06/07/2012, Rada Cove, San Andres, Columbia
Wednesday, June 6. Originally Eileen Farrell had talked about coming with us to Albuquerque Cays. When Lorenzo looked at the weather forecast, he said, “You call that good? Seven to nine foot seas and 20 kts of wind? I can't go in that!” Well, actually the forecast I looked at had 2.5 meter waves and 15-18 kts wind, but we were going down wind or at least broad reach and the waves would be on our stern quarter, no problem. And it wasn't. I raised the sail before we weighed anchor. We had about 15 kts of wind. Because we had to gybe twice on the way out, I left the main midline and kept the motors running too. We followed the buoys out, gybed the final time, adjusted the main, unfurled gennie and were immediately cruising along at 7 kts nice as can be. By the time we cleared the wind shadow of the island, the wind was up to 20 kts, so I tucked in a reef. We were still topping 7 kts most of the time. The waves were, indeed, 6-8' with occasional 9', but since we were running away from them, the period was longer and they were not bad at all. Our 12 hr sail (at planned speed of 5 kts.) had just turned into a 8 ½ hr sail. By noon the wind and waves had both dropped. Wind was down below 15 consistently so I shook out the reef. We still made 6-7 kts. Tempest who left just behind us was long lost in the haze. We eventually heard them on VHF as they first gained sight of the high rises on San Andres. We had already past the city and were sailing down the West side of the island. As we approached Rada Cove, where we planned to spend the night, we saw one other boat already there – a huge Columbian destroyer! Oh well, at least we'll be safe. We kept what I hoped was a respectful distance from the ship as we worked our way in near the shore. We anchored in 25' over beautiful white sand and went for a swim. Anchor to anchor = 9 hrs, average speed = 6.5 kts including weighing and setting anchor. And now we have a beautiful anchorage for the night with just one other boat (and a couple hundred Columbian sailors!)
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06/07/2012, Rada Cove, San Andres, Columbia
Wednesday, June 6. Originally Eileen Farrell had talked about coming with us to Albuquerque Cays. When Lorenzo looked at the weather forecast, he said, “You call that good? Seven to nine foot seas and 20 kts of wind? I can't go in that!” Well, actually the forecast I looked at had 2.5 meter waves and 15-18 kts wind, but we were going down wind or at least broad reach and the waves would be on our stern quarter, no problem. And it wasn't. I raised the sail before we weighed anchor. We had about 15 kts of wind. Because we had to gybe twice on the way out, I left the main midline and kept the motors running too. We followed the buoys out, gybed the final time, adjusted the main, unfurled gennie and were immediately cruising along at 7 kts nice as can be. By the time we cleared the wind shadow of the island, the wind was up to 20 kts, so I tucked in a reef. We were still topping 7 kts most of the time. The waves were, indeed, 6-8' with occasional 9', but since we were running away from them, the period was longer and they were not bad at all. Our 12 hr sail (at planned speed of 5 kts.) had just turned into a 8 ½ hr sail. By noon the wind and waves had both dropped. Wind was down below 15 consistently so I shook out the reef. We still made 6-7 kts. Tempest who left just behind us was long lost in the haze. We eventually heard them on VHF as they first gained sight of the high rises on San Andres. We had already past the city and were sailing down the West side of the island. As we approached Rada Cove, where we planned to spend the night, we saw one other boat already there – a huge Columbian destroyer! Oh well, at least we'll be safe. We kept what I hoped was a respectful distance from the ship as we worked our way in near the shore. We anchored in 25' over beautiful white sand and went for a swim. Anchor to anchor = 9 hrs, average speed = 6.5 kts including weighing and setting anchor. And now we have a beautiful anchorage for the night with just one other boat (and a couple hundred Columbian sailors!)
