Santa Marta

The passage between Aruba and Colombia is frequently described as one of the world’s roughest. As you approach Santa Marta, the winds coming off the Sierra Nevada mountains can combine with thousands of miles of uninterrupted Caribbean sea to create a very windy and very rough section of water. Out of the 300 mile passage it’s the last 10 that are supposed to be the worst! Jimmy Cornell, who is apparently a world cruising guru recommends making this passage in November-December or April-May.

Santa Marta

Approaching Santa Marta

Being January, we spent a long time waiting in Curacao for the high winds 300 miles away to abate. We waited patiently with our friends from Noomi who were crossing north-west to Haiti for about two weeks and just when it seemed the winds would never stop, they did! Our patience paid off: almost all of the boats that left before we did suffered some kind of damage along the way…:(  

Passage to Colombia

Approach to Cabo de la Vela

The first leg of the journey took us to Aruba where we anchored off of the beach with the fancy hotels that make Aruba famous. There we met up with a boat called Aqua Vida, from Florida, whom we had never sailed with but had been stalking since the Bahamas. Ken, Danielle, and Kaylee (and her pet hermit crab Peanut) were also headed to Colombia so after a couple of quick repairs we would leave in the morning.

Cabo de la Vela

Kiting Paradise

Aqua Vida at Cabo de la Vela

Leg 2 was a fairly easy overnight to Cabo de la Vela, Colombia. This northern part of Colombia is essentially a desert on the Caribbean, inhabited by the native Guajiro people and catering mainly to kitesurfers. We could see why - as we rounded the cape the calm winds cranked up to 28 knots in the protected bay. We were the only two cruising boats in the bay and had a great afternoon exploring the small beach town. This area is well known for weaving colourful shoulder bags and hammocks as well as providing a place for tourists to sleep in hammocks on the beach for $2! We were somewhat restricted here for a couple of reasons. Although we tried to obtain Colombian Pesos in Curacao, the banks there would only trade our Antillean Guilders for US Dollars, which are used only in Bonaire. Also there is nowhere to clear in to Colombia in Cabo de la Vela so technically we weren’t allowed to set foot on shore, sssshhhhhhh!

Overnight to Santa Marta

The next morning we had an early morning visit from a fisherman and his two boys in a dugout canoe. They were hoping we had some snacks they could have for their day on the water. Unfortunately all we had was some cookies and sugary lemonade - not a very healthy snack but the boys eyes lit up when they saw the bottle of pop!

Santa Marta Playa

Approaching Santa Marta

We set out with Aqua Vida on Leg 3 around 8am, hoping for a similar arrival time in Santa Marta the next day. It was a pleasant downwind sail along the Colombian coast throughout the day. As the sun went down, the winds and swells did start to pick up, but nothing like we had been seeing on in the forecast for the previous two weeks. Thankfully once we shortened sail, the autopilot behaved and we could take turns getting some sleep. Other than some lightening well off in the distance, the night was fairly uneventful. When the sun came up we could just make out the outline of the mountains, reaching a height of almost 19,000 ft.

We passed the beautiful Tayrona National Park and rounded the point into Santa Marta. Although we usually don’t spend much time in marinas, with the winds still forecast to pulse every night, we decided to pull in to the marina in Santa Marta. We were met by our friends Jayne, Paul, Lilly, and Sky on Delphinus whom we had met in Grenada and shared Christmas in Bonaire!

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Around Santa Marta

Don't Touch!

Jugo!

Santa Marta Main Square

Santa Marta is the ideal city to welcome tourists to Colombia for the first time. The weather is hot but the winds keep you cool. The people are very friendly and learning to understand their rapid-fire coastal Spanish puts you in a good position to understand the slower speakers further inland. The city introduces you to all the fruit you know, but never knew could taste so good, and just as many types of fruit you never knew existed! And it does so both in raw and juice form. For just 1000 Colombian Pesos, or about 45 cents Canadian, you can have an ice-cold cup of fresh lime-ade. And, get this, the custom is to drink about half the cup as a “taste” and hand it back to the vendor who will top you up. Almost as addictive as street-side mango and watermelon slices, mandarin oranges, empanadas, arepas, and just about any kind of sweet you can possibly imagine. Off the top of my head, here’s a list of our favourite Colombian fruit:

1. Granadilla - waxy orange outer shell that you break open to reveal sweet crunchy seeds
2. Lulo - orange and green, looks like a tomato; too tart to eat on its own but makes incredible juice
3. Maracuya - mix these passion fruit seeds with yoghurt and your breakfasts will never be the same
4. Curuba - looks like a small banana, but if you slice it lengthwise the tart seeds will just pop into your mouth
5. Mora - looks like a blackberry but packs a much bigger punch
6. Tomato de Arbol - literally “tree tomato” these fruits do look a lot like tomato and taste like a sweet tomato; we never got into the juice but they taste great on their own
7. And the usuals: banana, pineapple, oranges, papaya, all fresh off the tree.

Curuba

Granadilla

Granadilla Seeds

We spent several days exploring this lovely colonial city, wandering around checking out the Spanish-style architecture, visiting both the touristy and non-tourist areas, the market, having delicious meals with our friends at the marina, and just enjoying being in Colombia. And of course we were resting up for our five-day hike into the Colombian jungle in search of… The Lost City.

*** Note: Colombia hasn’t exactly been having an easy go of it in the past half-century. But we are lucky enough to be here at one of the most peaceful times in the country’s recent history. Drug-related violence (fuelled by the west’s appetite for those drugs) has quieted down considerably and the government has signed a peace agreement with the largest group of rebels. It feels like Colombians all over the country are awakening after a bad storm and are rejuvenated at the prospect of a bright future. As the billboards advertise: Un nuevo pais!