After our second night on the sailboat, we felt much better and rested. Since we spent the night anchored, the lack of movement of the boat was exactly what we needed after the first crazy night. Captain D. even fixed us French toasts that morning which made the start of our day even brighter. After that, he left on shore with our passports to check us out of Panama at the immigration and customs on the nearby island. We just had to wait for his return and until then we had a chance to go back to Nalunega, where we visited the small museum. Yes, there was a museum and the “owner”, a nice villager, explained to us the carving, painting and key rituals from the Kuna culture. He shared with us his concern about how the area was getting polluted and hurting Mother Earth: he was trying to build a marine sanctuary by cleaning the sea and recycling the trash into pieces of art. His hope was that he would be able to save the marine species that have been hurt by human presence. The most poetic part was when he showed us a dozen of pieces of woods he had collected and how their natural shapes depicted local animals. This insider view into the Kuna culture kept us thinking and reaming a little too as we were returning to the boat.
A last deserted island before sailing to Colombia
Close to noon, we left the village with our passports stamped out from Panama. All went well at the border with our passports. We would spend the rest of the day relaxing at our last island, where only one family was living, before starting the sail to Cartagena. On the calms waters of the archipelago, we sailed for about two hours and then anchored a short swim away from a beautiful beach. We were all completely relaxed and recovered from the rough sea, finally enjoying life on a sailboat. Tonight, we would share a big dinner and party before starting the long final sail.
This time, we took the little boat to the beach, rowing slowly in the gentle water. The beach was incredible again and the four of us seemed to be the only living souls there. Wait, there was a sign, closer to the tree: do not put your waste on the beach. We probably were not the first ones here and so far, people seemed to have obeyed the sign. We all sat there for a while, letting sink in where we were and reflect on the paradise setting around us. We took a swim in the once again perfect water, unable to take our eyes off the beautiful beach and then decided to walk all around the island. It was not a really big one and as we reached the other side that was more exposed to the ocean, we found out that there seem to be no more perfect paradise on earth. The beach was scattered with traces of human presence: bottles of plastic, cans, old shoes... I guess the old man was right: we were hurting Mother Earth with all the things we throw in our oceans and it just goes everywhere, even to remote places like that.Back at the beach we started, we had the Kuna family from the isalnd join us for
a little bit, the father and three sons. They were wearing western clothes and rapper's chain arounf the neck, not quite the traditional wear:) It was nice to hang out with them for a little bit and chat, the kids really trying to learn a few English words. Back on the boat after we all watched the sunset from the beach, we started our feast. We had fresh caught fish, garlic bread, salad and cookies with wine and beer to get the party going. We were all laughing and having a good time. We also started preparing food for the rest of the trip as it would be hard once at sea with the movement. We all went to bed around 11pm and the Captain started the sail to CartegenaTwo long nights and days at sea
Back into the open ocean, the boat started rocking a lot, not as bad as the first night but definitively enough to make it challenging to get up from your bed at any time. We all had taken sea sickness drugs, as a preventive measure. We were lying down the whole night and the next day as well, unable to find the energy to get up. In addition, every time you would do such an attempt, you would start having sea sickness. All our movements were reduced to a minimum, only to satisfy basic needs that we could no longer postpone: drink, eat and go to the bathroom. The second night was pretty much the same as the previous one and so was the second day at sea. Time was stretching and we were so utterly bored with no energy whatsoever to do anything. When would we see shore again? Initially, we were supposed to arrive early morning of the second day but the wind had died out so now we would not make it before the end of the second day! I think we were starting to become a little crazy, just sitting or lying there, waiting for the sailing to be over.
Finally, someone called for land. In the distance, we could see white buildings emerging from the sea. As we got closer, we saw more buildings. Big white highrises, which is not exactly what we expected as a first site of Cartagena. We were more thinking old town, with the fortifications and had no clue there was also a developed beach hotels zone. So a little surprised but regardless, happy to finally see shore. As we were getting closer, the Captain told us to unwrap our bikes so that we would be ready to get them off the boat. It was like unwrapping a Xmas present, hoping the bikes were fine underneath, with now rust. For the most part they were, just a litle rust on the brakes and chain. We arrived at the dock of the gas station and one by one, unloaded the fours bikes. We were all excited that all went well and that at least, we had our feet on firm ground. We had survived the roughness of the ocean! Not sure we would do it again had we known all that but it was definitively an interesting experience.
Back into the open ocean, the boat started rocking a lot, not as bad as the first night but definitively enough to make it challenging to get up from your bed at any time. We all had taken sea sickness drugs, as a preventive measure. We were lying down the whole night and the next day as well, unable to find the energy to get up. In addition, every time you would do such an attempt, you would start having sea sickness. All our movements were reduced to a minimum, only to satisfy basic needs that we could no longer postpone: drink, eat and go to the bathroom. The second night was pretty much the same as the previous one and so was the second day at sea. Time was stretching and we were so utterly bored with no energy whatsoever to do anything. When would we see shore again? Initially, we were supposed to arrive early morning of the second day but the wind had died out so now we would not make it before the end of the second day! I think we were starting to become a little crazy, just sitting or lying there, waiting for the sailing to be over.
Finally, someone called for land. In the distance, we could see white buildings emerging from the sea. As we got closer, we saw more buildings. Big white highrises, which is not exactly what we expected as a first site of Cartagena. We were more thinking old town, with the fortifications and had no clue there was also a developed beach hotels zone. So a little surprised but regardless, happy to finally see shore. As we were getting closer, the Captain told us to unwrap our bikes so that we would be ready to get them off the boat. It was like unwrapping a Xmas present, hoping the bikes were fine underneath, with now rust. For the most part they were, just a litle rust on the brakes and chain. We arrived at the dock of the gas station and one by one, unloaded the fours bikes. We were all excited that all went well and that at least, we had our feet on firm ground. We had survived the roughness of the ocean! Not sure we would do it again had we known all that but it was definitively an interesting experience.We drove our bikes to the area where we had a few hostels recommended. It took us a while but we finally found a place that had free rooms as it was getting dark. After we unloaded the bikes, we parked them nearby. We all had a hard time to believe that we were here, in Columbia. Tomorrow, Dennis would work on our immigration and hopefully come back with our passports stamped in. Once this first step accomplished, we would be able to go to the customs and officially get our bikes into the country (for now, they just had been off the record dropped at a gas station). We were looking forward to explore Cartagena in the next couple of days while taking care of all the immigration and import documentation. From what we had seen so far driving through it, it looked like the amazing city we were promised.
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