Cruising in the tropics during the rainy season can be unpleasant. There may be not much of a breeze so it can be steamingly hot and oppressive and in some regions strong thunderstorms are frequent. When it pours down you are forced to shut the hatches so no fresh air comes into the boat. And sometimes it pours down for a longer period of time… Continue reading »
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2012
31
Aug
2012
30
Aug
Article about Suriname in current Ocean7 magazine
In the new (September-October) issue of Ocean7, our Suriname article has been published Available at Tobacconists, petrol stations, etc. in Austria and Germany. Birgit Hackl, Christian Feldbauer: Suriname — ein Tor zum Regenwald, OCEAN7 05 (September/October) 2012, p. 28–35. download PDF (in German only)
2012
26
Aug
New Photo Gallery: Islas Rosarios and San Bernardo and Sapzurro
We’ve just uploaded new pics from our sail along the Colombian coast between Cartagena and Panama.
2012
26
Aug
A hike through the jungle
Yesterday we hiked to the next bigger town Capurgana. It was an incredible experience walking through the rainforest, with large butterflies fluttering around us and colourful flowers everywhere. The region here is within the “Darién gap”, a nearly impenetrable jungle in Panama and Colombia that reaches from the Caribbean all the way to the Pacific, without roads and very few inhabitants. The colonialists were fended… Continue reading »
2012
22
Aug
Walking aaaalll the way to Panama!
Today we took a walk up the hill (steep earthen steps) to the border to Panama. After 20 minutes we reached two idyllic huts with thatched roofs, each with a hamack and a relaxed soldier in it. 10 minutes and a few hundred concrete steps later we reached the village on the Panamian side: Puerto de la Miel. It’s also not connected to a road… Continue reading »
2012
19
Aug
Gorgeous Sapzurro
Our first two days here in the bay of Sapzurro we were busy finishing our rain canvas, setting a stern anchor (sometimes some swell enters the bay), cleaning the boat, launching the dinghy, to snorkel along the reef, etc. and only marvelled from afar at the beaches and the pretty village. Yesterday we set out to explore the village and the bay. It turns out… Continue reading »
2012
17
Aug
Sapzurro–what an idyllic place
We arrived in Sapzurro this morning after a lovely, gentle sail (at least, we sailed 2/3 of the 120 miles). The night was somewhat scary with huge dark clouds and ligtning all around us. Luckily we only got some rain. On the last 20 miles the winds left us so we motored the last leg. We were a bit worried entering the bay because we… Continue reading »
2012
15
Aug
Sailing to Sapzurro
This morning when we had to motor without wind we cursed the mediterranean-like winds in the basin of Colombia (remember: either no wind, or too much, and if there’s any it’s always from the wrong direction…). At noon the wind shifted and picked up slightly and Pitufa started with gliding along quickly and effortlessly on the flat seas, immediately we started praising the mediterranean-like sea… Continue reading »
2012
15
Aug
Leaving las Islas de San Bernardo
The day before yesterday southerly winds were predicted, so we took Pitufa to the northern side of the island to search for the pass through the reef we had discovered by dinghy. Our findings seemed to agree with our C-map charts, so we were optimistic. However, on the way we encountered some spots where the reef came up to three metres with C-map claiming that… Continue reading »
2012
13
Aug
Tintipan, Islas de San Bernardo
Yesterday we made a dinghy ride all around the island (that admittedly sounds less impressive when you know that the island is only 1.7 miles long ). On the northern side the reef reaches out several miles, we found a pass into the lagoon, but there’s shoals everywhere and taking Pitufa over here would be quite tricky. There are a few luxorious looking villas on… Continue reading »
2012
11
Aug
Thunderstorms
The area here is famous or rather infamous for its frequent thunderstorms. In Cartagena we saw the lightning far away in the south each night–now we’re in the middle it. Last evening the flashes in the south looked like the finale of a new years eve fireworks… at three o’clock in the morning the squall reached us with gusts over 30 knots of wind, we… Continue reading »
2012
10
Aug
Islas de San Bernardo
We left the reef channel of Isla Grande this morning at 7 o’clock veeery carefully and then motored southwards through the Rosarios archipelago–unfortunately again there wasn’t enough wind for sailing. It became clear how the archipelago was named: the little islands really lie next to each other like pearls on a rosary. Each island has at least one house, sometimes the motto seems to be… Continue reading »
2012
09
Aug
Post-urban cleaning frenzy
After two weeks in Cartagena’s harbour Pitufa’s hull was overgrown with barnacles and algae under the waterline, the propeller was hardly recogniseable in its never-seen-before layer of barnacles (no wonder we didn’t get over 4.5 knots on the way here), the waterline was covered with a mixture of slime, algae, oil and whatever filth can be found in the harbour. We cleaned for several hours… Continue reading »
2012
08
Aug
Los Rosarios, Isla Grande
We’ve left the realm of the reliable trade winds we enjoyed so much since leaving the everchanging winds of the Med. The trades don’t reach southern Columbia, without wind it’s incredibly hot and as a prelude to the sailing in this area we had to motor against a very light southwesterly wind to reach the archipelago of the Rosarios, about 17 nm southwest of Cartagena.… Continue reading »
2012
07
Aug
Sailing down the Colombian coast
Setting off from Cartagena we’ll next cruise the Colombian coast and islands to the south. We enjoyed the bustling city life, but are now looking forward to anchoring in quiet bays again