Centralcarib

CENTRAL CARIBBEAN

Grenada to Bonaire (May 2008) - We planned on 60 hours to cover the 400 mile trek. We expected at least a knot of west setting
current so speed should not be a problem. We were actually concerned that our speed would be higher which would put us at the anchorage
in Bonaire before daylight. Having said that, we wanted to make sure we arrived before the strong winds, so we would prefer dark to that.
The forecast said that we had about a twelve to eighteen hour cushion on the wind.

Our trip would be three nights and two days.

The first night out was uneventful and relatively calm. The seas were about six feet as advertised and the wind was 17 to 18 knots, really
perfect for a downwind sail. However, the first night out is really tough on sleep, so we didn't get much. Also, we were very alert to our
surroundings because of recent reports of piracy and we would be getting as close as twenty miles to one of the islands where such
goings-on were reported. Even though we were twenty miles away, we were running completely dark. No moon. No running lights. No
lights below to shine out the portholes. And covers over our chartplotters. We were relying completely on radar and our eyes for traffic.
Not a problem, but tedious. We saw some traffic, but none within twelve to fifteen miles and all appeared to be large ships on radar.

The first morning saw the wind drop to 12 to 15. Not enough to sail downwind, so the engine came to life. We ran the engine all day at 2000
rpm and managed to average around seven knots. Our velocity made good was less than that (mostly six and half, sometimes less) because
we had to tack back and forth to keep wind in our sails.

Late morning we were visited by the largest group of porpoises we had ever seen. There were at least 15 to 20 of them on both sides of the
boat having a great old time with our wake. Cool stuff. About fifteen minutes later they disappeared as fast as they appeared. The rest of
the day was uneventful.

That night the wind was still light so we continued to run the engine to keep our speed up. We continued to run dark. This night however,
we saw two small radar blips (small boats); one within two miles of us and one within four miles. We altered course several times
significantly. Each time they were close enough for us to eventually spot their running lights. We have no idea whether the boats were
hostile or not, but they were way too close for comfort. Since all the piracy reports cited small boats with no radar, we were confident that
the combination of our radical course changes and running dark could lose any potential threat. The boats could have been completely
innocent, since no one could see that we were out there. Even so, we were glad we were ultra careful.

Day two saw the wind pick up. And, of course, it was 20 or so instead of the eighteen it was supposed to be. By the end of the day it was
more like 20 to 25 and the waves were more like eight feet or higher in a very short interval (maybe five or six seconds). We reefed the jib
way down and kept the main up sheeted very tight for stability and continued to run the engine in an effort to keep the stern from moving
too much from side to side (reducing a very uncomfortable roll). The good news is that our speed over ground was over eight knots and our
velocity made good was over seven.

Our last night saw the wind and waves pick up even more, but our speed held even though we reefed the sails further. Very early during the
night we knew we would arrive at the anchorage off Kralendijk about one in the morning. By now things had gotten very uncomfortable so
we decided to keep our speed up and at least get behind the lee of Bonaire to get out of the waves.

Once we rounded the southern tip of Bonaire everything quieted down nicely (except the wind). An hour or so later we were at the
anchorage. Anchorage is a bit of a misnomer since there is no anchoring allowed in Bonaire (more on that in a minute). The anchorage is a
series of moorings all along the waterfront of Kralendijk in about 40 feet of water. Our challenge would be to safely find the moorings and
pick one up without running into another boat. There was no moon. However, we were not worried about getting to the moorings since
there is nothing to run into until you get there (several hundred feet deep and then 40 to 50 to 20 then zero all within a hundred yards or so.
Leta is up front armed with your basic flashlight and a spot light. Every thing goes well until Leta drops the boat pole while picking up the
painter and trying to hold the flashlight at the same time. Luckily, the current was not that strong and we chased down the floating boat pole
and picked it up before a successful second attempt at the mooring. All in all a pretty good performance in the dark. It was two a.m. We
slept hard.

Bonaire (May 2008) - The next morning we saw a very pretty waterfront with beautiful crystal clear water. The entire island is a marine
park since a deep coral reef circles the entire island (that's why no anchoring allowed). That means you can snorkel or dive right off your
boat. At the customs dock next to a tug, we even saw a Parrot fish in three or four feet of water. We have never seen such cleanliness in a
port. Bonaire takes the environment seriously. The town was very pretty and clean with nice people.

