As we have noted before, everything we do is predicated on the weather. This time of year, in Southwestern Caribbean, the weather patterns are commonly called the Christmas winds. They begin in mid to late December and can run until about March. It’s characterized by brisk winds from the northeast and steep wave patterns. Pretty much the opposite of what we need to make our way north, requiring us to wait for specific breaks in the system that will allow us to make progress in the direction we want to go. Patience is going to be the mantra this season.                

Screen shot of Predict Wind. We are the green dot. Colour scale along the bottom. Blue and green are better than red

We’ve been anchored in San Andres Harbour for 2 weeks now. Our trip from Panama was 220 nautical miles and took about 32 hours. It was mostly uneventful other than dodging a few rain, thunder and lightning squalls. We detoured 90deg off course for 2 hours to bypass a nasty looking one. Thank goodness for Radar!

You don’t want to be in the middle of that
What it looks like on a radar screen

Before arriving in Colombia, you must contact an agent who will do the paperwork and arrange for all the officials to check you into the country. We hired Renee and sent him pictures of our documents via WhatsApp prior to leaving Panama. We called on channel 16 to the Maritime Control Tower to announce our arrival when we entered the well marked channel.

The Coast Guard Boat met us at the anchorage and waited for us to anchor, then came aboard for an inspection. There were 4 officials, one stayed on their boat, 3 came aboard. The third guy that came aboard was holding a machine gun, he looked at the driver who shook his head and he put the gun down. I guess we didn’t look very suspicious. They wanted to see our Zarpe, passports and boat registration. They took a quick look around, snapped a couple of pictures, they did not open any cupboards. They were professional, polite and one spoke English.

We passed the inspection

The next morning, we met Renee at the marina for more paperwork. The officials all came to the marina to get copies of the required documents. The health inspector was first. She asked a few questions and asked if we had our yellow fever vaccines. We were able to answer yes. Port Captain was next, in addition to the paperwork, he had me take him in our dinghy out to the boat so he could take a picture. Immigration asked the usual questions, took our passports and brought them back stamped a few minutes later. 30 minutes in total and we were all good to go. Agents fee was $80 and Tourist cards are $38 per person, US $.

Hiding in the shade to do the paperwork

San Andres is a small island (10 sq miles) located about 110 nautical miles off the coast of Nicaragua and 410 miles from Mainland Colombia. The archipelago consists of San Andres, Providencia, Santa Catalina and some smaller islands around each of the three main ones. Historically they were a British colony but are now governed as a department of Colombia. Official languages are Spanish, English and San Andres Creole. It was reported to be a favoured hide away for the famous privateer Captain Morgan.

The full-time population is around 58,000 and I think every one of them owns a scooter. It’s a popular destination, the tourists are primarily from South America, however, there are some North American visitors as well. We’ve been told there is even a direct flight from Eastern Canada during the winter months.

Line up for gas on Dec 31
Typical street scene
The big guy is doing the driving 🙂 We’ve seen 4 on a bike and the only ones wearing helmets are the police
Wall of the airport
Christmas lights are still up
Busy beaches over the Christmas holidays

The anchorage is a busy place with all the boats zipping by taking the tourists out parasailing, scuba diving and snorkeling the reefs or just swimming in the shallows. It’s a little lumpy during the day as we ride over the waves created by the passing boats but by 6 pm everything is quiet again. They even send the police boat out to remind the tardy tour boats to get back to shore. 

They are not afraid to pass close by
Hotels along the waterfront

We’re able to leave our dinghy at the marina when we go ashore. There are lots of restaurants, smallish grocery stores and many duty-free shops. Google maps is good but it does not know everything. We were with the crew of Ramble on Rose on our way to a store that sells water maker supplies. Google maps showed us the shortest route so we started walking. We were stopped by two police officers on a motorcycle and they questioned us about our intentions and destination. Turns out we were not in the best area of town. It was “suggested” that we turn right at the next intersection and walk 3 blocks down before heading back towards the store. Not only that, the police followed us till we got to our destination. First time we’ve ever had a police escort.

The weather is getting somewhat better, with more sun and less rain but still not like it should be for the dry season.

Finding a spot for the dinghy at the marina

The four of us hired a recommended taxi driver to take us on a four hour, including a lunch stop, tour of the island. The island lies in a north / south orientation with a rocky coastline on the west side, lots of beaches on the east and most of the population and resorts in the north. We checked out the Pirate Museum.

Reputed to be Captain Morgan’s treasure cave. I didn’t find anything
Art work made with recycled plastic
Tourist boats loading up for the day
And then the rain blows in

We will stay here until we get a break in the weather. We were hoping to stop at Providencia but if we can catch the right window we may have to pass on that stop and make the run straight to the Cayman Islands.

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