Paradise, wind, monkeys and wounds...

Santa Marta Columbia thru the San Blas Islands to the start of the Panama Canal:

At the awards dinner, the night before the leg 2 start, AURORA took 3^rd prize in our class.  We were very surprised as the downwind sailing game is a new game for us and we are still getting use to dialing the downwind rig in. 

We got the new batten cars.  It appears they were cast from melted down aluminum beer cans – and though the castings were crude they were very close to the shape of their plastic cousins.  So after a little filing the guys installed them and they went up the pole fine but were hard to get down.  The aluminum (cars)/aluminum mast coefficient of friction was too high – but is was a good experiment.  Luckily Eilo found one spare plastic car in our spare parts drawer so we had the guys put the 3 plastic batten cars at the top of the sail stack which allowed us to hang the main to the third reef and we crossed the leg 2 starting line only 3.5 hours late… crossing the starting line at 3:31pm.  The Santa Marta diurnal winds did not disappoint.  It was blowing 25 knots in the harbor and by midnight it built to 35 knots and was gusting to 40.  Luckily we had the 3^rd reef in the main.  With that and about 30% of the Genoa out we were flying along at 8.5 knots dead down wind.  By noon the next day one boat had broached and blew out their autopilot, another boat’s mast developed 2 serious cracks (but did not de-mast), and lots of other boat’s stuff broke.  We did OK and the wind started to die back to 25 to 30 knots and we caught up to about mid-ARC pack 24 hours after the start.  

We heard a lot of the boats were heading for a small anchorage in the San Blas Islands in West Holandes so we headed for a more difficult to navigate but farther anchorage in East Holandes.  This place is what you think of when you think of a tropical paradise.  Fabulous deserted islands, coconut palms a plenty, unbelievable coral and tropical fish, turquoise waters, deserted white sand beaches, blue sky, etc. all accessible by AURORA’s trusty dinghy. 

  And a significant cadre of local Guna Indians dropping by in their dugout mahogany canoes (ulu)bearing live lobsters and crab and unusual local crafts.  These are their islands (aka Guna Yala) but they are great at sharing.  We hung there for 2 days, sailed by many islands, and then went and cleared AURORA into Panama at the Guna island of Porvenir.  Met one of the locals there who took us on a tour of his island community on Nalunega – it was like going back in time 500 years or 5000 years (except for the nylon cord holding some of the bamboo together and cold Panamanian beer in aluminum cans). 

A day later we headed for Porto Lindo Panama to clear ourselves into Panama and that we did.  One of the ARC staff, Mark, suggested we visit “Monkey Island” right across the channel from the Linton Marina… I could not resist.  We were on the island for about 3 minutes and the monkeys started coming out of the trees. They looked to me like spider monkeys but who knows?  When a monkey comes at you with their teeth bared that is never a good sign.  Well that little bastard grabbed my leg and chomped into my shin leaving me with a 4 inch set of gashes and a very surprised look on my face. Really damaged monkey/human relations.  

note the teeth...

Well I picked up a big stick and the big guy took a step back and we proceeded to retreat to the dinghy… thinking I might come back later with my machete and have me some monkey steak.  It made for a great story at the floating bar that night and the Go-Pro video I shot of that sordid event was a hit.  But I never went back… the monkeys live.  We opted for Shelter Bay the next day which is at the start of the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal.  As you get close the breakwater which is the official entrance to the canal zone you can’t help but notice lots and lots of big ships everywhere – like this is some sort of aquatic crossroad of the world.

Eilo- A different view of the world…in some ways!  You cannot imagine my disappointment when they gave us a prize in the race!  Ken had promised that we would not race, getting into harbor safely was our goal.  Now they have encouraged him and I fear that he will actually want to try to place! 

The wind on that first night was way too much!  We were heeled over but tossed and turned by the waves.  Our bench seat, which has never moved in the past, was turned over on two occasions leaving the bilge open!  On my watch I had my first experience of a wave which lifted me out of the cockpit…yes I was tethered in and did not go overboard but being airborne and feeling completely out of control was quite an experience!  It was a matter of seconds and I was left soaking and awestruck!  I could see my legs stretched out unseated and looked over my shoulder at the sea, the bimini bars held me in (along with the tether) and I was not really in any danger but it sure gives you a surprise!  I also had to wake Ken for a vessel which appeared out of nowhere and I couldn’t figure out it’s path…by the time it came up on the AIS (system to identify ships) it was too close.  Ken and I got by it but as soon as we were past it the lights went out again and it disappeared…gave us both a jolt!

