TravellingStrom

Monday – Cartegena, Colombia

I was woken by Jim at midnight and myself and Vincent proceeded to keep an eye out for passing ships that may run over us. I was very tired by now but it was sort of fun but scary with all the passing storm clouds and we saw a lot of sheet lightning, but no thunder, so there was no reason to wake the skipper.

Our watch passed quite fast with only one set of lights on the horizon. After we woke Hayden and Val at 2am I was ready for a shower which I enjoyed, but then trying to sleep in my bunk, which was on the windward side, was nearly impossible. With the hatches closed it got very hot quickly and after about an hour I got up and joined 2 others on the big party bed, the one that covers the whole saloon floor. At least this was where I could be positioned with my head up hill and I was soon asleep. It did seem to be getting windy though and Bruce got up to bring in the foresail.

I managed to get myself about 4 hours sleep, not a lot, before I woke up and of course could not get back to sleep because some people on board have no respect for others and make too much noise, banging and crashing stuff around and loud voices. If you look at the map again, you will see a couple of black circles, these are my guesstimate of each 12 hour leg of the trip.

The rest of the day was a repeat of yesterday, with me trying my hardest to stay away from the sun, I was red raw and it hurt. I only had a few beers today, well a couple more anyway 🙂 Once again here are a few photos from Vincent, probably not even from today, but this is basically what goes on when at sea, someone steers the rest lie around and read or be sick, whatever 🙂

We had a minor mishap during the windy moments. We were on a broad reach, with the main out on one side and the jib up front and the motor of course as we needed the speed to get the eta. The bottom of the mainsail at the rear where it joins to the boom, I think it is called a clew. Anyway, it is attached to a roller type block which is attached to the boom, which allows for adjustment etc, well with the flogging of the sail the block spat the dummy and gave way and was banging and flapping in the breeze! This caused a few moments of drama as Bruce and myself tried to hold the boom still while he lashed a few ropes around it. Nothing major and no great loss of time nor speed.

We eventually arrived at the port city of Cartegena around 5.30pm and were anchored about 6.30. We unloaded just what we needed for the evening, and it was once again Michael who copped a wet bag during the crossing, he was not a happy chappie.

We walked around for a while looking for the supermarket and we eventually found it and managed to get some Colombian cash out of the machine, so we could get a hotel or whatever.

Now, the German chap Manfred turned up and he was given out passports to be stamped and we were then to meet him tomorrow morning at 11am, so we could get a temporary import permit for the bikes, this would allow us to ride them around getting insurance and customs inspections etc.

After that was taken care of we grabbed a cab to a street called Media Luna, near the old walled city. Here we traipsed around once again looking for accommodation, in my case specifically with aircon(it was steaming), internet and bike parking. Myself and Val managed to find a place but no bike parking, but there was a pay park behind the hotel. For tonight it would do and we booked in and then got directions to a restaurant for some food, we were starving, Val more than me as he had spent 2 days not eating and just lying around being sick, he was a shadow of his former self 😉

We found the place and it was nice food, although a bit dear, but never mind, we had full stomachs and now was time for a shower and sleep! We had also heard that tonight and tomorrow the city would be without water, so it was best to grab a shower now. How a city can turn off it’s water supply I have no idea, but apparently true, I will let you know tomorrow!

I spent some time after a basic shower getting caught up on emails as I had been out of contact for 6 days. There seems to be a bit of withdrawal symptoms happening, well thanks for following me and I will try and keep it interesting. Finding a new camera is a priority, but getting the bikes off the boat and legally into the country is more important. The other people on board are aware of my plight and I hope to get some photos in time to post, if not it will text only until I can find one that suits.

Day 0 miles and 0 km
Trip – 43,486 miles and 69,984 km

Salud
TravellingStrom

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