Panama!

We safely arrived in Panama exactly one year to the day after leaving
Jacksonville. Made it from the Rosario islands off of Cartagena in
about 27 hours. A little taste of the San Blas islands. We heard on
the radio this morning that the Kuna Counsel has declared that no Kuna
may work for the next 3 days because it is the end of the Mayan
calendar (and the end of the world). So, if that's the case, happy
end of the world from Panama. (Connie and Dave, we are thinking about
you lots and sending our love!)

Carriage Ride in Cartagena

We thought yesterday was our last day in Cartagena (but, as it turns out we are not leaving until tomorrow), and so we splurged with a carriage ride in the old town of Cartagena. It was a fitting adios, along with feeding Pigeons, lunch at our favorite spot and a wonderful iced latte from Juan Valdez.

We are heading next to the San Blas islands of Panama. We are likely to have no internet other than some email via our single side band radio. With the help of my sister, I might be able to post to the blog from Panama.

We Made It to Cartagena

[Re-post of blog from December 6th]

We are at anchor in Cartagena. We pulled in just as a fresh loaf of gluten free bread was coming out of the oven. Danny is now meeting with our clearance agent on shore and Tom and I are about break out the rum. We see that our friends on Dolphin of Leith are hear and we
are excited to see them again.

I will sign off now as we are a bit tired from the recent passages. We are super excited to be here. Imagine, sailing to Colombia! More soon.

Crew of Blue Kai

Hola de Colombia

[Re-posting a lost post from December 3rd. Ignore that whole thing below about the "wonders of my Kindle," although the problem was Blogger, not the Kindle.]

Through the wonders of my Kindle, I am posting from a remote cape off of the coast of Colombia, Cabo de la Vela. Cape of the Sail (I think). We are definitely not in Kansas (or the Eastern Caribbean, as it were) any more. The terrain here at the cape is dry and cool,
windswept desert, brown with a bit of green scrub spotting the hillside. The water is noticeably cooler as well. There is a big, rough hewn cross up on the hill. And no longer do we have a guidebook covering every inch of every island. There are dugout canoes on shore (which unfortunately we saw someone use to bring in a large sea turtle from a net this mornng).

It typically blows hard on the north coast of Colombia, in the 25-35 knot range. Some people who circle the world experience some of the strongest winds of the entire trip here. But right now there is some weather off of the Dominican Republic that is killing most of the wind in the Caribbean so we are seeing only about 10-12 knots right now. It makes it nice to spot marine life, like the small pod of dolphins around our boat yesterday on passage.

One of the boats we are traveling with caught a 52 inch wahoo yesterday before we arrived in Cabo de la Vela, so all three boats gathered last night for a delicious dinner of grilled wahoo, rice,
mango salsa, guacamole, and watermelon salad (a la Aunt Kate). With brownies for dessert. 8 adults and 6 kids, and a good time was had by all.

From here we will do an overnight sail to Santa Marta, where we will rest over night before our final jump to Cartagena. So that should put us in Cartagena on Thursday.

Morning in Cartagena

I have been trying to update the blog from my kindle this last week, but it hasn't worked for some reason. Will re-post what didn't make the blog, but in the meantime here is the view from the cockpit.

We spent nearly all of yesterday in the old city and it is truly a wonderful city. An amazing mix of very old and some very new and a vibrancy that runs throughout. I can see how, if we had the time, we could easily spend months here.

Heading to Colombia Tomorrow

We got confirmation from our insurance company that Colombia has been added to our policy and so we are clear to head west. We are leaving tomorrow morning and will be traveling with two other kid boats, Sueno and Flour Girl, both of whom were also in Grenada. We have decided to sail straight to Cartagena rather than stopping in Santa Marta. Hopefully that will prove to be a good decision. We have heard that Cartagena is a very dirty bay, but that is where the stuff we want to see is.

But for now, we are saying goodbye to western culture, which we got in spades here in Aruba.... Not that I am complaining, having had a chance to see Daniel Craig at the movie theatre last night after having a delicious caffeinated beverage.

Full Circle to Curaçao

We made it to Curaçao a couple of days ago. Curaçao is where we purchased Blue Kai (then named Karicoli), so there is a certain poetry to arriving here, even though Danny is the only one of us aboard who was here for the delivery. (But a big shout out to the crew who DID brave those very hot, windless delivery days across the Caribbean: Tom, Ivan, Jeff, Jim, and Marty.)

We have really, really enjoyed Curaçao. Easy, cheap buses to get around; lots of interesting architecture and history in Willemstad; A-MAZING selection of reasonably priced produce; and a really enjoyable European feel. On the point of the produce, I actually found myself in something of a state of shock when I saw that the store carried kiwis, grapes, melons, and artichokes. And everything, even the apples and oranges, were at reasonable prices!! We have been staying in Spanish Waters, so the water is a little murky for our tastes in swimming. so I guess the only downside so far is lack of close beach and swimming, but we are moving on soon so we are not too worked up about the swimming.

Tomorrow we leave at the crack of dawn for Aruba. We will stay there maybe one day to rest up for our passage to Columbia. As for Colombia, we are currently thinking that we will sail to Santa Marta and explore the country (including Cartegena) from there. But any way you cut it, Colombia looks like it will be an adventure. Bureaucratic and otherwise. Must. Practice. Spanish. Ahorita.

For a bunch of reasons, including the visit from our very good friends, Jim and Mary Anne, and due to bureaucratic complications and costs if you stay longer, we will likely move along to Panama no later than a week after arriving in Colombia. But we are excited. I, for one, have never been to South America before (other than the guerrilla anchoring in Los Aves Venezuela the other night, which doesn't seem to count since we never went to shore).

I am thinking we need to download Romancing the Stone before leaving Aruba, though. :)

For now, over and out for tonight from Blue Kai.