Old town Cartagena

It is Friday morning and we will pick up our exit Zarpa and leave Columbia tomorrow. We have really enjoyed Cartagena. Last evening we we helped celebrate (Delicado) Jim and Pams 43rd wedding anniversary. We went out to the old town and had lobster which was perfectly cooked ($15) and then enjoyed some great music as Cartagena is having an international music week. We heard some great Jazz and traditional music. Derek would have loved all the fiddle playing both traditional and other.

This last week we have met many new cruiser some of whom will be heading for the South Pacific and I'm sure we will cross paths of many down the road. We even managed seeing the movie Avatar having not been in a theater for over ten years in a mall that could be anywhere in Canada. Nice and air conditioned!! This will be our last chance to do a big shop before Panama city so will finish this off this afternoon before heading back into town for some more music and good food.

Marian at beach in Aruba

Fire crackers at noon on Dec 31

Iguanas at the beach Aruba

Flamingos Aruba

Fort San Felipe Cartagena

Old city Cartagena

We are still in Cartagena and ejoying it very much. Hot during the day but cooler in the evening so sleeping is not a problem. Finally got a site to work so have included some pictures.

We are now in Cartagena Columbia after a very comfortable sail with winds behind us all the way at 25 to 30 knots. It took two and a half days and we arrived here around 10 am. The city is very big with lots of high rise buildings all along the outer strip of land much like Miami but smaller. We had to enter through a small opening in an underwater wall which was made hundreds of years ago. It was either that or go for another two hours to sail into the main shipping channel. We anchored and washed the boat down, it is amazing how much salt you can get on it, had a sleep then went in with about a hundred other cruisers here for some beers and pizza. Lots of other yachties here so we are getting lots of information on future places that we will go to.





The old part of the city is just beautiful with all it small streets and beautiful verandas all covered with flowers of every colour. It has all the ticky tacky stuff for the tourists but also some very nice restaurants and cafes. Lots of museums in town which we have not been to yet. So far we have done a lot of walking just enjoying being in a big city. I will try to update some pictures as soon as we have an Internet site that does not take for ever to down load them.

Happy New Year,



Well we made it back to Aruba with no problems other than we picked up a cold when we were in Vancouver. Not a big surprise as the weather difference and being with all our friends and family for just six days really plays with ones health.



All is well on the boat and we have managed to do some swimming and sunning as the marina we are at is owned by the Rennasiance hotel and we access to all of their facilities. The beach thing is interesting as one gets into a launch which takes you over to their private island with two beaches, one for family and one for adults. There are pink flamingoes wandering around on the beach and are very tame. They will come up and try to drink out of your glass or steal some food.



On New Years eve there were fire crackers going off all the time with the biggest one a string of fire crackers that was a kilometer long and had 5 million crackers in it. This they laid out on the main street and lit it up at noon to scare all the old years deamons away. It took about 20 minutes from start to end and was it loud!! In the evening we bbq'd steak and had a great dinner especially with all the fire works going off, which was ever since it was dark. At midnight the whole town exploded. We have never seen such fire works and the noise was tremendous. We opened the Champagne and drank a toast to all our friends around the world and then just sat back and enjoyed the evenings revelery.



We did the polar bear swim ala Aruba standards so not so brave. Spent a quiet couple of days at the beach and just wandering around with a good dinner out last night. Today we have untied and gone up to customs and immigration to clear out and are now anchored at Palm beach watching the sunset. We will leave around ten tonight for a two and a half day sail to Cartegena.