Photo shows the rugged Tayrona coast just North of Santa Marta on daybreak after a stormy night at sea

We're back in Colombia after 32 years with the country now in somewhat more peaceful times after the end of 'La Violencia', though the gap between rich and poor here in Santa Marta doesn't seem much improved from our last visit.

The sail to Santa Marta from our peaceful resting spot in the lee of Capo de la Vela started with a lovely offshore breeze and flat seas and we hoisted the spinnaker for half the day. The wind picked up to a more useful 15 knots, then died towards evening. We noticed several thunderstorms that had formed over the coast that had drifted out to sea with accompanying entertaining light and sound effects, but soon after dark we were chased by one of their more belligerent mates!

We tried to outrun it by revving the engine up but got enveloped in an enormous electrical storm. For what seemed the rest of the night we were surrounded by bolts of lightning and rumbles of thunder - some of the strikes were pretty close to the boat but luckily for our fragile bank balance we didn't get hit. The wind didn't really get up but just clocked round and round as each cell moved over us. What we did get was torrential rain and we had to drain the dinghy several times to stop it from filling up.

By dawn, the last storm was still grumbling off the coast as the clouds started to part and reveal the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta - the outlier of the Andes that rises to 5,700 m (over 18,000 feet) within 50 km of the Colombian coast - the only place in the Caribbean where you can see snow - and the highest mountains we've seen from Saraoni.

We are now in Santa Marta marina and will be here for a week or so while we explore the mountains and also make a trip to Cartagena further down the coast by bus. Visiting a port in Colombia requires using an agent to do the paperwork which works out rather expensive if you have to do it more than once. When we leave here we will clear out for Porvenir in Panama's San Blas Islands and supposedly we will be O.K. to stop en route.