April 12 – May 19th

We arrived at Cayos Albuquerque in the early morning after leaving the Chagres River the previous afternoon.  The sail was almost uneventful, the only exception was a little bird that flew into the cockpit around evening and stayed with us until the next morning.  It sat on Betsy’s lap for a while but when she put it on the cockpit cushion it fell asleep and remained there until dawn.  I guess it was just too tired to get all the way to Cayos Albuquerque and saw an easier way to get there than flying.

When we left the Chagres River we had planned our departure so we would be arriving in midmorning.  But wouldn’t you know it, during the night we had good winds.  As we approached the Cays we picked up about a 1-2kt following current  so we really had to slow Equinox down by reducing sails to avoid an arrival too early.  The entrance to the Cayos was in an easterly direction and we didn’t want the sun directly in our eyes.   Although we had way points into the anchorage we still wanted to arrive late enough to see the many patch reefs as we entered the reef system for these two small islands.  The reef that surrounds these islands is about five miles across so it was slow going.  Betsy stood on the bow keeping an eye on the water and Hank motored slowly following her directions.   There was a local sailboat in the anchorage when we arrived and we dropped our hook near them.  They had just caught a large barracuda and they kindly brought us half of it.  What a nice way to come into an anchorage! 

The two small islands contain a navy base on one island and a fishing camp on the other.  They are not what you would call developed!  We were not here to visit the islands we were there to explore the reefs.  We went out snorkeling that first day after our nap and the water was oh so clear.  The colors were bright and the reef was so alive.  Check out the school of blue tangs. That first snorkeling trip Betsy brought up two large conchs, which were immediately put into a plastic bag and put into the freezer.  We had found that freezing was the fastest way to get them out of the shell if you want to keep the shell undamaged.  You just can’t let them freeze solid or then you have another problem.  I will digress and tell you our first experience with conch.  Hank learned how to cut a small hole at the third ring at the point of the shell.  You put the knife into the hole and cut the muscle from the shell.  Do you remember what happens when you used to put salt on a snail when you were a child? The snail would start to bubble and slime, well a conch is a snail too, and that first attempt at cleaning the conch, Hank had slime all over everything.  He was cleaning it in the galley sink and the slime was like industrial glue.  It was on his fingers, the sink, the knife, oh just everywhere; and it would not come off!  So now you understand our freezer method for it reduces the slime to a minimum.

The following day we pounded the meat paper thin and made conch fritters that we shared with another the crew of Effie.  Conch is so good to eat if you pound it enough and/or use the pressure cooker on it.  We love to get together for sundowners with other boats and it was great to share our conch efforts.  We remained at this anchorage for another day and then headed out for a short passage to San Andrés. 

San Andrés is another one of the Colombian islands that is about 100 miles off the coast of Nicaragua.  Cayos Albuquerque, San Andrés, and Providencia are three islands that are part of Colombia even though they are closer to Nicaragua.  I guess there is still a feeling in Nicaragua that they should be still be part of Nicaragua, but that is another issue.  The latter two islands have daily flights and so tourism is active and important.  The skyline of San Andrés contains many large hotels, so it was to this point of land that we headed. 

As we approached the channel leading to the bay, the Colombian Coast Guard came next to us in a large panga and asked permission to come aboard.  I am not sure what they would do to a boat that refused this request, but we thought it best to agree.  We put out the fenders to protect Equinox from scratches, and two people came aboard.  The woman stayed in the cockpit and asked the captain Hank questions, while another guard member went below with Betsy.  This was a drug inspection, so he proceeded to ask permission to open lockers, storage compartments etc.  Both coast guard members were very polite and soon they wished us well and departed our boat.  We continued to head into the anchorage and dropped the hook in front of a large hotel which we thought might have free wifi.  We learned from our friends on Sunbow that you could go into Club Nautico, pay a weekly fee of $25 and have use of their dinghy dock, swimming pool and other facilities.  We felt this was a real bargain since it was a very secure facility. We need to mention here the this Club Nautico is not associated with it's namesake in Cartagena, thank god!  

