17/Aug/2012, Islas Grande - Los Islas Rosarios - Colombia
Some amazing thunder storm activity over night at the anchorage here in the Rosarios. Torrential rain, good for filling water tanks, and eerie light as lightening illuminates the islands with bluey-white flashes. Strong winds came from a variety of directions but settled down after a couple of hours anxiously monitoring our position on the first night lying to anchor.
A drive about in the dinghy revealed an island wholly devoted to tourism. Regular offers of Crab and trinkets from chaps in canoes and boats, the roar of large motorboats carving through the inshore channel, behind the turquoise blue reefs; signs asking for "no wake" blithely ignored. A crab bought for a cockpit lunch yesterday was tasty and a treat we don't indulge in very often.
Tomorrow we'll up anchor and head another 30 miles south west to the next archipelago located just off the Colombian coast, the San Bernandos islands. If these are similar to those seen already we'll likely move on to Panama before the end of the week. Spruce has now been in Colombia for 9-weeks and the most interesting places were back in the Santa Marta and Sierra Nevada region. These touristy locations are not particularly different to other exclusive resort islands already seen in the East Caribbean island chain. Our hopes for a completely new experience as we cruise the San Blas Islands (Kuna Yala) region of Panama are running high.
Photo of another exotic house built on what is little more than a limestone & coral rock.
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17/Aug/2012, Islas Grande - Los Islas Rosarios - Colombia
Not much wind and on the nose at that. A pleasant enough chug 20 miles South West to the Islas Rosarios off the mainland town of Cholon. Our expectation is for many tour boats and visitors arriving at Isla Grande from both Cartagena and Cholon over the weekend, so we'll get on with some chores aboard for the next couple of days and save our legs for some strolling about on Monday.
First impressions of these islands indicate quite a few large estates with Desirable Residences having ocean views. A strange contrast between very poor folks seen today, fishing from small boats and canoes, tatty T-shirts wrapped around their heads to provide protection from the sun and the wealthy owners of these weekend homes. There seems to be an enormous gulf in Colombia between the most affluent and the least, more so than seen in Europe; the divide does appear to have some racial basis and probably relates to the former colonial era that ended about 170 years ago.
Almost two weeks were spent in Cartagena ... we are so pleased to have escaped from the noise and turmoil of the city and the busy port. This is not anywhere near as remote and peaceful as our time cruising in the Gulf of St Lawrence during 2010 but still a relatively quiet and relaxing place to anchor.
Photo shows one of the islets in the archipelago, note the afternoon grey skies as the thunder clouds gather.
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16/Aug/2012, Cartagena - Colombia
"Every three weeks a hull needs to be scraped off here in Cartagena" were the words from Alberto, as he finished cleaning our underwater profile. "By comparison in Islas Rosarios it only needs to be cleaned every three months!"
The ratee of fouling is unbelievable, small barnacles that manage to grow significantly in just a few weeks. Vessels that have lain at anchor for a while here are incredibly fouled up.
Our passports are with our agent for clearing out wirth immigration and we'll need a zarpe (permission to depart) from the port captain. Assuming all paperwork is completed we will sail (or maybe motor) tomorrow. En route a stop in Los Islas Rosarios (17M) and Islas San Bernandos (45M)before we depart from Colombian waters and make towards Puerto Obaldia (a further 110M) in Panama...
Remaining Colombian currency now needs to be spent on last minute supplies ...
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... Sue making up a few storage jars with peppers, we expect fresh produce in the San Blas islands to be few and far between...
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...there have been lots of rapidly developing thunderstorms over the past few days. Within an hour sunny blue skies can suddenly be dominated by towering dark clouds. Good for catching rainwater but not so good for recharging batteries from solar power.
Spectacular lightening displays but we'll happily give those a miss once we are out into the islands.
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14/Aug/2012, Cartagena - Colombia
Last days of preparation and stocking up before we depart from Colombia and head towards Panama and the San Blas Islands, within a region otherwise known as Kuna Yala.
We'll be unable to get internet or shop for food and supplies for about 8 weeks so must be fairly self sufficient. Blog updates can be done over the SSB radio and our radio email service...
Piccie shows the anchorage at Cartagena after the passing of another tropical wave... thundery and stormy weather associated...
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