Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine February 2017

ALL ASHORE…
GOING ’ROUND THE MOUNTAINS by Mike and Ineke Davies
FEBRUARY 2017 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 24
WE
have just come back to our boat in Santa Marta, Colombia,
after a week away exploring on land. Most visitors to
Colombia will travel to Cartagena (the historic Spanishcolonial
walled city, beautifully preserved), Medellín (the
city of eternal springtime), and the zona cafeteria (the coffee-growing triangle, which
is a blaze of flowers, fruit, coffee and mountains). But having done these, we decided
on a different approach.
It’s safe to leave your boat in Marina Santa Marta, taking normal precautions such
as stowing loose equipment. (There is a risk of petty theft, as there is everywhere.)
In the windy season, December through February, it is best to stow sun awnings and
to double up on dock lines, as the winds can reach gale force. The dockhands keep
an eye out, too, for chafing.
Santa Marta lies to the west of the Sierra Nevada, an isolated mountain range
separated from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. The Sierra Nevada
reaches a height of 5,775 metres (18,700 feet) and, at 42 kilometres from the coast,
is the world’s highest coastal range. It contains Colombia’s two highest permanently
snow-covered peaks: Pico Cristobal Colón and Pico Simón Bolívar. It is also
the birthplace of the Tayrona, a monumental indigenous population whose descendants
still live in the mountains, and many of whom want nothing to do with the
modern population.
We decided to circumnavigate the mountains anticlockwise by car. Some of
this would be well off the tourist trail. From a friend of ours we were fortunate
—Continued on next page
Top left: Palomino Beach. Inset: The Sierra Nevada, with rice fields in the foreground
Above: We took a rest at an inexpensive backpacker hostel in Palomino
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