Off to Colombia!   12/06/2022
Tomorrow morning, Monday the 13th, we sail for Colombia. Although my ultimate destination is Cartagena, we will enter the country at Santa Marta, a hundred miles further up the coast. This has the advantage of being closer to Aruba, only 300 nautical miles instead of 400, which hopefully I can do in just over 48 hours, a 2-day rather than 3-day trip. There’s a practical reason too, the fact that the Marina Santa Marta will act as agent for me in dealing with the Colombian authorities, rather than having to use an independent agent. Entry procedures are complicated and bureaucratic and cannot be done by yourself, even if you speak fluent Spanish. Also, the area around Santa Marta is apparently very attractive, including a “lost city” along the lines of Peru’s Machu Picchu, but much less known internationally. 

Aruba has been a relaxing break, swimming a couple of times every day and having numerous conversations with Americans, both in the marina and those staying in the hotel. A wonderful feature of the hotel is its private island. This is about a mile away and a free launch for hotel guests departs every 15 minutes. (Very smart on their part, because they get a captive market of a few hundred people a day for the restaurant and bar they operate on the island!). But the island is brilliant – more than half of it is wild, natural mangrove forest through which a wildlife trail winds. Plus they have large tame iguanas, who are so used to having people around that they will walk right up to you. There are also flamingoes that are equally unconcerned about people. It must be said that flamingoes are not native to Aruba, so this is a very touristic stunt, but nevertheless it is quite amazing to see flamingoes at such close quarters. The fact that these creatures have no fear of humans at least confirms that they are not mistreated.

Apart from some lovely beaches and beautiful clear seawater, Aruba does not really have much else to recommend it. But it’s easy to see why it attracts a lot of tourists – and many of them repeat visitors. Everything is clean and well-ordered, the people are friendly, food is good and beach life is superb. So they’re doing something right, good luck to them.

It took a few days to get him here, but yesterday morning a mechanic came to the boat to check the engine over. (I had been concerned about black smoke emanating from it). He couldn’t find anything wrong and his conclusion was that some water had got into the engine due to rough waves and saturated the air filter, causing a lack of oxygen to the engine and therefore incomplete combustion of diesel. Indeed, running the engine now it is not smoking. But I’m glad that he came, it was good for peace of mind – the last thing I need is the engine seizing up. I couldn’t find any problem myself, but I’m no expert, whereas he was reassuringly in his 60’s and said that he thought the engine was in pretty good shape. Which is what I wanted. 

It should be a fairly brisk sail to Colombia, because it’s very windy in these parts – most of the time 20 to 22 mph winds. And they come from the east, which is ideal given I’m headed west. Ocean currents and waves will also be favourable. It will be interesting to be back in a Spanish-speaking place, and it will be the largest country I’ve yet been in.