What lovely clear water!  We have finally cast off from the mainland of Colombia and have anchored in the Rosarios.  These lovely islands are the destination of so many of the water taxis and small local cruise boats which were speeding past the anchorage in Cartagena.  The small, mostly privately owned islands form a chin of "beads" and this is the source of their name, The Rosary Islands.  Normally this area is swarming with holiday-makers, but today we are fortunate in finding it basically deserted and very peaceful.  There are only a handful of boats anchored here and very few "boatboys" have approached us.  I must mention the one that sticks in our minds the most.  One vendor did not have papayas aboard and rushed to the shore to get some.  With my broken Spanish, I did not understand the price he quoted as they sped away, but, since he mentioned "three" and indicated the price with five fingers, I assumed he meant 3 for 5,000 pesos (about $2.50).  He and his friend returned with three rather sad looking pieces of fruit and threw in a tiny one as a gift (regalo).  When we tried to pay him 5000 pesos, he was upset.  What he actually wanted was 50,000 pesos($25.00)!!!!  We tried to argue him out of this ridiculous fee and he finally accepted 10000 for the tiny regalo- not with good grace.

We didn't manage to get ashore as we spent most of our time scraping the masses of barnacles clinging to the bottom of the keel.  This was the first time the water was clear enough to see them and we were rather astonished.  By the time they were all removed, I don't think there was much bottom paint left!

A very friendly cruiser from a nearby motor trawler, EMILY GRACE, dinghied over to introduce himself.  Tom, along with his wife, Kim and their daughter, Emily, are also circumnavigating and their timeline fro the San Blas Islands is the same as ours.  Accordingly, we will meet them in LOS PINOS, PANAMA, in teo days and try to buddy boat with them.  This should be interesting because we definitely do not motor as fast as a power boat.

We really didn't stay here long enough to really appreciate the Rosarios.  Apparently there is a wonderful bird sanctuary right beside the anchorage and we passed the local version of SEA WORLD, the AQUARIUM. Perhaps we will have an opportunity to visit next time around!