last leg

through the windward passage, cuba, bahamas and cay sal....

finally the winds clamed a bit and esteban and peter departed for the last leg of the trip. they left port antonio on christmas day and arrived in Miami on new year’s eve. (so much for spending the christmas holidays together as a family…. but we will make up for it next year for sure!) peter cooked lunch on board for christmas while I went to bed early with my mom and the baby after having just arrived home from the hospital a couple of days before. we were anxiously waiting for them to arrive. this leg was easier than the previous one, except for very rough 48 hours of a strong northerly that met them near cay sal. It was rough sailing with 35 knots of wind against and in the gulfstream and with cay sal so close. unfortunately there was no where safe to weather the storm so they had to sail right through it. the boat and crew took a beating. funny how in this last sail, on the last couple of days of the trip, the weather changed and left them with a reminder of how strong it could get. esteban told me it was one of the hardest sails ever… and so close to home. he said he was so tired and wet but happy to know they were going to arrive soon. finally on december 31 at midnight they entered government cut in miami. just in time to see the new year’s eve fireworks. as for myself, between the baby feedings and changing diapers I received the year in bed sleeping at 11 PM. there is something with us and the new year’s. we always seem to miss them. wrong hour in thailand, no food and long nap in carricou, or apart and dead tired in florida…. not the average new year’s celebration for sure.

back in jamaica

after the rough five day sail from cartagena peter and esteban stopped again in the beautiful errol flynn marina in port antonio. here esteban saw morgan for the first time through skype. esteban wanted to depart immediately to be with us but the weather had other plans. so he had to wait in the marina five days for the north winds to clam a bit to be able to cross the windward passage between haiti and cuba. meanwhile they prepared the boat and themselves for the last leg. as usual, getting all the food and boat ready for the trip and also doing some sightseeing in between. it rained a lot this time in Jamaica and the color of the water changed from beautiful blue to brown in seconds from the mud from the mountains. it really must rain a lot in this place because everything is so green. last time we were here we were lucky i guess, I remember having a radiant sun almost every day.

morgan arrives

morgan was born on december 17 at night while esteban was at sea. the birth was rough, just like esteban's passage; but at the end he arrived healthy and beautiful.  I was beaten after a rough delivery but happy to meet our morgan for the first time!!!

returning home

After the end of october I was not able to fly anymore because of the baby and my eight months of pregnancy. during the month of november I stayed home in florida and esteban in cartagena getting the boat ready to sail back home in december.

Peter flew from london to sail the boat with esteban from cartagena to florida. there were two possible routes planned. the first from cartagena to san andres, then the north of honduras towards yucatan in mexico; a stop in isla mujeres and then a final sail through the gulfstream from mexico to key west. the second was identical to the leg we had done several years before when we departed.: due north from cartagena to jamaica and then from there through the windward passage to bahamas and finally bordering cuba all the way to miami. peter and esteban finally decided on the second route. it was shorter and had less days and miles of not so favorable wind direction. they left club nautico on december 15 and had to come back that same night. the wind from the north was stronger than predicted and they could not make any progress out of cartagena. so they went back enjoyed a last unexpected club colombia (beer) and sailed back out the next morning. the sail was rough as expected. to us, this was unbelievable. the single most difficult leg of our entire circumnavigation through all the oceans in the world was the leg from cartagena to jamaica. it was tough when we did it southbound back in 2009 and also tough now in this northbound direction. we had rough single storms in other places but they never lasted more than a day. the problem with this leg is that it really had no storms or really nasty weather, it is simply unpleasant with big waves and a lot of wind from the wrong direction for five days straight. that is why we hope not to have to sail this leg a third time.



mompox

during one of my weekend trips we decided to go to mompox. this is a city in an island made by the magdalena river. it is beautiful and forgotten, mostly because to get there is so difficult. it is in the middle of nowhere far from everywhere. getting there was challenging and made us feel like traveling back in time. we rented a car in cartagena and drove south east for several hours through beautiful roads. we went through small towns near the main road all with loud music playing from huge speakers from the small houses. I bet the speakers are bigger than their sofas or any other piece of furniture inside the house. and they are pointing towards the road! Its like hey are aimed to entertain the village itself and not the people inside the house. (this is typical from the coastal living culture in colombia).

we enjoyed the trip as always, just as much as the destination. we arrived in magangue, a city with lots of motorcycles and a lot of traffic. this was the place where we were to get the ferry to cross the river to mompox. after driving around the city we went to look for a port, as one normally would when trying to find the place where a ferry usually docks. we drove up and down the river banks and kept asking where the ferry docked and people would signal south… and after several minutes driving in that direction we would ask again and people would point north as is we had passed it already. so we drove up and down and were getting a bit frustrated to see we were missing it… but there was nothing there.. we just saw a little cliff and the river itself. to our surprise that was it. no port or sign or anything. the ferry just comes and somehow docks against the cliff and the cars drive down a little pebble path and get in and out. very simple and totally not sophisticated.

we got in, were on the ferry for 40 minutes and arrived in the other side. there we drove another couple of hours until we finally reached mompox.

What a beautiful place. quiet in the evenings (although loud and with a lot of motorcycle traffic during the day) with beautiful churches and houses with internal yards. We stayed in a very charming bed and breakfast called Bioma. the owners were very good hosts and we felt very comfortable in this little boutique hotel. we enjoyed the town so much that when the weekend was over we were sad to leave. even though the trip was long we were happy we made it. not many people go to this town because the difficult access, but having done it, we think it is well worth the effort!



back in colombia

after a short but great vacation in san blas, we sailed back to cartagena. I went back to florida and worked during the week and flew to cartagena every other weekend to be with esteban in the boat. sometimes we would make trips to bogota or other cities in colombia or simply stay in cartagena. our boat was in the club nautico marina in manga. even though the marina has been in a never ending construction phase with no facilities and a rather disorganized and dirty site, we enjoyed having the boat in the dock with the AC on all the time,- to alleviate the crazy hot temperatures of the colombian coast. in the meantime my belly was growing and we anxiously waited for our boy to be born in december. we also picked his name after a fairly short list of favorites. Morgan is what we chose. it means man of the sea. we love the meaning!

more travels

to panama and back...

we sailed again to san blas in panama. some 240 miles west of cartagena to one of the best and most beautiful places we saw in our voyage.

we stayed in san blas several weeks with family. it was awesome, except for the weather which brought many bad storms… we had some nasty squall every other day. but still it was as beautiful as we remembered it from our first visit back in 2009 before we crossed the canal. we ate a lot of lobster, although substantially more expensive than a few years ago. the fishing was not so abundant this time; in fact the kunas were not selling fish anymore. we met other boaters but the place now seems to be packed with sailors that bring backpackers from colombia rather than families cruising around. definitely a different atmosphere from what we remembered. maybe this is common when you visit the same places a second time around. or maybe the place has really changed. the fact is we did not feel so welcomed anymore by the locals. they expected money but not in exchange for much. I guess they are and feel entitled to charge for people cruising in their paradise…   

 

after panama, we sailed back to colombia and are still here in cartagena enjoying land life.