Red Dust
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Tue 23 Feb 2010 00:24
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February 22 1955 Local time 2355 UTC
11:32.18N 073:56.33W
It seems yesterday or earlier today perhaps, I sent
my blog off half cocked with a check over and dates and positions in it. So here
is a quick catch up.
I mentioned birds yesterday. For those who dont
know their birds a Prikitchi is a small parrot - not a male venereal disease. A
TLA is - of course a Three Letter Acronym - boom boom.
I was under the impression that Columbia was
infamous for white dust - not so. Our boat got absolutely covered in red
dust yesterday in the anchorage in Cabo de la Vela. I mean filthy dirty covered
- right up to the top of the mast. I rigged a long hose to our deck wash pump
and gave the boat a hose down while at sea but some things like sails, webbing
straps and covers are stained I am sure.
Our plan is now to continue to Cartagena over
night. So far none of the known risks including bad weather and large seas have
materialised, thankfully. But as "Sods Law" dictates that is because we
were aware of and prepared for some of these risks. We still have the dreaded
Rio Magdalena to pass. We have decided to stand off about 5 miles and we are
estimated to pass there about 0230. The distance off is a compromise between
being far enough away from the river mouth and being inside the wind compression
zone off the coast which causes the worst of the seas. The risks are
flotsom and jetsom like logs and other junk from the river mouth and poor
sea conditions where the river outfall meets the cross seas. There is also a lot
of traffic. No problem though, it is Trish's watch then......
There are still two known (to me) security
risks before our safe arrival in Cartagena. That is the area of
Barranquilla on the river Magdalena where it is very unsafe, and
information sources state if you go in there you WILL be robbed. The
other risk is at the entrance to Cartagena where there have been a couple
of armed robberies of boats nearing the entrance of Boca Grande at
dusk.
We don't plan to go into Barranquilla and we plan
to enter Cartagena via the Boca Chica in the middle of the day after having
informed the local coast guard of our intention.
Today was a day of first no wind, then 17 knots NNE
which let us sail at 7 knots deep down the wind and then 9
knots dead behind us now. So we have switched on the engine to keep to our
program for entering Cartagena in the middle of the day.
I also had a burst pipe today which was spewing out
water at incredibly high pressure for some time it seems before a
loo visit discovered it. A temporary solution was found until I can have a better look at
it in Cartagena. Something else to add to my jobs list. I hope I dont just
have a pit stop and that we can take the time to see
Cartagena.
We also had about a dozen high performance dolphins
with us today specialising in diving out of the large following waves along side
us. This is the first time since the Atlantic crossing we have had dolphins in
company and they were very much appreciated especially by the
Trish.
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