Bequia to Panama: 4th March 2016 to 1 April 2016

Bequia to Bonaire   4^th-7^th March 2016

Arriving in Bonaire

Just before the sun sets we leave Port Elisabeth, Bequia and set sail (motor sail!) for Bonaire and Harbour Village Marina.

The voyage is characterized by bright night sky full of stars, we were joined by dolphins at one point and had some excitement with our fishing….but just missed out!!

Josie Maria arrived in Bonaire at 0900 on the 7^th March, and we tied up in the Harbour Village Marina.

Note the size of the cruise ship. They are able to come in so close to the reef systems as the waters are very deep just outside the reefs.

Bonaire is a beautiful Island, 1000 steps snorkeling, flamingos, amazing salt ponds – salt production is a big industry here, as is tourism.  One of 2 cruise ships in the Port every other day.

Flamingos frequent large ponds that were once salt mines

We have never seen cacti used as a fence before this...

A significant portion of Bonaire's income comes from its salt mines

Bonaire's slaves who worked the salt mines used to live in these brick huts

Overlooking the salt flats of Bonaire

Bonaire to Curacao   12^th March 2016

We depart the marina in Bonaire at 0700 under power and sail – but there is very little wind at this time in the morning so we motor sail for the short journey. To Curacao.

Leaving Bonaire for Curacao

The waters can be very still early in the morning as we leave.

 

It is 34 nautical miles from Bonaire to Curacao, so we arrive in good time at 12.45pm…..  just in time for a quick lunch before we head - by taxi-  into town to attend to the necessary customs and immigration process.

We tie up at Santa Barbara marina, right next to the Santa Barbara resort pool and have access to the resort and its restaurants.  The location is amazing and we have a fantastic time in Curacao.

Arriving in Curacao

At one point we felt very alone in the Curacao's Santa Barbara Marina....

Except that on the weekends, the locals arrive in the marina and have a "pier" party !

Checking in at the custom's office, looking out at a huge 4 lane bridge.

Curacao has a huge pontoon bridge that swings across to let cruise ships in !

Curacao to Santa Marta, Colombia 18^th- 20^th March 2016

On 18^th March at 1600hours we depart Curacao for Santa Marta, Colombia

We see some brown spotted dolphins.

We sailed past Aruba and then down to the Colombian coast – staying fairly close to it - 5-10M out - to minimize the likelihood of heavy winds.  The voyage was characterized by a number of flying fish jumping on board.

These flying fish would leap onto Josie Maria at night trying to evade predators

The last survey for depth for the charts in this area was completed in the 1930’s, so we were careful to stay in over 30m of water!!

As we approach Santa Marta and the mountainous coastline of Colombia we experience welcome gusts of greater than 30knots.  The weather also notably changed with a softer, cooler and damper air, with the smell of the mountains – quite beautiful.

We refuel as soon as we arrive which is around 2pm and then move Josie Maria to our marina berth in Santa Marta Marina by 1520. 

We loved Colombia….

During our stay John and Vicki decided to fly to Bogata, the capital of Colombia. Charlie went surfing….and Gordon looked after Josie Maria.

Arriving in Santa Marta, Colombia

The seas and wind were quite challenging, with swells of 3m as we come into port

We safely arrive onto the fuel dock. Fueling up straight away minimises water condensation that occurs in the fuel tanks if they are empty for too long, which can cause engine troubles. Something we did not know about... Until we experienced it.

Note the shopping mall fast food outlet name...Vicki should have read it before she ordered her meal. We had no idea what was inside the meal as we could not read Spanish. Oh guess what...it has banana in it....doh!. She hates bananas ! 

The beach in Santa Marta, Colombia

Santa Marta

We took a few days off and flew from Santa Marta to Bogata, as we wanted to see the Capital of Colombia so we could compare this to Santa Marta. We arrived on the easter weekend so plenty of tourists. We wondered how safe Bogata might be....

The city of Bogata was very clean, and world-class. However we noticed a lot of police and private security everywhere. We always felt very safe, a lot more than we did in Trinidad.

As we arrive in Bogata, we notice police in small groups and wonder why ? We then realised that they were posted everywhere. You could not walk 200m and not spot a police officer or private guard. 

Bogata is a nice, clean and modern city

Most corporate buildings had an armed guard with a dog.

Major roads all had bus lanes and riding a bike in the city was very popular

Grafitti on houses was a form of art

On Good Friday they held Catholic mass on the streets. Kinda cool.

Monserrate mountain looks pretty cool and they have a funicular that takes you to the top !

We took a look at Monserrate mountain and decided we needed to go up the funicular, but had no idea how popular and crowded this spot would be. What's so cool at the top of this mountain that so many people would wait for hours in the sun to see ? We had to investigate. We took one look at the long line, but our curiosity was too great and we decided to join in...

The queue took nearly 2 hours to go through and we were well looked after by possible lama rides, ice cream vendors, iced water vendors and even hat vendors as the sun was scorching down and we all had to patiently wait out turn to ride to the top. The crowd's mood was very jovial.

Bogata from Monserrate mountain

Lunch in a pretty cool restaurant with the best views

This has to be the best romantic dining spot in Bogata

Its was only when we had to purchase the finicular ticket that we figured out that this was the easter weekend so that explained the crowds. Well sort of, until we got to the top.... We then realised that as it was the easter weekend, many devoted people were doing a catholic pilgrimage to the top so as to pray at the various stations of the cross. Now that explained the crowds !

La Candelaria, the old part of Bogata

Bogata Museo del Oro contained over 55,000 gold pieces of pre-Colombian times. It was amazing to see such artistry. 

The famous "Muisca golden raft" that represents the ceremony of the new ruler of Bacata, which is the basis for the El Dorado myth     

I have never seen a three section bus. Bogota had special lanes for them, and terminals that reminded us of train stations.

John loves customised bicycles

To lama or not to lama....

We loved this restaurant but can't remember its name. The architecture was amazing.

Santa Marta to Panama  30^th March -1^st April 2016

We departed Santa Marta, Colombia for Panama’s Shelter Bay Marina at 0720 on the 30^th March 2016

On this journey, just outside Cartegena we passed a ship laying cables (3M in length) which had a lead boat and a following one, and several AIS markers on our Raymarine and Maxsea navigation programs.  The lead boat was radioing all passing ships, including us, and insisting on altered courses to stay out of the working ships way. It was fascinating and the first time any of us had seen anything like it.

To explain what we saw on Raymarine, the lead boat is Atlas but the "Ramform Atlas" boat is actually laying the 3 miles of cable, with "Thor Modi" is the tail end boat. "Atlas" and "Thor modi" are in essence like two cars in front of a truck, warning road traffic ahead and behind. A bit weird on an large open ocean, but it makes sense.

Otherwise the trip was fairly uneventful except for ongoing issues with our autopilot trying to do hard resets – and keeping us on our toes at all times!! Winds between 3-20knots mainly NNE to E. All in all a very pleasant trip!

We arrived at Shelter Bay Marina, (near Colon) Panama at 0930 on the 1^st April 2016 to begin the paperwork necessary to go through the Canal!