Colorful Cartagena
The exchanging seascapes and landscapes
After spending nearly four months in San Blas, a remote region of the Caribbean, without shoes and barely any clothes, we were bracing for the impact of landing. We lived under an expansive sky, witnessing the galaxy of stars, living freely on the water with the fresh breezes, the endless variations of clouds and light, magical sunsets and the surrounding reef with all of its colorful fish to entertain us. It was quite jarring to consider exchanging all of that natural beauty for the concrete, noise, cars and pollution of a big city. But we soon discovered how the vibrancy of Cartagena’s colorful culture of people, music, art, and history made the turbulent transition back to civilization so worthwhile.
Once we arrived, we were excited to dive right into the energy of the city by going dancing! We found a club not too far from the marina which was on the 51st floor of a hotel in the Bocagrande district. It was a beautiful night for seeing the city lights and the DJ was playing a mixture of Latin and Afro-beat. The dance floor was packed with locals and some visitors like us. We wanted to experience this new culture on the dance floor where all the people were happy to greet us. Music has a way of welcoming and uniting people, doesn’t it?
The next day the ladies had to go shopping since it had been months since we bought anything new besides molas and consumables. I’m wearing a new top that actually had colors matching the colors of my mola bag from San Blas. An example of two very different cultures commingling beautifully together. In Cartagena people dress up all the time and after being beach bums for so long, we couldn’t wait to change into more sophisticated city attire!
While the ladies were off galavanting, Peter was back on Salacia managing our many boat projects. He too soon discovered that our new mainsail which was delivered to us in San Blas before we left was the wrong size! We weren’t able to get it fixed in Cartagena so we would have to wait until we got to the North Sails loft in Grenada to do the work. We had a new stack-pack made in Cartagena, to store the sail on the boom, and we were hoping to use the new mainsail as we continued east. Once again though, we needed to trim our sails to the wind, since we couldn’t do anything about it, and we were happy to have North Sails fix their mistake properly once we got it to them in Grenada.
The old, original part of Cartagena is now largely a tourist area, attracting folks from all over the world. Called the walled city, since it sits inside the original defensive walls dating nearly all the way back to the city’s founding in 1533, this part of Cartagena is rich in history and architecture, with great restaurants and a thriving night life.
Since the boats were about a twenty minute walk from the walled city, Kyle found a place there that we could all share, and we were excited to enjoy the extra space, a pool, unlimited showers, and air conditioning to escape the heat and humidity.
The rental included a housekeeper who cleaned and prepared breakfast for us, and a chef who cooked elaborate dinners a few nights a week. It was a pretty sweet deal that was very affordable compared to US prices.
Kyle and Leah did a lot of research for where to go and they heard about Ana’s Dinner Experience being a really fun time. Ana’s was full of lively entertainment, elegance and flare! It was so much fun and the food was really good too! This was one of our favorite times out in Cartagena and there are a lot of amazing places!
After experiencing so much music and dance at Ana’s we decided to go out to a dance club after where the DJ played house music with some latin beats. We were having a good time minding our own business until we couldn’t ignore the two women sprawled on a couch next to the dance floor, looking pretty out of it. It was not that late, so we were puzzled. They looked like they were either drugged or just sleeping off a dose of something they took on their own. Ingrid and I decided to go up to each of the women to check to see if they were ok in case their drinks were spiked. As soon as we approached them a man appeared who took Ingrid by the arm and told her to step away.
He seemed aggressive and Drew, Ingrid’s husband, immediately stepped up and ordered this man to keep his hands off of his wife. Then Peter got between Drew and the man to try to cool the situation. Drew and Ingrid walked away from the man and Peter went to the tell the bartender what was going on. The club immediately sprang into action, with security moving to address the situation, but the man and his friends quickly whisked the two women outside and into a car before club security could stop them.
We were all upset by the experience, and the only real explanation is that these women were being either trafficked or prostituted, and had been brought there to sleep off a dose of some kind of opiate before whisked away by their captors. Sex trafficking is a huge problem, and we wish we had immediately contacted the club staff rather than directly talking to the women. The club staff seemed very responsive and it was their place and culture to navigate.
The day after we took a stroll inside the San Diego district which was bright and clean, a far cry from the ick of the encounter the night before. It was another sunny day.
