After Noxoma has spent more than three months in Aruba, with more than two of them on the hard, we were getting eager to start our second sailing season and continue our journey. As we got the boat ready for the first passage of the season, we realized that we probably should fresh up a couple of things…
We had a quiet passage from Aruba to Cartagena, with little wind. A little more motoring than we like, but all in all a good passage on a stretch that is said to have the worst weather conditions in the Caribbean and to be one of the top five hardest passages worldwide. This is due to the kalabatic winds that can come rushing down to the sea from the 5,710m high Sierra Nevada.
The most eventful happening on the passage was a visit from a bat, who refused to leave the boat for 24 hours. We suspect it arrived from a passing ship, as we were far offshore when it landed on Noxoma.
After a four night sail, we arrived around noon in Cartagena. It is the second largest city in the Caribbean, just after Barranquilla (which we passed along the way), and it is the fifth largest city in Colombia, with close to one million inhabitants. Approaching a large city like this, was a new experience to us. The majestic high rises of the city could be seen from afar, and approaching a buzzing port with lots of traffic from local boats is a little different than anchoring in small bays, which we tend to prefer.
Cartagena is a beautiful city, and has lots to offer. The city is named after Cartagena in Spain, and has played an important role during the Spanish colonial period. The town was fortified to protect the city against pirates as well as other countries’ armies. A great battle took place here between the Spanish and British armies in 1741.
It’s old town is the most popular tourist area in Cartagena, and is referred to as The Walled City. It is defined as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were anchored just by the old town, and had a beautiful view from our boat of both the cupolas of the old buildings as well as the iconic white high rises of the new part of town, Bocagrande.
We were in Cartagena from late October to early November, so in the middle of the rainy season. We experienced heavy rains on a couple of days and nights, but had plenty of sunny days as well. The city does not really have the infrastructure to handle all of the water from the downpours, so moving around the city right after a rainfall wasn’t always easy.
We met up with our friends Merce and Jaume from SY Ikaria in Cartagena as well, and enjoyed several city outings with them.
We spent quite a bit of time in the old town, just walking around and taking in the city. Lots of tourists, but we could definitely understand the attraction this city has on people both locally in Colombia and international travelers. You get culture and history together with sun and beaches at one place.
We spent quite some time looking for foldable bikes when we were in Bogotá. We found our desired bikes from the Canadian brand Tern, and had them shipped to us while we were in Cartagena. We enjoyed touring the last couple of days with our awesome new 🚲 🚲!
As our plan is to go from Cartagena to an island group in Panama, the San Blas / Guna Yala islands, we had to provision in Cartagena. We are planning to be on the islands until New Years, and expect two rounds of visiting friends during this time. Colombia is definitely an excellent place to fill up the boat with food and drinks! It is much less expensive than on the Caribbean islands, and the city also has great selection of everything you want.
Cartagena is a city with lots of partying. The most popular tourist outing is to go with speed boats to a group of islands, Islas Rosario, 20nm from the city. We witnessed the party boats leave every morning around 9 o’clock, and return in the evening. Colorful and loud!
After ten days in Cartagena, it was time to move on towards Panama, and the sailing paradise of the San Blas islands. On our way there, we plan to island hop along the Colombian coast, as there are several beautiful islands along the way.
Cartagena has treated us nice, sailing into a big city with all it has to offer has been a blast. But, we can’t wait to get into crystal clear waters again and get our much sought after swims.
Read more about our passage Aruba – Cartagena on the captain’s blog.