Curacao to Five Bays, Colombia

Log covers 9 Sept – 10 Sept 2007; passage Curacao to Five Bays, Colombia:

This log is somewhat scattered in date order.  Sorry about that. 

We moved out to Anchorage E in Spaanse Waters after our friends Donna & Bruce left last Wednesday.  Of course, as chance would have it, the weather turned perfect sailing conditions shortly after they departed.  What a shame they flew all the way to Curacao for a sailing vacation and never left the dock.  But they did get to see the island.  And they got to experience hurricane preparations for a boat.  It was great to be back out on anchor.  We like that so much better than staying in a marina.

We went to the cruisers’ happy hour at Sari Fundy’s on Thursday and met 2 couples who just returned from San Blas Islands, Bocas del Toro, Panama City and Cartagena.  They came to our boat on Friday evening and gave us a wealth of information about all locations.  A big thank-you to Rico & Jackson on S/V APPARITION and to Jim & Michelle on S/V WIND MACHINE.  They both use the same Maxsea software that we use, and Rico provided us with actual tracks into Boca Grande at Cartagena and into various anchorages in San Blas Islands.  We also learned from them that the navigational markers are again in place in Cartagena for the narrow entrance through the underwater rock wall.  Yahoo!!!  That is a big worry that we can now forget about.

BTW, I took the free bus from Sari Fundy’s on Friday morning to the Centrum Supermarket.  FWIW, Centrum is far superior to Strada which is recommended so highly in the cruisers’ guide.  I would recommend visiting both because Strada does offer some items that are not found in Centrum, and the prices are lower at Strada.  But Centrum is as big and nice as any supermarket in any large city in the states.  We did not need anything, but we wanted to use up all our guilders (NAF—Netherland Antilles Florin) as we will not be back in Curacao or Bonaire any time in the near future.

Saturday morning we prepped the boat for the long (for us!) passage to Cartagena.  We rigged both poles because we will be flying the genoa on the port side until well past Aruba; then we make a turn and will be flying the genoa on the starboard side.  Better to rig everything now rather than dealing with it at sea.  Outboard engine is mounted on the rail and the dinghy is tied down on the mizzen deck.  We could have left the dinghy on the stern davits, but I have read too many logs of people getting swamped on this passage by big seas filling the dinghy on davits.  Better safe than sorry.  Then I cooked 3 meals so all I need to do at sea is reheat.  We are set to leave at 4:00 p.m. so that we should arrive in Cartagena on Tuesday mid-day, assuming no bad weather is encountered.  We are both freshly showered (important to start off squeaky clean when we know it isn’t likely that either of us will have another chance to shower until this passage is complete) and ready to go.

We just learned that S/V BLUEPRINT MATCH is also enroute to Cartagena.  They moored at Monjes del Sur (the Venezuelan rocks with the rope tied between) last night.  They are traveling with S/V RED THREAD, whom we do not know.  It will be interesting to later compare the experiences of us on the offshore route at the same time they are on the coastal route.

Trip Log:  (note that this was written during the passage; our opinions of the passage changed to a more positive note after we reached our destination, turned on the air-conditioning, had a shower and ate a meal.)

Sat Sept 8, 2007  1520 (3:20 p.m.) anchor up and left Spaanse Water channel entrance about 1545.  Course 306 mag; wind 20 kts ESE, gusting 24 kts.

Sat 1745    12.10.334N; 069.05.501W    Boat speed 8.16 SOG; course 316 mag; wind 20-25 kts ESE; 6 ft seas; passed well astern of 2 large ships, both headed SE.  Sails: full genoa poled to port and full mizzen, double reefed main.  Bill finally might have learned to sleep at sea.  He is asleep and I am taking the first night watch tonight.  Pork chop sandwiches for dinner.