San Andrés is shaped like a sea horse with the main tourist area in the northeast corner, or the nose part of the seahorse.   The streets in the tourist area are a real jumble; a map doesn’t help for so many of the streets names are not visible. It really took us about a week to know where we were; of course we could always head for the ocean and then walk along the malecón to get back to Club Nautico.  We would walk every morning and sometimes we would end up in the middle of town, tantalized by the smell of fresh bread being baked.  Our favorite bakery opened at 8:30 with fresh cheese croissants and other treats.  Even their coffee was good, so we would sit and enjoy a small treat watching the people go by the bakery.  Several morning we observed the police stopping to get a bag of bakery goods, by somehow no money was exchanged.  I guess all police like doughnuts and it is just a perk of the job! 

Along with John & Sharon from S/V Sunbow we rented a golf cart for the day, $35, and drove all around the island.  In fact we really drove around it more than once, crisscrossing the island as we went.  We had guide books and several maps and we set out to see the main tourist attractions.  We visited the House Museum, showing the type of Caribbean architecture of long ago, Morgan’s cave, which had a $5/person charge for admission and the blow hole.  Most of the attractions were overrated and too expensive for what you were seeing.  But we had a good time and it was fun to see the Baptist Church that was built in 1844.  The town was alive with great restaurants, so we tried to visit as many as possible.  The town also had some interesting statues, sculptures and art work.  Several streets were closed to traffic and there were many bench sculptures along the way.

To check in and out of Colombia you must use and agent, so San Andrés was no exception to this rule.  Our agent was René who checked us in when we arrived.  He is a great help and makes the process very easy for he has everyone there for you.  There is no running all over town checking in with this agency and then that one.  He charged a flat $70 plus another $22 per person, so our bill was $114 which he preferred was paid in US currency.  When we went to check out he asked for a day’s notice and it was equally as casual as you can see from the picture.  Not everyone gets to enjoy a beer while in the check out process.

We left that afternoon and headed to another anchorage just a little bit south west of where we had just spent two weeks.  The thinking was that if we anchored at  in an area called The Aquarium we would be able to get an earlier start than we could have at the previous anchorage without having to worry about the many shallows in the area.    The Aquarium was a very rolly anchorage, but we would only be there for one night, leaving at first light.  We went ashore to visit the palapa bars and restaurants that are very busy on weekends.  A group of tourists were there snorkeling with a guide and he held a ray with which each person in the group to have their picture taken.  It was fun to watch the group with the ray!  We also walked through the water to the other island, I must say it would have been much more enjoyable and less painful if we had remembered to wear our reef walker boots.  This island reminded us much more of Jamaica than Columbia, with the colors, music and Rastafarian hair styles.     

Isla Providencia is 55 nm NW from San Andrés which is about a 9 to 10 hour trip if we are motor sailing.  Since the wind was going to be almost in the exact direction that we were traveling we choose to do a rum line instead of doing several tacks, for if we did tacks we would be heading away from our waypoint and then turning back toward it.  All this would be great if there was wind, but there was no more than 10 to 15 for most of the way.  We didn’t want to arrive in an unknown harbor in the dark so that was the reason for our straight line approach.  It was a good thing we did for just as we got closer to the island we experienced some stronger winds and squall activity.  Even before we reached the sea buoy to the harbor, we had a call on the VHF radio from Mr. Bush who is the check in agent.  We had been told by René  that he would contact his friend to let him know of our arrival.  So we were happy to tell Mr. Bush that we would be heading in and that we would anchor with the intent of meeting him at the dock the following morning at 10AM.   What a pleasure to meet him and have him extend his island’s welcome to us, it was so unusual.  He made of point of stressing the friendliness of the island and the safety of it too.  He hoped that we would stay for a long visit; we knew that the weather looked bad for sailing for the next 10 days, so we would be staying for awhile.  We walked to the immigration office for our passport check and then we went to his home office to do the paper work and meet the port captain. 

There was only two other boats when we anchored with Sunbow, soon there would be about twelve. We both anchored in the Santa Isabel harbor under the land mark known as Morgan’s crack, named after the pirate Henry Morgan.  Look at the picture and maybe you can figure out what it is supposed to be.   Quite a way to remember somebody eh?  I wonder if he was also a plumber? 