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06/06/2012, Providencia, Columbia
Tuesday, June 5. I went in to meet with Mr. Bush at 10:00 thinking I would get our zarpe then, but I was wrong. I merely gave him our passports, confirmed the info I had given him about our destination, and was told to return at 5:00 to pick everything up. Oh well, not a big deal. Shortly after I got back to the boat, Lorenzo called to ask if we wanted to try hookahing by the red nun. It was still blowing ~15 kts, but I remembered that last time we sailed out of Providencia, the wind had died right at that buoy. We almost had to start the engines again but eventually the wind filled back in as we drifted forward. Maybe the wind wouldn't be too bad to hookah. Let's try it. So we loaded up the hookah and went out to red #4. we followed the reef back a ways (down wind) and anchored so that we would be swimming against the wind first – always a good idea. Lorenzo & Joyce were using tanks so had no issue with wind. There was no current. The hookah pulled OK, it was like fighting a 1-2 kts current and tugged at times, but if I went slow, it was no big problem. The reef was great. Much less algae and very interesting formations. Lots of fish of all sizes too. We were 2/3s of the way to the buoy when Lorenzo suddenly headed back. I asked Joyce what the problem was and she said he thought his air was bad so he was going back to the boat and would just snorkel there. We should keep going. So we did. It was a really cool dive. When we got to the buoy we turned and followed the other side of a broad ridge back. There was a large eagle ray that swam along the flats just beyond the reef edge. We found several spots with lobster under ledges. Deb found several very nice looking (but dead) conch shells that she decided to keep and bring home. We had been swimming quite a while when Joyce surfaced, looked around, and indicated we should head off across the ridge towards the boats. We did, but she kept surfacing and looking and then suddenly took off a a rapid pace towards the boats. She had run out of air. Since she never carries a snorkel, she had to keep surfacing and gulping air. Lorenzo was snorkeling towards us and helped her back, no problem. Deb & I continued more leisurely but went directly towards the boats. It had been a LONG dive. Deb was exhausted. I think the problem was that Lorenzo was the one who knew this area. When he dropped out, we assumed that Joyce knew it as well (they had snorkeled it before) and so just let her lead. She had no idea how far she was from the boats when her air got low and so we ended up with a longer dive than planned. Oh well, it was our last one here and it certainly was one of the better ones even if a bit too long. We went back in to town at 5:00, got our papers and passport from Mr. Bush, bought grapefruits and a pineapple and then went to Bamboo to have a beer and say good by to Orville and Real. She was not there. She had been called for an interview about teaching something to farmers for the government. We said our good-byes to Orville and to Lorenzo & Joyce who also came in. We will see them soon in Bocas unless they catch up with us at Albuquerque. Tomorrow we are off at first light.
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06/05/2012, Providencia, Columbia
Monday, June 4. I called Mr. Bush this morning on the VHF and told him that we wanted a zarpe to leave “early early” Wednesday. He asked what our destination would be and I told him “Bocas del Toro, Panama.” “OK,” he said, “You be at my office tomorrow at 10:00 and I will have everything ready for you. Just bring your passports to stamp. You don't need anything else. I have it all ready.” Although I have enjoyed meeting the Port Captains and Migracion officials in other countries we have visited – especially fighting (in Spanish) with the Port Captain in Guanaja about my zarpe and winning – I must admit that having an agent, as Columbia requires, sure makes it quicker and easier. And Mr. Bush is much more than just an agent. He really is an ambassador for the cruisers. He helps them in any way possible, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The other day he called me on the VHF to say that a women was down at the dinghy dock with my laundry waiting for me to pick it up. When I said it was not mine (We take ours to Miss Barbara and pick it up at her house.), he said that the women only knew that the man's name was Mark and he thought that had to be me. I told him that one of the other boats also had a Mark, but I couldn't remember which one. He put out a general call over VHF and eventually united owner and laundry. That is the kind of thing he just does – because it needs to be done, not for pay or tips. He considers helping the cruisers in any way possible as part of his official job. It is what he does and who he is. Would that there were more “Mr. Bush” in the world! Although we did not have to go in to town to meet with Mr. Bush, we did go in and try to buy more fruit. The selection was