Sun noon.  Spoke too early; Bill has not learned to sleep at sea.  He came top deck last night at 2130 after unsuccessful attempts to sleep for 4 hours.  That was the precise moment when I chose to blow my dinner all over the deck—much too rough to attempt to get to the rail, safer to kneel on the seat of the cockpit and puke out onto the deck; easy enough to wash the deck down with the water hose.  We were rolling very badly all night and I was seasick all night.  Bill took care of everything while I tried to sleep it off in the cockpit.  At 0430 we took in the sails and motored until daylight; needed to charge the batteries anyway.  At daylight we set the genoa poled out to starboard and mizzen to starboard.  With only those 2 sails we are making about 8 knots SOG; course 285; wind down to just under 20 knots; seas 8-10 feet and very confused.  There are white caps curling in every direction and patches of foam, while the current and general main direction of the waves are in the direction we are headed.  Still rolly.  Passed one ship within 2 miles and saw 2 others far in the distance.  Our fastest speed overnight was 10.8 knots!!  That is when we reefed down the sails.

Sun 1530  During the past 24 hours we have sailed 206.8 NM.

Sun 1645  12.48.057N; 071.58.683W  Boat speed 8 knots SOG; course 265 mag; winds same; seas larger at 12 feet.  Have not seen any other vessels since making the turn over Aruba.  This is not a pleasant downwind sail.  It is test of endurance.  We both have been catnapping all day.  We both are tired of this motion.

Sun 2130   12.35.621N; 072.34.966W  Boat speed 8.20 SOG; course 255 mag; winds lighter at 16-18 knots; seas much smoother at 8 feet;  quite a lightning show over on the Colombian mainland.  Bill managed to get a shower down in the head tonight.  Not me.  No way in Hades that I would go down there in a shower with the boat moving this much.

Mon 0315  Wow, my watch again.  My, how time flies.   12.09.769W; 73.14.501W  Course 230 mag; boat speed 8.56 SOG; true wind speed at 22.5 knots but feels much lighter; seas calm –can’t see in darkness so can’t judge size but boat is sailing smoothly (finally!!) so seas must be smaller. There was a lot of lightning most of the night, but you are reading this so we didn’t get hit.  We have decided to tuck in at Five Bays to meet up with Paul and Michelle on BLUEPRINT MATCH.  No reason that we couldn’t proceed directly to Cartagena and arrive tomorrow mid-day, but we would just as soon sail along with them for the rest of the passage.  Plus, this way we get to see some of the Colombian coast.

Mon 0800   11.50.338N; 073.36.097W  Still within the 3000 meter depth line; it cuts over very close to shore near the Five Bays area.  Course 235 mag; boat speed 8 kts SOG; true wind speed 14.5 kts; seas kind of flat with a very gentle 6-foot swell moving same direction as boat.  Pleasant sailing.  Have seen 4 large rather strange looking ships plus had 4 other ships as radar targets but never seen.  The charts call this a “shipping convergence zone.”

Mon 1230  11.31.802N; 073.55.000W  Course 232 mag; boat speed 6.2 SOG; true wind speed 10.3 kts; seas totally flat with nice swell.  We are motor sailing because the wind is so light; also lets us charge the batteries.  About 2 ½ hours to Five Bays.  I had a wonderful shower on deck this morning.  Not a soul in sight, so why not.  Nice to feel human again.

Mon 1620  Anchored 11.19.555N; 074.06.428W in center bay of Five Bays, Colombia.  This is not the real name for this location but that is what the cruisers have come to call it.  We wasted more than an hour trying to anchor in the second bay before giving up and moving to this bay, so our time/speed average for the passage will be skewed.  BLUEPRINT MATCH and RED THREAD are still on their way here.  We motored the final 4 hours of our offshore passage; they have been motoring all day on their coastal route.  Basically, in about 48 hours we sailed 375 NM, even with a wasted hour trying to anchor in the wrong bay.  Only mishap for the passage was that Bill left our anchor snubber on the stern deck to dry when we pulled anchor in Curacao.  We both forgot all about it; and with the severe rolling that we encountered north of Aruba, the snubber fell overboard.  Hope we can find a new one in Cartagena since we will be anchoring a lot in the San Blas.

As we approached Five Bays we were greeted by 4 to 5 dozen dolphin.  These were the smaller variety of porpoise; had a slightly speckled appearance on their backs.  And, yes, it was 50 to 60 dolphin; swimming and jumping all around our boat.  One even did a backflip.  Bill went forward on the deck and whistled loudly (our kids can attest to how loudly Bill can whistle!).  The dolphin love it when you whistle or make lots of noise and they perform more enthusiastically.  It was great!

