Letter from Atlantia March 2009

One of the excellent facts about sailing into Cartagena is that you just give all your papers to an Agent at the Club Nautico Marina and he takes them to the various government departments who return them stamped and officially entered into their logs. Our Agent was David who spoke very passable English. Some people said he overcharged but we certainly could not tell since there are no published figures that we could find. That’s Columbia for you like any other place in South America. Very different from the regime in Britain. The poor tax payer seems to foot the bill for everything there, rather than the user. We thought that the cost of 120 US dollars was quite reasonable for our three month stay in Columbia.

Cartagena is a vibrant city with both old and new parts. It is set at the end of a 2 mile long lagoon with old fortifications at the two entrances. The old town, the buildings of which date from about the eighteenth century, is completely ringed by walls, which in some places still have canons poking out through the crenulations.

The streets inside the old town are narrow, with beautiful old houses to either side. The houses are mostly built around internal courtyards and one has to enter through massive doors to see the buildings properly.

Rumour has it that a tunnel leads from one of the old buildings under the water to the massive fortress of San Felipe. We were not able to go down the tunnel although we did go through tunnels inside the fortress. It was where they kept all the South American gold prior to shipping it to the King of Spain.

Outside the old town, which bans cars from the streets, the buildings are quite modern with many high rise apartment blocks. The area where Club Nautico is situated is called Manga. It has some very old lovely houses, interspersed with high rises and a very convenient supermarket, although they speak no English there at all

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There are a fair number of street hawkers selling coffee or fruit and vegetables from hand carts. The coffee was excellent and very cheap.

The Club Nautico benefits from the fact that the rise and fall of the tide is only about one foot. This means that the boats can moor med style (bow or stern to) to a jetty and not worry about climbing stone quay walls or sinking into the mud. Apparently this is not true of the Pacific where tides are 20 foot on the western side of the Panama Canal. The Club Nautico is run by a Scotsman, ‘John’, who was originally from the family of one of the jute barons of Dundee. Since that family business stopped making linoleum and other jute products in the eighties, what better to turn your hand to than running a marina in Columbia. He married a local lady and they have three beautiful children. He is very good at looking after all the American cruising fraternity who drift by there as well as the occasional Brit.

We were anchored next to Consort, a British yacht with Janet and Duncan on board. He was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. One of the ones that used to scare Will half to death whilst he was quietly fishing on the Tay! Duncan was forgiven however when it was learned that they had a farm in Newport, Pembrokeshire, where Will’s ancestors, on his mother’s side, were Master Mariners, indeed one was an artist as well! We became good friends and since Janet’s Spanish was so good they helped us find the cheapest white wine shop in Cartagena.

They also enabled us to go to the concert in the new Convention Centre, given by the Korean Festival Orchestra. They played Beethoven’s fifth, Delius’ ‘in a country garden’ and Mozart’s 29th Symphony, as well as John Williams’ Pirates of the Caribbean. There was no programme so regrettably the other pieces were not identified. South America generally is like that. All hustle and bustle and show. Sometimes an excellent product, but the explanation is usually missing. So stay a stranger!!

Overall however, and despite sticking out as obviously tourists, we can recommend Cartagena ( pronounced Cartaheyna) as a genuine and friendly place to go to. The people were helpful with our dreadful Spanish (nearly non existent) and tried to speak what little English they could. Believe it or not, the drivers of the donkeys and carts seemed to speak the best English, shouting out “hello my friends, where do you come from?” as they trotted past on their carts pulled by a small pony or donkey. The animals did not seem totally out of place on the well metalled roads near the walled city, being passed, by a hundred yellow taxis (no bigger than fiat puntos) and many huge juggernaut tractors pulling large containers on the dusty roads away from the port close to the marina. The horses looked reasonably well fed and the donkeys seemed usually to have some shade when they were being rested next to the side of the road. The feeling was a little like watching Steptoe and Son all over again! Although Wilfred Bramble had a straw hat and a large black moustache to go with his swarthy but withered body.

