dommyp – Page 5 – Sailing Azimuth

January 17, 2024January 17, 2024

My strangest gig ever?!

Last time we left you on Xmas day in the stunning Islas Pinos. This time we will travel a little further in to the Kuna Yana or the San Blas islands and tell you about our adventures.

We spent a couple more days in Islas Pinos and then decided to move North to a place called Bahia Masagandi. We had a lovely sail taking a long tack out from the island and a close reach took us past a real stereotypical desert island, called Iguana Island stuck out in the shallow reefs.

We had to keep one eye on the intermittent depth sounder, when it worked the depths alarmingly jumped from a safe 17m or so to patches of only 6 metres under the keel. We had to rely on the Bauhaus charts again here, because our CMAP charts were still only a crude blocky representation of the land with no depth soundings at all. Sailing in the San Blas has been wonderful so far. Force 4 winds whisk you across the boystrous seas that sparkle in the sunshine and change colour from deep menacing black through to azure blues depending on the bottom you are crossing.

Eventually we reached the headland guarding the entrance to Masargandi and headed more downwind through a narrow channel between two islands. Reefs showed themselves on either side of us with breaking white waves. We turned in to a wide open beautiful bay with mountains on one side covered in thick impenetrable rainforest and jungle.

Eventually the wind died and on came the engine for the (easy?) approach in to the Bay. I was following what looked like a 15m deep channel on the chart quite relaxed when there is a monstrous bang and Azimuth lurched a shook for a second and slowed markedly! Looking over the side, we saw the ominous light blue colour of a coral head. We had grounded! Arghh! Azimuth still had forward momentum and no sooner had the coral head shown itself than it disappeared in to a dark blue colour. Talk about a wake up call! Engine revs immediately to zero while we flapped about looking overboard for the sign of other coral head nasties. We wavered around, but nothing else was to be seen.

Our track to our anchorage whilst very slow was uneventful and we dropped the hook in 10metres. For the entire time, our depth sounder had failed to work! Oh well it’s a fickle beast, and I guess the next time we have Azimuth pulled out of the water, I will do something about fitting a new one.

We got on the radio and let our other two buddy boats Sirena and Coral Moon know about the position of the rock, so they would be able to take avoiding action. I got the hookah out straight away and dived the keel to survey the damage. I am glad to report that apart from the removal of the anti-foul and a foot long white stripe along the starboard side of the front of the keel, there was no other damage. A lucky escape indeed.

Having satisfied myself that Azimuth would live another day, the adrenaline subsided, the heavens opened, our friends arrived and we looked out the windows at the beauty and remoteness of Masargandi.

That afternoon, Mark and Donna on Coral moon invited us out on a dinghy expedition to explore the mangroves at the bottom of the bay. What a special place, we motored our dinghies through the warren of mangroves that closed in to narrow passages and opened out in wide open bays. Birds took off from the bushes as we disturbed them. Not a crocodile in sight though.

Exploring the mangroves in Masargandi

We had a couple of nights enjoying the peace and tranquillity of this place and stayed another night on our own after our friends had left.

New Years eve arrived and we had agreed to meet with the other cruisers at a place called Mamatipu for the celebration together. We set sail, very carefully avoiding “Azimuth Rock” which I had marked with a skull and crossbones on my chart plotter! Another exhilarating close hold whisked us along the cost to a small island covered in huts and a very pretty azure blue bay full of people in dug out canoes. Mamatipu is a very traditional Kuna Indian village, and after we arrived, all the cruisers were invited to meet the village chief and hear the “ground rules” for our visit to their island.

We also met Pablo for the first time. Pablo speaks very good English, because he had actually lived in the UK for 6 years where he was married to an English woman he had met in Panama. She had arrived on a yacht. Pablo explains that he was expelled from the village when he requested that he wanted to marry this woman. Kuna tradition expressly forbids relationships with foreigners. So he was forced to leave. In the end it didn’t work out for Pablo in the UK and he eventually returned to his home village and married a Kuna woman.

So that afternoon, Pablo took us on a tour of the village and we realised how densely populated it was for an island that is about a mile square. 400 adults and 1200 children lived in thatched huts. In the centre of the village was a huge thatched hut called the “Congresso” where it was mandatory for everyone to meet everyday. We got such a warm welcome from everyone and were surrounded by kids pointing at us and saying ‘grande’ (tall), all of us blokes were over 6 feet tall, and stood at least a head over the tallest Kuna Indian.

We were eventually directed to the chiefs hut and sat at a table outside. We shook hands with the chief and then his aide explained about the community in near perfect English, and talked about the celebrations that were happening over the next few days. He invited us to make a donation to the celebration which we all did, and the chief gave us his blessing and explained that we were free to roam the village and would be safe.

Pablo invited us to celebrate New Year with him and his wife in his compound next to the beach. He arranged for cold beer to be delivered and a fisherman supplied 10 lobsters, octopus and conch shells for a meal. We arrived that evening bearing stuff for the party. Lights were placed around the hut and tables set up. Pablo and a couple of the cruisers got a fire going using coconut husks as kindling and Pablo built a cooking frame from bits of metal salvaged from an old satellite dish!

It was a beautiful evening. A strong breeze blew across the beach and the sky was lit up by the stars. The beer was flowing freely. It took an hour or so to cook all the food and set up a long table where we all sat and had a delicious meal of lobster with side dishes that we had all bought from the boats. What a place to celebrate! I for my part had bought my guitar and songbook from the boat, and after a few more beers demands were made to get the guitar out! Ailsa and I sang our hearts out and everyone sang along, much to the amusement of Pablo and his wife. It was a lot of fun. The time flew by, we had celebrated UK new year and the Dutch new year already earlier that evening and now we celebrated Kuna New year at midnight.

Pablo announced it was time for us to go in to the village and see everyone. He told me to bring my guitar too. What a crazy experience was to follow. We were all pretty drunk, and I have never felt so welcome. Everyone in the village was out partying from the babies up to the village elders as we wound our way through the narrow streets with shouts from and to everyone of “Feliz Ano”! Pablo stopped at a hut where a bunch of elder guys were sat. He pulled up a chair for me and said play us a song! So I got the guitar out. A huge crowd appeared as we started “Jackson” by Johnny Cash. It was definitely not my best rendition but none the less a huge cheer went up a the end and demands were made for another song. We complied with a number by 4 non blondes with the cruisers singing along. Hand on heart I claim this as the strangest gig I have ever played! I think I shook everyone’s hand to shouts of Feliz Ano. It took at least an hour to go round the whole village, and it will be an experience I wont forget for a long time.

We got back to the boat at 2am. That’s incredibly late for us! Cruisers bedtime is normally around 9pm! Ailsa had a small incident getting back to the boat, she did what we affectionately call a ‘Jane’ one foot on the beach and one foot in a moving dinghy resulted in an almost complete fully clothed immersion in the sea. At least its warm here!

