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.