Another night we all went to Cafe Havana which played Latin music with salsa dancing. It was a lot of fun and the band was superb. We tried some of the moves but without a proper lesson it was a little awkward. Peter ended up dancing with one of the instructors who was leading him and he shared what he learned with me. All of us had a lot of fun there and went back a second time!
As the work on our boat was coming to a close a decent weather window opened up for us to be able to depart Cartagena. We wanted to sail from Cartagena through Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire to Grenada and the eastern Caribbean islands, but this is the most difficult passage east in the Caribbean, since it’s against the trade winds and the dominant current. The Guyana current runs up the coast of Brazil and along the northern coast of South America towards Cartagena, before turning north and transitioning into the Gulf Stream.
Jubel (Kyle and Leah) and Via (Mike and Taylor) had planned a five day passage to Puerto Rico, which is an easier sail northeast across the Caribbean, with a better angle to the wind, and we decided to change our plans to cross with them. On the appointed day, they left a little before we did, and then it was our turn.
A few friends were helping us with our lines to leave the slip, when I noticed a strange sound in the engine. Peter opened up the engine compartment to take a look, and it was completely full of thick, white smoke. We quickly turned the engine off and Peter started to diagnose the problem. It turned out the starter didn’t disengage from the engine, causing the engine to drive to the starter, which produced a strong current back into the batteries which melted the battery disconnect switch! There was a small piece of insulation in contact with the extremely hot starter, which caused all the smoke.
Peter quickly replaced the starter, and installed a new disconnect switch that Kyle gave us as he was leaving the dock so we could catch up. The switch wasn’t an exact match, and there were a few disturbing electrical gremlins remaining, which later turned out to be due to the differences in the new switch. After troubleshooting for hours trying to get it to work, we finally had to accept that we couldn’t leave on this passage! It was very disappointing, to say the least, as we were mentally set on going.
We were sad to not have a chance to say goodbye to Taylor and Mike. They were heading to the US. Fortunately we were more likely to see Kyle and Leah down the path in the not too distant future. There are lots of transitions and goodbyes when sailing long distances as we have, which is hard to do. We were all sailing together since Mexico.
One thing sailing has taught us is how to adapt and adjust to constantly changing situations. It was harder with these relationships because we sailed far with them and had so many wonderful experiences together.
A major bright spot for us opened up as we got the chance to spend time getting to know Kenzy and Karyne who were on the same dock as us. They are a sweet couple we met in San Blas who are very adventurous and bought a catamaran in Panama after meeting Bev and Rolf in Los Angeles and hearing about their dream. They had very little sailing experience and learned as they sailed from Panama to Cartagena which is not an easy passage in a catamaran since it’s mostly upwind. We really enjoyed our time with them and became close friends quickly.
At this point in the season we would need to continue waiting for a window to Aruba as the windows to Puerto Rico were fading. We saw the potential of a short window to Santa Marta which was an overnight sail northeast of Cartagena on the way to Aruba. After waiting until the last minute, Peter and I decided not to go due to our interpretation of the weather forecast. The fair conditions seemed to be falling apart. We heard that it ended up being a rough passage for our friends. They endured it and once they got to Santa Marta, they ended up having a great time, but it wouldn’t have been worth the discomfort and any potential boat damage to us.
As our friends were leaving, Tom and Peter on Bohemia were just arriving from San Blas. They are a delightful couple from the UK and the Czech Republic who left San Francisco to go cruising five years prior. They were heading in the same direction as us and would be waiting for a more favorable weather window as well. A silver lining showed itself once again.
Cartagena was a city full of bright colors, vibrant music, beautiful art and delicious food. It was very different than our experience in the San Blas archipelago but it was exactly what we needed after living in such a remote setting for so long. We were met with a very positive, energetic and vibrant culture of city life. The Colombian people are super friendly and it felt safe walking around Cartagena day or night as much as we did. I’m sure there are parts of the city that aren’t safe and that’s true for every city we’ve visited so far in the US or abroad. We would go back in a heartbeat!
We did finally get out of Cartagena on a passage to Aruba and it turned out to be a decent weather window. We sailed with our friends Tom and Peter on Bohemia and coincidently, met up with our larger group of friends leaving Santa Marta. So everything worked out with us being a fleet of boats sailing a long distance on a challenging passage together.
We have a very interesting story to tell of the challenges we encountered on our passage to Aruba so keep an eye out for our next post!
Adios Amigos!!