And now it is time for a diet coke and a cold shower to cool off.  BLUEPRINT MATCH and RED THREAD arrived in the bay just before sunset.  Not sure if we will leave tomorrow for the rest of the trip to Cartagena or if we will hang around here for a day or two.  There is zero wind out there right now.

Off to Cartagena

September 8, 2007  Saturday

Spaanse Water, Curacao

Leaving today for the long dreaded passage to Cartagena.  We had hoped to buddy-boat on the coastal route with S/V SCOTT FREE, but this perfect weather window presented itself and SCOTT FREE has not yet arrived in Curacao.  We don't want to lose the opportunity of this unexpected weather window, so we are going ahead without them.

Hurricane Felix has sucked up the normal Colombian low that causes such bad weather along the Colombian coast.  Prediction is for it to take about 7 days for the Colombian low to rebuild back to normal.  So this is the perfect time for us to make this passage.  Winds are predicted 20-25 knots with a few 30-35 knot showers and seas 8 feet.  That sounds like something we can handle -- that is same weather we had for our 460NM passage from Bonaire to Virgin Islands last November.

We plan to take the offshore route recommended by Jimmy Cornell, outside the 1000 meter depth line, so the seas should be considerably less rough than on the coastal route.  We should arrive in Cartagena sometime Tuesday.  Will update again when we are docked in Cartagena and have found the internet again.

Goodbye to Donna and Bruce; almost time to move on

September 5, 2007  Wednesday

Goodbye to Donna and Bruce.  They left mid-day for the trek back to Texas.  As always, it was good to visit with them.  They are welcome to visit us aboard any time.  It was a shame that we didn't get to do any sailing while they were here.  We spent the first 3 days exploring the island by car.  Turned out that those were the best 3 weather days during their entire 8 days with us.  Guess we should have gone out sailing first and then explored the island by car.  But with the hurricane and then higher winds and rougher seas that are so typical of the ABCs, there simply was not a good day for sailing.  But we enjoyed their visit even if we didn't get to sail.

CaribWX website posted several images from the hurricane center showing Hurricane Felix as the storm progressed across the Caribbean.  These images graphically show why the Curacao area was spared damage from this hurricane.  The eye wall changed shape as the storm passed north of Curacao and all the energy was moved up into the NE quadrant of the storm.  Since Curacao was about 40 miles south of the eye and all the energy was up in the NE quadrant, we had no bad effects from the storm.

Lucky us! 

This has now happened twice with hurricanes while we were aboard boats.  One could become complacent and think that as long as one is 35-50 miles south of the eye of a category 2 or 3 hurricane, then one wouldn't suffer damage.  How dumb that would be to make such an assumption!  We realize that we were extremely lucky during both Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 and Hurricane Felix in 2007.  We hope never to be so close to another hurricane while aboard a boat.

We are checking out of Curacao Yacht Club in a few minutes and will move out into the anchorage.  Bruce drove us into Willemstaad on Monday so we could obtain an anchoring permit from the Harbor Authority.  The anchoring permits are free but it is a pain in the butt to have to go all the way to the city to obtain a permit.  And you must have a permit for each anchorage that you plan to visit.  We planned to obtain permits for several anchorages so we could sail around Curacao a bit, but that wasn't possible because you must tell them the exact dates that you want each permit for each anchorage.  Isn't that one of the dumbest things you have ever heard!!!  How can we possibly know what the weather will be like on any particular day in the future!  So we couldn't provide specific dates for specific anchorages.  Therefore, we got a permit only for anchorage section E in Spaanse Waters.  Curacao really needs to rethink this permit restriction if they want more sailors to visit their island.  It would be too cumbersome to have to find transportation all the way to the city each time you want to change anchorages.  Cruisers will merely go somewhere else where these restrictions do not exist.  I understand why Curacao wants to know where each boat is located at all times, but there must be an easier way to track the movements of visiting pleasure craft.

We will stay in the anchorage until the proper weather window presents itself to begin the passage toward Cartagena.  S/V SCOTT FREE should arrive here in Curacao in a few days.  We will then decide whether to wait and buddy boat with them or not.  Depends on how long they want to hang around Curacao.  I am ready to leave on the first good weather window after we receive the Colombia rider from the insurance company.

