10/16/2009, Columbia
This is a pic of the outside fortress entrance to Marina Club De Pesca.
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10/16/2009, Columbia
This is one of the inner entrances to the Marina Club De Pesca.
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10/16/2009, Columbia
This is a Friday night Happy Hour at Club De Pesca, our boat slip was about 10ft. from the bar (how convenient is that?)
Well, we have been here for just about a month and will be leaving today. We have stayed much longer than we had planned, but so many of our cruising friends have said "you have to go to Cartagena, Colombia you will really love it". Sure enough, they were right. It is a beautiful city. The old city is within walking distance from the Marina we stayed at, so we got to see a lot. It is very historic. It is called the "Walled City"
When we first arrived we anchored in the bay at Club Nautico. Well to our disappointment it is under heavy re-construction and is all torn up and has ditches and re-bar everywhere. The office is still there and the long time manager, John, is still there. The dinghy dock was very dangerous to get in or out of your dinghy. We stayed anchored out for 3 days and were very, very lucky to get a slip in the Club de Pesca (Fishing Club). It is for club members only, but with a little luck and some persistence, they found a slip for us for 1 week. We then stretched that to 4 weeks. The people at the Marina were very helpful. No one here speaks English so we had to communicate in Spanish. My Spanish is terrible, but enough to get by and I've learned more since we've been here. We have had a lot of new work done on our boat. We had our bimini widened by two feet (redid stainless tubing structure) and extended it further over the dodger, new Sunbrella canvas. Had the boat waxed, from water line up including the deck and cockpit, the teak sanded and re stained. Got refrigeration fixed (new fan) and he reversed the direction so it pulls the heat out rather than the cool air in, it works a whole lot better now. Got fiber glass work done on some dings and gashes received along the way. Got our computers fixed and he did some serious hardware changes to drastically reduce the overheating on the mother board. We had our salon cushions completely re-upholstered in leather (Colombian leather). The leather is of high quality and he did a great job. We are very pleased. We had more work done but as you can see they have a lot of skill here and their prices are unbelievably cheap. Their labor rate is approximately $3.00 and hour, can you believe that. We would be paying $50 to $60 an hour for this type skilled labor. One example is we had our life lines (1/4 in. coated wire) 4 pieces each about 6 ft. long, on our port and starboard aft sides replaced with 1" stainless steel pipe, cut, installed, welded and polished (2 guys for 5 hours) for $200 (that includes the stainless steel pipe). We had this same job priced in San Diego before we left and it was quoted for $2000 (10 times higher). They did a great job, high quality.
We have met old friends and made new ones here, between the happy hours and the pot luck dinners. Pat has been on a few Friday lunches/tours with the ladies (most of the day) and has seen a lot more of Cartagena than I have. The Marina is set within old fortress walls (well 3 sides anyway) and is really beautiful. We will be heading to San Blas, Panama and then to transit the canal back to the Pacific side and up to San Diego. We should get there around June of next year. We have been out here cruising for 2 years this month. When we get back it will be almost 3 years out cruising.
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