The next day was a very slow one. Much moping around. Been a while since we had a hangover. Our Dutch friends on Sirena arrived that evening with a huge bowl of Lobster Bisque that Linda had made from all the lobster shells that was delicious. Thanks Linda!

A day to recover and we were off again working our way further up the coast towards the Colon. It was another exhilarating sail, weaving through tight passages between small islands and reefs and past more Kuna villages. We arrived at Golondrina Bay, so called because in the guide book, it claimed the bay was full of Golondrina birds a local type of smallish heron. It was a nice anchorage with a very narrow entrance, and we took the dinghy out to explore. The bay was lined with mangroves, and we did see a few of the birds.

We decided to move on again the next day and headed through another narrow passage between reefs out in to the open ocean. A fantastic sail whisked us up the coast through more reefs until we arrived at a magical desert island anchorage at the isle of Aridup.

Aridup was surrounded by a boisterous reef and other satellite islands. The anchorage was roly, but we decided to give it a go, just because it was so spectacular. That afternoon we headed in towards the small strip of beach near the anchorage in the dinghy. We quickly had to do a u-turn as it shallowed up to a wall of reef. It seemed impenetrable, so we motored in the deeper water offshore and eventually made our way in to another bay and rowed the last section to a beautiful unspoilt beach.

The pelicans were swooping across the bay and diving in to catch fish. The sea was lightly lapping the shore and the breeze was blowing through the coconut palms. Truly a magical place.

We got a visit from some guys in a canoe and they sold us a fish for tea. Another guy sold us some coconuts. This really is an amazing place to visit by boat.

The next day I dusted off the snorkelling gear and headed out over the reef for some of the best snorkelling I have seen since leaving the UK.

It was still roly though! Our friends on Coral Moon, Donna and Mark had moved to another place very close to us called Snug Habour, so after two nights of rolling outside Aridup, we pulled up the hook and headed the 2.5 miles to Snug Harbour and a meetup.

Another amazing anchorage awaited. This one a huge flat lagoon surrounded by several small islands and reefs. Apparently this harbour had been used by boats for hundreds of years trading for coconuts. We ended up spending 4 nights here, just relaxing, and enjoying a few drinks with our neighbours on Coral Moon.

More fish was had this time traded for beer! A boat load of fisherman turned up who looked like they had already had one beer to many, but they were happy to trade 3 beers for a couple of delicious red snapper. A bargain in our opinion!

We moved on again a few days later. The wind had been quite strong for a couple of days and the sea outside the reef was rough but then the wind dropped and the sea state settled a bit. We set off and after an attempt to sail in no wind, eventually turned on the engine for a 15 mile passage to Farewell Island. We dropped the hook just off a desert island with a long sandy spit off one end. We took the dinghy into shore to go and investigate.

Another amazing place all to ourselves. We were able to walk out several hundred metres along the spit and still the water was only up to my waist. A really spectacular place.

After one night on our own at Farewell Island, we moved on again to a small group of Islands called Sabudopored. Now we had arrived at the edge of the central San Blas islands where all the cruisers hang out. It feels strange to be sharing an anchorage with lots of other boats. At least there is loads of room. Mark and Donna on Coral Moon are anchored next to us, and we have been taking dinghy rides out to the islands around us. The other day we had a picnic together on the beach! This place truly is paradise!

Join us next time as we explore some more of the San Blas Islands and work our way towards Colon. We will going through the Panama Canal on the 23^rd February!

January 17, 2024February 13, 2024

Plans have an annoying habit of changing!

Well, I was pretty certain of our plans for 2024, but they did all hinge on one crucial factor. To enter the USA by boat, you have to have a B2 Visa. Normally anyone from the UK entering the USA does so by air, and in that scenario, you apply online for an ESTA or visa waiver. We kind of knew we had to sort out the USA visa, and we had planned to apply and get it sorted in Panama. Well imagine our surprise when we went through the long and drawn out process to find that the wait for the required in person interview at the Panama Embassy was 350 days! Yes, a whole year! Damn. We have to be out of Panama by March 21^st. No way that we can wait for that kind of time. It turns out that the waiting time in other countries of Central America and South America are even worse. 800 days in Mexico!

So, the upshot of this calamity is that it is not going to be possible for us to travel to Hawaii or Alaska this year. Once we had got over the disappointment and shock, we decided on an alternative strategy. Instead of heading North, we now plan to head South instead…. We hope to get a B2 Visa for America somewhere on route, and then we can get to America in 2025. Fingers and toes are crossed.

Here’s the plan as it stands. Subject to change!

Jan / Feb 2024 Cruising the San Blas Islands

Feb 23^rd 2024 Transit the Panama Canal!

March At anchor in Panama City

March 21^st Sail to French Polynesia (3500 miles)

May 2024 Arrive Marquese Islands

May – Oct 2024 Explore French Polynesia & Cook Islands in South Pacific

Nov 2024 Sail to New Zealand

It’s a rough plan again, but it gives you an idea, and of course if anyone wants to come and join us anywhere on this route, let us know!

Dom & Ailsa

SV Azimuth

January 1, 2024January 17, 2024

Exploring the San Blas Islands

Last time we left you we were still in Cartagena in Colombia. It was time to pull up the anchor and set sail for Panama. We visited our local supermarket to stock up on supplies. As far as we had gathered, the San Blas islands are very remote and there are very few shops or places to get anything. Similarly we need some US dollars to get us from Cartagena to the next to the next potential ATM in Panama which could be at least a month or 6 weeks away. THe only way to get this money was to take the cash out of the ATM in Colombian pesos and then go to one of the myriad of small money exchange places in the old town and ‘do a deal’. So we were a bit nervous carrying 3500,000 pesos all in 50,000 pesos notes, a huge stack! All the money exchange places have glass windows pretty much straight on to the street, so agreed a price (which was actually reasonable) in exchange for US dollars and then stuff all those notes through the hole at the glass window. A few minutes later, the guy had finished counting out the $730 dollars and pushed that back through the window where I tried to stuff it in to my rucksack as fast as possible and disappear in to the streets without being observed! Thankfully we got away with it.

Our friendly marine agent Jose Bonillo organised our checkout for the next day, got our passports stamped and produced our Zarpe, the document you need to check the boat in to the next port. Our next port was to be Puerto Obaldia right on the border of Panama and Colombia. This port we had heard was one of the easiest places to check in to Panama and it also had the advantage that we would be able to sail North up the Panama coast and see all of the San Blas islands, hopefully on a nice beam reach.

Documents in hand, we waved goodbye to Cartagena, pulled up the hook and set off. The growth on our chain was something to behold!

We decided to stop again in the Rosario islands and wait for a weather window to get south. Thankfully the Colombian customs don’t seem to mind yachts stopping for a few days at the islands on the way South. We had a fantastic sail to Rosario and dropped the hook in the same place we had been before.

