at about 2500ft elevation.  Once there we did a half day hike with an organized tour.  There was two other couples from Australia on the hike with us, though they were much younger.    The hike was a circular route up to a waterfall, and the route there was up a trail a bit but mostly up the creek bed where we had to wade thigh deep up the rapidly flowing creek and balance on slippery boulders.  Coming back was an easy trail and then on the road.  Then we had an included lunch and then walked over to a coffee plantation and a place with a great view of a valley with many humming birds.

    We also did bus trips to towns on either side of Santa Marta  which are more touristy.  Also did lots of exploring of Santa Marta.   Very little English spoken here so having a translator or phrase book is great.  We have a Spanish/English translator on our smart phone which is handy.

   Another night we watched a display of fireworks not  far from where we are docked.  They also turned on all there Christmas display lights that they had been putting up the last week.

    

  On Saturday, winds permitting, we are planning to do the 110 miles to Cartagena over two days, with an overnight stop at Punta Hermosa.  The anchorage in here is suppose to be good.  So there is no overnight passage to do, which is good as the winds at night seem to often increase to very strong, and we have often noticed that even in the marina.  The last few nights have been very windy here at night.  The wind seems to pickup after dark and die some after daylight. Sometime is around 30 knots at night, probably a lot stronger out at sea.  Santa Marta to Baranquilla area is know for very strong local winds, often over 40 knots.  

    Our agent finally arrived with our departure zarpe for Cartagena at 7pm tonight and we are hoping to leave tomorrow morning.  He gave us 3 more pieces of paper making a total of 7.  We will find out in Cartagena if he has done the paper work correctly. 

INFO

-Try to get Dino for an agent in Santa Marta, as he has better english and people seem happy with him.  Ask for him as at Marina office as soon as you arrive.  Our agent we got given to use was Jose, he charged us a total of $220 dollars for everything.   His fee was $120 and then $100 for a permit and we could stay up to 3 months or a year for this, not sure as we don't plan to stay in Columbia more than 3 weeks.

     Note: In hindsight he did everything right and his fees were comparable to anyone else.  The only hassle was trying to communicate with him.