Don't know if we will have internet access out in the anchorage, so might not update for awhile.

Hurricane Felix while we were at Curacao

September 2, 2007 Sunday

Okay, I admit it.  I have totally lost track of times and events of past week.  Let’s blame it on Hurricane Felix.

First, we are perfectly fine.  The hurricane passed 43 miles north of where we are docked at Curacao Yacht Club in Spaanse Waters.  Felix was a category 2 hurricane at that point.  We were extremely fortunate to be on the south side of the storm and in a very protected area.  The experience was basically a repeat of what happened when Hurricane Jeanne passed north of Tortola in September 2004 while we were at the Mooring docks.  It was truly a “non event.”  And we are so thankful that it was!

Donna and Bruce helped us prepare the boat for the approaching storm.  S/V BeBe was tied securely alongside the dock.  We had every fender against the dock, including our old car tire in a heavy plastic bag and our huge inflated orange teardrop shaped fender.  The outboard motor was on the rail and the dinghy was securely tied upside down on the mizzen deck.  No way that dinghy could have blown up and away.  Bill furled both the main and mizzen sails completely into their masts.  The genoa was furled and the jib sheets were wrapped round and round the lower part of the forestay.  Then we took a halyard and wrapped it around the upper and middle parts of the forestay; so there was no way for wind to cause the genoa to unfurl.  Bill took a spare line and wrapped it around all the halyards on the main mast, just as a precaution in case one of those started to flail about in the wind.  Everything was well secured.

We all went to bed early, expecting to be awakened by high winds and rain about 2 a.m. Each of us did wake up off and on all night long, but it wasn’t because of the really bad weather that we had expected.  Bill and I took turns getting up and checking the computer for latest coordinates and satellite imagery. 

The anticipated high winds never materialized.  Highest wind was less than 30 knots.  And the barometric pressure never dropped like we thought it would.  Stayed slightly above 1008 the entire time.  Spaanse Waters is totally protected from the seas with the multi-dog-legged narrow entrance to this huge fingered lagoon.  We expected to be blown against the dock by the westerly winds and water as the hurricane passed, but the conditions never got bad.  No worse than a regular rainstorm.  Again, we are so thankful that this area was spared from the bad storm conditions.

Donna and Bruce arrived last Tuesday afternoon.  It is great to see them again.  They brought a large duffle bag of boat parts.   Bill had provided Bruce with a list of parts that we needed.  Bruce shopped for the best prices and hauled all that stuff down here to us. They also surprised me with a new set of dinnerware.  Bill had asked Donna to find and buy new dinnerware for us; that is his anniversary gift to me (or our gift to each other?).  Bill trusted Donna to choose whatever pattern she thought best; he trusts her good taste.   The Amel dishes we have were looking a bit tired and Bill knew that I wanted a nicer set.  Donna made an excellent choice.  The new dinnerware matches the wine glasses that I bought in St. Martin.  Donna and Bruce rented a car and we have enjoyed seeing the island.  We haven’t sailed at all yet; hoping to do that tomorrow and Tuesday.  They will depart on Wednesday.

We have visited the Punda, Sharloo and Otrabanda sections of Wilhemstaad.  Each section has its own special flavor.  Punda means “the point” and Otrabanda means “opposite side.”  I don’t remember what Sharloo means.  Sharloo was the financial district in many years past, inhabited mostly by Dutch Jews.  Sharloo is home to the Maritime Museum, which we enjoyed visiting one afternoon.  Punda is the site of the old Waterfort and has more shopping and restaurants and is more interesting than Otrabanda.  But one musn’t miss out on seeing Otrabanda as that is where most of the museums are located. 

We visited the African Slave Museum and would highly recommend it.  We each learned tidbits of history that were very interesting.  The most interesting thing Bill and I learned is that the slave trading business was started by the Moors.  The Moors captured more than 600,000 Europeans and transported them back to Africa as slaves.  So the actual business of slavery was started by blacks.  That was shocking news to us. 

Otrabanda held no interest for us except for the museums.  There is a major renovation being performed at the Riffort area with lots of shopping and restaurants being added.  That looks like it will be very nice once completed and should help Otrabanda district garner more tourist dollars.