It took me three days to de-barnacle poor Azimuth’s bottom! Incredible amount of growth including huge mats of mussels languishing on the keel!

We were in the Rosarios for a week in the end, as the wind disappeared and then turned North so that it was coming from where we wanted to go. Eventually the wind gods aligned and the weather looked perfect for a 24 hour sail south.

Off we set early at sunrise and picked our way through the reefs on what looked like a very promising morning.

The wind sort of died about 20 miles south and there was an annoying swell on the beam which made Azimuth loll around in a bad temper, bashing the sails and slowly making progress at 3 knots. As the afternoon heat built up, so did the wind and soon we found ourselves on a wonderful beam reach doing nearer 7 knots. This was more like it, although that swell was still there. We have often found that the wind picks up in the Caribbean after sunset and that’s what happened again. Steadily the wind built up, and up, and up! The Radar showed a whole line of squalls in our vicinity on a collision course with Azimuth. By this time we are doing 9 to 10 knots, but given our mainsail ripping experience on the passage between Trinidad and Curacao, we were both nervous about going anywhere near a squall especially as the wind was already force 6 at this point. So we furled away the Genoa and our speed dropped to about 6 knots on just a reefed main. We managed somehow to shoehorn ourselves through the line of squalls. The sea was pretty angry though and we took a few waves over the deck and rolled around. We both felt tired and a little sea sick and there was not much chance of getting any sleep. At first light, things always look better, but then the radar showed a big squall that we couldn’t avoid, off our starboard bow. It was an angry looking sky in the dim light and sure enough the rain started to pour and the wind to howl. The sea turned white around us as the tops of the waves blew off. Azimuth didn’t seem to care. Still with just the mainsail, I turned a little more downwind and enjoyed surfing waves at 10 knots for 20 minutes!

We approached Puerto Obaldia with some trepidation. The reports say that the anchorage is very roly at the best of times and we could see huge rollers heading in to the bay. Another yacht entered in front of us and made its way in. It turns out our CMAP charts are totally useless in this area, and so when I saw an uncharted rock off the headland of the bay pretty much where I had my way-point, I decided, no way! We made a sharp turn to port and headed back over the border to Colombia battling along the coast in force 6. We were both very happy to sea the little fishing village of Sapzurro in a perfectly protected bay just round the corner. Dropping the anchor felt a great relief!

After a great nights sleep, the fatigue of the last 24 hours washed away, the world felt good again! The wind had died to nothing, the sun was out with the occasional rain shower and the forecast looked good. Time to have another try at Puerto Obaldia. Up came the hook and we motored off round the stunning headland, to be hit by more rain! It is the tropics I guess. Arriving at Puerto Obaldia we didn’t know what to make of it?

The town was more like a little village of ramshackle houses and the port was a couple of jetty’s sticking out. However, the swell was still huge entering the bay, making the anchorage very undesirable. We dropped the hook in 10 metres and put out 60 metres of chain to make sure. Azimuth swung in the swell and dropping the dinghy and getting in it was a very tricky operation. Azimuth was bouncing up and down and slamming her back in to the waves right next to the dinghy. We slowly made our way to one of the docks and some really nice military guys helped us moor up and climb on to the rough concrete. There wasn’t much to the town really and it was swamped with water rushing off the rain soaked hills. We found a shop where we could get photocopies done of our paperwork and passports and then headed to immigration. All very easy and efficient. Then we were directed to the Port Capitan’s Office to get the boat checked in. A huge pile of paperwork was handled with a huge smile. One piece had at least 10 copies all of which had to be stamped in duplicate. He was a lovely chap and clearly happy in his work. Liberated of 220 dollars we were sent on our way. A quick visit to a ramshackle supermarket and we braved the boat trip back to Azimuth and negotiated the bucking back deck.

Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves then, up goes the Panama courtesy flag and off we set on the San Blas adventure. Just to help the sun came out and lit up the coast. It’s a stunningly beautiful place. Not what I imagined at all. The terrain in mountainous, covered in thick lush topical rainforest, shrouded in mist.

The sea is striped in deep blues and light turquoise around the reefs. Our first stop was to be the magnificent Puerto Escoses.

A huge bay surrounded on all sides by impenetrable jungle with some wood huts on stilts built by the local Kuna indians. In 1699 the Scottish arrived at this bay and set up a village and a fort at the entrance which they called Fort Andrews. It was not to be a successful mission to set up a new outpost and at least 2000 of the 3000 Scots were to die from hunger and disease. An interesting story to read about if you have chance and a catastrophe that would eventually lead to the formation of the United Kingdom.

For us though, this place was heaven! It felt so remote and we had the whole place to ourselves.

Soon after dropping the hook, we were visited by our first Kuna Indian. He came paddling his dugout canoe, singing to himself in the rain. Pulled up to Azimuth and we managed to actually have a brief conversation. The charge was $10 to stay for up to a month. Also he asked if we would charge up his mobile phones?! Of course we said. He said he would pick them up later and off he went.

True to his word he turned up later that evening and collected the phones and in exchange presented us with two freshly picked coconuts still in their husks! Good deal I say!

I had some fun trying to get in to those the next day. They were most succulent coconuts I have ever had. Delicious. I hope for many more.

The nest day another boat turned up. It was a British boat called Coral Moon and on-board were Donna and Mark. A really lovely couple, and we have so far been travelling together ever since.

By now it was getting pretty close to Christmas, and whilst Puerto Escoses was such a tempting place to stay, there was very little phone signal, and we both wanted to be able to talk to family on Christmas day so we decided to head a little further North where there are a couple of Kuna Villages, one of them with a radio mast.

I mentioned that the CMAP charts were useless. Thankfully we have a copy of the excellent cruisers guide to Panama by Bauhaus. Some clever sailor has also converted to the charts in this book in to a format for OpenCPN. These charts are very detailed and so far have been (fairly) reliable. The next villages North of us were tucked in between a chain of islands creating an inside passage of very protected water. Leaving Scotland bay the sea was still quite boisterous but as we came in to protection of the island group the sea flattened to glassy flat and we sailed our way through the narrow channel in a wide open vista.

Our first look at a Kuna village, they are incredible. Taking up all of a small islands space and virtually at sea level, the villages are a collection of thatched huts and some concrete houses, crammed as close together as possible and taking up all available of space.

We dropped our hook about half a mile off one of these villages.

It was much busier with lots of dugouts and longboats, some with outboards running around between the two villages. Most of the them detoured to take a look at us, and everybody waved enthusiastically with huge smiles. Quite a few decided to pay us a visit too! One 10 year old boy pulled up with a boat of 4 year old kids to say hello. They appreciated the Chupa Chup lollies we had on-board. We got visited by the local nutter who we couldn’t understand a word he said. We got visited by people asking for Gasoline.

