Cartagena to Aruba

Chris Parker, our weather forecaster, finally gave us a heads up. We asked our agent to get our departure papers and paid up our bill at Club Nautico. Early on October 1 we filled our water tanks, did a quick last minute grocery run and left the dock at 9:00 AM for the fuel dock. Seven hundred and fifty dollars later we pulled away and temporarily anchored off the marina. It is 22 hour trip to the Five Bays anchorage so we have decided to leave at 6 PM to cross the River Magdelana in the early morning when the winds are calmer and we can watch for debris - and still anchor in Guayraca, the middle bay of the five before dark.
It's always eerie to leave a harbor in the dark. The channel is pretty well lit and we've been this way before so it's safe. Still I held my breath a little as we negotiated the narrow entrance throught the breakwater. The rest of the night was really lovely - calm and full of stars. We had a positive current so we really had to turn the engine down so as not to get to the Magdelena before daybreak. It was calm as we approched but once the wind came up against the currents steep waves with short intervals crashed over our bow and tossed us a bit around. We knew this often happens here so we were prepared and it only lasted a few hours. Then it was a nice the rest of the way.

Approaching the Five Bays in Tayrona National Park is always wonderful. The highest coastal mountain range (peaks over 19.000 ft) in the world looms up behind the rocky cliff lined harbors. Our favorite is the middle bay with it's small fishing village and coffee colored beach. Our friend Reynando came out to visit with us and we spent five days snorkeling, kyacking and admiring the view. We were waiting for Chris to give us the go ahead for our next passage and he finally said, "GO"
This next part of our journey was full of possibilities and timing arrival in daylight at the potential anchorages was tough. We left early in the morning and at 3:00 AM passed the first possibility, Cabo de Vela (Cape of the Winds). It had been a good passage with some great positive currents and we were making good time.

Some squalls and a second oil platform not marked on our charts gave us some exciting moments but we were feeling pretty good. We decided to keep going and at least make it to Monjes del Sur, a rocky Venezuelan outpost we had visited last October (see posting for all these anchorages in October 2007). The weather still was great late in the afternoon but if we continued on to Aruba we would be there at 2:00 AM so we tied up onto the rope at Monjes at 5:00 PM and settled in for the night.
The next morning gave us an unexpected challenge. I was up early and noticed that we were lying in a strange position relative to the wind. We had somehow been pushed over the line and our keel was caught. Scott had to wake up quickly that morning for a swim to free it before the wind came up. We cast off not long after and set our course for Aruba and the Renaissance Marina - luxury ahead!
This is a first class establishment and a good value. We pay $50 a night to stay there and the rest of the hotel guests pay $300 and up. Three nights refreshed us completely. We also met a very nice couple from Scotland on "Atlantia", Margaret and Will that were heading west.


Our first day there however was spent on the internet and on Skype. We had decided not to continue on to Trinidad if we could change our plane tickets. These were frequent flier ones on American and Continental so this was a difficult process. It took a day but we managed. Unfortunately it meant I couldn't be home for Thanksgiving and my planned sister Paula's visit. This was very disappointing but frankly it was a huge relief not to be transiting the Venezuelan coast at this time. Security problems have been rampant. Just last week a French cruiser was killed there on his boat by robbers in front of his wife and 10 year old son. There have been many incidents within the last month. The Russian navy is off the coast till November in joint exercises with Venezuela. To top it off I've been suffering from bursitus and sitting for long periods of time has probably caused it to flare up again.
We emailed and then called all our family after we made the changes. Everyone has been understanding. Our next port of call is Curacao and we had a lovely day to motor sail the 50 miles over there.

Monjes del Sur, Venezuela

Our first stop after Aruba was Monjes del Sur, an isolated rock outpost of the Venezuelan Guarda Costa. We were the last to arrive there late in the day (picture shows us nearing the island above right and on the left the view from our boat over Unplugged towards the lighthouse). Tom and Colleen on "Unplugged", our buddy boat for this trip, and three other boats, all French, were tied up to a long line stretched across the small rocky inlet and there was very little room left, two were catamarans. Luckily the guards allowed us to tie up to their dock behind several fishing boats (one small one is shown in the photo below left, taken from Unplugged).
At one AM I heard someone calling and went into our main salon to find a soldier sitting in the cockpit and shining his flashlight down the companionway. Rather startled me for sure (glad I was wearing something). Scott talked to him and checked out the lines as it appeared that was his concern. We thought that was the end of problems but unfortunately at 5 AM they woke us to ask us to leave. They said a Navy vessel was coming in.
We untied and departed in the dark, planning to sail around until light enough to return and try to fit into the lineup. Soon after departing they called on the VHF and asked what were our plans. We told them and they seemed to accept that, but a few minutes later called us and asked us to return and tie up again to the dock. When we came along side (still in the pitch dark) around 8 men were there to help us tie up. We think they believed we would manage to tie up to the line and were worried and upset that we left. Also they now claimed the Navy vessel wouldn't be in and we could stay there until our expected departure the next morning. We'll never know exactly what happened but there was a mix-up somehow and they were sorry to cause us such problems. The rest of the day was wonderful although naturally we were exhausted.
We met the commandant at their new offices part way up the rock. That's him in the white one piece in one shot and the other is of the two small bays, our boat at the dock in the distance. He assigned a guide to go with us the rest of the way up to the lighthouse. The view was beautiful (you can see from the picture above how bare the terrain is here) and we were surprised to see some vegetation growing. A clump of bright yellow flowers grew on the edge of the concrete walkway. Our guide picked one flower for each of us ladies. They had a lovely scent.
That afternoon we went snorkeling around the huge cave to the south. A squadron of barracuda guard the entrance. The cave itself is very dramatic underwater and we saw a number of beautiful fish along the cliffs eastward, including a huge porcupine fish and several eye catching queen angel fish. Scott and Tom did some fishing from the dinghy or should I say "catching" as Scott caught 2 barracuda in five minutes. They are delicious! The fishing has been as promised, excellent. Tom caught a large dorado coming over from Aruba (that's him holding it up off the stern of his boat below) and Scott caught 1 dorado and 1 small tuna on the next section of our trip to Cabo de la Vela. We left Monjes at 2 AM and sailed around Punta Gallinas, the north east tip of Columbia. On the way we got a call from Tom on Unplugged in back of us.
A fast boat with four men (two with ski masks and goggles) were circling his boat! Scary! We turned the boat around to go back (to their rescue? Us?) when a few minutes later we heard that they appeared to be Guarda Costa. After a bunch of questions they left them and headed for us. Tom told us one of their concerns was that they still had the Venezuelan courtesy flag up. We turned around and Scott rushed up to the mast to hoist the Columbian flag. They were soon upon us, still masked and looking rather ominous to us. Then we noticed that although they were all in black, they had badges on their jackets and the boat had a worn chevron of Columbian colors on the side. They spoke to us very politely from alongside and examined our papers. Then requested to come aboard. Finally the two men removed their masks before boarded us. They were very polite and professional (although they looked about 20 years old) and lightly searched the boat. We had just caught the dorado and they chatted with Scott about his fishing lures. By the way all conversations after Aruba are in Spanish. Scott is doing SO well and Tom has really been studying. It's especially hard on the radio. The rest of our sail was comparatively relaxed although we had thunder storms tailing us most of the way and one brief squall with winds up to 40 knots.