Bogota is at an altitude of 2600m. Combined with the residual effects of man flu you soon notice the lack of oxygen. This was compounded when we were taken by friends Clare and Andy up to the lake in the mountains (it’s actually in the bowl of an extinct volcano) where the gold of El Dorado was supposed to have been hidden. At 3100m we were above the level at which RAF pilots put on their oxygen masks. There is a lot of agriculture up there and with natural lakes surrounded by hills and a patchwork of woodland and grazing it is all very reminiscent of Scotland.

Here in Santa Marta it is hot and sunny but with a strong breeze to make it feel tolerably cool. At this time of year the wind comes down off the surrounding mountains and over the nearby docks area making it extremely windy and dusty in the marina. Vega has a layer of greasy, congealed dust inside and out but it could have been worse - I had omitted to pull the insect screen across the hatch we left open for ventilation while we were away and I had feared an insect infestation. The wind blows fairly hard during the day but as soon as the sun goes down it howls - up to 40kts all through the night. The most disconcerting aspect of this is that the finger pontoons are put under great strain from boats being blown sideways. A few have broken away from the main pontoon. To prevent this you need to run lines from the boat to the main pontoon to hold the boat off the finger or help prevent the finger from being pulled sideways. With a boat on the other side of our finger the scope for sideways lines to the main pontoon is limited and the finger pontoon is pulling away from the main pontoon on the upwind side. I showed this to the marina guys when the adjoining boat had gone out for the day. We relieved the pressure on the finger with a line from our stern to further up the main pontoon across the adjoining berth. As this line would impede the returning boat they said they would direct the boat to another berth. When we got back to Vega this evening the adjoining boat was back in the same place and our line had been moved back to the finger……………..

This morning the wind was light enough to allow us to start to put the sails up again. I would have liked to wash down the rig beforehand but that would have meant going up the mast. we got the genoa up before the wind increased again. Under the water the hull was much cleaner than I had anticipated after three months on the berth so rather than haul out we engaged the guys who had kept an eye on the boat to go down and scrape the bottom and replace the anodes. They had a “Hooker” compressor to allow them to breath under the water. Unfortunately they didn’t have an adaptor plug for our sockets to run it and so it was deep breaths all round.

On the technical front we have had major successes! I put a new BNC connector onto the end of the GPS cable to connect into the new AIS and, lo and behold, we are transmitting our position! Apparently there are web sites that you can go on to look at the position of vessels transmitting AIS (in harbour or near the coast when the signal can be picked up). Each vessel has an MMSI number that is a unique identifier and ours is 235086331. I am keen to know if anyone finds us; also it has just occurred to me why so many yachts leave their AIS on when in harbour! Another plug connector we have managed to replace is the one for the solar panel where it connects to the boat. The inside of the old plug was thick with wet, green semi solid gunge so it looks like vaseline around the screw cover is a good idea. Ditto the VHF radio connection plug in the cockpit. Another omission was not to cover the chart plotter connection plugs in the cockpit. The female receptors for the tiny male pins on the plotter had filled up with greasy dust but fortunately this could be gently scraped out with the eye of a small needle and the plotter is functioning normally (at the moment).

When we were here in October there were only a few other cruising boats in the marina and it was all rather quiet. However, just before we arrived back the round the world ARC rally of about 30 boats came in and it has transformed things! Having a rally such as the ARC come in is good business for a marina and so they have to make sure everything is up to scratch and the facilities are appropriate. All the mooring line in the small chandlery has been sold! All the staff are in and it is very busy. This may change today as the ARC leaves but there will still be some cruisers we know that are heading west at the same time as us. Two crews are joining us for the five day hike up to the “lost city” of Ciudad Perdita on Sunday. Tomorrow we are being picked up at 0445 for a three hour bird watching trip in the forest with Jane and Paul from Delphinus following which Annie and I are going to walk on to some big waterfall before lunch and a visit to see coffee and chocolate being grown and produced. So, combined with the complicated planning for the Panama Canal transit and incredibly complicated and expensive arrangements for visiting the Galapagos Islands being sorted out by Annie we are pretty busy!