This continued all afternoon, but the best was saved until last. Just as the sun was going down and we thought we were safe for the night another long boat speeds up to us with 6 guys on it screaming hello and can they take a photo?? Of course I say. So they all jump up on deck! It appears these guys have probably had a skin full. A couple were struggling to stand up. They proceeded to drape themselves all over the boat and take photos. I tried to strike up a conversation. They wanted to know where we were from. Inglaterra I say… which the all seemed to like and started shouting Beckham, Beckham! Then I asked them if they celebrated Xmas here, and that started shouts of Feliz Navidad for the next 10 minutes and lots of laughter. They were great fun. We took lots more photos and one of me on the back with them all. Then they jumped back in their boat and headed off at great speed for the next village with promises that they would return the next day! Ailsa and I headed to make our tea, somewhat shell shocked but with a big smile on our faces too!

We had one more journey to make for our final destination for Xmas. That was the island of Pinos where the Radio Tower is.

We had said we would meet the Coral Moon there too as there apparently was a little beach bar there, perfect to toast in Xmas day.

Another beautiful sail saw us arrive at Pinos Island, what a spectacular place. Very protected again, and a small village with a beach and the “bar” on stilts over the water.

Coral moon showed up that afternoon, and we took a trip to the village together and then went to the bar for sundowner beers. What a way to spend Xmas Eve!

Xmas Day arrived, and we were woken at 6:45am by our lovely children in the UK! I think it might have been punishment for being so far away! It was lovely to see all the family on WhatsApp and share with some of their day. They all went to pub for lunch. It looked like great fun to us. We wish we could have been there too.

We managed to cobble together a reasonable xmas dinner too….

During the afternoon, a couple more boats turned up, one of whom we had been anchored next too in Spanish Waters, Rolf and Andre on Rebel Rebel, and Bjorn and Linda on Sirena. We all went to the bar for Xmas afternoon / evening and had a lovely time, and the we went back to Coral Moon with Mark and Donna and properly toasted in Xmas day!

That’s all for now folks. See you again soon with more tales from the San Blas.

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024

Happy New Year & Plans for 2024

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! How’s the hangover?

We hope you all have had a great festive season, and properly manage to celebrate the turn of another year.

We have some exciting plans for 2024. We are currently working our way North in Panama’s beautiful San Blas Islands. You can read about our experiences in my other post. Eventually we plan to get to Colon which is the town at the entrance to the Panama Canal. We then hope to transit the Canal which hopefully will be a painless experience. We are both excited at the prospect of reaching the Pacific and all the adventures that await us there. So much to explore and so many far off places that seem along way from the UK. We shall set off towards the end of March on that adventure. The first stop will be Hawaii which we hope to reach sometime in early May after a 4500-5000 mile ocean passage. It will be our longest passage to date. We will stay in Hawaii until about the middle of June when we will set sail for Alaska, arriving in early July. We then have all summer to explore Alaska and work our way South to British Columbia in Canada through the inside passage of the pacific coast. We hope to be in Vancouver or Seattle by late 2024, where we will get Azimuth hauled out and tucked up when we return to to the UK for a couple of months.

So if anyone wants to come and visit us, or even join us on an ocean passage? Here’s approximately where we will be:

January – March	Panama
End Feb / Early March	Transit Panama Canal
Late March – Early May	Sailing Panama to Hawaii
May – Mid June	Hawaii
Mid June – Early July	Sailing Hawaii to Alaska
Early July – November	Alaska and then British Columbia, Canada
Mid to Late November	Haul out in Vancouver or Seattle and return to UK

2024 Plans

All the best

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

December 24, 2023December 24, 2023

Feliz Navidad from the San Blas!

Merry Xmas to one and all! Just a quick post to wish you all the best for the season. We made it to the beautiful San Blas Islands in Panama and have installed ourselves in a fantastic anchorage. Just to make you all jealous, the flat sea is a crystal turquoise blue, the wind is gently breezing through the boat and the palm trees on the shore, and the temperature is a balmy 29 degrees. Don’t think its gonna be a white Xmas here??!

We will catch up again with you all soon and tell you some more about the San Blas as well as our plans for 2024 in the Pacific! Maybe we can tempt a few of you to come and join us somewhere?

Best wishes for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023

Improving our Spanish in Cartagena!

Hi to everyone. Sorry its been a while since I last did a post. Last time we chatted we had just arrived in Cartagena. This time, we have been here in Cartagena for almost two months are actually in the process of preparing to leave. So let me tell you about what we have been up to for the last few weeks. Well to be truthful, not a great deal! We have both been ill! The heat here is unbelievable and that wipes you out, meaning you don’t feel like doing much either. That given though, we do still have a few things to tell you all…

We have been really trying to get to grips with the Spanish. Duolingo to the rescue and we spend a good deal of the day trying to talk to each other in Spanish too. The problem comes when ever we meet any locals. They speak here at the speed of a machine gun! A stream of words leaves us mostly completely clueless, and we fumble along somehow. Its getting better though slowly, and we both feel a little more confident in our language abilities. At least we’re trying right??!

So like I said, we have both been ill to the point where we couldn’t stray far from a toilet for any length of time… something got us good! We ended up spending a least two weeks feeling sorry for ourselves with the occasional trip to the supermarket to resupply and little else. Guess its one of the downsides of the tropics. Lots of nasty bugs waiting to get you. All that has been put aside now though and we are back fighting the good fight again.

A few weeks ago, we decided to take a jaunt down to the nearby Rosario Islands to get away from the city for a bit, but mostly to make some water in a sea that was not a deep soupy green colour and full of rubbish and oil like it is here in Cartagena. Not good for the watermaker filters, or probably for your health either.

So we pulled up the chain, scraped off a million barnacles (more on that later) and motored our way out of the bay. Its a beautiful skyline and we are lucky to have this as the backdrop to our anchorage. The locals call it little Miami.

Azimuth felt a little sluggish after only 3 weeks of sitting in the green soup water. Her bottom was clean when we arrived. The growth was unbelievably fast in that time.

It only took a few hours to get to the Rosario Islands, and it really was very pretty anchorage. A difficult entrance through shallow reefs and a huge wide open bay that felt exposed, but was actually very sheltered.

The heat built up through the day and the skies in the afternoons were huge, and full of energy, lightening and thunder!

The water was flat calm and crystal clear, so I spent about two days scraping all those barnacles off the bottom. Thanks to our sailing buddy John from Portishead who gave me the hooker system back in Portugal. I managed to get it working properly recently and used it for the first time here. It was dead good! Basically it is a compressor with a diving regulator and a line which allows me to dive for extended time under the boat and scrape away.

