Pitufa.at

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 had contradicting charts and information (according to the Garmin chart we are now anchored high up the hill directly on the border between Colombia and Panama…). Close to the entrance we were suddenly in a high north-easterly swell that threateningly broke on the reefs on both sides. We had to go over some shoals not indicated on our charts, but friendly fishermen told us not to worry and to proceed straight ahead where already 5 other sailing boats were anchored. After passing the reefs, the swell magically subsided even though the bay is open to the North-East and we dropped anchor in the loveliest bay we have seen since Pirate Bay in Tobago. Clear green waters, golden beaches with palm trees, lush rain forest on the mountains around and the colourful houses of the litte town 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 conditions in the Colombian basin We can’t really remember when we last sailed so comfortably. Leeloo even took a nap on the cool metal deck in the shade of the genoa, because it’s awfully hot inside the boat.

Now we have winds around 15 knots, are flying along with 6 knots, caught a fish for dinner(!) and hope that we’ll get to our last Colombian destination–the border town Sapzurro–without having to turn on the noisy, hot engine again.

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 we were in more than 10 metres of depth–not as reliable charts as we had hoped for… We proceded very slowly and cautiously, but where C-map indicates a pass, we couldn’t find any. Finally we gave up, anchored in our old spot on the southern side and spent another night on anchor watch in thunderstorms with winds around 25 knots from the south, waves building up and a threatening lee shore behind Pitufa’s stern. Pitufa pitched so violently that the bow roller dipped into the waves and water splashed over the deck. As lovely as the island is, we can’t really recommend anchoring here, without a plan B in case of southe rly winds or thunderstorms (which happen frequently).

We spent another day waiting for wind, getting some little jobs done yesterday and lifted the anchor today at 8 o’clock. We’re now leaving the archipelago through a maze of shoals and will hopefully find some wind outside to sail towards the Colombian border.

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 “the tinier the islet, the bigger the villa.”

As soon as we left the shallow waters of the archipelago behind us we let out the trolling lure. It had hardly touched the water, when a fish bit–dinner secured.

Shortly after noon we approached Isla Tintipan, one of the Islas de San Bernardo. A low island, covered in dense vegetation, a few villas with thatched roofs and private jetties, turquoise waters–an anchorage right to our taste

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Wir haben heute morgen um sieben Uhr Isla Grande gaaanz vorsichtig durch die Riffeinfahrt verlassen und sind durch die Rosarios suedwaerts getuckert – zum Segeln war leider wiederum nicht genug Wind. Dabei wurde uns auch klar, wie dieses Archipel zu seinem Namen gekommen ist: die kleinen Inseln liegen wirklich wie Perlen auf einem Rosenkranz neben einander. Auf jedem Inserl steht zumindest ein Haus, manchmal meint man auch das Motto lautet “je kleiner das Inserl, desto groesser die Villa”.

Sobald wir die Untiefen des Archipels verlassen hatten, warfen wir die Schleppangel aus. Sie hatte noch kaum das Wasser beruehrt, hing schon ein Fisch dran – Abendessen gesichert.

Kurz nach Mittag tasteten wir uns dann an die Isla Tintipan, einer der Islas de San Bernardo, heran. Eine ganz niedere Insel, dicht bewachsen, einige wenige strohgedeckte Villen mit Anlegesteg, davor leuchtet das Wasser tuerkis – ein Ankerplatz ganz nach unserem Geschmack

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.

We don’t have detailed charts of this area, but had to rely on the description of the channel through the reefs to an anchorage (Free guide of Columbia). “You’ll see a cement post” Right, there it is! “Leave it on your starboard side” Perfect, still 30 m deep here, “you’ll see another two posts, pass between them” Ok, going through, still 4 metres under the keel, 2 metres… “swing left” Ok, 1 metre, 0.5, not good! What now, left, straight?? 0.1, 0.0 CRUNCH.

We were going less than a knot at that point, reversed, got back into the channel and nothing happened. But the description definitely should have said: “Go through between the posts, THEN ANOTHER 30 METRES STRAIGHT, and then swing left… Anyway, inside the reef the canal is between 4 and 5 metres deep, we anchored there and spent a quiet night. Today 2 men in a small boat tried to persuade us to spend our last pesos on a necklace, but we bought two freshly caught fish from another boat instead for less money.

The bay is quite pretty, but there’s weekend villas all around it and small boats filled with tourists rush by. We’ll clean Pitufas hull and move on as soon as the wind looks strong enough to carry our heavy Smurfette to the next island.

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Wir haben das Reich des verlaesslichen Passatwinds verlassen, den wir so genossen haben, seitdem wir die staendig drehenden Winde des Mittelmeers hinter uns gelassen haben. Der Passat reicht nicht bis in den Sueden Kolumbien hinunter, ohne Wind ist es unglaublich heiss und als Auftakt zum Segeln in diesem Gebiet mussten wir die 17 Meilen bis zum Rosario Archipel suedwestlich von Cartagena gegen einen leichten Suedwestwind hinunter motoren.

Wir haben keine detaillierten Karten von dieser Gegend und mussten uns auf die Beschreibung des Kanals durch die Riffe zum Ankerplatz verlassen (Free Guide of Columbia). “Sie sehen einen Zementpfosten” Ja, da ist er! “Lassen Sie ihn auf Ihrer Steuerbordseite) Perfekt, immer noch 30 m tief, “Sie sehen zwei weitere Pfosten, fahren Sie zwischen diesen durch” Ok, sind durch, noch 4 Meter unterm Kiel, noch 2 Meter… “Biegen Sie nach links” Ok, 1 Meter, 0.5, nicht gut! Was jetzt, links, geradeaus?? 0.1, 0.0 RUMMS.

Wir waren mit weniger als 1 Knoten Fahrt unterwegs, kurz rueckwaerts und wir waren wieder im Kanal, nix passiert. Aber die Beschreibung sollte definitiv laufen: “Fahren Sie zwischen den 2 Pfosten durch, DANN WEITERE 30 METER GERADEAUS und dann links… Naja. Innerhalb des Riffs ist der Kanal zwischen 4 und 5 Metern tief, wir haben dort geankert und eine ruhige Nacht verbracht. Heute wollten uns schon zwei Maenner in einem kleinen Boot ueberreden, unsere letzten Pesos fuer eine Kette auszugeben, wir haben lieber bei einem anderen Boot 2 Fische fuer weniger Geld erstanden.

Die Bucht ist ganz huebsch, aber rundherum stehen Wochenendvillen und kleine Boote voller Touristen duesen vorbei. Wir werden Pitufas Rumpf putzen und sobald ein Wind aufkommt, der stark genug wirkt um unsere schwere Schlumpfine zu tragen, geht’s weiter zur naechsten Insel.