San Andres
We spent 10 days in San Andres. At Christmas eve we got the best Christmas present. In the evening our son Anton arrived in San Andres. He spent his Christmas holidays with us on the boat. Our buddy boats were also there for some time. We celebrated the 65th birthday of one of them, spent time drinking coffee, telling stories, exchanging experiences and just had a good time together.
Elliott and I got a new kombucha project to start. It’s been going fine so far. One of the days, Martin, Victor and Elliott had some food poisoning. Otherwise we were all right. We received our new gas stove and anchor chain, ordered to San Andres due to the tax free shipment rules to San Andres. One of our packages with lines got lost during shipping and had to be shipped to Cartagena by a sailor, who helped us ship it.
San Andres is as we expected. The many duty free shops offer a large selection of goods. But otherwise there is not much to see. The marina is expensive and without any facilities. This is the first time we have paid (not so little) for a marina without having access to shower and toilet facilities.
The sail to Cartagena
With Anton on board we continued towards Cartagena, Columbia. This time without buddy boats, but with an extra crew member. We did a little “vacation” while Anton was visiting, and just enjoyed having the whole family together again.
We had 3 days sail together from San Andres to Cartagena de Indias with a lot of motor sailing and headwinds. It was a bit cumbersome to navigate between the many different ocean currents along the way. One moment we had the current with us and were sailing 8-9 knots, next moment we were sailing against the current and doing only 2.5-3 knots. The last day there was a little too much “wind against current”, which produced steep waves with very low periods in between. Despite the challenges, we did the sail on time and managed to get ashore to celebrate New Year’s eve in the city.
New Years Eve
It was wonderful to have finally arrived in Cartagena. We anchored just outside the Old City wall with a view of the Old Towers. We went out for sushi in The Old Town and it seemed the whole city was setting up to party.
At our anchor spot, tour boats kept coming in the crowd and we felt somehow clamped and got worried if they were able to keep the distance. Apparently the anchorage was the perfect place to see fireworks over the City. We just got lucky in our choice of anchorage. Although tired from the sail, we stayed up to make sure no one smashed into our boat. At midnight we got to see the massive fireworks over the City, and it was just amazing to be there all of us.
Cartagena
Cartagena is a city that has it all; A charming old city center with a well-preserved city wall, skyscrapers, large shopping malls, and everything that comes with a major city. We have a view of a beautiful skyline from our spot in the marina. It is a 15-minute walk to the Bohemian neighborhood of Getsemani and the Old Town behind the walls with a vibrant atmosphere with art and music.
Getsemani
Getsemani is a neighborhood previously known for high crime rates, and used to be a place to avoid for tourists. Over the last 10 years it has been subject to city renewal with paint on the former brown/grey mass of buildings. Decorations with flags, umbrellas and all sorts of fun things were introduced as shade over the streets and the many food trucks and open bars on the streets to attract tourists. On many of the streets, you see local artists paint and exhibit colorful paintings of various motives.
The Old Town
The Old Town, protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a little different neighborhood with more well established tourism over a longer period of time with many many food trucks, street vendors, cafés and restaurants. The colorful buildings have the most beautiful old facades adorned with paintings, climbing plants and flowers. We visited the museum of inquisition, teaching the kids the horrible past of this city, a museum of history with jewelry and other remains of the former indigenous culture and a museum of modern art.
We had 2 great weeks together with Anton, before he had to return home to Denmark to attend to his studies.
Next
We have a lot of work to do on the boat before we can move on, and Columbia is a good place to have work done. For 2 weeks ago, we hired a project manager to keep track of all the different jobs, while we took a trip to Minca for a hike on Ciudad Perdida, The Lost City.
Read about our hike in the next post, Hiking to Ciudad Perdida, The Lost City.
