The Sailing Adventures of Lea Scotia

Beautiful Cartagena

Upon arrival in Cartagena, we quickly threw the anchor down in the most crowded anchorage we’ve ever been in (made sure the boat wasn’t dragging) and met my parents who were patiently waiting on shore.  Of course we had to clear customs, which you can only do through an agent, but that didn’t take long.  Only a 10 minute taxi ride away from the boat, my parents were staying in Boca Grande, a neighborhood full of shops, restaurants and hotels.  And Boca Grande is where we spent the next 10 days luxuriating in two differnt air-conditioned hotels.  My parents, who had been waiting for us to arrive (we were four days late due to tranmission issue) were ready to have us here.

For one wonderful week we stayed in Hotel Caribe, one of the older (and nicer)  hotels in Cartagena, full of many amenities.  A fabulous breakfast buffet served next to the pool started each day.  Some days we’d come to breakfast in our suits allowing Kiera to play in the pool afterwards.  It also included putt-putt golf (a rickety all-cement course but fun nonetheless), a playground for Kiera, a rec room with pool table and ping-pong (my Dad’s still got it) and a plethora of exotic animals on the grounds.  We saw minature deer, were able to hold three-toed sloths, and saw the biggest iguana any of us had seen.  They also had monkeys and parrots in cages but that was just sad so we stayed away from that corner of the property.   It was a wonderful Christmas present from my folks. 

My parents departed early New Year’s Day leaving Derek behind to stay on the boat with us.  Originally we were going to do a little sailing while he was with us but unfortunately I came down with a nasty cold.   I wasn’t in any shape to help out on the boat and staying in the anchorage was a whole lot easier.  Instead Trevor and Derek took in more of old town Cartagena, enjoying it to its fullest. 

Old town, called Centro, is so beautiful.  Its streets are narrow so even mid-day the building cast big enough shadows that you can stay out of the direct sun no matter the time of day.   It’s full of commerce, wonderful restaurants and a ton of history.  We’re really enjoying this town.

The temperature here seems to be pretty constant year round with an average high of 89 degrees F and an average low of 77 F.  But the variables are the rain and the wind.  December and January are dry months with a bit more wind which help cool down the days.  The biggest factor, however, is that Cartagena de Indias has an average humidity of 90 percent.  That makes 90 degrees feel pretty darn hot and oppressive. 
 
Currently we are enjoying a little time at a private dock.  Our friends on Equinox, Hank and Betsy, are hauled out in the yard and were leaving their slip open for a week.  So we jumped on the chance to be in a marina with power (can you say a/c).  Additionally we don’t have to deal with the dinghy as we can just walk right off the boat and head into town.    Tying up at the dock was a challenge as it’s a med-moor and we had to back in between two pilings and avoid hitting the cement dock.  But once tied up we were in the clear – we thought.  The marina manager came down and said that we couldn’t be here.  We tried to explain (in our crappy Spanish) that we had approval through Equinox but they weren’t buying it.  They went as far as unplugging us from the dock and were getting ready to untie our lines.  With some quick dialing of the phone we managed to get to the bottom of it and were given the ok to stay.  We went from personas non grata to grata in a matter of moments.
 
This is really our first dock since El Salvador in March and our first wash down with fresh water since Mexico.  (We found out after washing everything EXTRA thoroughly in El Salvador that there was a really low water table and the water at the dock was kinda salty.  We could tell once the water dried on the boat and left behind salt crystals).    Granted, we had daily freshwater rinses during the rainy season and a few quick mop runs, but nothing thorough.  Since Monday we’ve had someone working on the boat every day.  Full boat detailing is $25 – $30/day per worker and today we have a nice man on the boat polishing all of our stainless for $20.  For a little over $100 we’ve having the boat fully detailed!  And boy did she need it.  It’s really hard to work on those kind of chores in the intense heat and so we’ve kinda let the detailing go slack. 
 
We plan to be here a couple more weeks before starting our journey north again toward Roatan and Belize.
kjm

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One Response to “Beautiful Cartagena”

  1. meg says:
    January 10th, 2010 at 11:40

    AWESOME!!! The boat got some love! I read your last line and I realized it’s just about 7 weeks until we see you!! Can’t wait! And you know we’ll find a place or two to dock because I need that AC!;-)

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