The Rosario Islands turned out to be much more than we could have ever hoped. We motored the short 15 miles to the islands and arrived there mid afternoon on Friday, May 14. We anchored in a small, sheltered bay close to the main island of Isla Grande.
We are in a beautiful spot! A tiny island lies at the entrance to the bay, it is almost completely covered by a beautiful two story pink house, and a few trees. I envy those who live in such a perfect place! We found out from the locals that it is called “The House That Is Never For Sale”, in Spanish it sounds nicer. The shoreline is dotted by several houses, some inhabited by locals. Others, larger and empty most of the time, are weekend retreats for wealthy Cartagenans. There is one hotel, with a pool built into the long dock over the water.
The water in the bay is a lovely turquoise with a sandy bottom. We have done some snorkelling but the visibility is not great. Mangroves line the shore, along with a few palm trees. We are completely self sufficient here. We practically live in our bathing suits, as we swim at least two to four times a day. It is hot and sunny most days, so jumping into the water is a great way to cool off. The water is quite a bit warmer than it was in Aruba and in the bays on the way down to Cartagena. We have all our shower supplies on deck, and rinse off with fresh water after we bathe. Our water maker is up and running, Greg keeps the tank pretty much full. What little laundry I have, I can wash in our little machine, it smells so good after hanging to dry in the fresh air, especially towels and sheets!
We provisioned well in Cartagena, but after a week our fresh produce is gone, except for potatoes, onions and limes. We have a good supply of staples: canned and dried, pasta and rice, and yesterday I baked a batch of fresh buns. We have treated ourselves to lobster a couple of times. The day after we arrived, canoes with local men came by offering fish and lobster for sale. It was a real treat that night! Sunday at lunchtime, I was just saying to Greg, what a beautiful spot this was, just like paradise, when along comes a canoe with an umbrella. It was a floating seafood restaurant! The two locals had a board across the canoe for a table, which was covered in small Styrofoam plates filled with fresh lobster and shrimp. They sprinkled on fresh squeezed lime, some seafood sauce and a few crackers, and for $5 US a plate, we enjoyed a lunch better than at any fancy restaurant. Greg was impressed at their entrepreneur spirit, what a great idea!
Since then, Greg and the boys have been out spear fishing and diving, hunting for lobster, crab and fish. So far, they have only succeeded in bringing back a few small appetizer size fish. They keep watching to see where the locals go, and will keep trying. Greg and Brett even dug out their dive gear one day, but still didn’t see any lobsters. Greg donned his dive gear to check the bottom of the boat as well. He was horrified to see that our large zinc for the prop, which he replaced in Aruba, along with all three bolts, was gone! He doesn’t think it fell off, because it was secured well. He suspects someone stole it. In Cartagena we had our bottom cleaned several times, and there were often locals in the water.... so who knows. We didn’t have a spare, as they are hard to get, but we still had the old one, or what was left of it, so he put that one back on, and secured it with the bolts and lock wire, so we know there is no way this one can come off, without difficulty. For those who don’t know, zincs serve to pacify the electrolysis effect of the ocean. In short, they keep our boat from being rusted away.
We run the generator several times a day to charge batteries and make ice. Refrigeration is working well; we turn it off for night as it runs down the batteries, but being cold plate refrigeration, everything still stays cold or frozen. We even had a garbage boat come by to pick up our garbage. We didn’t have a lot, as all of our food scraps go overboard, so it’s mostly packaging, cans and bottles. I rinse out the meat packaging so it doesn’t smell after sitting in the hot sun a few days. I wash out and reuse all of our Ziplocks, until they fall apart or get holes in them. They are expensive here!
There is a fair bit of traffic in the bay, just enough to keep life interesting, but not too much as do destroy the peacefulness. Water taxis come by at 7:00 a.m. to pick up neatly dressed women for work, uniformed children for school; and return them before dark, usually around 5:30. The odd powerboat comes by to check things out, and one day two boats anchored beside us for the afternoon, enjoying the water and sunshine.
We celebrated Dylan’s 13th birthday on Saturday, May 15. He is officially a teenager. We spoiled him on his day; the galley wench spent most of the day in the galley preparing all of his favourite dishes. He had an “Uncle Bob” breakfast, waffles with berries and whipped cream....mmmnnn good! Dinner was his favourite food, fish of course! Brett and I shopped for all the necessary supplies the day before we left Cartagena. We had blackened salmon, which Dylan helped prepare, using a recipe from his dog-earred fishing book. We had lobster, from the fisherman, dipped in butter. I made the boys’ favourite rice dish, Bahamian Rice and Peas, and Dylan’s favourite veggies and salad, Carrots l’ Orange, and Caesar Salad. For dessert, I baked a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. We were so stuffed we could barely look at food the next day! Brett got Dylan a set of Lego. I know what you are all thinking, but boys will be boys and they really miss their Lego, even though they are teenagers! They have had a blast building all kinds of things, mostly boats, catamarans and sailboats, and making sails for the boats with paper towels and toothpicks. Greg and I got Dylan some fishing stuff, surprise, surprise! We even decorated the boat with balloons, which were a blast to play with in the water, and I dug out our pool noodles. It was a great day, which ended with a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movie.