Now for the negatives. The heavy wind started the morning we arrived and continued for several days as advertised. Bonaire is arid. Arid
and wind makes for dust. We were on the lee side of the island. Arid, wind and lee side means dust all over your boat. Bonaire was the
most dusty place we have ever seen. It's like west Texas in a dust storm. Dust is everywhere. It's even stuck on the mast and all the
standing rigging. We need a seriously heavy rain to get it off the outside. It'll take months to get all the dust out of the inside. Dusty,
dusty, dusty.

Also. We bought fuel at the marina. Our credit card number was stolen. The marina staff were not surprised nor did they care. Don't use
your credit card in Bonaire.

We'll be here until weather permits otherwise. There are worse places to spend a few days, but there are some serious negatives in this
place.

About a week later the boat was coated with red dust. So when we got a short, marginal weather window we were more than ready to get
out of the dust bowl. There was so much dust, I doubt the island will last much longer. It'll just disappear. Well, maybe not.

The wind was supposed to moderate to about 20 knots for a few days. Our plan was to make it all the way to Cabo de la Vela, the first
reasonable anchorage in Colombia, 236 miles away or about 36 hours at six and a half knots. The only potential problem was that the wind
could pick up towards Aruba and then again along the north eastern Colombian coast. Again, the weather window was short and marginal,
but if we could get there before it got really windy we could stay a few days then move again.

We left at four in the morning.

Bonaire to Aruba (May 2008) - Once underway, the wind was close to twenty and the seas were about seven feet (what we expected).
The point of sail was almost directly downwind. We also talked to Chris Parker and found out that the wind was supposed to be close to
thirty within a hundred miles of Cabo de la Vela, but he thought we shouldn't see much more than twenty.

We passed Curacao mid-to-late morning and thought seriously about stopping there for a few days to wait for the next weather window. The
weather forecast was changing to a bit worse and Chris was a bit unsure of the next few days. All the things that make you nervous.

But instead of stopping we continued. Until mid-afternoon the sail was more or less as expected but the wind was consistently a little over
twenty with gusts to twenty five. Things were getting a little more uncomfortable but still within our tolerance level. If things would hold for
the next twenty four hours we would be fine.

Well things did not hold. About three or four in the afternoon, the wind was consistently twenty five with gusts to thirty. This was definitely
not in the forecast. We were still about three hours from the southern tip of Aruba and no where close to Colombia. Oh, and the seas were
a good ten feet. No swell here, the wave interval could not have been more than five seconds. Not comfortable.

We began talking seriously about diverting to Aruba. Our course took us directly south of the island. The only problem (a fairly large one)
was that we would arrive after dark. I guess the good news was that Aruba is very strict about clearing customs and you are not allowed to
anchor without first clearing in at the Port of Aruba in Oranjestad. That meant a good lighted entrance channel (for the big ships) and a
somewhat lighted dock. The bad news was that the dock is built for very large ships which means lots of concrete, rust and tires just waiting
to do some damage to your hull. Additionally, there would definitely be no one at the commercial docks to give us a hand with lines. Leta
would have to jump off the boat with lines in hand and get at least two lines secured in short order. Remember, it was windy, so docking was
going to be problematic.

So what to do. To continue to Cabo de la Vela, we would have to make the assumption that the conditions might not improve. It was
certainly possible that conditions would improve to the forecast, but we had to be prepared for a very uncomfortable and potentially
dangerous ride for another twenty four hours. Or face the Port of Aruba in the dark.

It did not take long to decide. About that time we were slammed by a series of big waves (more beam than aft) that could have broached us
had we not been paying attention. The prospect of dealing with that in the middle of the night when you couldn't see the waves coming from
a bad angle was not very appealing.

Let's go to Aruba.