So though we survived somewhat unscathed my nerves were on edge!  Ken ecstatic as ever!

As for the monkey incident…I thought they were cute in the trees but when they descended from the trees and approached us upright….I told Ken it was time to retreat.  But Captain Ken insisted on videoing them and chatting to them as if they were a couple of friends.  Looked like a male and female, they approached with no fear (as I backed away) and the male just reached over and held Ken’s leg and chomped!  One of those moments where Ken, even Ken, looked stunned and reacted to save himself.  I was still in retreat…so brave!  Once Ken lifted a stick the monkey retreated.  He was bleeding and the bite mark looked really rough…he was quite calm about it…not me!!!  Funny how he gets bitten and I am the one in terror!  We had plenty of advice on wound management from ARC friends and some help from GP Frances who gave me a “wash” for the wound.  Best comment was from an ARC participant, Steve, who saw the wound and said “you should say that’s a monkey bite…at least it would be a good story”.  Well he was surprised to learn the truth!

I remain…the reluctant sailor!

I have been remiss… so let me catch you up regarding the last half year of adventure AURORA.

We sailed from Tortola to Newport in May of 2016 – Cleared out of Jost Van Dyke and my mate,  Eilo, set a straight course for Newport somewhere around 1800 miles distant.  We were joined by Ed Miller for the trip, he proved to be a great sailor and wonderful company!  Quite the entertainer!  We all shared night watches which made the trip easier.

I was very careful to download a map of the Gulf Stream from the Predict Ocean site, right before hoisting anchor.  Aside from a few lighting storms we had a great sail.  But I neglected to open the map of the Gulf Stream prior to arriving the Gulf Stream, as I assumed “that picture” would have changed in the 8 days since it was downloaded.  I am older and wiser now and realize the Gulf Stream does not change as rapidly, for instance as the weather.  We were averaging about 180 miles per day which gave us a 10 day easy passage.  Well we hit the Gulf Stream and made 24 miles in 24 hours so I opened the “old” Gulf Stream chart and noticed we were in the middle of an intense red band which signifies 6 to 7 knot current and that current was heading directly south (it is called a back eddy) while we were headed almost directly North.  So with all the sail out and our engine at 2000 rpm we were making less than 1 knot speed over ground.  Had I looked at the chart and minded it a day before I could have headed 60 miles east or west of where we were and would have picked up 2 to 3 knot northern eddy currents – BUT NOOOOO.  So instead of making Newport in 10 days it took us 11.

On the trip we saw a whale and a couple of Great White Sharks….and dozens of Portugese-man-of –war!

The reason we sailed AURORA to Newport was to update all the safety gear on board (like life raft, man over board module, off shore life vests, etc.) with a high level of confidence.  The “No problem – we can do dat” axiom we heard with high frequency down in the islands, was not workin’ well for me regarding the safety stuff – plus we heard a few horror stories regarding getting that safety stuff done in the islands.  I also put a new water maker on board and with some reticence turned it on and tested it using Narragansett bay sludge as feed water and was making nice pure drinking water in less than 3 minutes after activating the unit.  So the only thing left to do was to get our daughter, Lara, married off passing the responsibility for her off to Christian.  That was going well until I completely blew out my right Achilles tendon 3 days before the wedding.  No problem really except that I could no longer sail AURORA back down to Tortola so we hired a delivery crew from the UK and the 2 gentlemen sailors they provided and Eilo set off from Newport on November 1^st for Sopers Hole on the west end of Tortola.  While I relaxed and watched old movies from the comfort of the Captain Freeman house on Cape Cod they took AURORA through 4 days of North Atlantic gales.  AURORA’s bilge pump came on over 8,000 times in the 10 day passage keeping up with the sea water shipped each time the bow was buried in the significant size waves as well as a leak from the rudder stuffing post!  This used up significant power! The gales disallowed solar power so the house bank was drained of electricity and the wave action stirred up 25 years of sludge in the 4 diesel tanks causing fuel delivery issues rendering the generator inoperable 2 days from Tortola.  So the captain, being from England, where they have little sun and thus lack a true understanding of the concept of solar energy decided to turn the solar panels off and replace the house bank (of 6 batteries) with the single windlass battery and needing to conserve electricity to run the navigation systems also turned the refrigerator and freezer off wiping out the half year of provisions we acquired for the World ARC at a bargain price at Costco.  They also ran out of Diesel and wind one day from Tortola so they bobbed for almost a day waiting for wind.  All in all a tough trip but the boat was delivered and we learned about some issues needing attention!

