ISLA PROVIDENCIA
Drop the anchor at 430pm Sunday evening March 10th. Not much to do until morning. So got a nice hot shower. On my 'puter I only have 60GB of music from all walks of life but I like listening to the local stations. An easy way to see what the local music scene is like. Dialed in FM 101.5, the only station available, not a big surprise. But I was surprise to hear the type of music they were playing and I sure did not expect it. It was Sunday so religious music I could understand, But this was the first time in my life I have heard Country and Western religious music. In English and I'm in Columbia which is Spanish. What is up with this? I'm not a C&W fan but being from Texas and working alongside C&W fans I thought I heard it all but this was something new. What about gospel? So just to make sure I wasn't dreaming I kept the radio on all night. Nothing changes. Another thing I notice - no commercials, I hate commercials. That's why at home I listen to public radio and the college's radio stations.

Mon.
Time to check in to another country. Each country have a different set of rules but it's basically the same. Check in the boat, check in the crew and pay for it all. I'm only anchored about a half mile from the dinghy dock, short ride. Remove CD from the foredeck and got Mari all hook up without any problems. I'm getting better at this drill. Mari evening started after only 2 pulls. But 50 yards from the boat she sputters and dies. Damn it now what. A few more pulls and she starts again, sputters and quit. Repeat above a couple more times than no more starts. Rats, glad I remember to put the oars in the dinghy and since the wind was about to blow me to Nicaragua I began to row back to IRIE II real fast. While safely tied up alongside, more starts and stops. Well I'm not going to try to row ½ mile into a stiff wind just to check in, so I called Safri (one of the big Cats from South Africa) on the VHF and ask for a ride or tow to do the paper work shuffle since they were heading that way. While waiting I thinking that the problem was fuel related. I had a second fuel tank for my brand new engine so I change out fuel tanks and like magic Mari started and kept on running just about the time my tow showed up. They agreed to keep an eye on me to make sure that if the engine quit I wouldn't drift out to sea.

Reach the dinghy dock; first thing I notice no one is locking their dinghies or their motors. That's a good sign I hope. Next thing I notice, where are all the cowboys? I didn't do much research on this place because I plan on only stopping for a day or two for some rest, and there is a good weather window approaching to make an easy sail to Bocas del Toro. All I heard on the FM radio was country and western so I'm expecting cowboys. What little I read about the place was from "Cruising Ports the Central American Route" and the author said something about this island has been populated by various Caribe tribes, English pirates, Spanish colonist and freed African slaves. I see no Caribes, the only Englishmen I see are tourist and sailors, a few Spanish, a few mixed, and a whole lot of African decedents. Where are the Cowboys?

Columbian law requires all sailors to hire an agent to handle all the paper work. We meet Mr. Bush the agent at the dock. While waiting to check in Mr. Bush start telling a story of another single handler who ran aground on the reef about 90nm NE of here. Doing a storm he went down below to get something to eat, get some sleep or something like that. He claimed that his GPS didn't show the reef. Boy does that story sound familiar. He spent 4 days their watching the reef eat his boat before the Columbian Navy found him. They brought him to Providencia yesterday and this morning a bunch of guys take off to go help him salvage whatever they can. What? They are going to help Him and not help themselves to all his stuff. Now in this part of the world that is unheard off.

For a quick story of the last black single handler sailor to travel these waters click the link below.
Pirates of the Northwest Caribbean...
If you actually read it, now you might have a little idea of why I'm so paranoid about sailing these waters. And there are other pirate stories as well on this site if you are interested.

It's now lunch time and since everything else is closed I drop in to one of the local places for a quick bite. Ask for a menu and was told today we have this and that. Reminded me of Cuba's local restaurants. You get what they cook, so that day I ordered fish. It came with soup and salad. Stop at the local internet café and guess what type of music they were playing, you got it C&W but it was Spanish this time. I did recognize a few Freddy Fender tunes. So this little island is like Roatan and the Caymans, they love them some C&W. But every now and then the attendant would play some Reggae and some Xmas music, now what's up with that.

While checking in I meet another couple Hedi & Lorenzo, from Mexico City. It's almost amazing how some people you meet you become instant friends. Especially since this was their second visit to this island and they knew the locations of all the best restaurants, bars, and the cheapest place to buy a case of beer. It wasn't in town either. You have to take a taxi to the distributor near the airport. But the taxi was a motor scooter. And there was only one available at the time. But the local policeman became a taxi driver and gave me a ride on his Moto to buy some beer, cheap. I'm beginning to like this place.

