Providencia & Santa Catalina

We left Linton Bay Marina on April 4th and sailed through Easter Sunday and arrived in Providencia on Monday morning around d 8:30am. The sail and winds were great, and we were on a close haul most of the time, one the same heading. We only ran the engine to boost the voltage for a few hours and arriving… otherwise it was all sail power.
We had a little bird, a swallow, stop on the Davits at the back of the boat, for a rest. So nice to see little creatures up close. It watched as we caught three Mahi-mahi in an 8 minute time span. They were small and a lot of work for Brian to fillet, but good eating!
The check in and out (Zarpe) of each country is a total pain in the ass. We had to use an agent again to check into Colombia, and we were meeting Mr Bush (72 years old) at the immigration dugout. An odd process where they video taped Brian giving the officer his passport, but more relaxed then other spots, perhaps because it was open air.
On Tuesday we went to Mr Bush’s store to pick up passports and we did some snorkeling (eels, rays and more).
On Wednesday we started approaching other boats to see if any were interested in travelling with us toward Honduras. Pierre (French) and Laura (Mexican) on Chogüi are going, but a more direct route through pirate land. Giorgio and Heyoung (Ladyhawke) are planning to go to Cayman ~ Canadian boat and they are Italian and Korean. We already knew Pura Vida (John-Michel and Kimberly) as they were beside us in Cartegena and are heading back.
We went to town and went to the hospital to check on my biopsy wound - it’s ok. Then continued walking and ended up at a Library. Brian was excited and we went back twice to donate 6-8 books in Spanish.
We stopped at a Cafe and meet Charlie Ottley (Film maker) and Guana from Romania (Transilvania). We invited them to the boat a day later and had sundowners, and then a couple games of pool back on the island. Interesting couple who film, Flavours of Romania.
The channel of the Bay is well marked with green and red bouts that flash in the night (and early morning), and for some reason make me feel safe. There is also a mother Mary statue on the hill above our anchorage (Fort Warwick, Santa Catalina). The island was hit hard by a hurricane in 2020 and is slowly rebuilding.
We did more snorkelling, visited lots of grocery stores, especially after the fruit boat arrived (and tried some new fruit including yellow dragon fruit). We discovered the ice cream store and went nearly everyday… and we walked to Almond Bay and beyond, then a few days later, we took a tuktuk to South West beach for an hour, and came back the opposite way, full traversing the island. It is beautiful and I wish we had taken more time to explore beyond what we could walk too.
Two more boats, Salty Dawgs who we knew, Brian on Pangolin and Chris and Fiona on Carioca arrived. We talked to them about a convoy, even though they were also going to Cayman… we could go as far as 18N and then divert WSW. We organized a WhatsApp group, messaged Chris Parker and held a meeting at the ice cream shop. Chris suggested waiting till Friday April 17th, the group wanted to leave on Wednesday (even though there wouldn’t be as much wind). We agreed with 8am Wednesday although Chris wasn’t happy and said we wouldn’t arrive till Monday to Honduras (**we arrived Saturday late afternoon).
We spent a lot of time polishing the stainless steel in the boat, and doing some boat chores. We also bought a machete and more wasp spray for potential pirates. I think we both just wanted to be on the other side of this passage as we had a heightened fear of pirates given what happened in Chiquita Beach.
One the last two days before we left, I cooked enough food for 6 nights… plus boiled eggs and salad for 2-3 nights. I was pleased that we had provisioned well and were ready to go.
The time before we left was filled out with fundraising and work with FTHS, plus teaching RWW classes, although when we are in Belize and Honduras it will be the same as Calgary time and much to early to teach anything but a 9/10am class (which will be 7am).
In all we spent 9 days in Providencia, and enjoyed the people, the ice cream/ frozen yogurt (with currents), getting the boat shiny, and getting some FTHS stuff completed, along with both business and personal taxes. Brian drew portraits of John-Michel and Kimberley (and they were thrilled to get them, asking that he sign them), and a pastel. He hurt his finger on the passage (not wrapping the Genoa furler sheet around the wench when letting it out), so guitar was more difficult. Arrived on a Monday and left in a convoy of 5 on the following Wednesday.Read more