Sailing for 4 years to 35 Countries - this is our last sailing blog

kwilenacat
Mar 15
9 min read

Updated: Mar 16

Colombia and Jamaica

I travelled back from Australia and arrived at Barranquilla Airport / Colombia at 2 am in the morning. It was a 2 hours Taxi ride from the airport to Santa Marta marina. There was no traffic at that time of the night.

Colombia

Sven returned from his kiting trip the same day. His kite was still drying outside in the morning.

Sven was not kidding when he said he did not cook whilst I was in Australia 😊. The fridge looked a little sad.

I went to the supermarket to restock. An announcement was made over the loudspeaker advising clients to stay in the store, as there was a storm outside. I waited for 1/2 hour but the weather was not getting any better but instead was getting darker. I decided to start the 20 minutes walk back to the marina (backpack full of foods). I looked for the most shallow spot to cross each road.

I did not get the special treatment as shown below - Colombian gentlemen in action.

A short video of it below:

I enjoyed walking through the different lanes and getting lost in them. I like that all prices in Sant Marta have been standardised across the shops. There is also a special tourist Police presence around which are looking out for visitors. It feels very safe here.

Below is one of the many local restaurants we loved. A guy was always singing some Colombian songs which added to the atmosphere and the food was great too.

More street art

Street life - there is always something to see !

Timing was perfect (we were still on land) when the freezer overheated (with freshly cooked meals in it for the upcoming crossing to Jamaica). It was tricky to get the freezer in and out in the confined boat space. Sven found a replacement fan in one of the electric shops and was able to install it. No food got lost.

Not that we have space for more clothes on the boat (no temptation here) but if someone likes clothing, there are certainly very well priced outfits to be found. Below outfits, without trousers but top and all accessories cost COP 41'000 which is AUD 14.- or EUR 9.-)

Cartagena is a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. By the sea is a walled Old Town, founded in the 16th century, with squares, cobblestone streets and colorful colonial buildings. Sven took the public bus there and explored the city.

Loud.... very loud...

Beautiful Street parade

and beautiful smiles and dresses.

We had to change our upcoming sail from Colombia to Jamaica. The green dot is where we were and a hurricane was starting to develop and close in. It was predicted to hover around Jamaica .... So of course we did wait for another week...

It was no hardship to spend another few days of Marina life ..

Pictures:

Sunset with an Aperol Spritz at the Marina bar
Bird in Marina
Me trying to take a photo of a massive fish under our boat, but capturing myself in the reflection of the water

We anchored the boat outside the marina once Cyclone RAFAEL had passed. This allowed us to clean the algaes from the boat hull (there is much cleaner water outside than in the marina). It also allowed us to leave at first light. We anchored next to the Colombian Coast guard.

We bought enough fresh fruit and vegetable to last for our 4 days/4 nights journey on the water. We also did a last wash and let the clothes dry in the cockpit overnight (our special drying room).

There was very little wind forecasted, so we were pleased to be able to use the Code zero sail for most of the journey.

During our 3 or 4 hourly shifts, we slept either in the saloon or outside near the cockpit.

There is very little for us to do when all is going well (we have our hard working autopilot doing that). Sven fixed one of the removeable pot handles (which was no longer removable) and we took turns with the shifts.

We had every weather possible. Nice sky with stars, no wind - perfect wind - too strong gusts and lots of rain.... we were drenched and only went outside when we really had to.

Making a fruit salad - chasing the fruits...😂😂😂 - click "play"

Our toaster

Perfect night watch sky - stars are out and moon is shining through. Calm water and pleasant temperatures.

Jamaica

After 3 days and nights, we briefly anchored at Morant Cays island (a Jamaican island about 60 nm from Jamaica). Nobody lives there, but we could see fishermen walking around with torches. We did not stay the night and continued with our 4th nightshift.

There were often 1-2 knots of current against us and we ensured that we kept a healthy distance from Haiti.

When we felt unsafe during the night, we turned the AIS and navigation lights off so we could not be seen.

You can sail for days without seeing another boat, but then when you see one (mainly tankers) - they are sometimes on a collision course with you. Go figure!

We checked in at Port Royal after 4 nights at see. I saw sting rays jumping out of the water in front of us which was amazing ! Picture 1: Sven returning with dinghy from the customs office. After that we had to wait until a health officer boarded our boat. We read that we were not allowed to bring Coffee, Honey, Rum, Fruit and vegetables into Jamaica. We had all and much of each. We showed it to the officer and after inspecting our fridge and all, he confirmed that all is okay. and that we did not have to bin any of it. We got some fuel after all the formalities were done.

It felt strange to be the only sailing boat. Little did we know then that we would not see another sailing boat or motor yacht during our entire 1 month stay in Jamaica (apart from a few tourist catamarans). Unbelievable, where are all the sailors? We have never experienced this over the last 4 years of sailing.

It took us 1 hour to get to Kingston by public bus. By coincidence we walked into a Swiss restaurant/Swiss store which was owned by the honorary consul of Switzerland. He invited us for a coffee and his employee/guide Jessica (a Swiss German speaking/Jamaican) showed us around the Kingston wall art street (Waterlane street art)

Jessica joined us for a walk through the busy Coronation market

Bob Marley house in Kingston (he died in 1981 of melanom at the young age of 36). We did not go inside the house.