We had a lovely week of swimming, eating fish bought from the local fisherman and enjoying the fantastic sunsets

After a week or so we headed back to Cartagena. There was still more to see here, and so we took a trip to the biggest fort in the town, the Castillo de San Fellipe de Barajas. This huge fort was started in 1536 and expanded on over the next 200 years where the place was improved after several attacks over this period. Its a bizarre place, built on a natural hill but looking for all intents and purposes as manmade and commanding a huge presence over the old city.

Cut in to the hillside, the fort was riddled with stone tunnels that you were allowed to wander around. These tunnels at one time were packed with gunpowder. In the event that the Castillo had been successfully sieged, the plan was to blow up the tunnels and kill everyone in the fort! They never actually had to light the fuse. The best thing today about the tunnels was the lovely cool temperature!

We spent most of the day exploring this place. Well worth the visit.

You may remember we mentioned a friend from Ireland called Reiss on their boat Zora who we had been in contact with and finally met up with in Curacao? Well after we both left Curacao, Reiss had sailed to Aruba and his wife Niamh had joined him again from Ireland. They had decided to do a tour of South America by plane and land. As it turned out, they arrived in Cartagena whilst we were still at anchor, and so we managed to meet up again for two lovely days exploring the Old town. Thanks guys it was really great to meet up with you!

They organised a guided tour around the old town and invited us along! It was a great day out. We also met up and walked to little Miami for a look see, and then ended up back in the old town for a few drinks at a rooftop bar with spectacular views.

I think one of our favourite parts of the old town is the Gethsemini district, at one time a dangerous crime ridden no go zone, but now a thriving tourist area with vibrant colours and crazy streets. Here’s a flavour!

Some of you will have read over the past few months about our saga over the autopilot or lack of one on our last few sails! Well, we decided enough was enough, and shortly after arriving in Cartagena, and after a considerable amount of research, I decided to bite the bullet and order a new one from America. It was a pretty long drawn out experience. I had to find an agent to import it for us in to Colombia. In the end it went pretty smoothly. Our new agent friend Javier Hoyos has a business in Miami in Florida. So we had the autopilot shipped from Seattle in the USA to his premises in Miami. Then for not a great deal of money, Javier arranged for it to be shipped to Cartagena, via customs in Bogata and delivered to us at the marina near where we are anchored. The whole process took about a month and went without a hitch. First time for me to deal with such complexities but i’m sure it wont be the last.

It arrived in a huge box!

Whilst I was waiting for it to arrive, I managed to get some parts made at a local metal bashers in the city. They were incredibly helpful and accommodating of our terrible Spanish. Its true that Colombians cannot do enough to help you out.

We also made several trips to the local DIY store, a huge place with everything we needed, including bolts, wood and metalwork.

It took me 5 days to get the thing installed in the “hellhole” under the cockpit. I have high hopes that this will solve our autopilot woes. Time will tell!

So there you go, I guess we haven’t been totally idle! I leave you with some more sunset shots from the anchorage. Oh and I might now and then sit and drink a fine Colombian beer on deck and enjoy the view!

Join us again soon as we leave Colombia and sail onwards to Panama and the desert islands of the San Blas!

Adios Amigos!

October 22, 2023October 22, 2023

Next Stop Cartagena!

Last time we left you, we were in Curacao. In this update we will tell you about finally pulling up the anchor in Spanish Waters and heading for Cartagena in Colombia. Its the first time that either of us has visited South America, and we were a little nervous about sailing the boat in to Colombia. Everyone we had met in the last few months who had been to Colombia told us that we must visit, and sang its praises. In the back of your mind you can’t help that nagging doubt about Colombia’s past reputation of violence and drug trade. Add to that the perceived difficulties of the bureaucracy of checking in to the country (and cost) and we both faced this next trip with some trepidation.

On the other had, we were definitely ready to move on from Curacao. Whilst a very nice place, we felt it was a little dull and a rather sanitised version of the Caribbean in the way the Dutch had stamped their mark upon the place, and given the country a colonial and somewhat European feel. There were still historical tensions simmering underneath that manicured exterior though.

So when the weather window finally appeared with 3 straight days to get to Colombia, we decided to go for it. A quick morning trip to Willemstad had us checked out of customs and immigration. Spending our last guilders at the supermarket and local fruit market, we took the bus back to the anchorage, prepared Azimuth, pulled up the anchor and motored out of Spanish Waters waving goodbye to the number of friends we had made during our stay.

Once out offshore to the South of Curacao, the wind freshened from the west giving us a straight down wind sail. We had already got the spinnaker pole set before we left, so we furled out the genoa and started to surf our way along Curacao on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Perfect sailing conditions, oh and the autopilot was doing all the driving too!

We left Curacao behind as the sunset ahead of us and headed onwards towards Aruba. The sea state got a little more confused, with the current fighting its way between the islands and the mainland of Venezuela. We stayed well away from Venezuelan waters, as there had been reports of piracy for those yachts that steered too close. In the night we navigated through a bizarre oil field with rigs and tankers in the shallow waters South of Aruba. The wind was strong and we were bouncing along at 8 to 9 knots heading towards Colombia. Early the next morning, I was on watch when I noticed a Venezuelan fishing boat off our port bow, heading on a direct course towards us. He was small and didn’t have AIS and did not show up on our radar. I watched him closely for about 20 minutes. In the end he came quite close to us, close enough to see the people onboard. It was a nervous moment, and self doubt comes in to play when you think about the tales of attacks on other yachts in this area. I had specifically turned off the AIS and our naviagation lights as we transited this area, so that we could not be easily tracked. In the end, we passed by without incident, and they disappeared in to the distance with me breathing a sigh of relief.

That relief increased when we finally reached Colombian waters. These are known to be patrolled by Colombian Coastguard, and are considered safe in comparison to Venezuela.

We continued to sail along at a good pace. The seas were boisterous and confused at times, but it was comfortable enough and we were making good time. It was about this time though that the autopilot started to make its familiar horrible noises associated with the grinding and slipping of gears. Not a good moment. It was having to work quite hard in the big seas, but it wasn’t anything too onerous. We decided to live with it for a bit, but it got worst over the next few hours. Damn! Just as we were getting used to the good life of having an autopilot again. The decision was made to hand steer again. We were still about 150 miles from Cartagena at this point, so not too far.

The wind became a little fickle for a bit. As usual the conditions did not match the prediction from our trusty wind app Windy. Does it ever??? So we struggled on for a few hours until the wind came back again and whisked us down the coast towards Cartagena. We were ominously followed by a huge thunder cloud with bright flashes of lightening all around us, some of it throwing huge forks across the sky. Definitely a disquieting feeling, and we tried to steer away from the worst looking candidate that eventually slipped by to our port side and gave a spectacular light show ahead of us for the rest of the night.

Early morning bought us to within 45 miles of Cartagena. The wind dropped off completely and so did the sea state, so we had to motor the last bit. The sky scrapers of Cartagena were visible in the distance. The autopilot was able to cope with the reduced sea state, and so we moved ever closer to our destination flanked by super tankers on their way too and from Cartagena.