Aruba (May 2008) - So. We get to the south side of Aruba about six and get behind the island shortly thereafter. It was still windy but
the waves were much lower. There was nothing flat about the water, since the waves sort of curved around the island, but they were three
or four feet instead of ten. The port was only an hour and a half away, about thirty minutes after dark. Close, but still dark. Once we get to
the channel, we see that it is clearly marked with lighted buoys as advertised. Having said that, there is nothing easy about going into a
strange port after dark. But hey, we could still be out there in ten footers. Port control tells us to make our way past a big crane and find
the basin where a large tug is parked and tie up in front of the tug. Leta is on the bow with a spot light and I'm in the cockpit watching the
chartplotter closely. Of course, that means I can't see much outside of the cockpit. Anyway, we find the spot and realize the wind (it's still
windy - over twenty) will blow us off the dock. That means it will be difficult for me to get the boat close enough to the dock for Leta to get
safely off the boat. Of course, there is no choice. It's windy, dark thirty and no place to go. We are committed. As we expected, I was
having a difficult time getting close to the dock. I get fairly close and Leta jumps. I'm still too far away, so her jump was not exactly
graceful and in the process she loses the bow line and the mid-ships line. Big problem. Leta is on the dock with no lines and I'm on the boat
with lines trailing in the water and wind blowing the boat off the dock. I manage to throw the stern line to Leta in an effort to save the
docking attempt. Of course trying to get the bow back into the wind and close to the dock (even with a bow thruster) in twenty knots of
cross wind is an effort in futility. By this time a security guard sees our plight and comes over to do what he can. I manage to get a
mid-cleat line to the security guy, but it's too little, too late. I finally give up when the bow is ninety degrees away from the dock. They
throw the lines back to me (remember I'm driving too) and I manage to go up front and retrieve the bow line from the water. Okay. I turn
around and drive back to the dock and with bow into the wind and towards the dock. I leave the cockpit and get the lines to Leta and the
good samaritan and somehow get back to the cockpit and stop the boat in time to keep from crashing into the dock. Whew. Once we get
tied up, we survey the damage and find that there is none. Well, except for nice tire marks all over the side of the boat. Oh well, those will
come off with a little cleaner wax and elbow grease. Much, much better than gelcoat repair. I'd rather be lucky than good.

By now, it's about eight thirty and port control tells us that Immigration will be by shortly. We clear in with Immigration with no hassles,
then have to walk about ten minutes to Customs at the main entrance to the port. The Customs guy had no idea what he was doing so it
took way too long, but we finally got it done. Port control tells us we can stay for the night, which is a good thing since we couldn't go
anywhere anyway. We get back to the boat about ten and fall asleep immediately, not worrying at all about the boat beating against the
black tires all night. At least we were secure.

Next morning we were up early because we were strongly considering clearing out and continuing to Cabo de la Vela. We couldn't hear
Chris Parker (with all the cranes and big ship interference around), but managed to download a GFS Grib file which showed another
marginal couple of days. After debating the subject for a while we decided to sit this one out and wait for the next weather window. So. We
call the only real marina (only about a mile away) since anchoring is not very good in Aruba (only a few anchorages that are very shallow
and very rolly). The marina says to "Come on down".

We get to Renaissance Marina (part of the Renaissance Hotel complex) about ten. A dinghy meets us, takes a stern line and ties it to a
mooring and a dock hand takes two bow lines and two spring lines from Leta. Nice and smooth. We'll just have to crawl on and off the boat
from the bow for a few days.

Once settled, we realize we made a very good decision. The marina is perfect in the midst of vacationers with just about everything you
need within a short walk through well landscaped paths that are covered with iguanas. The marina has a perfect break water that makes it
very calm inside. The people are the nicest and most helpful we have met in all the marinas we have been in during the last few years. Oh,
and the price is very reasonable. It will only cost a couple of hundred bucks a week. We have paid close to that for one night. I guess we
are on vacation. It looks like the next possible weather window will be next week.

Aruba was a change in scenery for us. We were very close to all the tourist attractions and our boat was next to one of the numerous water
taxi stops in the Renaissance complex (so we could do some serious people watching from our cockpit). The Renaissance is sort of a middle
class hotel which yields some of the best people watching sights. You know, there are some seriously ugly people in this world.

