Resting in a dramatic bay in Tayrona National Park, Colombia

Thursday 28 April -

Well we have been going so fast we got here earlier than expected. We changed our booking at the marina in Santa Marta and will head there tomorrow. We decided to illegally stop off and anchor in one of the 5 bays with anchorages in Tayrona National Park. We are meant to check in at customs in Santa Marta, but with the winds and chop we know we will not head back this way, so we sneaked in for a day of resting. We decided we wouldn't leave the boat as the place is patrolled and boats do get moved on if they are caught stopping here before checking in. We entered this calm bay a stark contrast from the wind and seas we had just been in. Normal priorities, the first thing we did was cook up a big breakfast.

We had to clear up loads of dead flying fish on the deck, we gave them a line up and thought the vultures may like them, but they clearly can't take anything out of the water.

Poor things .... our line up of dead flying fish, frightened out of the water by PolePole's racing white hull

Dramatic mountains all around us covered in dense bush and trees, some in a lovely white flower. Although it is as flat as a pancake most of the time, the katabatic winds howl down from the mountains and send us spinning on our anchor. The wind is a welcome relief from the heat.

There are a few fishing dwellings and a couple of shelters to cater for tourists which came in drips and drabs on fishing boats, most probably from one of the other bays. There are a couple of cars but looks quite an epic dirt road to get here.

We lazed about all day, feeling pretty exhausted after our night time shifts. It was boiling hot and sunny in the morning but clouded over in the afternoon making it a lot more tolerable. I had a lovely time watching loads of vultures circling around and coming to the beach to eat from fish bones obviously discarded by the fishermen. There was a huge cacophony coming from land and we spotted a golden wing tipped raptor. They kept heading into the bush, I’m sure they must have babies.

As dusk fell the people disappeared and we seemed to have the place to ourselves which was magical. Our meals are now about clearing the deep freeze, so we had a delicious steak, with frozen mushrooms, with jackets potatoes with loads of shredded cheese from the freezer. I was exhausted so didn't last long at all, the thoughts of coastal patrols and the anchor dragging could not keep me awake, I was out for the count!

Tayrona park here we come .... at about 7am

Water gets calmer as we approach

Getting closer and closer to the beach

Getting calmer and calmer

Dense bush everywhere

Fishing shacks with big trees on the beach

Turkey Vultures

Loads of vultures soaring around us

Just thought I would show off our wonderful refrigeration, breakfast goodies in top drawer, booze and drinks in the bottom drawer

Drinks drawer

The two drawers on the left is more refrigeration, top drawer full of cheese and lunch goodies, below is our fresh produce, most of our fruit goes in there as it is rots too quickly in the open. The two on the left are our deep freeze drawers. So well organised, deep drawers with a shelf in the middle, it is amazing how much we fit in. They have all worked brilliantly, unlike our fridge freezer on the old boat.