There are two entrances in to the fine anchorage of Cartagena. The main shipping channel is 5 miles to the South and a long detour is required to navigate this (when arriving from the North). The second entrance was described in the literature as the small ships channel for boats with draft of less than 2.9m. Azimuth has a draft of 2.15m, so we should be OK to use this channel. It turns out that the channel is cut through the old underwater sea wall that was built by the Spanish to stop enemy vessels gaining entrance to the port. The channel was marked by a couple of buoys. I decided to give it a go as it would save at least 2 hours of motoring if we decided to use the main shipping channel. So we crept over the sea wall and trusted the local information was correct. I was given some confidence by watching a local sailboat sail out of the channel ahead of me. Of course the depth sounder decided not to cooperate, but we passed without incident and worked our way in to the main harbour surrounded by many speed boats whizzing anyway they liked without any regard for the rules of the road. To be fair they didn’t get in our way. We identified the anchorage and dropped the hook in front of a very impressive skyscraper skyline and breathed the usual sigh of relief that accompanies the act of arrival.

To check into Colombia, you are forced to use a marine agent. The authorities will not deal directly with a ships captain. Also given the language barrier and our dreadful Spanish, this is probably easier for us. However, this service comes at a cost, and before we left Curacao we had contacted a number of agents and received various quotes. In the end we chose Jose from the New White Light Agency for the agreed amount of US250 dollars to complete the whole process. This is by far the most expensive fee we have had to pay to enter any country. Such is the bureaucracy here that Azimuth actually has to be temporarily imported into Colombia (TIP) if we want to stay any longer than a week? Seems pretty crazy to us. As I write this, we are currently waiting for our interview and visit to the boat from the port official to make this TIP happen. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

So after arriving we took the dinghy in to the Club Nautico Marina right next to where we were anchored and managed to track down Jose the agent at the office. He took our passports and showed us to the ATM for the first payment! He was actually really helpful, and so we steppe on shore in South America for the first time.

Not long after we arrived in Cartagena, this fantastic tall ship arrived with great pomp and circumstance on an official visit from Mexico. A really beautiful ship that has been moored right next to us for the whole week

We were both pretty exhausted after a three day sail, and crashed for the night. Over the next few days we slowly started to explore a bit of Cartagena, and what a great city it is! We are anchored in an area of the city known as Manga. It is a vibrant area with lots of students, a huge shopping centre (notably with air conditioning! Important in this heat!) and a plethora of nice local restaurants, and a fantastic supermarket with all the trappings you might expect in the UK. One important difference though, the prices here are about one quarter of the prices in the UK and also significantly cheaper than anything we experienced in the Caribbean. Suddenly it feels like our cruising budget of about 1000 quid a month will go a long way. That is definitely a factor in endearing us to this place!

Take a 15 minute walk from the Marina across a road bridge and you find yourself in the beautiful old town of Cartagena, the Gethsemini district. This is the historic city of colonial Spain lying within an impressive 13km of centuries old stone walls. It was founded in 1533 on the site of a Carib settlement by the Spanish, destroyed by fire in 1553 and the rebuilt in stone, brick and tile where it quickly grew in to the main Spanish Port and the main gateway to South America. It became the storehouse for the treasure plundered from the locals throughout South America until the Spanish Galleons could ship it back to Spain.

Of course that made the city attractive to buccaneers and pirates and other European nations and the town was regularly attacked. In the 16th century there were at least 5 sieges by pirates the most famous of which was led by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He sacked the town and promised not to raise it to the ground on the proviso that he was given 10 million pesos which he took back to England!

The Spanish were probably quite annoyed by this! The result being that they built huge fortifications all around the city.

So we have spent a couple of days so far exploring the old city. Its a beautiful place, incredible architecture and very well preserved. The only downside in some areas are the huge number of street hawkers who hassle you at every opportunity.

So far we have visited the Naval museum. A good test for our poor Spanish, but very interesting non the less. Detailed history of the early battles in Cartagena and then a lot of detail about the independence of Colombia in 1811 from the Spanish and the formation of Colombia’s extensive Navy.

We have stopped for lunch in a couple of fantastic restaurants. Oh and sampled a few very cheap but very potent and tasty mojitos!

Whilst we were in one restaurant called the White Patio, the staff started getting all excited and looking up at the sky. Turns out they were looking at an 80% lunar eclipse of the sun. We had no idea!

A visit to the museum of the Spanish inquisition was interesting and sobering. They caused terror throughout the indigenous population for some 250 years.

A visit to the Palace of the Inquisition

We also visited the Gold museum with lots of gold artefacts from the indigenous population which survived the Spanish ransacking.

So far we feel like we have only scraped the surface of what this town has to offer.

We are also thinking about taking a holiday, and taking a trip by bus to Bogota and maybe some other areas of this vast country.

So join us again soon as we hopefully explore some more of Colombia!

October 5, 2023October 5, 2023

Stuck in Spanish Waters

Last time we spoke we were in the little island of Curacao. This time, we are still in Curacao and will let you know what we have been up to for the last few weeks. To be honest, not a lot! We are still anchored in the green murky waters of Spanish Water.

We are currently waiting for a weather window to make to the trip further west to Colombia. There is a lovely cruisers community here in Spanish Water. The whatsapp group pings away all day with messages from people advertising social events, diving trips and the like. We have partaken of a few of those. Tuesday night is Sailors Burger night at Uncle J’s bar, a short dinghy ride from Azimuth, boasting cheap and cheerful burgers and a bucket of beer. All very friendly. Thursday night is the ‘Captains Dinner’ at the Pier, another local restaurant which is a lovely evening with 30 or so cruisers sat round a giant table eating good food and drinking the local booze. We have met some interesting people at this event.

The local beach provided an amusing diversion on super hot afternoons. The green waters of Spanish water are not the most inviting to swim in, the temperature of the water is about 32 degrees, however, the local beach is fronted by crystal clear azure blue water and welcomes us to take a long dip and cool off from the fierce sun.

We have taken a few trips in to Willemstad over the past few weeks. It took 3 attempts in total to get in to the Maritime Museum. The first attempt was on a Monday … it was shut. 2nd attempt was on a Friday … yep it was shut! Finally we got our opening days sorted and the next Tuesday it was open! It was worth waiting for. The island history is very interesting. Quite typical for most Caribbean Islands. Firstly the locals were rounded up and killed or enslaved, then the European powers proceeded to fight over the island, with this time the Dutch being the final victors. All that naval activity meant that the island had plenty of wrecks and the museum was full of interesting stuff. It also had a real good cafe were we enjoyed lunch!

On one of those days that the maritime museum was shut we thought oh well, lets walk up to the Curacao distillery. Its only a mile away … in the sweltering sun! Took about a hour to trudge our way there but the delicious cocktails were definitely worth the effort! They still use the same copper still from the 1850’s here in this distillery. They take sugar cane alcohol and flavour it with orange peel picked from the local fruit and cook it up in the copper still. Then lots of other flavours are added to make a range of liqueurs with a range of vibrant colours.