There is a new shopping mall in Cartagena called the Plaza Caribe. Cartagena should actually be called Cartagena des India’s, which is included in the title of Plaza Caribe. Cartagena of course is named after Cartagena in Spain, which in turn was founded by Hannibal’s father when he went to Spain from Carthage. Plaza Caribe has a huge ‘Home Store’ which is similar to the British B&Q, and a large well stocked (except for the alcohol) supermarket. There are myriad shops, amongst which is a John Lewis type ‘Pan Americana,’ where we bought yet another camera prior to our visit to Antarctica. This time a Panasonic with 10 megapixels and an 18x optical zoom. This is the one we use when we aren’t under water or in danger of being thrown about! The centre has only just been finished and makes a welcome addition to the rather archaic shops that seem to populate Cartagena. The local Bank of Columbia was very helpful in providing cash, since no one,(not even the marina) seems to accept debit or credit cards. Apart from the time of carnival, which was in full swing when we arrived in November, the general population seem reasonably honest and we had no trouble.

If coming to this region, avoid Venezuela where violent crime is on the increase, and visit Columbia where the President has nearly managed to control the drug and smuggling trade and also the natural inclination of the South Americans to pilfer. (Tis the same the world over unfortunately!) Spanish helps, but is not totally essential, although we would have probably had a slightly better time, than if we could only say “dos vinos blanco por favour.” A V being pronounced as a B!!

Atlantia was hauled out of the water in Cartagena onto a very dusty yard hidden amongst the mangrove swamps. We not only had her antifouled but also the topsides painted with two part epoxy. She really does look fantastic, virtually brand new. It is a pity we are just about to travel through the Panama Canal where no doubt much damage will occur, despite the ten extra rubber tyres we will be using as fenders (well wrapped up of course).

We left Cartagena rather sadly. It had been a great base whilst we travelled to Antarctica, and is a very vibrant and cultured city full of history. Only Sir Frances Drake and a seventeenth century French Count managed to sack it and take away the Spanish bullion destined for Europe. Admiral Vernon of the British Navy in the mid eighteenth century was beaten away by a one legged, one armed, one eyed Spanish nobleman, Don Blas de Lezo. There is a statue to him.

Admiral Vernon with his vast fleet attacked Portobello instead, This time successfully. Our first port of call away from Cartagena was the Rosario Islands. They belong to Columbia and are visited by day trip boats from various ports. They are only about 30 miles from Cartagena so it was a nice mornings sail. They are coral islands, with no tide, so the holiday homes are very close to the water. So close sometimes that they have been abandoned.

We sailed ‘Dipper’, our Walker Bay dinghy, over to an island that had a hotel and an aquarium . The aquarium was closed. We don’t know why it was closed since we were within the hours of opening stated on the ticket office door. It would open tomorrow they said. Very Caribbean! There were a number of fish models hanging up and a large glass tank to look at. That sufficed for us.

We sailed Dipper around the largest islands, leaving Atlantia safely at anchor. The waves were pretty high, crashing onto the reefs on the North side of the island, but our little boat with its geriatric rubber ring around it worked really well and we only had one wave on board as we broad reached between the reefs and into calmer water.

The aviary on the biggest island was most impressive, and with free entry a good place for yachtsmen to visit. It is suggested however that a small piece of jewellery, made by the caretakers wife, is purchased to help the local economy. We bought a beautiful silver filigree bracelet for Margaret.

From the Rosarios we sailed to Isla Bernard where we stayed the night, although we were boarded by the coastguard in the morning. They were very polite and spoke good English. They said they had been keeping an eye on us overnight to make sure we were safe. It was in fact very reassuring since we were the only yacht there. The way out was interesting since we had to go about three miles from the island before we could cross the reefs to the open sea. Even then we only had two metres of space between the keel and the sea bed.

Our overnight trip to the San Blas Islands was only eventful when a large ship, which had been stationary until we reached it , suddenly decided to start its engines and turn hard to starboard., just as we were passing 200 metres away on its starboard side! Will had to call the Captain on the radio and make him stop his vessel, otherwise there may well have been a collision. All was well in the end though, and we made landfall the following morning at Puerto Escoses and Fort St Andrew in Panama. This is a beautiful bay surrounded by jungle with only a few timber thatched huts to show any signs of civilisation. The howler monkeys and parakeets were much in evidence, making a considerable noise, although hidden from view.

