Providencia - A Mixed Bag of Weather

Five Islands
John & Sue
Sun 16 Jun 2013 16:26

We have been in Providencia – Colombia for nearly 2 weeks. What a difference to San Andres, although the decibel level from shore can be high at times, it is considerably less and not next to us courtesy of a ‘party boat’. Providencia is quite mountainous although not very big, about 27kms around. Every cruiser we have spoken to or blog we have read were unanimous in their praise for this island and we agree. The people are exceedingly friendly, the island clean and green, the anchor holding is very good and the rock & roll caused by boat wakes are minimal, although ‘El Sensation’ the motor catamaran ferry service from San Andres provides ‘the wave’ every 2 days. The weather is conspiring against again with tropical waves moving through every week or so at present. There have been a few squalls up to 34 knots then the next day the sun is out again, although the wind has been fairly constant at 15 to 20 knots most days. When the weather settles here it becomes worse where we want to go, so no opportunities are presenting themselves to move further north for at least another week. Oh well we will have stay here and play. 

We have been to dinner on shore a couple of times. There are restaurants all over the island and the food is good traditional fair consisting of fish, seafood, chicken, pork or beef with rice, salad and plantains.  We went to ‘Donde Martin’ at Aqua Dulce (Fresh Water) Bay for Jens’s birthday. The chef and owner is from mainland Colombia (Bogota) and the meal was top quality and priced to reflect this. Flaky pastry filled with ham & cheese or chicken and fish or conch balls are sold at roadside stalls and make for a hearty breakfast or lunch. Banana cake is also a staple here, although it varies from cake to a gelatin flan type consistency. Either is yummy.  We also discovered a hotel/restaurant/bar on the beach at Aqua Dulce that make amazing Pina Colada. The coconut is fresh off the palm and grated to make the drink thick and chewy.

We thought we needed to extend our visa this week so had some passport photos taken at a house beside the Police Station (Senor Valice?). We were greeted (noisily) by a Schnauzer named Toby and a Dachshund named Tango but made friends with these two sooks quickly. Our photos were taken on a new Nikon SLR, ‘Photoshopped’ to remove the shadows and printed on a small ‘disub’ printer. We have seen these guys around town taking photos and videos at events. Sometimes we are amazed at how technological advanced these ‘remote’ areas are.

Last Tuesday we caught the local bus (a blue van) down to the southern end of the island. We got off at ‘Bottom House’ and walked a couple of kms to Playa de Manzanillo (Manchineel Beach). A white sand beach, swaying coconut palms and Reggae music made a lovely spot to spend a few hours relaxing. Mango juice, beer and a mixed seafood platter at ‘Roland’s’ restaurant added to the experience but the sandflies have left a constant reminder of our day and that was 4 days ago. We met up with 2 French couples there, Gerard and Monique (S/V Blue Note) and Patrick and Martine (S/V Marick) and hitched a ride back to town on the mule they had hired. A bit of a squeeze for 8.

This week is Cultural Festival on the island and the lead up to Carnival next weekend. Yesterday afternoon we listened to a talk given by Jim from S/V Nilaya. Jim and his wife Laura have been coming back to Providencia for the past 5 years. Following was a presentation on Traditional Medicine given by a medical practitioner/surgeon from mainland Colombia. This was really very interesting and he is starting to sponsor a project here on the island to reintroduce the use of traditional medicine by identifying the existing plants, gaining knowledge from the elders and encouraging people to use it in purging, protecting and treating ailments in conjunction with modern medical techniques. Today we are off to see a sail boat race.

The ‘Sequence’ challenge has started. After teaching Dani and Jens to play, the girls are 2 games up on the boys although they keep threatening to change the balance each time we play. We will see.

  Providencia & Santa Catalina Islands. we are anchored in the bay between the 2 islands.

 Drinking beer bought at the local supermarket and enjoying the view out over the bay.

 Providencia is famous for the 'Black Crab' migration form the mountains down to the sea then back again. We missed this event but found this one in the gutter beside the road.

 Roadside stall. Great savoury pastries (empanadas) and soursop juice - yum!

 Just too much for some people.

 Fresh Water beach

 Impressive rock wall 

 Colour and sculptures are all over the island. There was a large 'Orb' spider and web on the back part of this 'wind vane' barracuda

 Lovers Bridge between Providencia and Santa Catalina.

 'Morgans Canon'. This island was home to Captain Morgan and pirates. there are lots of Morgan landmarks e.g. Morgan's Head and Morgan's Ass (a mountain with a split through the middle

 

 Kids doing back somersaults off Lovers Bridge

 Walking into Manchineel beach

 White sand & coconut palms

 A good place to relax

 With this load the mule worked hard on some of the hills

 Colour & art

 Mosaic crab

 Broad walk along the bay

 The anchorage. Five Islands is on the left