On one of the other failed Maritime museum attempts we went for a walk through the town and found a really nice restaurant for lunch inside the arches of the sea wall. A really nice little place and we were the only people in there.

Eventually we ran out of water sitting in Spanish Water. No one wants to run their water makers in the green soup, so we took a trip out of the bay. It was a good chance to test the autopilot after the last disastrous trip and we also had our newly mended mainsail to put through its paces too. It was flippin rough off the coast of Curacao that day, the wind blowing about 20 knots and we both felt sick! We have definitely been sat way too long in a swell free anchorage.

One of the highlights of the stay here has been the Spanish lessons that we have been having with a small group of other cruisers run by a guy called Ronnie from Puerto Rico. Ronnie is a real character, having been sailing boats of one form or another for the past 65 years. The lessons are a lot of fun and I think we are learning a little too. Trying to get ready for all the Spanish countries that are coming up in the next few months. Ronnies stories of his travels, encounters with Whales, sailing in the Olympics in 1984 amongst others are also all very entertaining.

About a week ago, a boat called Zora rocked up in the anchorage. Onboard was Rhys, who has sailed from Kinsale. Rhys is very good friends with Niall and Bernadette whom we bought Azimuth from in Kinsale. I had been in touch with Rhys via whatsapp and we had been following each other around in the Caribbean but never quite meeting up. So it was great to finally met up. This week we decided for a change of scene, and when Rhys told us he was heading for the small island of Curacao Klein off the east coast of the main island, we thought why don’t we go too. You have to get an anchoring permit to visit anywhere outside of Spanish Waters, so we headed in to Willemstad to the get the permit from the Harbour masters office.

A 4 hour round trip and and we returned to the boat, and set off. A stop at the fuel dock to fill up with diesel. About 80p a litre here! We took on 600 litres, the first time we had taken on fuel in nearly a year. Last time was 300 litres in Cape Verde. Not bad for 5000 miles travelled and not a single visit to a marina since we left the UK.

Klein Curacoa was well worth the trip. What a difference to Spanish Water and its almost like we have forgotten what cruising is all about. Its been about 2.5 months since we sat in a anchorage as good as this. The water was the clearest we have ever seen. I took this video of all the fish swimming around Azimuth.

We took the dinghy to shore and had a walk round the island. A beautiful but very desolate place. If you were ship wrecked here it would be hard to see how you could survive, other than the fact that the place is visited here every day by 5 tourist boats!

The beach was very spectacular. The colour of the water was amazing and the sand incredibly soft

The path from the beach set out across the flat barren island, and the object that drew your attention was this very grandiose (at one time) but now abandoned lighthouse.

Scattered all over the island were the evidence of long dead corals

Eventually the path led us to the west shore that faces the Caribbean Sea. Two ships had met their end here. One of them a big sailboat. Much bigger than Azimuth. There must be an interesting story to tell behind this. A real sad ending for sure.

The beach on this side of the island was covered in drift wood, but also lots of evidence of turtles nesting too.

We were really enjoying ourselves on Klein. We had a permit to stay for 3 nights, but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. Big thunderstorms would make the anchorage untenable so we all headed back to the safety of Spanish waters

So that’s where we are as I write this. Hopefully that weather window will form soon, and next time we will hopefully see you in Cartegena in Colombia!

September 5, 2023September 5, 2023

On to the Land of Blue Drinks!

Last time we left you in Trinidad, we were in the boatyard getting Azimuth ready again for the next season. This time we will tell you about the rest of our time in Trinidad and an eventful sail to Curacao.

It was seriously hot in that boatyard. The temperature on paper was not that high, about 32 degrees, but Trinidad is a very wet country full of steamy rainforest and the humidity most days was 85%. Its easier to deal with such heat in the trade winds of the Caribbean. At anchor, you can pretty much guarantee a steady flow of air through the boat and a cooling breeze across the deck. In the boatyard? Nothing! So after a month of it we were pretty well ready to get the hell out of there. Some vicious mosquitos too!

What really makes a place though is the people. Trinidadians are a lovely crowd and can not do enough to help you. They also like to party, and life is pretty good! After all they live in a beautiful place, and the oil industry has bought some prosperity to the country. Crime rates are still a problem though, although we never felt threatened during our time there. I guess though we really didn’t travel far and lived in a tight community of boatyard life and other cruisers

The cruisers put on some really nice events. Every Thursday night at the adjacent boat yard called Power Boats.

Every week we also went to a local outdoor restaurant place with lots of food stalls called the fish fry for some tasty food and a good chinwag with the other cruisers

We never got bored of watching these crazy guys romping around in the tree behind our boat!

Finally though the guys managed to finish the gears and after some mucking about, put the steering gearbox back together. I refitted it to the boat, tested the autopilot and everything worked as expected! It was time to depart!!!

I put together a video of the launch. We were both pretty nervous!

It felt pretty amazing to be back in the water again, and we were soon heading on our way out of the bay and out to open sea again with the long sail to Curacao ahead of us

That first couple of hours were amazing sailing. It was light seas, good winds, and Azimuth was leaping through the water with clean bottom! Even the autopilot sounded happy…. oh but wait a minute! Whats that grinding noise??? Oh no!! The autopilot decided to pack up!!!! Alarms went off … no rudder response. Now what?

Well, after playing around for a while, trying things out, I came to the conclusion that the motor that drives the autopilot (which has many gears inside it) must be the culprit. It couldn’t possibly be the gearbox that we had spent so much money fixing right?

What to do? It was getting dark, we were about 2 hours North of Trinidad. We both decided then that we couldn’t go back. For one it would be like admitting defeat, and for two if would be a bit embarrassing turning up again having been so happy about leaving. So, it meant that we had to hand steer all the way to Curacao, at this point about 450 miles away

The winds were very light or non existent after the first 24 hours, so we actually just stopped and had a rest for a few islands, drifting in the right direction towards curacao at about 1.5 knots on the equatorial current. There were some large squalls and thunderstorms around. After two days we were both in to the swing of it. The wind seemed to pick up at night and die in the day. The squalls were not too strong and so we had the full sails up. Unfortunately about 3 in the morning on the third night we were hit by a really nasty squall! it went from no wind to about 30 knots. All hell broke loose! I was asleep below and poor Ailsa had to shout and scream to wake me up. The rain was lashing down and we fought to get the sails under control for about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, in that time, we managed to do some damage to poor Azimuth! Mainsail ripped at the top, and one of the winches got stripped when the furling line became jammed, and someone (who remains nameless) carried on pressing the button!

