CARTAGENA, COLUMBIA

We had the near perfect sail from Aruba to Cartagena, Columbia.  DDW (Dead Down Wind) for 400 nautical miles.  The winds were constant between 15 and 20 knots.  You gotta love that !  The only downside, no fish.  

The Magdalena River is the principal river of Columbia.   It is 949.5 miles long.   It flows into the ocean near the city of Barranquilla.  You can see with the naked eye, a line of fresh green water and blue ocean water.  The fresh water can be seen 12 miles from shore.  While sailing thru the ocean and fresh waters, we noticed how calmer the seas were in the green waterway or was that just an illusion?

GREEN FRESH WATER VS BLUE SALT WATER

As we were approaching the Boca Grande entrance at 5am, we saw an amazing amount of tall buildings.  This is the Boca Grande area which is a neighborhood with many condos, extensive shops and hotels. 

BOCA GRANDE

During the 1700s, the Spanish built an underwater wall at the entrance of the Boca Grande channel.  This was to force the English to enter at the Boca Chica entrance where the Spanish had 2 forts they could shoot from.  Today, a 100 foot gap in the wall was created and is marked by flashing red and green buoys.

We anchored off of the Club Nautico marina and to the other side of us are Columbian Navy ships and three submarines.  This anchorage wasn’t the best as there are numerous boat taxis running all day long creating much wake.  Since we are anchored in a large commercial port, the water is less than desirable.  Soon, we’ll be going to the island where the water is crystal clear.

SUBMARINE

El Centro, as it is known in Cartagena, is the Old city or the Walled city.  It is a heavily-fortified Spanish town that was the key strongpoint of the Spanish Empire.  The city is protected by thick stone walls that took over 100 years to build.  It contains plazas, churches, narrow streets, balconied houses and monumental buildings in admirable states of preservation.  There are numerous restaurants for all tastes and lots of good shopping.  Beware!  We saw a street food vendor sharpening his knife on the edge of the sidewalk then using it to cut the food….be selective about your street vendors!

VILLA SUSANA

CLOCK GATE

KGB BAR.  EVERYTHING RUSSIAN

MADE BY AN ARTIST FROM PARIS WHO DONATED THEM TO CARTAGENA

PALENQUERAS.  DRESSED AS THEY DID BACK IN THE DAY SELLING FRUIT

LA GORDA

Every day was stinking hot.  I’m talking about 34 Celsius (93.2 F)with 70% humidity hot.  With the heat index it feels like 46.8C (116F) .  Finally, after 6 weeks with no rain, it poured so we jumped on the deck and jumped up and down like kids.  We cooled off nicely. 

SMART CAT COOLING OFF ON A FREEZER FULL OF ICE CREAM

FINALLY, RAIN

We visited the Castillo San Felipe Fort which is the largest Spanish fort in all of the Caribbean.  There are several underground tunnels.  We found one in particular that was quite steep and we could never find the end as there was 6 inches of water on the ground.

CASTILLO SAN FELIPE FORT

VIEW OF BOCA GRANDE FROM THE FORT

CAPITAN TIM

ONE OF THE MANY UNDERGROUND TUNNELS IN THE FORT

In the district of Getsemani, we found a street with numerous hostels, cheaper but very good eateries and the famous Café Havana in which Hillary Clinton, while secretary of state had a diplomatic event there.  On a Saturday night, Tim and I went here to listen to a Cuban 10 piece band and dance salsa until the wee hours of the morning (the band only started at 11:30pm).

Another famous bar is called Tucandela.  This is where Obama’s secret service agents got drunk and had prostitutes entertaining them.  It was quite a scandal.

One more drinking hole I must mention is called Donde Fidel.  They play good salsa music whereby many locals dance in the aisles.  Unfortunately, the music is extremely loud.  You might as well stand outside and dance where there is more room.

We had a most delicious lunch at the Cevicheria (Calle Stuart, 7-14 / www.lacevicheriacartagena.com  / tel 312 209 6301).  Anthony Bourdain made one of his TV food episodes at this restaurant.  I want his job.  If you never saw his show, it’s called “Parts Unknown”.  He travels around the world to taste local food.  They talk about traditions, some history and he’s always with locals.  It’s my dream job.

SQUID SANDWICH ON A BAGUETTE

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

There are several local restaurants that are very affordable and delicious.  There will be mostly locals at these restaurants and very few if no tourists at all.     

SALAD WITH AVOCADO, MIXED MEAT AND PLANTAINS FOR ONLY $5US

I gave this street artist our boat card and asked him if he could paint Alpenglow.  He was very happy to oblige.

We visited the gold museum and the Emerald museum, both next to each other.  Columbia has the most beautiful emeralds in the world.

