Lost Bosun in Santa Marta!

X86
Rich Carey
Thu 15 Mar 2018 00:44
11:14.500N 74:13.022W

Nope, just couldn't find him under the table where he should be. He's always there in the morning, and then when you forget he was abducted earlier to the UK, you stumble on his absence for a moment.

Next blow - no Shakira sighting, nor Pablo Escobar, but the Marina was pretty nice. If I come back, I'll need to announce my intentions earlier, as Shakira had gone on hol to Spain - bummer!

Went up to Minca a little backpacker hiking village in the foothills of the Columbian Sierra Nevada. There's snow atop the mountains, but no infrastructure, just a three day hike to see it. I've seen it before, so opted for the BBC instead. The Bogota Beer Company offering is quite reasonable. Stayed at a $100 a night hotel called 'Sweet Harmony'. That's expensive, so it was rather nice. Waterfall running through it (grounds not building), and beast with noises to keep you awake. Nice rain forest stuff, including a bamboo tree that could support the weight of a Chieftain tank.

Transfered all the spare diesel to the tanks. That was St Lucia diesel, and it's good to rotate now and then, lest diesel bug renders it undrinkable.

Thought I'd have a few weeks on the little cigars, but after two days, chucked them away. Wasn't working.

Prepped for getting up at 05:00 for a 06:00 start of run to Panama. Two days of strong wind forecast. Alas at 02:00 I was forced to cancel 05:00. My Venezuelan crew man had been befriended by some Spanish speakers and promised to be back aboard at 22:00. He woke me up at 02:00, arriving back so drunk he fell on the kitchen steps - it was lucky I didn't have a gun aboard as I was so mad - I could have pretended I thought he was a robber and shot him dead. Paperwork in Columbia is minor. So, we left at 16:00 instead, with suitably chastised and sheepish crew.

The late start meant we'd only get 1 of the 2 forecast windy days, so it ended up a long and slow trip. The one windy night was fast mind, 34 knot gusts spinning us up to 14 knots, which is about as fast as you'd want to ever go at night. As your vision dims, so your hearing ramps up - 'fast and furious' doesn't near cover small yachts surfing in the dark...

Had a couple on water cooling system issues with the s.board donkey, but fixed them on the move, no worries mate.

All good on x86, with Columbia another good memory.

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