When other boats arrived, a get together was planned for Wednesday afternoon at the Bamboo Restaurant which was located on the small island of Santa Catalina.  Providencia is really two island connected by a foot bridge.  On Santa Catalina no motor vehicles were allowed due to the wooden footbridge called “lovers’ lane.” Bamboo Restaurant was owned by Orville and Amaryllis or Ril for short, who were great hosts.  One night Betsy and Hank were dining there and we questioned Ril about cooking lessons.  She said that she knew of none but she said that all cooks would share their knowledge.  She then proceeded to have us come into the kitchen and watch as she prepared our Caribbean conch and garlic shrimp dinners.  It was fun to watch her and the food tasted fantastic.  We knew that we had to get more conch and experiment with different methods of preparation.  We also knew that we would have to learn to make fresh coconut milk and find the spice achiote. 

The following day, after these “cooking lessons,” all the cruisers met in the town square to take the Chiva bus around the island.  You could see the island for $2 or you could get off on the south side for $1.  The chiva provides a great service delivering some items to locals and allowing passengers to stop at the LP gas farm to exchange tanks.  Can you imagine a bus in the states doing that?  We all got off the check out South West beach with the bus driver saying that he would be back in an hour and a half to pick us back up.  It was early in the morning so we walked along the beach checking out the beach restaurants and having a beer at one.  There were horses on the beach but the family that was interested in riding thought the price for the rental was too expensive so they decided against the ride.  We got back on the chiva bus and continued around the island.  The bus was a good way to get an overview of the island, but we also knew that we wanted to rent something to go around the island so that we could stop more often and see more of the local color.  We finished the bus ride back to Santa Isabel where we decided to all have lunch at the Zentrix restaurant.  If you ever go there, make sure you look at the menu, for the first time everyone ordered from the signs on the kitchen wall; later we say the menu and ordered the lobster wrap which is absolutely delicious and enough for two people.

Finally it was time for the cruiser get together at Bamboo, we had all decided that we would have the local delicacy of “Run Down” which is very much like a stew of conch, yam, yucca, dumpling, green plantains, and pig’s tail cooked in coconut milk over an open fire. It is interesting to say the least for it is all about the same color as you can see from the picture.  All cruisers tried to clean their plates, but there was just way too much food, and it was very rich having been cooked in the coconut milk.  We also had entertainment that night with a family group playing and singing.  A typical local instrument is the jaw bone which is a rhythm instrument that surprisingly sounds like the washboard.

We tried to walk mornings and one morning we left the dinghy at the dinghy dock by immigration and headed across the foot bridge to Santa Catalina.  We headed to Fort Warwick to see the canons and then back down the other side to the beach.  There was a trail to Morgan’s well but since the mosquitoes were out and we had no bug spray with us, we headed back to town.  Walking was a great way to get the lay of the town and we spotted the gas station where we were going to bring the jerry cans to load up with some diesel.  

Friday morning we went to the hardware store to rent a jeep for the day, the man who helped us wanted to know if we wanted the top down, windows off, etc.  He didn’t have us fill out any forms or even take our name, I guess he figured where could be go, he simply gave us the keys and said have a good time.  We decided that we should call this the eating and drinking tour of the island, for that is pretty much what we did.  Our first stop was visiting the home of local artist, Carmeni Correa.  She has a beautiful hillside two story house with an artist workshop that is open to the sea.  She works in leather and paper maché, making some very unusual works of art. Carmeni was such a wonderful, friendly person that you went away feeling like you have just made a new friend. 

Next we turned down the road that led to Manchaneel Bay to find Roland Roots Bar. The guide book said good food if you got there before everyone had had too much to drink.  When we met Roland we were the only ones there so we sat and talked to him while drinking a beer.  He explained his plans for his place and told us all the services that he could provide.  Since the wind had been blowing for so long, it was not fishing weather so he was doing improvement to his funky beach bar.  He was quite an entrepreneur.  We said that it was too early to eat but we had a beer and that we hoped to be back at least to say good bye.  Heading on, we then over to South West Bay to find Café Studio which is owned by a Canadian expat.  This was also recommended in our guide book for a great cup of coffee, well it was too soon after our beer to have coffee so we looked at the menu.  Hank and Betsy shared the caracol (conch), appetizer.  Wow, was this the best thing we had had in a long time, it was tender pieces on conch, cooked in butter and garlic and served on toast points.  How could you go wrong with anything cooked in butter with garlic? Betsy asked for the recipe but the owner was a little evasive on the secret spices.  We are going to try to replicate this as soon as possible.

