Pirates of the Caribbean

One of the things we'd both been looking forward to for the whole trip was sailing from Colombia to Panama. It would have been easier and quicker to fly, but where's the fun in that? Neither of us had ever done anything even remotely like it before so we had no idea what to expect, but therein lies the fun. We'd read a lot about how important it is to find the right boat, and more importantly the right captain, as things can potentially go disastrously wrong. For us though, the other people on the boat were what could make or break the trip, but unfortunately we had no control over this. We had the name of one boat recommended by Paul, an Aussie we met in Ecuador, who'd made the trip a couple of months earlier. However, as luck would have it, things turned out much better for us.

Gronn and his mates had found a boat and there were a couple of spaces left, so they were happy to have us join them for the ride. We all met up again in Cartagena, and a couple of days before we were due to leave we met Loic,  one of the French captains, and talked to him about the boat and all the details. A few of the guys also went and checked out the boat - a 15m Atoll 6 called the Velero Amande, with 6 double cabins and 4 bathrooms - and gave it the all clear, so we were all set. We just had to buy a few supplies in the form of about 4 cases of beer, 4 litres of rum, 2 litres of aguardiente, 1.5 litres of vodka (all of this was just for the 2 of us of course) and a few snacks, then we were good to go.

The two Irish brothers in the group, Martin and Shane, arrived in Cartagena the day before we sailed so Loic wasn't able to get our passports stamped at customs before we left. He also hadn't been able to get the harbourmaster's permission for his boat to leave, so we were going to have to try and sneak out at night and get our passports stamped the next day at another place. We arrived at the port in small groups about 20mins apart, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the officials, and all made it safely onboard under the cover of night. We had a celebratory drink then stealthily set off to leave the harbour. Most sailing trips last about 5 days, but our captains, Loic and Frank, said they were relaxed about how long it took us and we could do whatever we wanted. Off to a great start then. The optimism soon started to wane though and nausea quickly set in, with Steph being the first to succumb. It became fairly obvious that not all of us had our sea legs. Not even close. That first night was pretty rough for a few of us, and Kurt and I and Steph and Alex chose to sleep in the sheltered sitting area as it had more fresh air than the cabins below deck. Loic and Frank were awesome, emptying our buckets and dishing out tissues and water all night long. We must have been a sorry sight. 

The crew

Chess and cards are a serious business

The next week was spent sailing a bit each day or night, anchoring at beautiful spots to swim in the crystal clear waters and snorkel over some amazing reefs, even a shipwreck off one of the San Blas islands. Loic and Frank also outdid themselves with the cooking, producing some awesome food for us, sometimes while sailing over pretty rough waters. We even had some fresh barracuda ceviche and beautifully cooked fillets, caught as we were sailing along one afternoon. And of course we were all hanging out for fresh lobster, which we bought off some of the locals from their canoe stocked with fish, lobster and the biggest crab I've ever seen. Steph and I still felt sick throughout most of the week, but I got to know that the minute we started sailing my safe place was lying down in the cabin. I think out of 9 of us, 4 made it the whole way without spewing. Not bad.

In total, we sailed about 550kms across the Caribbean Sea, and after an entire week we finally made it to Panama. Now we just had to get used to being back on land...

Time Out in Taganga and Tayrona

After a brief stay in Santa Marta which is about 4 hours north of Cartagena, I shared a taxi with Kat and Cam to Taganga, which is a small fishing village about 15 minutes away over the hill. Charlie and Renee had recommended a place to stay called Casa de Felipe, so I got dropped off there. It was a great hostel with plenty of shady outdoor areas and hammocks, so this became my home away from home for a couple of weeks. Unless you do your diving course there's not really anything to do in Taganga, so I spent my days catching up on sleep, swimming at the fairly average beach and chilling in a hammock. I went around to another beach called Playa Grande, but honestly it wasn't worth it at all - it was a tiny little beach packed with people and beach chairs and the water had all sorts of debris in it. I lasted for a couple of hours but was more than ready to go by the time the boat came back.