We had the chance to eat at places we hadn't seen in a very long time; like Taco Bell, Subway and Sbarro (mall pizza). We even ate
Chinese food. See, we really are on vacation. One afternoon we even went to a movie. We hadn't been to a movie in years. We just
usually buy DVD's and watch them at anchor somewhere, which we prefer. Having said that, going to a movie was interesting. First there
was the million calorie and fat gram popcorn. Then there was all the talking kids while in the midst of watching the movie. Oh, and of
course, the cell phones. A couple of times I thought Leta was going to get into a fight with moms with rug rats who would not shut up. Fun
stuff. The movie, by the way, was Iron Man; actually a pretty good movie.

Aruba to Cartagena (May 2008) - Enough of the so called vacation. After a few days we were ready to go. We spent a couple of hours
a day trying to figure out the right weather window. The next 400 miles would be some of the toughest in the Caribbean. One of the
reasons for the toughness is that no one can figure out the weather. We began talking to Chris Parker daily and each day his forecast was
different. Apparently, the weather is so difficult because of the many different influences; the trade winds along the north coast of South
America, the Colombian low, tropical waves from the Caribbean, tropical waves from the Pacific, cold fronts from the U.S., the Bermuda
high, the mountains of Colombia - well, you get the picture. Anyway, about a week later, Chris basically confirmed our conclusion that we
should get moving. In the back of our minds was the fact that the longer we waited the more frequent tropical waves would become,
increasing the chances of potentially dangerous weather. Aruba was no place to be in strong weather and we could not go back to Grenada
or Trinidad. It is virtually impossible to go east fighting the strong trades, waves and adverse current of about a knot. Westward it is. So
we left on one fine windy Wednesday (May 21) morning.

Our first task was to clear Customs and Immigration. We leave the marina, go a mile or so back to the commercial ship docks, tie up to the
concrete adorned with a few sporadic tires and proceed to clear out. An hour or so later we were armed with our clearance documents into
Colombia and off we go. No mishaps this time. Not even a tire mark to scrub off later.

Our plan was to make our way to the Colombian coast, then on to Cartagena during the next few days. The reason to follow the coast was
two fold: there were three anchorages along the way where we could tuck in to wait for weather and we could take advantage of the
significant night lee of Colombia to take the edge off the wind.

Once we get away from the port, the wind is about twenty sustained with lots of gusts to twenty five along with the eight or so foot waves
that come with it. Exactly as forecast. Since the forecast was right so far, we were hoping the forecast would be right for the next few days
since it called for significant moderation beginning that afternoon. In theory, we would get beat up for a few hours then have a nice few days
after that. There was no moderation that afternoon as there should have been, but once we got close to the Colombian coast (about
midnight) the night lee had moderated the winds to ten to twelve knots. That actually was a bad thing since the waves were still twenty to
twenty five knot waves (it takes a few hours for the waves to settle) but the wind was not enough to keep wind in the sails and the boat
stable. So we had fun with a really bad roll for most of the night (remember we were going downwind), which meant we each got about zero
sleep.

We arrived at the anchorage at Cabo de la Vela, Colombia about nine or so in the morning. By the time we got there, we had already
downloaded weather files and talked to Chris Parker. The weather was supposed to moderate during that day and night but deteriorate
significantly the day after that. By dawn the next day we could be at the most protected anchorage along the way at Five Bays. We could
wait there as long as we wanted until the weather improved. So we kept going.

By now we were motor sailing and the waves had subsided to a more reasonable four or five feet. We both managed a cat nap that morning,
looking forward to a longer nap that afternoon. About noon the wind picked up enough to turn off the engine and for an hour or so we
actually had a great sail. Things were looking up.

About two that afternoon the fifteen to eighteen knot wind crawled up to about twenty. The forecast said that we should not see anything
above eighteen. Bad sign. Then the twenty crawled up twenty two or twenty three. No gusts here. Sustained. Then of course, the wind
gets up to twenty five for a while then on to twenty six to twenty eight sustained. By now, the seas were at least ten feet and not
comfortable. So much for that long afternoon nap. Lucky for us, about dark the wind started to moderate and by ten or eleven that night we
were motor sailing again.