Punda and Otrabanda are connected by a floating pontoon pedestrian bridge that also acts like a drawbridge for shipping traffic in and out of the industrial harbor of Wilhemstaad.  The bridge swings open widely to allow large container ships egress to the harbor.  Would hate to have that job as bridge tender; doing nothing all day long except swinging that bridge open and closed.  There is also a ferry across this harbor entrance.  Both the pedestrian bridge and the ferry are free.

Another day we went to the Seaquarium.  As we were walking to the ticket booth a young lady stopped us to give us a schedule of activities at the Seaquarium.  She also told us that if we were willing to listen to a 45-minute tour of the timeshare resort that they would pay for our lunch.  So, uh, okay; why not.  We have nothing but time so listening to a sales pitch for 45 minutes seemed fair to us.  Turned out that we had a nice lunch and also gained free entry to the Seaquarium, a value of $98 USD for the four of us.  Not bad just for sitting and talking to a very nice man.  Plus he answered many questions that we had about Curacao and the island’s relationship with Holland and the building expansion that is occurring on Curacao.  The amount of building and development happening on Curacao is amazing.  The timeshare resort was nice.  If we were the slightest bit interested in owning a timeshare, this would be the place.

Yesterday we drove out to the Hatu Caves on the northern side of the island.  Unfortunately it started to rain heavily as soon as we arrived.  It is not possible to do the tour in the rain, so we piled back into the car and drove back to the yacht club.  Bill got concerned about being off the boat with the weather turning so bad so quickly.  The hurricane was approaching Curacao much faster than had been predicted.  Returning to the boat was a good idea because that allowed us plenty of time to prep the boat in anticipation of the approaching hurricane.

Tomorrow maybe we can actually take Donna and Bruce out sailing – they should appreciate that since sailing is the reason they came down here to visit with us!

Very thorough boat search off Curacao

August 27, 2007 Monday

Klein Curacao, Netherland Antilles

11.59.051N; 068.38.727W      Sailed 24 NM

We are moored off a white sugar-sand beach on the tiny island of Klein Curacao.  The work “klein” means small or little.  Klein Curacao is a tiny island just south of the much larger island of Curacao.  There is one inhabited structure on Klein Curacao---which also operates as a restaurant on days that boats or visitors are plentiful.  Several day-charter companies on Curacao bring visitors down to Klein Curacao, only for the day; they do not stay here overnight.  Good thing, because we are on a mooring that belongs to one of the day-charter companies.  It is our understanding that they never arrive here before 10:00 a.m. and we will be long gone by that time tomorrow morning. 

Klein Curacao is the place that I had wanted to sail to whenever the kids were visiting a couple of weeks ago.  I think this place is more like what they expected to see rather than the desert island of Bonaire which is very commercialized and emphasizes diving.  Unfortunately, with one after another getting sick, it wasn’t possible to make the sail down here and back to Bonaire during their visit with us.  Klein Curacao is the kind of place that Bill and I really enjoy because it provides more solitude in a beautiful setting.  The only other boat here is a medium-sized power boat anchored well away from us.  So we have the view of the gorgeous beach all to ourselves.  There was a beautiful sunset with lots of reds and pinks tonight off our stern, and off our bow the full moon was rising at the same time.  Beautiful evening with so much wind that we don’t even need to operate our fans in the bedroom.

Another cruiser (Scott & Heather on S/V SCOTT FREE) told us about this mooring.  They have stayed here several times and had dived on the mooring and verified that it is secure; has a very heavy chain attached to the mooring and the pennant is thick and in good condition.  We would not have tied off to this mooring except for the fact that Scott & Heather told us about it.  We would have assumed that it was a private mooring and that we wouldn’t be allowed on it.  In fact, anchoring is discouraged because Curacao wants to protect the coral.  So if any mooring is unoccupied then you are encouraged to use it.  If the rightful owner should arrive then one must vacate their mooring, of course.

Today was another perfect sail.  Winds ranging from 12-17 knots off our port stern; following seas supposedly were 5-6 feet but appeared flat to us; slightly cloudy during the morning hours and then bright sunshine in the afternoon.  Just perfect sailing conditions.  Tomorrow we will sail up to Spaanse Waters in Curacao and dock at the Curacao Yacht Club.  Our friends, Donna & Bruce, should arrive tomorrow afternoon.  We look forward to a good week of visiting with them on and around Curacao.