In Tortola  AURORA was pulled out of the water and had her hull cleaned (getting ready for the Galapagos), new sails and a new bimini and dodger were installed and a second alternator was  installed on the main engine which allows the house bank to charge when there in no wind and we must motor – if you are keeping track that is the 3^rd way we have to charge the house batteries… redundancy is our new way of life.

Nanny Cay splashed AURORA on December 19^th as planned and we sat in a slip there until Christmas day, giving us time for final minor repairs and re-provisioning.  A wonderful Christmas Eve (French style) with Clive and Aude and friends.  On Christmas day we sailed to Jost Van Dyke, said good bye to Foxy and cleared out.  The next day we set sail for Martinique but the wind was blowing about 20 knots out of the north east and that allowed us to point straight at Saint Martin so we changed tack and headed for Saint Martin.  

Of course the wind changed to east about 30 miles out so we dropped the sails and motored the last 30 miles in 10 hours directly into the wind.  Took 2 waves directly into the dodger – which I figured was history at that point, but it stood up well and strong.  Caught up with some friends – George & June on FATHOM THIS whom we met last winter season and made plans to sail to Nevis and catch up with them there after we had our fill of excellent baguettes and café au lait.  We left Saint Martin a day later than planned so we could sort out a few electrical issues and headed to Nevis on the 30^th of December.  A school of about 30 dolphins escorted us around Montserrat and we latched onto a mooring in front of Sunshine’s bar in Nevis, mooring  right next to FATHOM THIS.  

It was late in the afternoon so we headed over for cocktails and nibbles.  A gentlemen sailing on Fathom This, Bill, had just caught a 40 pound Wahoo that afternoon so they turned us on to some very fresh fish.  Bill was also a green flash guru when he lived in the Keys, as he could predict a green flash event around 90% of the time.  As we were sitting in the cockpit of Fathom This drinking and nibbling Bill predicted there would be one of those fabled green flashes everyone hears about but nobody ever sees and as the sun set about 3 minutes later, sure enough we saw our first green flash.  It is an iridescent very intense green of greens – the flash seemed to last for about a second – a green you have never seen before - amazing.

We never cleared into Nevis and rather than trying to explain our transgression to customs and immigration we elected to get up before those guys so we departed the mooring about 5:30 am.  Running by Guadeloupe a few hours later I was on the helm and heard this weird noise like loud snoring and then I saw a spout and was thinking there are no whales in these waters this time of year and I almost ran over a small sleeping whale about 10 miles off the east coast of Guadeloupe. He dove just as Eilo came on deck so we enjoyed seeing the fluke.  We decided to head for Fort De France, the capital of Martinique, and arrived there early morning on New Years day, dropped anchor by the old fort and headed into a very dead town.  Found one hotel open so at least we scooped a few New Years day beers.  The second of January about half the town was open so we were able to do some final provisioning and have a last French meal before we hit Tahiti in a few months.  January  3^rd we set sail for Saint Lucia to get ready for the start of World ARC on the 7^th.  We arrived at our slip in Rodney Bay around 3:00 in the afternoon and before we got off the boat Gerry (whom we met last winter sailing on Northern Sky) was cranking down the dock and jumped on board for big hugs from a big guy.  He gave us the grand tour of all the bars in the area and allowed us a few minutes to check in with the ARC staff… then more beers and after that more beers – you get the idea.  I think we slipped in dinner in at some point but I could not swear to that.  Suffice it to say we had no problem falling asleep that night – I know it is very hard to draw a clear line between falling asleep and passing out.  We had a few more days and nights like that with Gerry.  We did attend a few good ARC seminars on off shore sailing and what to expect over the 15 months as well as being briefed on the 1^st leg sail to Columbia.  They guaranteed us big wind – probably the biggest wind we would see until the east coast of South Africa.

