Still anchored at San Andres

Five Islands
John & Sue
Sun 14 Apr 2013 17:48
It's been 2 weeks since our last blog update (sorry for the delay Bobs). We have ordered a reconditioned gearbox from Foley Engineering in the USA and only hope that it made it onto the ship which left Miami on Friday. If so, it will be here by the end of next week. We have kept ourselves busy with minor chores around the boat and swim each afternoon. The water is clear and pleasant and even I am happy to dive straight in (I am known as the big woos when it comes to cold water). We were cleaning the hulls and a Barracuda, Stingray and Jack (Dart) swam under us. We took a dinghy trip out to the little island and sand spit near the entrance to the harbour. These are called Cayo Cordoba & Cayo Rosa respectively and are small spots of land surrounded by crystal clear water over white sand and inhabited by hundreds of day tripping tourists. We had hoped to find some reef to snorkel but only found a small rocky ledge in shallow water close to shore where the fish hang out. We were snorkeling along this when John spied something large under a rock ledge but we couldn't identify what it was. A young Columbian came up and said something in Spanish which sounded like "Moray" and "domestic". Sure enough he then brought his tour group of snorkeling tourists over and proceeded to feed this large and fat eel. The fish life has been really disappointing here and you don't see many seabirds, and this is probable because there are very few fish, although stingrays are in abundance. We hired a Kawasaki 'Mule' and drove around the Island with Elaine and Bob (Mar Azul) and Rene (Passim) last Tuesday. It cost 130,000 peso's ($75AU) but split 5 ways it was reasonable. Its about 27kms around the island. There is a coast road and a road on the ridge that runs the length of the Island. We visited the first Baptist Church to be built in Central America, up on the hill with commanding views from the bell tower, beautiful sandy beaches, a mangrove edged inlet and a blow hole. San Andres is a pretty Island but the colour and the clarity of the surrounding sea is it's crowning glory. It is called the Island of the 7 colour sea, which describes the shades of turquoise you see everywhere. We are starting to find our around town a little but we still get lost fairly frequently. Thankfully it is a small town so after wandering for awhile we make it back to the dinghy OK. The party boats continue day and night. We now know the routines of all the larger tourist boats but are getting a little tired of hearing 'Reggae Nights', 'Rivers of Babalon' and 'Red Red Wine'. The Columbian tourists love to dance and clap and this is lead by a DJ on a loud microphone which blares over the blaring music. A good time is had by all. The jet ski numbers have dropped off since Easter although we have attracted one guy who likes to circle around the boats in the anchorage every afternoon. We hadn't seen any other yachts for awhile then 'Arwen' came into the anchorage 2 days ago. We were anchored close to them in Isla Linton. Another 2 yachts have just come in today. This is not a major stop in the passage either north or south for most yachts, with most calling into 'Providencia'. We have been reasonably social here having been out to dinner (yummy pasta), lunches and Friday Happy Hour drinks on one of the boats in the anchorage.

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Stingray (black with speckles/spots)

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Cayo Rosa - Tourists, boats, bars, sand, crystal clear water

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Some fish seen while snorkeling at Cayo Rosa

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Big, fat, well fed Moray Eel.

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Lunch at 'Miss Celia'. The juice was delicious - Limon & Mango and Limon & Coconut. Meals were OK but not cheap.

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San Andres tourist strip at night with Bob and Elaine from M/V Mar Azul.

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Beach on the northern side of San Andres.

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Pumpkin scones turned out OK thanks to "Flo's" recipe (certainly an improvement on my first attempt at scones back in high school)

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Some little critters we found in the mangroves

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Baptist Church on the hill. You can see this building from the harbour

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Stained glass windows reflect coloured light onto the old wooden pews (all of which were brought from Southern Alabama).

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It was a steep climb up 2 sets of stairs to get to the small bell tower. Most of the top was taken up with cross beams and a bell and it was a bit windy, but the view was worth it.

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Elaine and Rene on Rocky Point Beach

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Looking south along Cocoplum Beach

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A typical beach bar (note small generator for blender)

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These little guys are really blue

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These chickens are tried to the roost. They are probably fighting cocks as they still have 'Cock Fighting' here.

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View of the coastline as we travelled around the island

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Barman at the Blow Hole mixing a concoction that had white and brown Rum, Vodka and strawberry cordial and was served in a fresh green coconut.

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John and Rene braved the Rum & Vodka cocktail. I wimped out and had a non alcoholic Pina Colada which was yummy.

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The Blow Hole kept everyone amused watching the steady steam of tourists being 'blown' as gusts and sometimes water come rushing up as the waves surged.

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The 7 colours of the sea as seen at Rada Cove on the western side of the Island

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Motorbikes are the main means of transportation for the locals. Most streets are one way but usually not signed so you really just go with the flow.

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The traffic lights have a count down sign which tells motorists how many seconds till the lights will change to green. Engines are revving well before the green light appears and horns sound if you are a bit slow on the takeoff.