Providencia
18 March 2019 | Providencia
Torben | Nice
Judy in the kitchen with cook getting chocolate cooking tips.
We always try to plan our trips to arrive in new, unfamiliar places in daylight. But the adverse currents and lighter than anticipated wind had us come in to Providencia a little after midnight after averaging 6 knots for the 370 N trip. Rather than go into the main anchorage we snug into Low Cay, basically a reef extending 7 Miles N of the main island and dropped the anchor in what really seems like the middle of the ocean. If felt a lot like Minerva Reef off Tonga that we visited on Cinnabar in October last year.
The next morning we made the last 7 miles into town. Providencia is a little off the beaten track, so we anticipated just a few boats in the anchorage. We got a little surprised as AIS showed a bunch of yachts anchored. Yep, we ran into the Suzie Too cruising Rally that has like 50 boats touring the region for the ABC's to Roatan!
Still having no working outboard we hitched a ride to the town dock with a fishing panga for our check in ($ 100 using the mandatory agent Mr. Bush). Knowing it would be difficult seeing the Island without dinghy access we had packed an overnight bag.
So we ended up spending 30 hours on the Island.
The only way to get around is on a scooter, so we rented one. Not wanting to look like tourists, we naturally declined helmets as nobody else were wearing them. Amazing to see a family of 4 with groceries and a pet cat all on one scooter speeding down the bumpy roads!
We stayed in a funky hotel to get a long, hot shower ( did not happen as there was barely any water at all coming out of the shower head ). The hotel breakfast had some fabulous hot chocolate on the menu, so time was spend hunting down the raw materials needed to make our own.
We hiked Catalina Island, walked the town, lunched with some nice Swedish guys cruising a 29 footer and in general enjoyed the colorful, remote island before hitching another ride back out to Tivoli.
All in all, a very cool place, we think we might come back in the fall for more.