GOLD EARRINGS AT THE VAULTED MUSEUM

One must always taste the local beer

THEY CALL THIS AMBER BEER, RED BEER.  VERY GOOD

On our walk to and from our boat and the old city, we often saw parrots and many species of birds.

INFORMATION FOR CRUISERS:

-         Navigating: If you want to take the Boca Grande entry to Cartagena Bay, it is well marked with red and green simultaneously flashing buoys.

-         Cartagena Bay: The water in the bay is dirty and we don’t recommend swimming here.  Expect your anchor chain to have black mud on it when pulling up.  It is a very busy bay with many local boat taxis and pleasure boats which cause a lot of wake.  Expect loud music at night for a short period of time when tourist boats pass by.  Look out for some fireworks !

-         Club Nautico:  Good dinghy dock however they ask that you don’t lock your dinghy.  That said, it is gated with a security guard 24/7. 

It has a nicely air conditioned self serve or service laundry with folding table for 10,000COP a load (self serve).  It also has 2 couches and a TV.

The club also has a restaurant and has shower facilities but not air conditioned.  Free Wifi is just ok.  The marina is very busy, med moorings with lots of surge.

-         Library:  There’s a large library with good Wifi in the Centre of town.

-         Exchange rate:  As of April 2016, the exchange rate was approximately… $1 us to 3,000cop.

-         Taxi:  There are many, I mean many taxis.  A ride from Club Nautico to the old Colonial city is 6,000cop ($2us).  However, you can walk which can take about 20-25 minutes one way.  At night, taxis cost 8,000cop.

-         Clearing in:  At the Club Nautico, go to the marina office and ask to clear in.  They called an agent for us which arrived soon afterwards.  He charged us $30us up front then another $90us when we leave.  You may need a temporary importation document which would cost $100us if you stay beyond a certain amount of days.

-         IGY marina in Santa Marta:  We heard from other cruisers that because the marina is near a coal mine, if the wind is coming into the marina, you will get black coal dust on your boat.

-         Isla Rosario:  A cruiser friend of ours went here in April 2016 and said that the coral reefs are all dead and all is grey.  There were no other cruisers there.

      -    FREE TOUR:  This tour lasted 2 hours.  Our guide Edgar was great.

-         Santa Marta:  Beware when taking a 1 day tour bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta.  Cruiser friends took this 4 hr trip.  They drove thru the old city and then got dropped off at a beach and back they drove 4 hours to Cartagena.  They were disappointed and surprised to have been dropped off at a beach rather than in the old town.

ARUBA

We had a beautiful 58 mile downwind sail from Curaçao to Aruba.  Still more dolphins entertaining us at our bow as we were sailing at 7 knots.  Once the dolphins left, we tried to fish but lost 1 lure,  again and had 2 other bights but loss the fish.  Darn, no fresh fish tonight...

Roughly 103,000 people call Aruba home. It is the smallest of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao).  It’s only 19 miles long and its total area is less than 75 square miles. 

We decided to take a slip at the Renaissance Marina.  They put yachts in transit beside the helicopter pad and boat shuttle to their private island and a small barge they use for transporting food to the private island.  Also, we had a nice view of the many cruise ships.  All in all it wasn’t that bad.  We took advantage of their pool and hot showers.  Talking about cruise ships, the Scientology religious group own a cruise ship name ‘Free Wind’ which was in town while we were there.

THERE WERE ACTUALLY 3 CRUISE SHIPS IN TOWN AT THE SAME TIME

ON THE LEFT YOU CAN SEE OUR ANCHOR.  THIS IS HOW CLOSE THE HELICOPTER WAS TO US

MED MOORED

 Since we stayed at the Renaissance marina, we could use their three pools and go to their private island on their boat shuttle.  There are some very tame flamingos there that they feed and they did cut their wings.  I believe this is done so that the tourists get to see some flamingos without having to find them on their own by leaving the comfort of their hotel.

I found some flamingo feathers on the beach in Bonaire. I didn't have any Styrofoam but found some on the beach.  Then I took an empty bottle of mouth wash to put the Styrofoam in.

FEELING CREATIVE

YOUNG IGUANAS

The Renaissance hotel has basically 2 buildings.  One is by the ocean and the other across the street.  Their boat shuttle goes to both hotels to pick up guests and bring them to their private island, simply named 'Renaissance Island'.  To get to the hotel across the street, the boat goes under a man made tunnel to the shopping area of the hotel, right next to Starbucks. 