January 7^th noontime spelled the start of World ARC 2017.  It was a clean start on nice day – blue sky filled with lots of cumulous cloud.  About 15 to 20 knots of wind in Rodney Bay – all 26 boats (with about 77 souls on board) respected each others space and it was a very friendly get go.  AURORA was late to the start line crossing about 12:03 as I was attempting to video the start and lost track of the time.  We had a good 5 day sail to Santa Marta, Columbia.  The 3rd day the wind died so we did what all bad sailors do and prayed for wind and started he engine, motoring for 6.75 hours until the wind came up.  And it kept coming up.  When we rounded the corner into Santa Marta Bay the wind was gusting to 40 knots and was still building.  (note from Eileen: this is when I said…Holy Cow did I sign up for this??? It was bloody terrifying!)  We crossed the finish line and headed for the Marina.  We had previously furled the Genoa, before rounding the corner, as we knew it would be a little too windy.  In the bay  I attempted to drop the main and she partially came down so I had to climb the mast a little to coax her down and to my surprise I found 3 out of 5 of the batten cars – which hold the main sail to the mast, had blown out and the bits of plastic from those cars inside the mast’s main sail slide were jamming the rest of the sail slugs and batten cars preventing the main from dropping.  So Eilo took us back and forth across the harbor about 5 times (over about an hour) while I was screwing around with the main and was finally able to drop her.  A good crew on the dock another in a RIB tender were able to get us into our slip without damaging anything else.  So we turned in our passports to the agent so we could clear in and were told not to leave the Marina until they returned our documents.  So we did the logical thing and headed for town.  The old part of the city (which is one of the oldest towns in South America and boasts the oldest cathedral in South America) was pulsing, very alive – energetic street dancing – talented street music – sidewalk cafes buzzing.  We found a nice one a settled down for some Columbian fare.   It was still honkin’ in the marina when we returned and it was rumored the wind would continue to build into Friday night.  Other than the new harbor in Mykonos the Santa Marta Marina is the windiest harbor we have ever been in.  Friday provided more explorations of Santa Marta and more arrivals of ARC boats.  We arrived somewhere in the middle of the ARC pack.  We had another great diner in the old part of town and about 9:00 walking up the marina pier Eilo noticed a guy on AURORA and a  few more on the dock next to her – never a good thing at night.  Well we get to our slip, the wind is gusting to 75 miles per hour and the finger dock we are tied to is starting to separate from the main dock.  There are a bunch of ¾ inch stainless steel bolts starting to fail and the stainless dock structure at the joint to the main dock is bending severely out of shape and making awful noises.  More guys from the Marina show up and also about 10 ARC Angels with rope.  I broke out a lot of rope and approximately 20 of us roped our failing dock to other docks and roped AURORA so she was trapped in a spider web.  Typically 3 lines or sometimes 4 are used to secure a boat in a slip.  By midnight we had used about 2000 feet of rope and had AURORA secured with 14 lines.  She was even roped across the water to the opposite dock  I thanked everyone and crashed out soundly around 1:00AM.  Eilo could not sleep. We rode that blow out with just a little mental trauma.  That was the worst of the wind – thank God.  We did get out of town with the ARC folks for a Columbian beach bar-b-q and to get out of the wind –which suited everyone just fine.  We also checked out a fairly large nature preserve and managed to sneak in a 2 hour river tube ride through the jungle to the ocean (including red howler monkeys,  caimans (Eilo:  looks like a gator…just a little smaller and they didn’t tell us they were in the water until after we had tubed) , exotic birds, and laughs )  – a highlight of our stay in Santa Marta.

So what to do with 3 broken batten cars?  Terry and Val have 3 spare ones for us and will bring them to Panama when joining us for the canal ride.  We could sail to Panama under genoa only or Eilo suggested we could go wing on wing with the Genoa and our small stay sail… that would give us a little more speed.  Columbian’s have a can do attitude and they offered to machine us some batten cars out of solid aluminum so I checked with our sail maker and he gave that a big thumbs up so up the mast the machinist’s assistant went and recovered one of the 2 good cars and they will machine them.

The next leg starts tomorrow from Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands off Panama.  Of course their customs clearance office has shut down in San Blas so we are, by law, not allowed to stop there.  So have to work hard at not getting caught.  Then we will head on to Puerta Linda.  Until then….

I have been remiss… so let me catch you up regarding the last half year of adventure AURORA.