Brett and Dylan have been doing really well on their schoolwork. In Cartagena I was able to find a great web site for schoolwork for Dylan. He seems to have mastered Algebra, with the assistance of Brett, who is an absolute whiz at Math, and a great helper. That being said, Dylan absolutely hates Math and all schoolwork in general. They both get at their schoolwork first thing in the morning, so it is out of the way and we can go swimming, etc., and get on with our day. We all read voraciously, and share the same books. It’s almost like our own book club, we discuss the books we’ve read, what we liked and didn’t like, etc. We exchange books at every opportunity with other cruisers, who are always anxious to exchange books with each other, as none of us can afford to buy new ones! We read fiction and non-fiction, mostly mysteries, and of course, anything to do with sailing. Recently, I came across the book “Innocent Traitor”, about Lady Jane Gray, the House of Tudor in the 16th Century and Henry VIII, and his wives. It was so interesting, and will be a great history lesson for the guys. I am not allowed to refer to them as “boys” anymore, so when I say “guys”, I am referring to Brett and Dylan.
Of course, it can’t be all play and no work, especially for El Capitano. He has been working on the floors in the galley and salon. In the galley between the sink and the forward head, a few pieces of teak flooring had come loose. They have been like that for a while, as repairing them was really low on the priority list. I am happy to say that they have finally come to the top of the list. Greg sanded the edges and glued them down, and it looks perfect! The salon was a different story. Remember all the water that wasn’t supposed to come into the boat, but did? Well, most of it ended up in the salon. In Cartagena, a section of the floor started to buckle, so Greg knew something had to give. He tried drilling holes in the floor from the engine room, and squirting in the epoxy, and then in the salon, weighed down the floor with our water jugs from the deck. Nope, didn’t work. So, yesterday, Friday, we had our first rainy day. Seemed like a good time to fix the salon floor. He ripped up a good chunk of the teak pieces, and in some places, parts of the plywood underlay came off as well. He got out his belt sander, and cleaned it all up, and then, after sanding the edges of each piece, put the puzzle back together. We were all used as ballast for the rest of the day, as we took turns sitting on a bucket of oil, to weigh down the pieces as the glue dried. It was worth it, as it looks great again.
Week 2:
Today is Sunday, May 30, and we are up and preparing to leave the Rosarios. We are heading back to Cartagena to Club Nautico for a couple of days, to provision, and then are going to Baru, a small island just north of the Rosarios. It is supposed to be beautiful and quiet. We have had a great time here. We befriended a few of the locals. A young Spanish couple, Francesco and Juliana, came by in their dinghy one day. They are originally from Cartagena, but are now both lawyers in New York, so their English is excellent. They were here vacationing at his family’s cottage on the shore, and invited us over for wine and snacks later that afternoon. We had a really nice visit, and their staff prepared some local snacks for us, which was a nice treat. Afterwards, we climbed aboard their 20 foot boat, powered by dual 115 HP engines, and they took us on a tour of the area. The next morning Francesco swam over to have a tour of our boat, and then we all went snorkelling. Unfortunately for us, they had to head back to Cartagena that afternoon. It was great meeting them, and learning more about the area. We also befriended one of the local fishermen, an older fellow. We have bought fish, lobster and crab from him a few times. We were running low on pesos, so we added a few things to make up the cash shortage, a ball cap, my freshly baked buns (he loved these!), some packs of cookies, and chips, and of course, some cervesa. The arrangement worked out well for both of us! Also, a few times during our stay here, two little local kids have paddled out to us on an old surfboard. They greet Greg with the only English they know: Hello! Good Morning! Candy? So, each time they come by we give them a small Ziploc with some gummi’s and cookies. Greg calls them the “Candy Bandits”!
We have done more snorkelling this week, and one day Greg and the guys went diving on a plane wreck, just around the corner. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn’t great, but it was a great experience. Brett has made a video of the dive, and will upload it onto You Tube, we will let you know when it is there. We had a fair bit of rain this week, mostly during the night and morning. One night we had a squall come through, we got about a foot of rain that night. The winds pelted the rain through the portholes, so we had to close everything up. Our salon hatch leaked quite a bit, so that is another project for Greg to attend to. Our brass lamp hangs beside it, and unfortunately got wet in the downpour, and stopped working. The bulb was stuck, and after finally getting it out, Greg discovered the culprit was a broken wire. He completely dismantled the lamp, and will get the necessary parts back in Cartagena. It will be a good opportunity to give all the parts a good cleaning before it is put back together again. We think this lamp is original to the boat, so it would be 31 years old, and a beautiful piece.
We had a wonderful time in the Rosarios, and made many great memories!
No comments:
Post a Comment