We arrived at Five Bays in early morning and were looking forward to some good sleep before moving on. But first, before finding the
anchorage, we needed to check on weather. Once we downloaded files and talked to Chris Parker we decided to keep moving. The
forecast had completely changed. Imagine that. Instead of heavy winds for a few days, the wind was supposed to be light and variable for
the next twenty four hours, then pick up after that. What really caught our attention, however, was a forecast tropical wave that would
cause severe squalls between Five Bays and Cartagena on Sunday afternoon. It was now Friday, so we needed to arrive no later than
Sunday morning. If we kept going we could arrive on Saturday morning taking potentially serious weather out of the picture.

Believe it or not, the forecast was right on for Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. No wind. We nearly died of diesel inhalation, but
made it past the dreaded mouth of the Rio Magdelena (trees, carcasses, etc. in the water) during daylight hours and motored into
Cartagena harbor about eight a.m. the next morning. We even got some sleep (finally).

We are so glad that the trip is over. It has been very tough since Grenada. But here we are. Relatively unscathed. No worse for the wear.
It's home for the summer. Cartagena is supposed to be safe and secure and a great city to visit. We'll report back later on that.

Even though we could see the Cartagena skyline, we still had a hurdle or two.

Cartagena (May 2008) - The first was just getting into the harbor. The big ship harbor entrance was two or three hours further. The
shorter route takes you over an underwater stone wall that was built many years ago to protect against intruders. There was supposed to
be a marked entrance that could carry a two meter draft (ours is 1.8) that was a couple of boat lengths wide. Sure enough, there were a
couple of markers right where they should have been and we never saw less than thirteen feet.

Next was to find the marina and clear Customs and Immigration. One must use an agent in Colombia to clear in and out. The trick is to
find a good one. Well. Leta had been exchanging emails with Bruadair (Damon and David - www.bruadair.us) for a few weeks. We had
actually begin following their web site about four years ago when they left Kemah to do this cruising thing. Since then, we had emailed them
occasionally when we had a question about something we learned from their web site. They had been in Panama for the last couple of years
and Leta had noticed a while back that they were going to spend hurricane season in Cartagena. Small world. Anyway, she had found out
from them that we should ask for the agent named David. We also confirmed from them that we should stay in Club de Pesca instead of the
other marina (Club Nautico) (another cruiser who had stayed in Cartagena for a while a few months ago told us that he would stay at Club
de Pesca no matter what the cost and would not spend one minute at Club Nautico for free). During the last few weeks Damon and David
had been invaluable in making sure the marina had our space confirmed and saved. Leta also emailed them along the way to Cartagena
updating them and the marina on our arrival time. So. When we get to the marina, David (the agent) is waiting on us (agents usually do not
work on weekends) to take our documents. By that afternoon we had cleared in and it only cost one hundred and thirty thousand pesos.
What? Oh, that's only sixty bucks.

And. When we arrived there were at least six or eight other cruisers waiting to help us dock. We even picked one up at the T-dock to help.
We managed to back into the slip without mishap and after a few hours of getting the boat secured and hooked up to shore power, etc. we
finally got a good nights sleep.

The marina looks sturdy and has all the things we will need for the summer. The other cruisers tell us that the entire city is very safe and
no one thinks twice about walking anywhere, even at night. We'll see about that and will report back later. So far, things look great for a
summer stay.

After being in Cartagena for two weeks we can say that our initial impressions have proven to be right on. It's a different world down here,
but we think we have found a great place to stay for a few months.

The marina is very secure and we have not felt threatened in any way walking around the city and suburbs. The marina is located across
the harbor from the city in an affluent (wealthy) suburb. There are lots of locals walking around day and night; walking the dog, going to
market, exercising and the like. All very safe. One thing that keeps it that way is the very visible presence of law enforcement. The
marina is directly across the harbor (only a quarter mile or so) from a navy and coast guard base. The coast guard patrols the harbor
frequently and boards local boats on a regular basis. You see city police every block or so. Then there are private security guards like the
ones in the marina. Colombia and Cartagena take security very seriously. There's still a drug war going on in the interior of Colombia, but
in the big cities like Cartagena the drug trade has gone so far underground that the average citizen is not even aware; much like any large
city in the US. We attended an information session hosted by the US State Department a few days after we arrived. One of the speakers
was the city Chief of Police. He was obviously very proud of the accomplishments during the last several years and assured us that even
riding buses was safe at all hours (I wouldn't try that in Baltimore where we stayed last summer). He also touted the reduction in the
murder rate which was now 13 per one hundred thousand. We looked up those statistics when we got back to the boat for some perspective
and found that Baltimore had a murder rate of 45 per one hundred thousand and Dallas and Houston were 15 and 18. Bottom line is that
safety is not an issue.

