Colombia Coastal Cruising
Me and my 'Crew' (that's using the term literally and correctly) boarded my best buddy's boat at Club Nautico in the wonderful city of Cartagena and promptly made ready for 5 days on the ocean's wave. The cruise plan was to take the 42 foot boat (built in 1961, wooden with lovely lines and quite a turn of speed) out of the bay and sail down to Las Islas del Rosario about 40km South West of the city.
Club Nautico, in the Manga district of Cartagena is a tightly run and very welcoming facility and can be contacted at http://www.clubnauticocartagena.com/cartagena.htm if you are considering boat hire, berths or short stays. Once set and provisioned (the local supermarket is very well stocked and for a handful of pesos the staff will wheel your stores to the berth and help you load up!) we checked our charts, posted our cruise plan with club and set sail.
What followed was just nautical bliss. Four guys (and a bear!) escaping the demands of daily life for day to day cruising in +90 degrees, with a good breeze and some of the most beatuiful coral islands in the Carribean as our destination. All was ship shape and above board, but a couple of beers were enjoyed once safely anchored inside the reefs.
Snorkelling, walking the islands, playing with sail trims... just heaven. My recommendation to any 'day' or more serious sailor, check out the Club and these islands. The entry roads into the reefs and the bay north and south of Tierra Bomba are fairly well marked and there is a wealth of sound advice from John and the old salts at the Club. Of course what's said aboard stays aboard, but suffice to say the crew solved the problems of the world and hopefully these pictures tell their own story.
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