when we woke up on sunday morning it was dead calm, no fall winds from the sierra nevada, nothing. yes, we made the right decision. today is the day. we are leaving colombia to cross the caribbean sea to jamaica. we contacted the port control for permission to leave – all cleared and off we went. we set all our sails. suddenly the coast guards rocked up screaming angrily over waves, wind and their motor what we were doing? leaving to jamaica. why havent you contacted the port control? we did. do it again. we did. and they told us that the coast guards will inspect our vessel. have a nice journey. well, thank you.
uffff. we took the sails down again. motored back to the bay and with a rather dangerous maneuver two of the gentleman completely in black managed to get on board. they searched the boat, took some pictures got us to sign a document and satisfied tried to get off whisper again. another maneuver which almost cost us our solar panel and another one which looked like they would scratch the entire side and another successful one. gracias, buen viaje y feliz navidad. well, thank you.
we set the sail again and off we went. the first day or two is needed for the body to adapt to the new conditions at sea… not ideal if the first 24h are the rockiest of them all. we were sailing with the wind and waves from the east hitting us on starboard (90 degrees angle to the boat). it was madness, we were hurled. it was super loud and difficult to find rest. everything gets difficult under these conditions, EVERYTHING! nevertheless, we still tried to for example enjoy our daily showers on the cockpit floor. I dont mean the ones from the waves, which we had on a regular basis also. everything got salty and sticky. the majority of our journey we were lying and studying the clouds as this was the most comfortable position to bear the rocking.
we had to fight not to be pushed too far west to miss jamaica. plan b was cayman islands in case we could not make it. mo felt terrible the first couple of days and even I had a short moment of feeling unwell. luckily the second day was much calmer than we expected and we could sort of regain some energy. our appetite was close to 0, we forced ourselves to eat some fruit and pretzels. the 3rd day was harsh again but we were sailing a real good course – at least it looked like we could make it to jamaica. my mental strength weakened. what the hell am I doing here? this is insane. why would I force myself through this? my body felt so weak and I was exhausted. the 4th day was ok again we were longing to arrive. we were getting closer and knew for sure we would make it to jamaica – land in sight. yeeees, we made it. we motored around the lighthouse and for the last time the current was pushing against us. shortly before our arrival we were accompanied by a pot of dolphins, including a baby, which were playing with our boat (sorry for the weak photograph).
we arrived in port antonio, jamaica, after 4 days 4.5 hours and 498 nautical miles of sailing.
our friends from sy wind of change were waiting for us. so nice to arrive and to receive help securing the boat. and the cherry on top, we got this arrival footage. we are super grateful for their support we received during this passage – seriously too generous!! thank you very very much tina and werner – much appreciated!!
customs, pcr-test, immigration, loads of paper work – under quarantine until we have a negative test result. we didnt mind we were so tired and especially sooo hungry! we ate and started to put away the first bits and pieces from our journey. our boat looked outside and inside like a mess. it took two days to get everything back into order.
cleared – wooohoooo here we come jamaica. we immediatelly wanted to leave the gorgeous marina (private pool, promenade, beach and park) to soak up the new vibes of our destination. ya, mann. so cliché but it is true – everything is so cruisy here and the air seems to contain at least 20% of weed. haha. I asked a guy in the street what he was eating, as he seemed to enjoy it a lot, and where he had it from. we went and searched for the restaurant with the much needed help from more locals as we would have never found the entrance of it by ourselves:
it was delicious mo had a beautiful beef stew and I enjoyed some rice with beans. to be expected there is not much vegan food around here.
the vegetation in the city park is amazing. look at this tree covered by a wild monstera growing on it.
we are delighted with our first impression about jamaica. happy tunes, happy people. we think we are going to have a fabulous time here.
we celebrated our first free evening in jamaica on joe’s boat (sy darkhorseofengland) in great company of sy aï – thank you for having us and the lovely evening.
we were congratulated by various sailors for our good navigation and clean track through this apparently harsher passage than an atlantic crossing (well done mo and thank you for keeping me save!!). people tell us from now on it only gets better. I really do hope so, as sailing like we experienced so far is more torture than fun. haha. I admit I did imagine it to be a bit more relaxing than this. the next leg will have to proof it.
but first we will enjoy jamaica. much love x
Was waving at you from above on my flight to Toronto – really well done!
I knew you wouldn’t let me down…😎