Tue.
There's a nice hiking trail on Isla Santa Catalina, so off to get them leg muscles some exercise. Great view of the anchorage, glad I took my camera. But one thing I forgot to take was some water. So on the way back there was this little Mom & Pop motel, with a bar and someone was in it. Ask for some water and a beer. Got into a long conversation about something. Then another cruiser passes by and ordered the same. I ordered another. Long conversation got longer. The other cruiser mentions that he and his friends were going to rent a golf cart and go tour the island tomorrow. I was planning on doing the same but was going to rent a Moto.

Back on the boat, radio on, and reggae all day with a little salsa thrown in and no commercials, now the kind of music I was hoping for. Later that evening Mr. Bush organizes a band in the plaza for the boaters to have something to do. It was over a dozen of us there waiting on the weather to settle down. Interesting instruments, the base was an overturn washtub with a string and board, but the best one was the jaw bone of an ass. Sounds just like the Cajun rub board. James you going to have to get one of those.

All the cruisers I have spoken with since my arrival said if I only have one place to visit before going thru the canal than I must stop in the San Blas Islands. After looking at the charts, it's only 24nm further then Bocas del Toro, but it'll put me 100nm closer to the canal. Oh well time to change plans. And the two friends who were going to meet me in Bocas will also have to change their plans. And I don't have any charts of that area. Time to get resourceful.

Wen.
Now the book say you can see Providencia in one hour. Really? At the dinghy dock in the morning Larry, same guy from the motel bar was there with his crew, Danny and Susan and 2 kids. Susan says to me, "You look familiar, where you in the Bahamas 10 years ago?" Yes I was. Turn out I met them there 10 years ago when I was on my mini cruise on Nubian, same boat with different name. Darn, guess I haven't gotten far enough from Texas yet. Or am I really that easy to remember? They were on their honeymoon 10 years ago, now they sold the little boat and now are on their 10 year anniversary sail, with 2 kids on a big cat name Blue Kai. They were going on the east side of the island first; I was going to the west. I was supposed to meet my dive buddy Ken Howard here a couple weeks ago, but bad weather had me stuck in Roatan. He gave me a list of his favorite restaurants and beaches and dive shops. I was on a mission to go find them and say Hi.

It's been awhile since I've rode a motorbike but it didn't take long to get the hang of it. A little bike on a little road on a little island, with big curves and steep hills, Oh, so much fun. Having so much fun ridding I forgot where I was going. When I got to the windy side of the island I knew I had went too far and it only took 20 minutes. So I turn around and followed the first sign that said beach. And guess who I meet there? The crew from Blue Kai. After basking in the sun watching the kids play in the water someone notice what look like a bar and it was open. The other bars along the beach were all boarded up. Off we go and sure nuff it was a bar alright with Reggae music and cold beer, but the only beer was Old Milwaukee, Miller, & Heineken. No local beer, what's up with that? We all got Heinekens. Swap stories on what we been doing in the last 10 years and what are the chances that we would run into each other on this little island. We would have just loved to hang out at Roland's beach Bar & Restaurant all day but we got a whole island to see in one hour. Blue Kai left and I stayed for one more beer and then Bob showed up.

After a few beers and listening to Bob M songs it was time to go again and hope I don't hit the road. I still haven't found any of the places Ken told me about. So on the way back I see a dive sign, turn left, and when I got to another beautiful beach turn left again and found the dive shop but it wasn't the one Ken dived with. Got the prices and the schedule for dives just in case. Went to the other side of the beach to check out the bars and restaurants, but they were close, lunch was over. Then a crowd of tourist and locals was gathering together on the beach.

I had to go investigate and end up witnessing life after death. Young fisherman caught a huge stingray on a hand line. He left for something but another guy was holding on to the line to make sure it didn't get away. All the tourist was gathering around to take pictures. And like any good tourist I was trying to get that perfect shot when fisherman comes back with a huge club. Just as I get the camera focus he raises his club, I hollowed wait, (I hadn't gotten the shot yet). Well no waiting, Bamn, stingray still moving, Bamn again, no more movement and a little blood coming out of her month. As you can imagine a few tourist are skirmish about what just happen. But someone in the crowd (me) mentions its dinner tonight. Not like it's going to go to waste. It might be on the menu tomorrow at one of the local restaurants. Then fisherman began to clean it, first thing comes off is the tail, don't want that stinger getting him. Next he cuts open the belly to remove the guts, but out comes a baby stingray, just a flapping in the sand, then another one comes out. Rasta dude say, "put baby back in the water, let them live." So fisherman picks them up by the end of the tail and throw them as far as he could into the water. He goes back to gutting but find a 3rd one, not flapping as much as the others but he gets thrown back into the water also and swim away a little slowly.