Puerto Escoses of course means Port of the Scots. This was the site of the disastrous Scottish Darien expeditions of 1698-1702. The Scots decided to colonise the area to create a merchants way between the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Darien Company ended up being Scottish funded only, since the English King, William of Orange, was trying to make a treaty with the King of Spain at the time. The English therefore boycotted the Darien Rights Issue leaving £300,000 of funding entirely in Scottish hands .The pope of course had declared half of South America to be Spanish. He meant to give all of South America to the Spanish, but he miscalculated his longitudes and Brazil was claimed by the Portuguese. Quite why the Pope was empowered to give any of South America to anybody is perhaps another question. The poor Scots therefore, blockaded and attacked by the Spanish who thought the land was theirs, and further attacked by Malaria and Yellow Fever, gave up the colony and returned home. 2800 went out there and only 800 managed to get back to Scotland. We passed Roca Escoses on our way past fort St Andrew. It had a nice white top to it.

There is a nearby town of timber huts where Kuna Indians live, called Caledonia. It probably contains the only human evidence of the ‘Scottish Disaster’ .

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We didn’t land there but made our way through an channel inside an archipelagos of islands, sometimes only 400 metres wide, up to Usutupu, escaping the dug out canoes that tried to head us off to sell us fish or molas. A mola is a reverse appliqué, intricately embroidered, cloth panel, usually about 450 centimetres square (1’6”). We did buy some in the end but not while we were motor sailing.

We found some other yachts at Usutupu and were quite pleased to be able to speak to somebody else after the wilderness jungle of Puerto Escoses. We even found internet on the island in a local school which we were able to use. It seemed incongruous amongst all the bamboo walled thatched huts.

We were shown round the island by a gentleman called Toyo who owned a local store and showed us his wife’s molas which are traditionally attached to a blouse at back and front. We took him to lunch in return for his guiding and had the local soup with bits of chicken and yucca plant in it. It was quite tasty.

We sailed dipper up the local river, past the cemetery where the ancestors live, and saw some beautiful white ibis and small blue herons. We also saw a kingfisher.

The Kuna Indians who inhabit the San Blas Islands and the East coast of the Darrien Peninsular are descended from the Carib Indians who at one time inhabited the whole of the Caribbean. (Hence the name.) They are semi autonomous within Panama and run their own villages by a sort of commune. All land is communal and the men work in the morning at whatever is dictated by the commune and then in the afternoon they all congregate in the village hall as a commune to decide what each will do the following day. The women are supposed to stay at home and make molas. We bought one or two molas and a replica of a dug out canoe or yula at Isla Tigres. We haven’t tested it in the bath yet!

The outer San Blas Islands are supposed to be uninhabited except for some coconut pickers. The coconut in this part of the world counts as currency and can be swapped for almost anything. Will’s father always said “money doesn’t grow on trees” but it does in the San Blas Islands! They really are beautiful, especially in the outer islands where the palm trees come down to golden beaches and turquoise water.

We even had a dug out canoe with a whole family alongside the boat trying to sell molas and bracelets. Margaret was able to help the rash that the baby had behind her knees by giving them some dermatological cream to rub on it to cure her. After a suitable examination of course.

We had a splendid sail down to Panama with 20 to 30 knots of wind behind us. We stopped for one night behind Isla Linton, just North of Portobello. Linton obviously got around since there is both an East and West Linton in Scotland. It was a crowded anchorage and quite rolly. A huge squall made one of the fishing boats drag its anchor just prior to our leaving, but since we followed the squall down to Panama we seldom had more than 25 knots of wind, occasionally 35 knots and all behind us. The waves were at least 10-15 feet.

We were lucky enough to find a berth in Shelter Bay Marina at the entrance to the Panama Canal, since the Panama canal Yacht Club is now closed and has apparently been bulldozed. We are tied to an old rusting barge which they are threatening to paint, but since there is nowhere else to go beggars can’t be choosers.

. However the walks in the jungle round here are fantastic. We were attacked by a troop of howler monkeys on one of our walks who threw bits of branch and twigs at us. There are no facilities for yachtsmen except in the one marina here. Obviously a chance for someone to build another marina.

We are looking forward to our expert Scottish Canal navigators joining us from Scotland next week. Yes, Stephen and Susan are joining us for the hard work. We will report again when we get to the Pacific end of the canal. Hope you like the pics.

Love Atlantia.