We sailed from Tortola to Newport in May of 2016 – Cleared out of Jost Van Dyke and my mate,  Eilo, set a straight course for Newport somewhere around 1800 miles distant.  We were joined by Ed Miller for the trip, he proved to be a great sailor and wonderful company!  Quite the entertainer!  We all shared night watches which made the trip easier.

I was very careful to download a map of the Gulf Stream from the Predict Ocean site, right before hoisting anchor.  Aside from a few lighting storms we had a great sail.  But I neglected to open the map of the Gulf Stream prior to arriving the Gulf Stream, as I assumed “that picture” would have changed in the 8 days since it was downloaded.  I am older and wiser now and realize the Gulf Stream does not change as rapidly, for instance as the weather.  We were averaging about 180 miles per day which gave us a 10 day easy passage.  Well we hit the Gulf Stream and made 24 miles in 24 hours so I opened the “old” Gulf Stream chart and noticed we were in the middle of an intense red band which signifies 6 to 7 knot current and that current was heading directly south (it is called a back eddy) while we were headed almost directly North.  So with all the sail out and our engine at 2000 rpm we were making less than 1 knot speed over ground.  Had I looked at the chart and minded it a day before I could have headed 60 miles east or west of where we were and would have picked up 2 to 3 knot northern eddy currents – BUT NOOOOO.  So instead of making Newport in 10 days it took us 11.

On the trip we saw a whale and a couple of Great White Sharks….and dozens of Portugese-man-of –war!

The reason we sailed AURORA to Newport was to update all the safety gear on board (like life raft, man over board module, off shore life vests, etc.) with a high level of confidence.  The “No problem – we can do dat” axiom we heard with high frequency down in the islands, was not workin’ well for me regarding the safety stuff – plus we heard a few horror stories regarding getting that safety stuff done in the islands.  I also put a new water maker on board and with some reticence turned it on and tested it using Narragansett bay sludge as feed water and was making nice pure drinking water in less than 3 minutes after activating the unit.  So the only thing left to do was to get our daughter, Lara, married off passing the responsibility for her off to Christian.  That was going well until I completely blew out my right Achilles tendon 3 days before the wedding.  No problem really except that I could no longer sail AURORA back down to Tortola so we hired a delivery crew from the UK and the 2 gentlemen sailors they provided and Eilo set off from Newport on November 1^st for Sopers Hole on the west end of Tortola.  While I relaxed and watched old movies from the comfort of the Captain Freeman house on Cape Cod they took AURORA through 4 days of North Atlantic gales.  AURORA’s bilge pump came on over 8,000 times in the 10 day passage keeping up with the sea water shipped each time the bow was buried in the significant size waves as well as a leak from the rudder stuffing post!  This used up significant power! The gales disallowed solar power so the house bank was drained of electricity and the wave action stirred up 25 years of sludge in the 4 diesel tanks causing fuel delivery issues rendering the generator inoperable 2 days from Tortola.  So the captain, being from England, where they have little sun and thus lack a true understanding of the concept of solar energy decided to turn the solar panels off and replace the house bank (of 6 batteries) with the single windlass battery and needing to conserve electricity to run the navigation systems also turned the refrigerator and freezer off wiping out the half year of provisions we acquired for the World ARC at a bargain price at Costco.  They also ran out of Diesel and wind one day from Tortola so they bobbed for almost a day waiting for wind.  All in all a tough trip but the boat was delivered and we learned about some issues needing attention!

In Tortola  AURORA was pulled out of the water and had her hull cleaned (getting ready for the Galapagos), new sails and a new bimini and dodger were installed and a second alternator was  installed on the main engine which allows the house bank to charge when there in no wind and we must motor – if you are keeping track that is the 3^rd way we have to charge the house batteries… redundancy is our new way of life.

