Isla Providencia
02 April 2015
Jane, warm and sunny
Isla Providencia is an island where we immediately felt at home. Even though it is part of Colombia it is 475 nm from its mother country, being closer to Nicaragua only 125 nm away. However it is really is isolated being in the middle of nowhere, a place that cruisers stop for a break on their way north or south going along the western Caribbean. It is only 4.5 miles long by 2.25 miles wide, but has a wonderfully protected harbour formed by the big island and its little sister, Santa Catalina island; which is connected by a foot bridge. It is protected by an 18 mile long barrier reef, so fantastic for diving/snorkeling and the land has a rustic beauty with its mountains as a back drop.
There are 6,000 residents and most of them speak English as well as Spanish. There is a small airport flying mainly tourists from San Andres each day, a busier island 54 nm south. Luckily there are no cruise ships or international flights and there are only a few boutique hotels. With ten other sail boats it was our kind of place.
We rented scooters for a day at a cost of $20 and explored the island. The shop was not interested in a driver's license or credit card swipe, just wanted to make sure we had a fun day. The people are all very friendly and helpful. There are very few cars on the island, but thousands of motor bikes; quite often with a whole family of four on board. Helmets? Did not see one. Lunch was at Artoro's in South West Bay where they race horses bareback on Saturdays. We had a massive mixed plate of lobster, prawns, conch and fish that we could not finish for $15. Yes, here we are millionionaires as you get about 40,000 pescos for $20. We were therefore surprised when our agent "Mr. Bush" charged us $100 when we checked out (he started off at $150) especially as we still had our cruising permit from Santa Marta (while we were in the San Blas we were only "in transit"). Apparently if you stop in Providencia you have to have a tourist permit which costs $30 per person, however long you stay, the rest was his fee - not cheap; which is why sadly a lot of boats do not stop.
We only stayed for three days as our weather window showed that the wind was due to disappear. The night before we left we had another excellent meal of prawns and lobster (have never eaten so much lobster before) with two other crusing boats from the US at a restaurant called Sea Storm on Santa Catalina - they specialise in corn ice cream, had to have and very tasty too. Our new friends were heading south, although one of the couples shared that they visit Providencia every year, for about 6 weeks each time, and they have many friends ashore. We can certainly understand why as everyone says "hello" and wants to have a chat with you as you wander through the town.
Our sail to Providencia was amazing. A total of 275 nm and we had to slow the old girl (Ta-b) down as otherwise we would have arrived during the night - this is certainly not an area to arrive in the dark with its many reefs off the coast. To be honest we always plan to arrive in the light, but sometimes the wind plays games with us ☺ Apparently six boats have sunk hitting the reefs in San Blas this year, most by entering at night . We have been using our radar much more than normal, not only does it show boats that may not have AIS, but it is also is great for ear marking reefs and the odd rain squal. A great friend to have on board.
We normally work on a 5-6 kn average, but have upped it to 6-7 kn especially as we have been getting up to half a knot of current with us. The wind to Hondurus was a perfect 15-20 knots with fairly kind seas, but yet again we went too fast and had to slow Ta-b down, sailing with two reefs and pulling some of the geni in to get the perfect speed. It was odd to be sailing a lot of the way in very shallow water off the coast of Nicaragua and then Hondurus. With another 330 nm under our belt in less than a week, we certainly have been chewing up the miles and are looking forward to a slower pace in Hondurus in April.
Happy Easter everyone and enjoy the pictures in the photo gallery. Make sure that you highlight the first to scroll through, so that you get the pictures information.