3/26/2012–San Andreas Island, Columbia

We arrived in San Andres after one of the roughest passages we’ve had so far.  While the waves were not too high (5-8 feet), they were coming from every which direction.  The boat was lurching sideways, front to back, up & down.  We couldn’t anticipate which direction we would be thrown next.  And of course for the first day the wind was right on our nose so we couldn’t use the sails to try to stabilize her.  After 24 hours, the wind shifted enough that we could at least use the main to reduce the rolling so we only had to deal with the pitching.  Other than lots of bruises, wrenched muscles and a few broken parts, we made it through safely, but if all passages were like that, we probably wouldn’t go anywhere!

San Andres Island is part of Columbia, even though the Columbian mainland is over 400 miles away and the island is closer to at least four other countries.  It is a pretty island, but very busy with tourists from Columbia.  It’s like Hawaii to the U.S.,  the rich and middle class Columbians fly here to party and shop.  Plus they are rebuilding the waterfront walkway.  The anchorage is very well protected, however it’s right off the main tourist areas so all day we are serenaded by honking horns, jackhammers and the wakes from the tour boats and all night from the karaoke bars and the roving “pirate” ship with it’s mariachi band.  The weather though has been fantastic, there’s a pleasant breeze, blue skies with puffy clouds, and no rain :-)

We met up with several other cruising boats we know and have been enjoying dinners out and pot lucks aboard.  One day nine of us rented two large "golf carts" and did a tour of the island. 

We stopped at a beach side stand and had a coconut drink:

The color of the water was incredible though the land was much drier (no bugs).

We had lunch

We circumnavigated the island and after getting a little lost downtown, returned the carts.

Scooters and golf carts are the main form of transportation and the sidewalks are lined with scooters:

We're leaving this evening for an overnight passage to Isla Providencia, hopefully there will be internet there and we can check in.

Cheers,

Carolynn & Tom

3/16/2012–Bocas del Toro, Panama

Well we’re still here in Panama, waiting for mother nature to stop making such a mess of the seas for our next passage.  We have been more or less ready for over a month but the weather has not been cooperating.  It’s starting to look like there might be a window in a couple of days so we are checked out and ready to go  

While we’ve been waiting here are a few things we have been doing.  A group of us went to visit a local botanical garden.  13 years ago a couple bought 25 acres of jungle and have been slowly transforming it into a gorgeous garden.  Twice a week they open their “home” up to a guided tour around the grounds.  Lyn is self taught, very knowledgeable and passionate.  

That’s all for now, hopefully our next entry will be from San Andreas island, Columbia and we will not have any drama to report.

Carolynn & Tom

2/20/2012–Bocas del Toro anchorage

We managed to escape the seductive allures of the marina, cast off our dock lines, and make the 5 mile passage to an anchorage around the corner from town.  The idea was to fill the diesel tanks, make a big provisioning run, then head north as soon as we got a good weather window. 

Unfortunately our boat had a different idea; when we started the motor to leave the slip the water flow for the engine cooling seemed to be less than we remembered it.  During the motor over to the anchorage we confirmed that while some water was flowing, it was less than normal.  Since our next few legs will probably be pretty rough, we need to get this fixed before we can go on.  Once more, cruising is defined as trying to fix your boat in exotic ports with no tools or parts.

Tom went through the entire cooling system without finding any problems, but the amount of water flow seems to be increased (fingers crossed).   We wont really know until we get out and push the engine.

Other than moving, working on the engine, and ferrying 110 gallons of diesel over to the boat, we haven’t been doing much.  It’s great though to be able to jump over the side of the boat for a swim. 

We got to the anchorage just as Carnival was starting.  It’s been busy in town with booths set up, kids running around with squirt guns, booming music, etc.

We first saw “the devil” running around:

He was running around acting crazy, collecting money for charity.  I donated a handful of change and got my ear bit!  All in fun:

They were also spraying water on the crowd:

Notice that the tanker they are using is the one normally used to haul gasoline around.  They probably just emptied it of gas then filled with water, you see lots of things like that you would never see back home.  We didn’t see the attraction of getting drenched with water of questionable quality, but it was very popular with the kids and teens, hundreds were dancing under the spray to loud music.

2/29 Update:

Tom once more tackled the cooling water issue and found a clogged tube:

It’s a wonder we were getting any water at all through that little hole.  He cleaned out the tube, put everything back together and voila, gushing water out the exhaust!   We’re so glad that’s fixed, it would have been a major issue on our next passage.

Speaking of passages, we’re ready to go but mother nature sure isn’t ready.  For the last two weeks the wind and seas to the north of us have been very bad.  Even one of the weather forecasters called the seas “ridiculously huge”; 20 feet with a 10 second interval!  It looks like it’s not going to settle down anytime soon, but when it does, we’ll head north.

Cheers,

Carolynn & Tom