Moral of the story, if you take the bait, be ready to pay the price, and don't forget to ask for your change.

Too bad I didn't video it. I bet I could have gotten a million hits on youtube.

I haven't eaten all day, and since I couldn't' find Ken's favorite restaurant I decided the first place I see that was selling food, I'm stopping. That just happens to be a restaurant in a fancy hotel. Or by Providencia standards it was fancy. Must have been a place where all the rich Columbians come and hang out. Oh well it's going to be expensive but I'm hungry. Just for grins I pull one of Sparky's favorite things - if you want good service act like you can't speak a word of Spanish, not one word. And the waitress couldn't speak one word of English. Now what kind of meal do you think you'll get. One of the best. I just pointed at something on the menu and it was the best baked fish I have had in a long time. But I never did get the beer I thought I ordered, but the juice whatever it was sure was good. All for less then $10, I think? I haven't gotten use to all those zeros on their pesos.

Thur.
New tourist office open today and to celebrate they invite all the tourist to a party which were all the cruisers at anchor. Couldn't they find any more tourists beside us boaters? Paradise haven't been found yet. Same band playing as the night before.

Fri.
Well since I found none of the places that Ken told me about on my last Robo route, I rent another Moto and off to go see the island in a hour again. Somehow I ended up back at Roland's again. I still didn't see any of the places I was looking for. While listening to a few Bob songs, the bar tender ask if I would like some lunch. Sure what you have? I'll make a special lunch just for you. Okay. Out comes a platter, a big one, full of lobster, shrimp, a big fish, salad, plantain, and the list goes on. Now I know I have the munchies, but how does he think I'm going to eat all of that? Another group of 4 also order lunch and they didn't get that much food. But it didn't go to waste, what I couldn't eat I took back to the boat with me.

Stop and askerd one of the locals where was Arthur's Restaurant? He was building a domino table. Some big domino tournament tonight. After a long conversation about something I'm off. Come to find out, Arthur's was on the beach where I witnessed Life after Death. Finally met Mr. Arthur. Introduce myself as Ken's friend, had a quick conversation and a beer. When I was ready to leave he wouldn't let me pay for the beer. Durn it, now I'm going to have to come back and have lunch here. And I still haven't found the dive shop yet, no matter how many directions I have gotten.

Sat.
Time to start getting ready to go. The weather man say there be good weather next week to sail to Panama. No fuel dock to pull up to, but there is a fuel station within walking distance if you land your dinghy in the surf and the big waves. Make several trips carry those 5 gal jerry cans to the boat, filling boat tanks, then repeat. Found out the lady next to Mom and Pop's motel will do laundry, but didn't find out the price until I went to pick them up. $65!!! Damn I'm going to have to remember to asked first how much?

Sun. 17th
Spent all day working on blog and looking for a decent internet connection to post some pictures.

Mon.
I had a few more cloths that needed washing but not at that price. So got out the 5 gallon bucket and done a little hand washing. While cloths was scattered all over the boat I decided it was time for another Moto ride to go and find that dive shop. Stop at Author's for lunch to give a little business to the guy who gave me a beer. Then another stop at Roland's to say bye to Bob, and on the way back home I did finally find the dive shop. It was in the back of a motel, the sign was gone, but no one every mention a motel when giving directions. It was always - just on the right side of the rode where all the hotels are located. Went in and said hi to all of Ken's friends. They wanted to know if I wanted to go diving, sure but I'll be leaving soon and need to get a few things in order first, besides cash was getting low.

On the way back Javier, the immigration officer wave me down. He was happy to show me all the stuff they were able to salvage from the yacht that went aground a few days ago. They were stowing it all in his shop until the Captain can come back and get them in his new boat, went shopping in Panama for one. Generator, life raft, sails, dinghy, motor, the list goes on. They even brought the mast back, in pieces. And all they kept was there pride in being able to help someone else in trouble. Of course the Captain was generous enough to pay them for their help. The funny part was when they went back a fishing boat from San Andres was already helping themselves to his stuff. They were already wearing his cloths. So he had to pay them to get some of his stuff back.

Tue.
Spent the next few days trying to catch up on the blog and doing emails. Internet connection was real slow, so I move the boat closer to the Mom & Pop motel to get a better wifi signal so I can upload some pictures. Also got a few boat projects done. Installed another turning block on Windy. While hanging over the water from the dinghy I drop a wrench. Oh well next time I'm gonna have to remember to tie it up to something, because when you drop it you lost it.

Thur. 21st
Went see Mr. Bush yesterday to get my Zarpe for San Blas, Panama. Departed Providencia early in the morning for San Blas. No wind, the weather forecast is for light winds. Glad Buddha is up for the trip.