Nanny Cay splashed AURORA on December 19^th as planned and we sat in a slip there until Christmas day, giving us time for final minor repairs and re-provisioning.  A wonderful Christmas Eve (French style) with Clive and Aude and friends.  On Christmas day we sailed to Jost Van Dyke, said good bye to Foxy and cleared out.  The next day we set sail for Martinique but the wind was blowing about 20 knots out of the north east and that allowed us to point straight at Saint Martin so we changed tack and headed for Saint Martin.  Of course the wind changed to east about 30 miles out so we dropped the sails and motored the last 30 miles in 10 hours directly into the wind.  Took 2 waves directly into the dodger – which I figured was history at that point, but it stood up well and strong.  Caught up with some friends – George & June on FATHOM THIS whom we met last winter season and made plans to sail to Nevis and catch up with them there after we had our fill of excellent baguettes and café au lait.  We left Saint Martin a day later than planned so we could sort out a few electrical issues and headed to Nevis on the 30^th of December.  A school of about 30 dolphins escorted us around Montserrat and we latched onto a mooring in front of Sunshine’s bar in Nevis, mooring  right next to FATHOM THIS.  It was late in the afternoon so we headed over for cocktails and nibbles.  A gentlemen sailing on Fathom This, Bill, had just caught a 40 pound Wahoo that afternoon so they turned us on to some very fresh fish.  Bill was also a green flash guru when he lived in the Keys, as he could predict a green flash event around 90% of the time.  As we were sitting in the cockpit of Fathom This drinking and nibbling Bill predicted there would be one of those fabled green flashes everyone hears about but nobody ever sees and as the sun set about 3 minutes later, sure enough we saw our first green flash.  It is an iridescent very intense green of greens – the flash seemed to last for about a second – a green you have never seen before - amazing.

We never cleared into Nevis and rather than trying to explain our transgression to customs and immigration we elected to get up before those guys so we departed the mooring about 5:30 am.  Running by Guadeloupe a few hours later I was on the helm and heard this weird noise like loud snoring and then I saw a spout and was thinking there are no whales in these waters this time of year and I almost ran over a small sleeping whale about 10 miles off the east coast of Guadeloupe. He dove just as Eilo came on deck so we enjoyed seeing the fluke.  We decided to head for Fort De France, the capital of Martinique, and arrived there early morning on New Years day, dropped anchor by the old fort and headed into a very dead town.  Found one hotel open so at least we scooped a few New Years day beers.  The second of January about half the town was open so we were able to do some final provisioning and have a last French meal before we hit Tahiti in a few months.  January  3^rd we set sail for Saint Lucia to get ready for the start of World ARC on the 7^th.  We arrived at our slip in Rodney Bay around 3:00 in the afternoon and before we got off the boat Gerry (whom we met last winter sailing on Northern Sky) was cranking down the dock and jumped on board for big hugs from a big guy.  He gave us the grand tour of all the bars in the area and allowed us a few minutes to check in with the ARC staff… then more beers and after that more beers – you get the idea.  I think we slipped in dinner in at some point but I could not swear to that.  Suffice it to say we had no problem falling asleep that night – I know it is very hard to draw a clear line between falling asleep and passing out.  We had a few more days and nights like that with Gerry.  We did attend a few good ARC seminars on off shore sailing and what to expect over the 15 months as well as being briefed on the 1^st leg sail to Columbia.  They guaranteed us big wind – probably the biggest wind we would see until the east coast of South Africa.

January 7^th noontime spelled the start of World ARC 2017.  It was a clean start on nice day – blue sky filled with lots of cumulous cloud.  About 15 to 20 knots of wind in Rodney Bay – all 26 boats (with about 77 souls on board) respected each others space and it was a very friendly get go.  