Restless as we often are, we continued to the next bay and got caught up in a local storm. Due to 40 knot gusts, whitecap waves and lots of rain, we did not anchor on pigeon island as planned but continued to Great Pedro Bluff for shelter. We knew that we would be more protected there.

Always a little challenging to land the dinghy when big waves are slamming on shore and we were a bit hesitant. But a local fisherman/bar hut owner encouraged us to come in and signed that he would help us. Once we arrived safely on shore we looked back and knew that going back out was going to be even more challenging 😂. But we were assured again, that we had nothing to worry about and that help would be on hand. (However, on the way back out, several locals were filming when we were trying to push dinghy against the waves, get in and start the engine.. I would have loved to have that clip, as we were so wet by the time we were in the dinghy!)

We ate a beautiful Lobster dinner (two days in a row) in the small "Lobster pot restaurant" ... which was really just a hut at the beach, built from wood planks. Then we went next door to the fisherman/pub owner for a drink (also just a hut). He can be seen in his wet blue underwear after helping us coming in with the dinghy. One of the cooked lobsters was being handed to us like chips to be eaten with the beer,

Am I really that boring? My new found friend I was chatting to suddenly fell asleep right next to me😂

2nd day on the same beach but now with a calm sea. Fishing boats between the Lobster Pot restaurant and the "bar", Our dinghy looks so small between them.

The local fishermen informed us, that there are many magic mushroom treatments done here and that it is becoming very popular to treat depression and other illnesses. It seems to be a lucrative business here and comes not cheap eg US$5000.- upwards depending on which mushroom retreat and therapy gets chosen.

We got a visit from some very fit and friendly Jamaican Defence force coast guards. They asked us to board our ship but thankfully left their machine guns (see 2nd pictures) in their boat.

On the move again to the Black river with a planned lunch stop at Floyd's Pelican Bar. The bar is only accessible by boat. We anchored and waited for the rain to pass, then took the dinghy to the bar.

The bar / restaurant is made of drift wood and I have no idea how it survived the hurricanes. In particular, since we could see the damaged roofs on other buildings.

We "parked" our dinghy in front of the restaurant.

Kwilena can be seen in the back.

The locals are so friendly.

Readily made joints (see below Picture) are sold in this bar and everywhere else in Jamaica. They call them “spliff” and the term comes from the Jamaican Patois language, which is a creole language spoken in the country. The word “splif” or “spliff” in Jamaican Patois refers specifically to a rolled cannabis cigarette, typically containing both cannabis and tobacco. When they sell cannabis in the streets they ask if you want "ganja" which is a generic word for marijuana. However, Marijuana is used by Rastafarians to heighten feelings of community and to produce visions of a religious and calming nature. Rastafarians are unlikely to refer to the substance as marijuana; they usually describe it as the wisdom weed or the holy herb!

Lloyd is the owner and started out small but expanded bit by bit as as new drift wood floated by. 2nd picture shows the kitchen. No gas, only coal is used. The meal was great but small portions and expensive (we had prawns).

This is the main room of the bar, locals are playing domino which is a popular game here.

The weather continuous to be cloudy and we sometimes had to start the generator. We rarely have to do this, as we usually get enough sun light on the solar panels.

Arrived at the Black River .

You don't need to go up the river to see a crocodile, you can see the crocks around the black river tourist and fishing boats. Some are huge. The coast guards we had met a few days earlier, have their base here. They told us to be careful when stepping from the dinghy onto the old tyre to climb up the concrete wall, as big crocks hang around here. When I washed my hands in the ocean much further up and away from the river, a local told me to not do this, as there are crocodiles along here too. I was assured that they don't eat humans, but when I googled it I found that this is not quite true! Hope our anchor does not get stuck here - neither of us will dive here!

Each time some mangroves floated under our boat (we were anchored outside the river) I automatically checked that it was not a crocodile. Could not make water here, was just too muddy from the river.

Cheddar cheese in tins? I have not seen this before, but why not.

We had only one local who came up to our boat to sell a black river tour. This paid off for him as we accepted his offer.

Many people are poor here. The bakery was hidden behind behind metal bars and some people had no or missing teeth (a toothpaste costs $8.-) . Many have really blood shot eyes from smoking weed and/or drinking rum. Understandably, they are all trying to sell you some art or goods but we never felt that they were pushy and they were always polite and respectful when we said no.

It looks like stocking up food for Cuba is not going to be a problem. They have a good selection of fresh and tined foods.

It became more "touristy" the further we ventured north of the island.

People love to dance and love their music here. Bob Marley songs (and other Reggae songs) get played everywhere and people sing along (some better than others) and move to the music.

I visited the Luminous bay which is situated along the Northcoast of Jamaica. This Luminous Lagoon apparently is the only bay in the world which is luminous every night and is not seasonal like Bahamas, Indonesia, Puerto Rico and Australia. The water is full of millions of dinoflagellates which are a type of algae or marine plankton which glow when they are disturbed. According to one of the legends, the bath in flowing waters is a elixir of youth