August 28, 2007 Tuesday

Curacao Yacht Club, Spaanse Waters, Curacao

12.04.65N; 068.51.25W          Traveled a few miles.

Now I know why most people do not stay overnight at Klein Curacao.  The current overcame the wind during the wee hours of the morning and turned our boat sideways to the wind.  This also caused the boat to move about quite a bit.  Not so much that it bothered us because we are pretty accustomed to sea movement now, but I would bet most people would find that much movement at anchor somewhat uncomfortable for sleeping.  Definitely a “hold on while walking” kind of movement.  We were up and on our way before 7 a.m.  

There is a ½ knot to ¾ knot counter current against you when heading to Curacao from Klein Curacao.  We put up the main sail and mizzen but couldn’t use the genoa without a pole.  We didn’t want to deal with putting out the pole in the washing machine sea action that was going on, so we motor sailed.  We were able to turn off the engine and actually sail for the final 1/3 of this short trip.

And we experienced our first Coast Guard boarding!  About a mile or so before the entrance to Spaanse Waters, the Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard came roaring up to us in a large black inflatable boat.  They contacted us via VHF radio and got our basic information.  They then said that they wanted to come aboard.  So, what do you say except “Certainly; come aboard.”  They pulled alongside and Bill turned on the motor and started taking in the sails.  Three of the Coasties came aboard; one stayed in the cockpit with Bill and our paperwork, and I went below with the other two guys while they checked out the interior of our boat.

They opened every cabinet locker and drawer and checked the storage areas beneath all the beds.  They even opened and checked the battery compartment!  They had me open each of the freezer and fridge lockers and they moved the food around to verify that food was the only thing in there.  Guess freezers and refrigerators are common areas used by drug smugglers.  They opened all the floor storage lockers except the one where our medical kit is stored and the floor locker near the galley that is chock-full of wine.  They just forgot the floor locker where the medical kit is stored because they opened every floor locker around it.  There are so many that maybe they got confused as to which ones they had already searched.  Anyway, I am glad that they did not see the med kit because then I would have had to dig it out and go through all the contents for them to see.  That would have been a major hassle because we have a substantial med kit.  I do have copies of the scripts for every medicine in the med kit, but it would take awhile to itemize and match every one of them. 

The Coast Guard guys were polite and very professional in their demeanor.  Since the Netherlands Antilles is so close to both Venezuela and Colombia, I am sure they get lots of practice searching boats.  BTW, they did not look at one single safety related item on our boat.  If this had been the USCG, then I am certain that they would have wanted to check all the lifejackets, etc.  These guys were just looking for smuggled drugs or guns.  Obviously they would find neither on our boat.  We took a photo as they pulled away after completing their search of S/V BeBe.

We found the entrance to Spaanse Waters (usually referred to as Spanish Waters by the cruisers) and zigzagged through the long channel to find the Curacao Yacht Club.  I drove the boat up to the fuel dock and we filled up the tank as well as our ten jerry cans.  Great price as compared to what we have been paying (except for the exceedingly cheap diesel in Venezuela); less than half what we paid in the Eastern Caribbean.  Then Bill took over the helm and backed the boat into our assigned slip – stern port quarter against a 20 knot wind!  I absolutely hate backing up this boat, so that is totally Bill’s job.  The prop is on the back of the keel, which is a very long way from the rudder.  So you must really power down on reverse in order to back up this boat.  It handles nothing like our previous boat, which I could back up just fine because the prop was within a couple of feet of the rudder and the boat responded quickly.  I am reluctant to power down on reverse enough to control S/V BeBe.   I have visions of ramming the dock as full speed.  Better to let Bill do it.  The bow thruster makes driving it backwards into a marina slip really easy. 

We checked online and the American Airlines flight that Donna & Bruce are supposed to be on arrived a few minutes ago.  They are renting a car at the airport and driving to this marina.  We just found out that there is an electronic gate on the entrance here.  Guess we better mosey on out to that entrance and meet them so they can gain entrance.  Looking forward to seeing them again.