Lazy days in hammocks at Casa de Felipe

Playa Grande - not impressed

View of Taganga coming over the hill from Santa Marta

About an hour and a half away on a local bus is Tayrona National Park and it's a hot spot for tourists. But first, I went about 15mins further on to another beach called Costeño, which is a popular surf camp and often fills up. It was about a 30min walk from the road so when I arrived I was happy to see they had my name on the board for my reserved hammock. There were about 7 or 8 hammocks all strung up under a straw roof, and mine was the end one with a nice view of the beach about 20 metres away.  However, it didn't turn out to be quite the prime location I initially thought when it started raining that night. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first night on Playa Blanca, but luckily I was able to move into the middle the next night for some shelter. I only spent 2 days here just lying on the beach, but for half of the second day it pissed down. I took this as my cue to head back to Tayrona the next day, and randomly I met Helen, another kiwi girl who was doing the same thing so we decided to go together.

Costeño Beach

Tayrona National Park was home to a local tribe back in the day and it covers a pretty big area (150 square km of land and 30 square km of  the Caribbean Sea), but tourists tend to just visit a small section for hiking/camping. It costs about $20 to get into the Park, but you can stay as long as you like. From the entry it's about a 5km walk along a sometimes rough and muddy road, or you can take a van for about $1. We took the van. Then it's about a 3 hour hike that takes you up and down through the jungle then out onto the beach. Helen and I both wanted to stay at Cabo San Juan de la Guía which is the most popular place and for a pretty good reason. There's plenty of space for camping and heaps of hammocks crammed in under a shelter, but the prime spot is one of 13 or so hammocks in a rotunda perched up high on a rocky outcrop with an amazing view out over the sea and back over the two small curving bays on either side. We arrived at about 2 or 3pm and managed to get the last two hammocks up there, so quickly claimed our spot then it was straight into the beautifully refreshing water. Much needed relief after the hours of sweaty hiking. Unless you're keen enough to take a little gas stove and cooking gear, there's one restaurant that everyone eats at. There's enough variety to keep most people happy and some of the meals looked huge. By about 8:30pm I was knackered and ready for bed, and surprisingly by about 9pm everyone else was in their hammocks too. We were both only staying one night, so after swimming and lazing around the next morning we decided to hike back out to make sure we got a bus back to town.

The hammock rotunda

View back down over the bay from the rotunda

After about 6 weeks Kurt finally caught up to me in Taganga, so we spent a few more days there (still at Casa de Felipe). I'd had the best meal of the entire trip at a restaurant that consistently gets rave reviews online, so of course I had to take Kurt back there. For about $15 you get a 3 course meal (you can choose each course from a selection) which is so beautifully presented and is the most amazingly delicious food. If you ever find yourself in this out of the way spot, the restaurant is called Babaganoush and is well worth the splurge ($15 is expensive in this part of the world). Just don't go on Mondays as they're closed.

Kurt also wanted to go to Tayrona so I was happy to go back again. It was perfect weather but it had obviously pissed down the day/night before, as one section of the walk was about ankle deep in water. Luckily it wasn't in the muddy jungle section though or I'm sure we would've been on our asses. Unfortunately when we arrived at Cabo San Juan all of the prime hammocks were taken, so we were down in the main camp area. It's a lot more sheltered though, which was probably a good thing as it rained again one night. On the first afternoon we saw a familiar face for the 3rd time - the permanently bare-footed Gronn, an Aussie we'd first met in Bogotá and then run into a few days earlier in Taganga. He was back travelling with his group of mates, so we spent the evening playing cards and talking shit with them. They were all going to sail from Cartagena to Panama too, so we figured we'd cross paths again and who knows, maybe even be on the same boat.

My 90 days in Colombia were close to being up, so we had to get back to Cartagena with enough time to find a boat that left before the end of the month (November). I also had to find a doctor, as I'd had a nasty cough for a few weeks and had lost my voice (turned out to be laryngitis). I'm not sure if it was a blessing or a curse for Kurt that I couldn't talk for 4 or 5 days...