Colombia - Cartegena

We had at one stage thought we would sail to Cartegena before going through the Panama Canal and make use of what we had heard were good marina facilities to slip the boat and do some work on her before entering the Pacific. More recently though we had heard that the harbour was a pretty dirty place to keep the boat as well as it being terribly hot and humid so we decided to see Cartegena and some other parts of Colombia by plane and land travel.

We left Bocas del Toro on the 7th of August on an early morning flight to Panama city. It was fantastice to see the Bocas archipelago which we had just sailed around from the air. Mangroves and reefs everywhere! It was equally fascinating, but quite a different type of view, to see the hundreds of yachts and ships moored and anchored outside the entrance of the Panama Canal as we came in to land.

Bocas archipelago from the air

After a night in Panama city we flew to Cartegena and spent 4 days there with our friend John on his yacht Sapphire M, a Westsail 32, which he had at anchor at Club Nautico in Cartegena. Cartegena is a nice city to explore. It reminded me of Phnom Penh - the humidity, the deteriorating footpaths, the juxtaposition of the old eg. hawkers on the street and the new eg. Crocs shop. Once known as the major trouble spot in Colombia for drug related crime, things have apparently got better in recent years and with police on just about every street corner, it has become safer for tourists. John had organised for the 3 of us to go on a guided tour of the city, particularly the old section. Our guide, Duran Duran (!!) was a font of information and we had a very enjoyable time.

John, Louise and Ivan at the old fort

While in Cartegena we had a crazy bus ride - jump on, hang on and don't look ahead; visited the naval museum which as well as housing displays of things naval was memorable for the very loud accordian bands playing in the hall and for the torrential rainstorm that came while we were inside.

view from John's anchorage at Club Nautico

On the morning we left Cartegena we woke to a rising wind that was causing some of the boats around us to drag their anchor. It was somewhat nerve wracking at the point when a 50ft schooner drifted close enough to the boat next to John's to glance off it just as the owner started the engine to motor away. We would have been next in line for a sizeable knock, although John was ready to pull the anchor and motor away from danger if necessary. We were surprised that a number of people leave their boats at anchor in the harbour without remaining on board and of course inevitably some of them drag in high winds or sails flap loose, just becoming a danger to those around them. Fortunately for us the wind dropped after about an hour and John was able to take us to the dinghy dock so we could catch our flight to Bogota.