pretty bad, but we did get another melon, some limes and a couple mangoes. We met Lorenzo & Joyce in town and agreed to go hookahing after lunch. It is still blowing 15-18 so we will need to stay in the lee of the mountain, but there are a couple small patches there that we have not explored. Too shallow to really be worth a tank, but they can use the hookah with us. At first it looked like it was going to be a boring dive – lots of algae on the coral and quite shallow, but as we progressed around the patch, it got deeper with more interesting architecture to the coral and better fish. We saw several very large midnight parrot fish and a couple other large parrots that were not midnights but I'm not sure what. There was a very large scrolled file fish - 2 ½ ' which is about as large as they get. Then we saw the sea snake! It was about 3' long and maybe 1 1/2” diameter and rather than swimming, it crawled along the sea bed like a snake. Its mouth opened and closed like a moray and its gill pouches bulged with each gulp. None of us had ever seen anything quite like it. It didn't seem very concerned about us, but for some reason we all kept our distance from him. He eventually slithered across the sand and into a hole. Later I learned that it was a “Gold Spotted Eel” and quite harmless. The coral patches were not all that big so we circled back and forth over them a bit. When I saw another eel I thought it was the same one, but, no, this one was bigger and when I surfaced to determine our location, it was on a totally different patch of coral. Strange. Two examples of an eel I have never seen before on the same little patch of ocean. We also saw a lobster – one of the very few we have seen here. After the dive, Lorenzo & Joyce invited s over for pizza. We brought our own beer and wine (they do not drink) and brownies for desert. It was a very enjoyable evening and we ended up showing them lots of things about Bocas – approaches, anchorages, restaurants, etc. They are going to wait for calmer weather to leave (they don't want the wind we need), but may catch up with us in Albuquerque or certainly in Bocas.
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06/04/2012, Providencia, Columbia
Sunday, June 3. In the original forecast, today was supposed to be even calmer than yesterday, but it wasn't. The wind was howling pretty well, though the anemometer only showed 15 kts. Certainly would have been a great day to sail to San Andres, but of course we had not cleared out yet. Deb was doing the dishes when the pump made that “you're out of water” noise. Sure enough the gage read empty. How did that happen? I knew I used about 20 gallons cleaning and pickling the watermaker yesterday, but the tank was more than ½ full then. That gage must be REALLY non-linear. Well, I didn't feel I could call Aurelio on a Sunday to get more water. (Providencians, like most Latins, are quite religious and Sundays are reserved for church and family.) I remembered that Lorenzo has said that they had plenty of water (2500 gallons!) and he would give us 100 if we wanted, so I called him on VHF and he readily agreed. “Just raft up on my starboard side and we can run a hose over.” We placed fenders and dock lines and prepared to weigh anchor, but when we got to the 100' marker on the chain, there was no kellet. I could not believe it fell off again. This had a carabiner with a double hasp and a strong spring. How could it have come loose? Well, it did, but the anchor was still set and so it shouldn't be too hard to find if I just follow the 100' mark back and forth across the sand. We were only in 7-8' so it should be easy, right? WRONG. I swam back and forth for over ½ hour and never saw it. The sand bottom is powder soft and undulating with fine grass (not turtle grass). There was no trace of the kellet. Discouraged, I gave up and we motored over to Eileen Farrell. I approached the big steel shrimper with some trepidation. The wind was still blowing pretty well and it was swaying at anchor. I had to time it right and put the bow close enough to toss a line across without actually touching. It went better than expected. Deb got the line across first try and once that was secured, I drifted and powered back to secure the stern. Then we ran a hose across and filled the tanks. The gage jumped immediately to ¼ – there is the first problem, then rose fairly smoothly to Full, but the tanks took another 5 minutes or so to fill after the gage read “Full.” So more in the tank than Full and none below “1/4”. We need to be careful as this will need to last us back to Bocas. There was too much wind for the hookah so we had pina coladas with a life jacket drill behind the boat and then pizza and a movie. I'm still pissed over the kellet. I'll make another, but I have no idea how I can secure it so that it is reasonably easy to put on and take off yet won't fall off. Deb thinks maybe a short pennant would help. Maybe. The first step will be finding more lead and making another.
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