viva colombia! we did our first passage and left panama.
but lets start from the beginning. last time I posted we were still enjoying island life in the san blas. we had to go back to panamarina to prepare the boat for the passage, do our paperworks to be able to leave panama and wait for a good weather window. this, with the words from jimmy cornell, stated in the 8th edition of world cruising routes “sailing from neighbouring panama to any destination on the caribbean coast of colombia is not easily accomplished at any time of the year on account of the contrary wind and strong current”, in the back of our minds.
on tuesday we set sail to get back to panamarina. it was supposed to be a favourable day to get back, but my god we were thrown around like in a washing mashine… after 11 exhausting hours of motor sailing, I thought this is it, I will never be a sailor after all. mo reassured me this was not representable and these thoughts were totally normal after such a day at sea.
we had a busy schedule of shopping, immigration, filling gas bottles, preparing the boat, cooking, recovering my thoughts… we decided saturday was going to be the day of our departure.
it was a hell of a 4 day sail, like a roller coaster ride. this is how it went down:
we realised we procrastinated the moment of departure, the detachment of the buoy is also the step into the unknown, the beginning of the adventure, which takes courage after all. the step to give yourself away into the hands and forces of nature until you attach again to land may it be dropping an anchor or a jetty in a marina at the next destination. a little nervous but excited we set sail on saturday midday.
dolphins joined us for a while. waves and wind were stronger than expected. star sky and full moon. storm cells started to form. mo got seasick. the wind was not stable and changed its direction every 15min, sail in, tack, out again, no wind at all, gusts. suddenly we made a pirouette and were facing the wrong direction, the storm was right in front of us. “mo do you think we need go around this storm cell, it looks really gloomy?” mo was about to say “naaa, it will be fine”. the brightest lightning struck and the loudest thunder rumbled. the course was changed within milliseconds – we looked at each other and laughed. I felt good, but my body was tired from the rocking. it rained – it was the opposite of cosy in our cockpit. we took turns for the shifts. finally the sun rose. a little bird visited us, he ate some ants, rested, came really close and left again. a huge double rainbow. 30min of peace and quiet, we turned the motor off for the first time.
the waves and swell got less, but were still much bigger than forecasted, we were motor sailing against the waves, there was spray but at least no rain. we slept, recovered, the wind right on the nose. a star sky you can only dream of. the night was quieter. a loud snap and one shackle connecting the sheet to the rail broke – luckily we had the boom break installed. in the morning we found our first dead on board, a flying fish, a little ceremony and we released him back into the water. we were sailing again without the motor. we finished listening to the never ending story – a loud horn. what the hell, a boat right in front of us. motor on, a tack, we were super lucky. we see land – we reached colombia. mo suggested to sneak in behind a reef. finally it was calm. we enjoyed a shower, I cleaned the boat from the madness from the past days, washed dishes, cooked, mo changed the country flag. we didn’t eat much in the past days, especially mo. we sailed past cartagena the waves, current and wind are still stronger than forecasted. we thought we had the toughest part of the journey behind us. nope, far away from that. the current got stronger and stronger. we got into a storm up to 30knots of wind, 3m swell, waves and current against us. we zick-zacked along the coast. we get very close, too close to shore, so close that we could have ordered two virgin mojitos to go. we realised the journey will take longer than expected. whisper was fighting through the madness out there yet gracefully and steady – my faith and trust in her increased from wave to wave – what a boat!! an alarm goes off but just shortly. I jump out of bed – yes, I managed to sleep in my bed for 2-3hours per night in my bed besides the smashing around, without getting sick. it’s in my genes that I can sleep in the seemingly the most uncomfortable positions and situations. what was that. we found out that it was the bildge alarm, due to the shacking it went off, we are glad it was a quick fix. the sun rose again, the weather calmed and baranquilla started to show up, the current was still strong and against us.
our goal was to pass rio magdalena at daylight, it looked like we were going to make it. we tacked out to sea to get as far away from the river mouth as we could. due to the heavy rain in november, it’s said that there is loads of natural debris, such as whole trees in the water, which can be dangerous, if you hit them. baranquilla stretched, a rather calm day passed, some cleaning up of the night again, an open air shower, the sunset and the river mouth was still not behind us. oh dear. we had no choice but pray that we don’t hit something. suddenly the current was over and we started to fly over the water – we turned the motor off and sailed into the night. another two pirouettes in the bay before we reached santa marta in the early morning on wednesday. super smooth and uncomplicated process to check-in and get our stamps in our passports.
we arrived safely in colombia after 92 hours and 425 nautical miles of sailing.
although it might not sound like a much nicer experience, than the sail coming back from the san blas islands – Im keen for much more and I might see potential for me to become a sailor after all.