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‘ Colombia is, quite rightly,<br />
not on most people’s list of<br />
desirable cruising<br />
destinations, for obvious<br />
reasons. However, the old<br />
Spanish colonial city of<br />
Cartagena on Colombia’s<br />
northern Caribbean coast,<br />
is a demilitarised zone and<br />
a holiday destination for<br />
Colombians to take a<br />
relaxed break in the<br />
stunning surroundings of<br />
this historic port<br />
’<br />
48 www.oystermarine.com<br />
Christmas in<br />
For us on Alice Ambler, heading for the Panama Canal and the Pacific from Bonaire,<br />
Cartagena wasn’t exactly out of our way and had been highly recommended as worth<br />
a visit.<br />
The first requirement was a suitable weather window to head west. After the trade winds<br />
are fully established in November, the wind and seas build up tremendously around the<br />
north Colombian coast, in fact, Jimmy Cornell views it as one of the five worst ocean<br />
passages in the world with regular 30-plus knot winds and enormous seas.<br />
Luck was with us to get a window exactly when we wanted to go. We had a great, but<br />
fairly slow, three day trip with gentle wind and seas and plenty of fish to take our lures<br />
and some even made it on board!<br />
It is possible to day sail down the coast with a number of recommended, safe,<br />
sheltered anchorages, but with good weather on our side and having no buddy boat<br />
for safety, we just kept going. This was one of the nicest passages we’ve ever made.<br />
Cartagena has two entrances, Boca Grande, the small boat channel and Boca Chica,<br />
the larger. Strange logic it seems but historically, it was Boca Grande that was<br />
the main entrance! Now it is a daylight only entrance, so, entering at<br />
midnight, we followed the well buoyed large ship channel of Boca Chica<br />
right up into the main anchorage and dropped the hook in 10 metres<br />
of ‘gm’ as the chart described it. We assumed (rightly) that this meant<br />
glutinous mud and we didn’t move all night.<br />
Cartagena is a huge natural harbour which is why the Spanish used<br />
it as the main repository for all the gold they were busy relieving the<br />
indigenous Indians of. All the gold they collected from the whole of<br />
their South American domain was brought here, awaiting shipment<br />
to Europe. This was no secret, so Cartagena became a target for<br />
Just one of the fish Toby and Lauren managed to get on board
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