Club de Pesca is definitely the right place to stay. Club Nautico is not.

Club de Pesca is very clean and professionally run. It is not a very large marina and there must be at least 20 full time employees plus the
security guards. No one gets in or out of the marina without the guards knowing who you are and whether you belong. Workers must
register and sign in and out.

Club Nautico is nasty. There's no other way to say it. The place is not clean and the docks are ratty (loose boards, etc.). The bathrooms
are filthy with no toilet paper and no toilet seats (apparently they got stolen and there is no desire to replace them). There is no security.
It's wide open. It's also a med-moor kind of place using your own anchor and not mooring balls. I guess that's why Indigo Moon told us that
they wouldn't stay there one minute for free.

The cost of living here is relatively inexpensive. As an example, you need your bottom cleaned every two weeks (okay, okay, no comments
from the peanut gallery) instead of every quarter like in the states. Stuff grows really fast in this water. A good cleaning will take about
two hours and a diver in the states will charge you a couple of hundred bucks for a boat our size. Here the cost is the equivalent of $30. I
guess the quarterly cost is about the same, but you get five or six times the labor. Several of the cruisers we have met came here to get
labor intensive work done like arches built and installed, wood work and other things at a fraction of the cost elsewhere at the same or
better quality.

The labor is so inexpensive here, the locals who own boats have full-time boat boys or captains. A boat directly behind us is a 40 footish
sport fisher. It has a captain and two boat boys. They work on the boat all day seven days a week. When the owner comes out with friends
or family they just climb aboard and the captain and boat boys do everything. All the boat owners do it. Even the sail boat owners have
full-time workers, but they at least captain their own boats. It's like some sort of status symbol. If you own a boat, you must be able to
afford full-time help.

As another example, health care is excellent and inexpensive. It has been a while since we have had various check ups and other medical
work done. Leta went to the gynecologist the other day for your basic annual exam. The equivalent cost was $55. Not much more than our
old co-pay. We plan on catching up on all our medical work while here.

Oh. We just must learn Spanish. Pointing, jestering and speaking English very slowly and loudly doesn't work to well. No one speaks
English here.

Cartagena (Last week in August 2008) - Ok. We've been here almost three months. Being the nomads that we have become, it's time
to move on. Not that we don't like Cartagena; we do. It's just time. We have found that three months anywhere is enough. Last year in
Baltimore we moved on after three months. Our plan, at the moment (nomad plans change sometimes daily), is to head out in a couple of
weeks. We would move sooner, but we are waiting on a telescoping whisker pole from Forespar. Hopefully, the thing will get here very
soon and after a few days of mast climbing, drilling and cursing we'll be good to go.

While we are on the subject of shipments, things are very hard to get here. Fed-Ex or UPS are out of the question and you must use a local
delivery service to get it through customs. Stuff gets shipped to an address in Miami and the service gets it to Colombia and to your boat.
We understand that if you don't use the service and try Fed-Ex, for example, your stuff disappears into some sort of customs black hole in
Bogata never to be seen again. Anyway, we have used the local service several times now (including for mail) and it works as advertised.
The shipping cost is really about the same as you would pay Fed-Ex, using them as an example again. Of course we'll feel much better
when the pole actually gets here since it is a fairly high dollar item. Enough of that.

By now we have caught up on our medical doings with no major mishaps or medical problems to deal with.

