Cartegena, at last!

The four of us--Paula and Andrew and Peter and I--pulled up anchor and departed from Montego Bay on Monday, April 15, around 3 p.m. We motor-sailed around the western end of Jamaica until around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16, when there was finally enough wind and from the right direction for sailing.

Sunset off the west coast of Jamaica

Reaching Alligator Reef on the southwest side of the island, just after 7 a.m., we anchored, and Paula, Andrew and I swam a fairly long distance to part of the reef. There was an abundance of fish. I particularly like the juveniles because they often display different and more vibrant coloration than the adults. On the swim back to the boat, Andrew spotted a wriggling red worm, which we later identified as a fireworm. Since I had on gloves, I was able to pick it up from the bottom so Andrew could get better photos. (The gloves were also useful because we later learned that the white bristle bunches on either side of the body contain toxins.) Then, Andrew spotted a long eel slithering along the grass and sand bottom. It was a goldspotted eel, which neither of us had seen before. After admiring it for a while, we continued toward Mantra, and soon we encountered another eel on the bottom, this time a sharptail eel. Both were very well camouflaged. The goldspotted eel is lightly colored, blending in with the sand and the sand-encrusted grasses. It has irregularly spaced dark spots, each of which have a small spot of gold in the center. The sharptail eel has a olive-green body and numerous sandy white spots with fading edges.

Alligator Reef off the southwest coast of Jamaica

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, we began our long, long journey to Cartegena, Colombia, which is a little over 500 nautical miles south of Kingston. We motored along the southern coast of Jamaica to Kingston, where we turned south and headed away from the last land we would see for days. We were able to turn the engine off and sail close-hauled on a port tack. I am really quite worthless on long passages, so we were blessed to have Paula and Andrew as crew. 

That night and all through Wednesday (April 17) we had light winds varying from 10 to 15 knots from the east. With a full moon above, we sailed into Thursday with increasing wind and waves. By 4 a.m., we had all three reefs in the mainsail. A couple of hours after dawn, we changed tactics and started sailing on a beam reach straight for Cartegena. The strength of the wind was straining the genoa, so we furled it and raised the staysail. We were averaging well over 8 knots with a fully reefed sail and a staysail as the sustained wind increased to 25 knots, with gusts above 30, and the waves were 8 to 10 feet with an occasional larger one. Several times, a wave broke right on top of the boat, soaking everything, including any crew who were not down below. (Lucky me! I had gotten seasick and vomited, so I was excused informally from watch.)

At least we were entertained day and night during the passage by flying fish skimming over the surface of the water, the length of their flight corresponding to some degree with whether they launched themselves at the crest of a large wave or within a deep trough. There was also a rainbow in the distance in the early morning of the last day. We spotted very few other vessels. 

By 10 a.m. on Friday, April 19, the wind reached its sustained peak at 30 knots, but by 2:30 p.m., it had calmed to 15 to 18 knots, and we were able to douse the staysail and use the genoa again. Soon after, we spotted land. As we got closer to Cartegena, we were quite surprised to see that it is a really large city. (The population approaches one million.) The waves were small, so we were able to avoid going farther to the southern entrance to the bay; instead, we steered through the marks of Boca Grande, which designate the only passage through an long, underwater breakwater. 

We were all so relieved to have made it, not least of all me. I really don't like passages, and this one was fairly miserable. 

Despite my best efforts with the Spanish language, we were unable to find a berth at a marina, so we anchored off Club Nautico. A young man in a dinghy approached us as we were preparing to drop anchor and offered assistance. We had been informed that clearance with customs and immigration had to be done by an agent, but he looked a bit young (teenage, maybe). He used his cellphone to call his Uncle Mike, whom I talked with to clarify what we needed to do. (Mike, the agent, is fluent in English!) Sebastian went to the dock to pick up his uncle, and we were able to work easily with him. A little later in the evening, he returned with our stamped passports, but we have to wait until offices open on Monday for our paperwork.

This morning, I was able to communicate with Club Nautico. Luckily, once again, someone spoke English--the dockmaster, John. We are now in a berth, stern in to the dock, med-moor style. A free diver took two sixty-foot lines from our bow and tied them to a chain running between piers. Finally, we got off the boat.

There is a laundry here, but it closed at 1 p.m. and will not reopen until Monday morning, so I had to do a few loads of laundry on our boat and hang things on the lifelines to dry this afternoon. The waves coming over the bow and drenching the entire deck from time to time breached the seals on the hatches. All of our bedding was wet and we had used almost every towel on board to sop up salt water in various places.

After lunch in the cockpit, Paula and Andrew have moved to an apartment in the Old City, which we will visit tomorrow. Peter and I occupied the afternoon cleaning and tidying up. I took everything out of the freezer and dried it out. I scrubbed all the cockpit cushions. Rain threatened all afternoon and we were hoping a shower would rinse the decks, but we finally resorted to a hose connected to the water supply on the dock. 

As I was working on deck, a long, narrow boat with two men came near the marina. They were fishing using a net that has concentric hoops. One man steers the boat and the other casts the net gracefully out over the water.

Two local fishermen with anchored yachts and the buildings of the Boca Grande area of Cartagena

It is hot, hot, hot here. Actually, the temperature is only in the mid-80's, but the humidity is fierce. After I showered on the swim platform, Peter and I came to the air-conditioned restaurant at the marina and ordered the local beer. Now we are awaiting our meal.

Tomorrow we begin exploring!