Our last sail and blog!!

Our route this year, from Canet en Roussillon in France to Santa Marta in Colombia, 6 thousand nautical miles!

We haven't had a night on land since Christmas, and then only 6 nights since mid November, so the prospect of a big comfy bed is very appealing! I have been struggling with terribly slow internet ever since we left Guadeloupe, so it is with equal delight that I end the blog for this year, which must be a relief to all you readers too!

We set off really early as Rowan was a little concerned about getting into the marina if the wind was blowing. Luckily sun rise was beautifully calm and as we spotted the first high rise buildings of Santa Marta all was tranquil. We were desperately calling the harbour master by 7:30am for our berth, they were tardy to answer and then gabbled away so quickly we were non the wiser. Luckily there was someone to meet us and we had a very big easy mooring to get into. We were rather disappointed not to be on a dock with all the other yachts, we were on the remote outside dock in amongst some big industrial looking fishing boats. We were just settling into our well earned cooked breakfast when the harbour master came to ask us to move onto the pontoon with the other yachts. We were very pleased, the fact we had to re-manoeuvre did not hold us back, especially as the winds were still light.

Hints of pink on the clouds, departing at sunrise

You can see the next layer of high Andean mountains

High rise buildings of Santa Marta coming into view

PolePole's sad looking ripped sail bag

Loads of little fishing boats out

Industrial port on the left

Heading into the marina, such a shock to be back in a city with high rise buildings

Delighted with our move we had barely tied up when the Italian boat opposite introduced themselves, Christopher who was incredibly helpful and was soon giving us all sorts of helpful advice, including to lock up all our fenders as his were all stolen the first night they arrived while they were asleep on board. His lovely wife Olga is from Siberia, I did enquire gingerly about the war, it seems she is half Ukrainian, half Russian, and thinks both sides are as bad as each other. She is glad to have left there many years ago by the sounds of it. She is a make up artist and keeps her business ticking over. They have both done the World Arc 10 years ago and plenty of sailing since. Christopher has captained super yachts and always been in the boat business, lately as a boat surveyor, so he has a huge wealth of knowledge.

PolePole safely in the marina

We looked across the pontoon and saw a 2022 fellow Arc boat, called Invictus, flying the Aussie flag. They arrived a fair while after us, into St Lucia on Feb 9th as they stopped off in the Cape Verde islands, because of the lack of winds, and the we never crossed paths in the Canaries. They had invited Christopher and Olga for drinks at 6 so they asked us to join them too. It turns out they both have big South African connections, Denise and Robert Drew, Denise is originally from Zambia and spent a lot of her younger life in South Africa, her dad retired to Beacon Bay, East London, the same suburb as Rowan's family home. Robert is English by birth but left young and spent a lot of time growing up all around Africa, he got into the refrigeration business and moved to Sydney and obviously has done very well. They have spent 10 years sailing in the Mediterranean and seem to be heading back to Sydney now. They are both in their seventies and she is clearly fed up with sailing now and just wants to get home. They have a pair of Polish youngsters as crew that they picked up in Grenada to help them on the passage. We think they may be quite relieved to see the back of them here in Colombia, the Polish guy seemed pretty unhelpful at drinks, expecting Robert to wait on him. Robert is a big character and has a lot of stories to tell. They spent time in Nakuru, which is where I was born in Kenya, so they have a few tales from there too.

Invictus 1 with their Arc flag still hoisted

Drinks at Invictus 1, From left to right back row Denise, the two Polish crew, Olga, Christopher, Rowan, me and Robert kneeling

We collapsed to bed early, thrilled to be here safely and with the only real damage being our sail bag got totally ripped just before leaving Bonaire, when the winch lifting the dinghy caught the main halyard and started lifting the main sail through the sail bag! We already have an upholstery guy quoting and have met the guy who will look after our boat while we are away.

We will stay on the boat for a few days getting sorted and then head out on some trips around the country. Although there is rather an ugly industrial port here the town/city is very quaint and colonial. The marina is smaller than we imagined and besides a Swiss couple we have met, there are only a couple of other foreign yachts. Sadly we hear from the Swiss couple that we must make the most of our month here as they think trouble is brewing up again here in Colombia and the recent years of relative calm may soon be over. The average wage is lower than in Venezuela and the rich are wealthier than ever. So we plan to take their advice and do some good exploring until we return home on June 1.

Catch up with the blog end of December when we return, although I may resort to a new format as this blog format requires much stronger wifi than we are likely to get in the Pacific.

Looking forward to getting home to my newly painted laundry room! It hasn't been painted in over 50 years I think. Definitely cheers up this north facing room.