We have also learned some Spanish. We have gotten so skilled in conversing with the locals that it took Ellis almost a week to find radiator
flush to do an annual cleaning of the engine fresh water cooling system. He finally found Lava Radiador (a CRC product) and some Texaco
(pronounced Teh-hock-o) Dex Cool anti-freeze. Island Packet recommends Prestone Dex Cool but Texaco will have to do for a while (they
are both orange so its probably the same stuff anyway). Leta has gotten so skilled that she talks to her favorite security guard everyday.
The only problem is that she hasn't heard or understood anything the guy has said so far. She thinks he understands her. She actually
ordered out Chinese food for delivery a few nights ago and the food got here pretty much as ordered. She did, however, talk to three
different people and talked so loud that the coast guard station on the other side of the harbor was put on alert (well maybe not alert). I'm
still doing a lot of pointing and talking loud in English. On the other hand the locals are getting pretty good at English. For a few weeks,
Leta kept telling me that some of the marina guys would say hola as she walked by and tell her she was beautiful. Not just one guy, but
several different guys. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago, one of the guys called Bogey beautiful. Come to find out the marina personnel
had a quick English lesson during a recent office meeting since there were four or five American flagged vessels in the marina. Apparently,
the only word the guys could remember was beautiful. Oh well. So much for Leta's self esteem.

Once we leave beautiful (couldn't help it) Cartagena, we will stop at a couple of offshore islands, the Rosarios and the San Bernardos. From
there we'll be about eighty nautical miles (an overnighter) from the first nice anchorage in the San Blas Islands, Isla Pinos. We need to be
in Colon the first week in November, so we'll spend most of October in the San Blas Islands. Internet access will not be likely until we
reach Colon, so the next update will be a while. Based on everything we hear and read we should have some great things to report about
the San Blas.

Baru (September 2008) - We left Club de Pesca early one Sunday morning. Our plan was to motor (no wind) the twenty or so miles south
to the anchorage at Baru. In an hour or so we were out of the ship channel and the water began to clear. Still not the crystal clear water we
were longing for, but a huge improvement over what we had been sitting in for three months. A couple of hours later we get to the channel
leading into the anchorage. It's well marked and the water is clear enough to see the shoals. We round an island through the narrow
channel and the anchorage opens up to a large mangrove lined bay. The depths throughout are about 25 feet with good holding in muddy
sand. This is really a great, protected anchorage with water clean enough to run the watermaker. We initially thought about spending a few
weeks here.

That was before we fired up the watermaker that Ellis had repaired when we first arrived in Cartagena. It began making water alright, but
the salinity reading was over our reject threshold of 750 parts per million (it's really all dissolved solids in PPM, not just salinity). The
standard watermaker goal is any reading below 500. Having said that, the World Health Organization's goal is 1,000 PPM for drinking
water. Anyway, we could not get below our threshold of 750 so all the water we made was being rejected and dumped overboard through or
brine discharge outlet. We talked to Spectra a few times using the satellite phone and tried just about everything except cleaning the
membrane (which is a last resort tactic). But we had to do something. We carry a lot of drinking water, but showers, dishes, toilets, etc.
need fresh water. As a result, we use about 20 gallons per day. Our tank is 260 gallons (a lot by some standards) but we can't sustain
ourselves very long without making water. Ellis can repair a lot of things on the watermaker, but if the membrane is bad we need a Spectra
dealer to get a new one. There is no dealer in Colombia, so we began to think seriously about going to Colon, Panama earlier than planned
(where there is a dealer). We finally decided to reset out PPM threshold to 850 so at least we could get fresh water in the tanks. Not ideal
but it would buy us time.

It was also hot. The heat was oppressive. It was the kind of heat we experienced in July in Texas, but much more humid. It was hot, no
wind and we couldn't sleep at night. Yeah, we could run the generator and air conditioning, but not around the clock. We would have to go
back to Cartagena to tank up on diesel in short order, not to mention the wear and tear on the machinery.

About the same time we received an email from a cruiser that had left Baru a few days earlier bound for Isla Pinos in Panama. They
reported that the nights were cool because of the mountain air coming down from the mainland.

Well. That did it for us. More reasonable weather and we could get closer to Colon in case our watermaker decided to give up the ghost.

The next morning we pulled up anchor around eight in the morning.

If we go back to Cartagena (which is a real possibility next year if we don't go through the Panama Canal until the following year) we'll
spend lots more time in Baru. It just wasn't the right time for us.