ENJOYING RENAISSANCE ISLAND

DRY THRU STARBUCKS AT THE RENAISSANCE HOTEL BRINGING GUESTS TO THE PRIVATE ISLAND

AT THE END OF EACH DAY, WE'D COOL OFF IN THEIR BEAUTIFUL POOL 

HAPPY HOUR TIME

We took a local bus north to Eagle Beach and Palm Beach where there is a strip of low rise hotels and another strip with high rise hotels with lots of beach chairs.  Palm Beach is very beautiful, somewhat less touristy at Eagle Beach.

FOFOTI TREE.  IT CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN ARUBA

ONE OF THE HIGH RISES ON PALM BEACH

PALM BEACH

This contraption is called a "Sunscreen Application System".   Put in some money, get into the.....thing, close your eyes and get a blast of sun tan lotion.  ok ?

Hawksbill turtles lay their eggs on Eagle Beach starting in April and they hatch, I think, around September.  When we were there in early April, only 4 had laid their eggs.  In 2015, there were approximately 35 turtles that laid eggs by the end of the season.

We walked to the Bubali bird sanctuary which has fresh water.  There’s an observatory but no trails.

THERE WERE 10 DUCKLINGS

BANANA QUIT

YET ANOTHER PARROT

Aruba reminds me of America with their numerous shopping strips with loads of known makes such as Prana, Boss, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, ect…There are also numerous cruise ship jewelry stores, expensive hand bags and local markets with goods made from China.  They have the most American fast food restaurants I’ve seen in my travels in the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean.  There are Chinese restaurants, Seafood & Steak houses, Cuban food , Mexican food…all at a very high touristy price.  There is even a free trolley you can hop on and off that goes thru the shopping district.

We took a local bus south to Baby beach.  On the way, we drove thru the dry towns of Santa Cruz and San Nicolas.  There wasn’t one house with grass since it’s so dry on the island.  They leave their lawns bare with dirt or the nicer ones have tiled front yards. 

VERY DRY CLIMATE

Baby beach is very pretty if you look south.  If you look north, you see the pipes of the Aruba Oil refinery Company; an unpleasant site. 

We're not big beach people so off we went and took a walk south and came across a cemetery which looked quite dilapidated.   I was quite sad about it being so un-kept until…..we realized, it was a pet cemetery.

JUST BEYOND BABY BEACH

PET CEMETERY

RIP. WOOF WOOF

 Along the shore, we came across some wild donkeys.  I really enjoy these docile animals.  They let me pet them until they realized I had no food and off they went or was it because they wanted to mate; sorry no picture.

LOCAL FISHING BY THE PET CEMETERY

Next stop: Cartagena, Columbia where Romancing the Stone was filmed.

INFORMATION FOR CRUISERS:

-   Immigration/customs:  We had to dock our boat at the customs dock in Oranjestad.  They ask that you hail them on VHF16, 30 minutes before our arrival to ask permission to dock.  Immigration and customs came to our boat each in their own cars and made us fill out forms.  Then they both went back to their office to scan our passports.  Once they returned, customs came on board and opened cupboards and looked in our bilge lockers.  They asked us if we had any liquor and we said yes.  We had about 4 liters of liquor and some wine in which all had been opened.  They told us that we were NOT allowed any booze at all.  So our choices were to surrender our booze and in this case they would have put them under lock.  Our other choice was to pay duty.  Lucky for us, they let us go because all our bottles were opened.  To check out, we had to dock again at the customs dock. 

-   The bus system is very good.  It costs $2.50us a trip and goes to the northern and southern tips of Aruba (not the national park or windward side).  There is a bus terminal in downtown Oranjestad behind and to the west of the pink Royal Plaza.

-   There used to be a self serve laundry mat near the Renaissance hotel but it closed in the beginning of April 2016.  You can have your laundry done by the marina for X amount a kilo plus they charge a $10.00us delivery fee.

-   If you take a slip at the Renaissance marina, you get access to their pools (3) and you can take their shuttle boat to their private island.  You can also use their employee hot showers.  They tend to put transients beside their shuttle boat and barge.  The hotel is next to the airport, and when a plane takes off, it’s quite loud.    There’s also a tourist helicopter beside the shuttle boats and it’s also very loud when in use.  Its med mooring and the marina personnel are extremely helpful.  There are many tourists walking on the docks since they do not fence off the marina area.  There is a security guard at night and felt very safe here.

-   There’s a cinema at Palm Beach plaza and at the Renaissance hotel in Oranjestad., call +297 59 29 393 or email turtugaruba@hotmail.com

-   If you want to volunteer in the turtle during the nesting or hatching seasons, call +297 59 29 393 or email turtugaruba@hotmail.com

-   The butterfly farm was built by a man from Montreal.  It costs $15us.

-   The Bubali Bird Sanctuary is free.