Cartagena or bust
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Fri 29 May 2009 13:46
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10:24.6N 75:32.5W
Cartagena or bust eh? Well, the answer to that one
is easy........its BUST!!, at least our first attempt was.
We were still waiting in Curacao for our passports
to arrive and our well overdue package from the UK to turn up. The perfect
weather window had come and almost gone. All the cruisers bound for Cartagena
had sailed over a week ago and left us chickens scratching around in
Spaanse Water getting more annoyed by the hour. Our package had gone
on a world tour courtesy of DHL and our passports where somewhere in Puerto
Rico. We were going nowhere fast.
Then just as we were about to give up on leaving
anytime soon we had positive news on both our strays.
The package arrived in Curacao but was held in customs and the
passports were due to arrive that day. We decided to go for it. We managed to
sweet talk the British Consulate into delivering the passports direct to
Immigration while I was checking out of Customs.
The plan was coming together, I had checked out of
Customs ok but needed to get to Immigration before they shut at 3.30pm. It was a
close run thing. I was there by 3.00 but no sign of our passports. But
after a few frantic phone calls, a car screeched to a
halt and the passports were handed to me by
the Consulate who had done the 'wall of death' through the Willemstad traffic
with two terrified kids strapped in the back seat, and with only 5 minutes
to spare. All very exciting stuff. I charged through the docks to the
Immigration building to find them just about closing but with a little
gentle persuasion and a gert big boot in the door, they let me in
and we completed the formalities.
So there I was, still in the docks and at
least three bus rides to go, 'cos I still had to get to the DHL
office inorder to collect my package. But bless her cotton socks, Anne
Marie, the British Consulate representative, was waiting for me outside with the
engine still running and stepped nicely into the breach. She was aware that
we needed to get off pronto and insisted that I get in the car and she would
drive me where ever I needed to go. Clearly she felt alittle embarrassed by the
outrageous delay with the passports and felt duty bound to drive me back to the
boat. Well I wasn't going to say no to the ride but little did she know that we
were going to have to go via the DHL office first, which of course, was
completely in the other direction. So off we sped back into town ready for
another white knuckle ride. The two kids had turned from being terrified into
being wildly excited by the whole thing and were loving it. They kept shouting
faster Mum, faster and it was me that was 'cacking it' large. We arrived at
the DHL office almost in one piece......the car had lost a mud flap when she
drove over a curb.....crazy women, only to find that the package was still
enroute from customs but was due anytime soon. But 'anytime soon' in the
Caribbean, actually means......at any time or any day sometime in the future, so
we didn't hold out much hope. But sure enough, it turned up just before the
office was due to shut and we were on our way again back to Spaanse
water.
We arrived back about 6pm and many thanks goes to
Anne Marie who clearly went beyond the call of duty. Its comforting to know
that where ever you are in the world there may be a British Consulate rep
that is prepared to pull out all the stops for you.
So there we were, all checked out and by the time
we had said our goodbyes to folk in Spaanse Water it was 7pm before we lifted
the hook and were on our way. This in its self was no big deal if it wasn't for
the fact that we had to drop off an item to our pals on 'Kelp Fiction' who were
anchored in Santa Cruz, some 20 odd miles along the south coast. We
figured we wouldn't get to them till about 11.00 pm and then had
to transfer their AIS Radar to them from our delayed package.
This was going to look well odd on radar and very clandestine. This
south coast of Curacao has been renowned in the past for drug running from
Columbia and we were arranging to drop off a 'package' to an anchored
vessel in the wee hours, quite openly over the VHF. How we didn't get
arrested for suspected drug running is anyone's guess but we did the drop ok and
the affair all seemed pretty much in vogue for our day.
The evening was gorgeous. Light winds, calm seas
and moonlit. A great start for our trip to Cartagena. But we knew that we had
only about 24 to 36 hours before the weather turned to shit and we had to stay
infront of the weather system filling in from the East. Well, it was clear by
the time we got South of Aruba, that we had lost the battle as the wind was
already hitting 25 knts. So, caution got the better of valour and we turned into
Orangestad, Aruba, our last refuge before the dreaded Cabo de Vela.
The whole thing was very frustrating. We had missed
our weather window and we were stuck in Aruba until the next one. And
Aruba........well you can stick it. It is an over priced shabby resort
island and we didn't much care for it. It also blows like crap there and the
boat was sand blasted for the duration leaving the windward side of the boat
covered in a sticky, dusty, film.....marvellous.
Fortunately for us, another weather window popped
along in just over a week and we were on our way again. We started off well with
a stiff following breeze but that soon fell away as forecast and we were
struggling with light winds. So up went the kite. We haven't used the tri-radial
kite in quite a while and we thought we would give it an airing.
It was great. The wind followed us all around the
cape and was steadily building. In fact we are delighted to report that we
flew the spinnaker right around the dreaded Cabo de Vela and enjoyed every
minute of it, even Jo was trimming the spinnaker.
 However, by late afternoon the wind had increased
to over 20knts and the sea was building......it was time to take the kite down.
That in itself doesn't normally present a problem but we hadn't taken into
account being attacked by a swarm of bees. Yes, a swarm of flippin bees, 15
miles off shore. They were all over the boat and the sail I was trying
to snuff. We were torn between running for cover or saving the kite and
getting stung in the process. From a bystanders point of view, it must have
been well funny and looked like a comedy caper. I decided that the kite had to
come down regardless and I wasn't prepared to dump it. So armed with a long
sleeves, a hat and a fly-swat, we tackled the kite snuffer. The kite was now
cracking and banging a bit and as a consequence, alot of the bees had been
shaken off. During the process of getting the thing down, bees had landed
on us but neither of us were stung, not even once. We figured that they
were pretty knackered or even half dead, and Jo believes they may have been
nesting in the snuffer tube all along. So the moral of this story is to 'use the
wretched spinnaker more often to avoid bees nesting in the snuffer tube'. Great,
now I have a perfect excuse to fly the thing again with no argument from
Jo.....or maybe not.
Sorry about the sailing yarn but we thought the bee
drama thing was worth reporting.
Anyway, we arrived in Cartagena in the wee
small hours and in total darkness, no moon, just the flashing buoyage system,
which I might say is excellent, and, of course, the loom from the town.
What we had missed, however, was the most grand entrance to a great
port.
When we woke in the morning and looked around, we
figured we had made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Miami.
 The city is huge and has a skyline of high rise
modern apartment blocks and not what we expected at all. The entrance to the
harbour is 'protected' by a Madonna & Child statue, giving it a feel
something like Rio DeJaneiro, I would suspect, not having been there. And then,
in contrast, there is the faded elegance of the old town nestling at
the very end of the harbour in front of the
anchorage...........perfect.
 We formerly entered into Columbia using one of the
local shipping agents and we soon became aware that the only similarity
between this country and Venezuela was the language. We felt safe and welcome
and the old town is a delight to walk around. We love it here. There is so much
to see and do in Cartagena that it deserves another blog. But as a
taster, a 2 course Comidas Coriente lunch with a drink, only costs between £1.50
- £2.00, and the dancing & music from salsa clubs & bars
spills out onto the street into the early hours of the morning to mingle
with all sorts of other street entertainers. This is a fun
place to be that even we can afford to
enjoy.
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