AURORA was late to the start line crossing about 12:03 as I was attempting to video the start and lost track of the time.  We had a good 5 day sail to Santa Marta, Columbia.  The 3rd day the wind died so we did what all bad sailors do and prayed for wind and started he engine, motoring for 6.75 hours until the wind came up.  And it kept coming up.  When we rounded the corner into Santa Marta Bay the wind was gusting to 40 knots and was still building.  (note from Eileen: this is when I said…Holy Cow did I sign up for this??? It was bloody terrifying!)  We crossed the finish line and headed for the Marina.  We had previously furled the Genoa, before rounding the corner, as we knew it would be a little too windy.  In the bay  I attempted to drop the main and she partially came down so I had to climb the mast a little to coax her down and to my surprise I found 3 out of 5 of the batten cars – which hold the main sail to the mast, had blown out and the bits of plastic from those cars inside the mast’s main sail slide were jamming the rest of the sail slugs and batten cars preventing the main from dropping.  So Eilo took us back and forth across the harbor about 5 times (over about an hour) while I was screwing around with the main and was finally able to drop her.  A good crew on the dock another in a RIB tender were able to get us into our slip without damaging anything else.  So we turned in our passports to the agent so we could clear in and were told not to leave the Marina until they returned our documents.  So we did the logical thing and headed for town.  The old part of the city (which is one of the oldest towns in South America and boasts the oldest cathedral in South America) was pulsing, very alive – energetic street dancing – talented street music – sidewalk cafes buzzing.  We found a nice one a settled down for some Columbian fare.   It was still honkin’ in the marina when we returned and it was rumored the wind would continue to build into Friday night.  Other than the new harbor in Mykonos the Santa Marta Marina is the windiest harbor we have ever been in.  Friday provided more explorations of Santa Marta and more arrivals of ARC boats.  We arrived somewhere in the middle of the ARC pack.  We had another great diner in the old part of town and about 9:00 walking up the marina pier Eilo noticed a guy on AURORA and a  few more on the dock next to her – never a good thing at night.  Well we get to our slip, the wind is gusting to 75 miles per hour and the finger dock we are tied to is starting to separate from the main dock.  There are a bunch of ¾ inch stainless steel bolts starting to fail and the stainless dock structure at the joint to the main dock is bending severely out of shape and making awful noises.  More guys from the Marina show up and also about 10 ARC Angels with rope.  I broke out a lot of rope and approximately 20 of us roped our failing dock to other docks and roped AURORA so she was trapped in a spider web.  Typically 3 lines or sometimes 4 are used to secure a boat in a slip.  By midnight we had used about 2000 feet of rope and had AURORA secured with 14 lines.  She was even roped across the water to the opposite dock  I thanked everyone and crashed out soundly around 1:00AM.  Eilo could not sleep. We rode that blow out with just a little mental trauma.  That was the worst of the wind – thank God.  We did get out of town with the ARC folks for a Columbian beach bar-b-q and to get out of the wind –which suited everyone just fine.  

We also checked out a fairly large nature preserve and managed to sneak in a 2 hour river tube ride through the jungle to the ocean (including red howler monkeys,  caimans (Eilo:  looks like a gator…just a little smaller and they didn’t tell us they were in the water until after we had tubed) , exotic birds, and laughs )  – a highlight of our stay in Santa Marta.

So what to do with 3 broken batten cars?  Terry and Val have 3 spare ones for us and will bring them to Panama when joining us for the canal ride.  We could sail to Panama under genoa only or Eilo suggested we could go wing on wing with the Genoa and our small stay sail… that would give us a little more speed.  Columbian’s have a can do attitude and they offered to machine us some batten cars out of solid aluminum so I checked with our sail maker and he gave that a big thumbs up so up the mast the machinist’s assistant went and recovered one of the 2 good cars and they will machine them.

The next leg starts tomorrow from Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands off Panama.  Of course their customs clearance office has shut down in San Blas so we are, by law, not allowed to stop there.  So have to work hard at not getting caught.  Then we will head on to Puerta Linda.  Until then….

Eilo: I feel the need to add a little something here!  Some friends wished us a good cruise as we left the states and I need to address the image that conjures up.  I would like to imagine myself on deck, bikini clad, drinking cocktails.  The reality is that when we are in port I may be found with my head in the bilge (the deepest part of the boat where any water that finds its way in collects.  If there is any slime from anywhere it ends up there and ours had not been cleaned in years…I cleaned it!  At night when we sail I do the 7:30 pm watch to 12:30 am and the Ken is on till 6 am when I relieve him again for a couple of hours.  We do the day sailing together with some naps.  Luxury this is not!  Ken told me that downwind sailing is a breeze (ha) and that we would set the sails and then leave them for days.  Not so….he is forever trying different sail positions and with a spinnaker pole on the Genoa the whole thing looks super complicated!!!  So…yes this is incredible but it is also hard work and I find myself swallowing fear on many occasions (at night as I try to figure out if that container ship is going to t-bone us, on rounding a peninsula to find the wind goes from 25 knots to 35 knots gusting to 45 knots and Ken fights the helm as I release wind from the main sail, or when Ken can’t get the sail down and we go backwards and forwards across the harbor in strong gusts of wind fighting the sail).  But…just in case you thought it was us….when we are all gathered in the marina I hear from other boats….”we ripped our main sail”..two boats… “our vang is becoming detatched from the mast” “we spent two hours up the mast out there in the ocean trying to fix our main” “we anchored in the harbor and before we were set and snubbed the wind gusted and twisted our anchor roller” and other miscellaneous issues.  This is the first leg. Omg