19:24.38N 075:32.45W

The passage from Aruba to Cartagena is talked about amongst cruising sailors as one of the worst passages in the world.

A combination of strong trade winds, rapidly shoaling seas and counter currents all contribute to some pretty extreme conditions.

Perceived wisdom was to stay up to 200 nm offshore but at some stage you would have to run across wind and waves to make landfall. In the last couple of years a combination of a greatly increased security situation along the Colombian coast and sailors looking for new cruising grounds has added the option of tucking close into land in an attempt to avoid the worst of the weather. In keeping with our gunkholing style Trish and I had planned to break the 440nm journey into 5 legs and try to see at least a little of the Colombian coastline. BY closely monitoring weather conditions this plan had worked well....until the final leg from 5 Bays near Santa Marta. The constant williwaws screaming down from the mountains made it impossible to gauge conditions out at sea and our 12.30am start saw us head out into high winds and big following seas with no possibility to turn tail and run back to shelter. As we rounded Punta Gaira we felt the full force of the winds blowing constantly at over 35 knots with gusts up to 47 knots and VERY BIG following seas. EXCITING!!!!!!!!

Curious coped superbly, rising and falling with the waves and surfing at speeds up to 15 knots and all in the dark with the only light seen from the stars above and the swirling foam as the big waves broke all around us.

As daybreak came the winds eased a little and the seas abated but with winds still over 30 knots it made for a very fast passage.

Early afternoon saw us approaching Cartagena only to be told by the Port Authority that we could not use the first entrance channel due to draft restrictions and would have to carry on down to the main shipping channel, another 12 miles or more. Bugger!!