Venezuela

Such was the response of most of our family and friends when we set sail from Curacao for Cartagena. We found out that while much of Columbia is wild and lawless, rife with drug dealers and kidnappers, Cartagena is an oasis. Rumor has it that the drug dealers have declared it a cease fire zone so they have a safe city in which to keep their mistresses. Whatever the reason we found it to be a stunningly beautiful classical Spanish colonial city left over from the centuries when Spain ruled the new world. We explored the city by both day and night and felt far safer than we would have in many major U.S. cities.

The narrow cobblestone streets and classic buildings were a delight. Inside each doorway waited another visual feast for the eyes. In the U. S. we have large yards and gardens which surround our houses while the Spanish built their houses in a large rectangle and put the lawn and garden inside the hollow interior of the rectangle. From the street side one sees beautiful colonial houses with wrought iron window seats and large heavy wooden doors but everything else is hidden. Yet through each door lies a magnificent courtyard and a garden with blooming bougainvillea, orchids, fountains and a myriad of tropical plants.

The passage from Curacao to Cartagena is 400 miles and for some circumnavigators it turns out to be the roughest passage of their entire trip around the world. The sailing directions and pilot charts for this area suggest going far offshore for a smoother ride in the often big seas, yet some of our friends had recently sailed very close to shore so they could duck into a harbor if bad weather came up. After some discussion I decided to take Ventana far out to sea in the deep water. We departed in loose company with 3 other boats all close friends we had sailed with before. We agreed to check in on the radio twice a day to keep everyone’s position and have a contact in case of emergency.

Though we were the last of the 4 boats to leave our first 24 hours were spectacular sailing with the boat going smoothly downwind with one sail to port and one to starboard, wing and wing as it’s called. Our first days run noon to noon was 160 miles which is very respectable. We had passed one of the other boats unseen during the night and pulled closer to the first two. All the others were staying closer to shore for a shorter route but as we headed farther away we had another reason to be convinced our deep water strategy was a good one. That night we were treated to an unbelievable light show. We starred spellbound as lightening bolts pounded the land as often as 3 times per minute for hours. Lightening can be deadly on a boat so we were grateful to be far away.

The next afternoon and evening were a bit squally with light and variable winds so we alternately sailed and motored. By the third day the wind had gone lighter and was off our quarter so we pulled out our seldom used spinnaker and continued to slide downwind on a fast and smooth ride. We soon passed another boat as their inshore route encountered a contrary ocean current. Later the lead boat reported that the inshore route was becoming very hazardous due to huge logs in the water that had floated down the Magdelana river. They saw them in daylight but advised the boats behind against traversing the area at night when the logs could not be seen. For us, far offshore it was no problem and we sailed on under the sliver of new moon. Our last day was uneventful as we sailed under full genoa and main most of the day. We finally dropped anchor just as the sun set over the walls of the old colonial city of Cartagena.

Bonaire has always been known as a prime scuba diving destination and Rob has wanted to visit there since he first learned to dive in 1973. We arrived there after a perfect downwind sail from the Aves islands of Venezuela and from the beginning it was wonderful. Bonaire is a Dutch island with very strong ties to Holland. The main town, Kralendijk is small enough to walk around in an hour or two, yet it seemed to have everything we needed. For sailors who like to dive it was truly the perfect spot. The island provided free moorings just 150’ from the shore to secure our sailboats, and the permanent moorings mean we do not need to drop anchors which can damage the coral. The entire island sits on a coral shelf so under the bow of our boat the water was 15’ deep while under the stern the coral wall dropped away to 130’. The diving directly off the boat was beautiful.

Our days soon fell into a familiar pattern with mornings spent on boat maintenance and afternoons spent at one of the 40 dive sites within range of our outboard motor powered dinghy. For a change of pace we occasionally took a large group on Ventana or one of the other sailboats and traveled to the farther ends of the island to sample the diving there. We would carry enough tanks for everyone to do one dive in the morning and one in the afternoon with an onboard BBQ in between. Evenings were spent at the local movie theater or surfing at the Internet cafe that sported over a dozen computers. For a change of pace we often went diving at night to see the corals, octopus, lobster and other creatures that are about in the dark hours. In all we spent 50 days in Bonaire and Rob recorded 45 dives.

Bonaire was the start of nearly a year of wonderful scuba diving. Some of the top spots we hit were the San Blas Islands of Panama; Belize; Guanaja, Roatan and Utila in Honduras and Mexico. It was in Honduras where we dove the sparsely inhabited Cayos Cochinos and also found a seamount in the middle of the ocean. Seamounts occur miles from land where the ocean floor rises from thousands of feet to within 60’ of the surface. The odd formation like an underwater mountain draws thousands of deep water ocean fish. Next was Belize where we dove on the atolls and the second longest barrier reef in the world. The offshore atolls in Belize are like those in the South Pacific- a ring of coral miles in diameter surrounds a shallow lagoon. Inside the lagoon the waters are 10-60’ deep and crystal blue. The surrounding reef keeps out all the big ocean swells making ideal anchorages for sailboats.