Continuing on toward South West Beach we stopped where the Chiva bus had let us off, but this time we walked north up the beach to the restaurant that Mr. Bush had recommended.  This was called; Davino Niño and we were to try the mixed fish platter for two, only we decided to let it feed four. While we waited we looked out at the water enjoying the view, suddenly a thorough bred horse with a man in a jockey saddle came galloping along the beach.  We had heard that they hold horse races on this beach and he was exercising his horse here in preparation for the big June race.  We also watched the local people come in to the restaurant; they all seemed to be ordering this sea food platter so we were happy to know that this wasn’t some big expensive platter that is served to the gringo in town.  I am sure you have all been to a restaurant with a group and the waiter says, “let me start you off with some appetizer plates,” usually they are the most expensive thing on the menu.  Well the fish platter for two was $20 and you must click on this picture.  It was served on a large cafeteria type tray, cover in foil.  There were two whole snappers, 4 lobster tails, shrimp, fried plantains, salad of lettuce and tomatoes, conch and two piles of coconut rice.  It was a feast and wow were we glad that we split it between four people.  Sharon from Sunbow did a great job making sure that we finished all the delicious fish.  Now we were getting full and we hadn’t quite finished our trip around the island.

The last main stop was Fresh Water Bay where we were supposed to meet EL Frenchie and see the arts and crafts store.  We found the shop but it was closed for the siesta time, but a woman with a French accent hollered down from the second story window that we should go up to see the dam instead of just waiting for her to open the store.  We found the road and it was a good thing it was a four wheel jeep because the road looked like a river bed going up the mountain.  We did find the dam and it held a low amount of water behind it, they really needed water for the island! Back we went to the arts and craft store but the only thing we had was a paleta which is a natural fruit Popsicle.  They were good but nothing out of the ordinary and since this trip had been about trying to find great food and drink we were slightly disappointed.  We returned the jeep, paid our money and thanked the hardware store owner for the rental.

Our last adventure before leaving Isla Providencia was going to the Sunday baseball game.  We took the taxi to the stadium and realized that this was a big thing on the islands.  There were many motor scooters in front of the stadium.  We proceeded in, no admission charge, and found a seat on the concrete bleachers.  A game was already in progress and we learned it was the Santa Isabel team that was winning.  Next the Rocky Point team, which looked a little more professional since they all were in team uniforms played, won handedly.  We were also told that the finals would be the next day and it would be the Santa Isabel team against the Rocky Point team. As we watched we realized that they take their ball very seriously and that some of the players had actually played on farm teams in the states.  An added plus was the food that was served at the game.  Yes they had hot dogs, but they were more like a corn dog on a stick, we didn’t try these treats.  We tried the crab empañadas, and papas rellaños; both were fantastic and were snapped up as soon as they were cooked.  Beer and soft drinks were also sold. 

Our last day after checking out of Colombia was to make a quick trip in to town to pick up an ordered rotisserie chicken, buy a few groceries and eat lunch out to use up the last of our Colombian pesos since we would not need them in any other country.  Again with sadness we thought about leaving this delightful island getting ready for our next overnight or more passage.

We had a great sail northwest on a beam reach making 8.5 kts speed over the ground. In our first 12 hrs we sailed over 90 miles, this would have been fantastic if the winds kept up and we could have gotten close to one of the holy grails of cruising the 200nm in 24 hrs.  Alas it was not to be during the night we lost the wind and direction and had to motor sail to Cayos Vivorillo where we met S/V Sunbow.  The next day we left for Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras.  The wind was aft of beam so we got out the spinnaker.  What a thrill as we have only gotten to use this four other times in 4 years.  We flew the "kite" for about 5 hrs until the wind clocked around and made it impossible to keep it full so down with the kite and on went the "iron jenny".  We arrived at the town of Bonacca, Guanaja the next day at about 2pm anchor down.  More about Guanaja in the next chapter.