The next day revealed the damage, but we still had a functioning genoa, and we managed to sail the rest of the trip with no incidents. it took 4 days and we arrived in Spanish Waters in Curacao, dropped the anchor and pretty much collapsed!!!

It all gets stored in the sailing experience file. I don’t think you ever stop learning. We will definitely pay closer attention to squalls in the future, and of course it was more difficult, because we were having to hand steer, and you could literally do nothing else, especially at night when the other person is asleep.

The night time was really quite special on that trip. The sea was lit up at times by the bioluminescence in the water. The wake went out behind the boat for many tens of metres as a green streak, and the crests of the waves were lit up. The stars were spectacular too, with the milky way plastered right across the sky, and I used the stars at night as a reference for easier navigation than using the instruments. I wish you could capture that on camera, but its only something that you can experience first hand, very cool.

Anyway, we made it to Curacao and motored in to the very protected anchorage called Spanish Waters. It is a huge shallow lagoon with a very narrow entrance to the sea. Lots of boats at anchor and a very vibrant cruiser community.

We anchored close to a boat called Sans Souci, Jessica and her young family were people we had met in Martinique. Jessica did a video about us and Azimuth on her YouTube channel called Boat Life. We stopped by to see them, and they very kindly filled us in on how to check in to the country, even giving us the bus fare we needed to get in to the local town Willemstad! We set off to town the next day and had the customs and immigration done in about an hour which gave us the chance to go and explore the town a little and first impressions very really good. Its like being in Amsterdam in the Caribbean! Willemstad is based around a channel that leads to the perfect enclosed harbour. The river splits the town in to two, one side is called Punda and the other is called Otrabanda, and the two sides are connected by a floating bridge across crystal clear azure water. When boats want to come in and out of the channel, the bridge disconnects it self from one bank and swings across floating on its pontoons. A very bizarre process that seems to work very well!

It was a lovely introduction, but we were still pretty exhausted so caught the bus back to the boat and went to bed early!

First order of business was getting any repairs underway. From experience we know that these things can take ages in the Caribbean, so the sooner things get started the better. I was kind of gutted really, we had spent a month in the boat yard in Trinidad getting Azimuth up to scratch and here I was looking at a long list of boat jobs! First thing was to get the main off. We found a sailmaker on the island who actually came to the dinghy dock to take it away to his workshop. Were still waiting on that one, but fingers crossed it can be mended. It is only torn at the seam, so should be fixable.

Then it was on to the autopilot. Firstly I took the motor off, dismantled it and fully tested it. It worked perfectly! Damn! Actually, not such a bad deal, because replacing that would have been very expensive. So now I am scratching my head, it cant be my brand new assembled gearbox??? I climbed back in to the hell hole under the cockpit floor and lo and behold, i discovered that the bolts that hold the sub gearbox between the main gearbox and the autopilot motor had somehow shaken loose. The whole thing was moving, and the gears were not meshing properly. Of course these particular bolts were not accessible without a complete gearbox strip down! So, back in to the heat, I got the whole assembly out. Dripping with sweat, and managed to strip it down, apply thread locker to the offending 4 bolts, reassemble with as much force as possible, reassemble and then shoehorn the whole thing back in to place in the hell hole. We need to do a sea trial to check it, but as of today the thing is fixed!

The last thing to sort was the winch. All we did in that case was swap the damaged bits for a winch that doesn’t get used that often. Hopefully we can source replacement parts at some point!

That was a few days of boat jobs then. Time to explore a little more. Right across from where we are anchored we found a really nice beach, a bar and an old fort to explore. The water here in curacao is about the clearest we have seen in the Caribbean.

Yep, that is a huge drill rig you can see in the photos. It is just parked in the bay right next to the fort, a real contrast of old and new. A reminder of all the oil activity in this area of South America

On another day we took the bus back to Willemstad to go and explore some more. This time we visited the old market which is now converted in to a food hall where we had a delicious lunch of local food. That afternoon we visited the slavery museum. Whilst obviously a tough subject, it was very well done and we both learnt alot about the history of slavery in Curacao and the surrounding islands.

There is a huge and vibrant artist quarter in Willemstad and all over the town there are public art works mixing with the vivid colours of the buildings. Very cool place to explore

Thats all for now. Join us next time as we go and explore some more of Curacao!

August 12, 2023September 3, 2023

Its HOT in the boatyard!

Last time we left you we were having fun with friends in the beautiful isle of Tobago. This time we sail to Trinidad and get the boat lifted out for some much needed TLC before heading further on our adventures. It has been over two years since we lifted Azimuth out of the water. Since that time, we have sailed over 10,000 miles in her. Six months in the Caribbean had been hard on the old girl. Most of the antifoul had come off from all the sailing we had done and Azimuth had her own reef ecosystem growing on the bottom complete with crabs and mussels. It was definitely time for a clean and also to fix some stuff, most importantly the steering / autopilot.

So after our fond farewell to the Thompsons at the airport in Tobago, we flagged down a taxi to Scarborough and went about trying to check out of Tobago and get permission to sail to Trinidad. We arrived at immigration at 11am that morning and we were told to come back at 2pm. Not a great start, so we went and did the customs checkout first and went looking for somewhere to get lunch and kill a few hours. Whilst we were wondering around the docks and the edge of the town, we bumped in to the woman who owns and runs the Wonky Windmill, the restaurant we had been in the night before with the Thompsons. She immediately recognised us, and to show just how friendly everyone is here when we told her we had a few hours to kill she insisted on driving us to the top of the hill so we could go and visit the fort! It was well worth the trip

After a pitstop for lunch at a local place that was recommended to us, we turned up back at immigration and several of the other cruisers from the anchorage were also there!

It was all sorted within an a hour or two and we headed back to the clubhouse for one last drink before departing for Trinidad early the next morning.

It was a glorious sail across. So much easier than getting from Grenada to Tobago. Now we were downwind and had the current behind us. We decided to anchor for one night on the North coast of Trinidad at Vache Bay, and had the whole place to ourselves. It was a steep sided bay with no access to land surrounded by rainforest. Unfortunately a rolly night, but very peaceful.

We got up early the next morning. There was no wind, so we had to motor round the corner to get to Chaguaramus to check in to Trinidad. It was a very beautiful and dramatic coastline along the North coast and through islands.

On arrival in Chaguaramus we dropped the anchor and headed to the customs and immigration. Another drama unfolded as we were told that Tobago had made a mistake and checked us entirely out of the country instead of doing the paperwork that transferred us to Trinidad! Come back next week we were told…. which we did, only to be told to go away and not bother them until we wanted to check out! Oh well, as long as we are not in the country illegally we said? The response as curt and so we left! Customs were all good though. Its amazing how the place seems to run ok with all the bureaucracy?!

Chaguaramus is a pretty port, but not the most inspiring anchorage to sit and wait for 3 days before we got lifted out of the water. So we headed a mile away back the way we had come to a very pretty anchorage called Scotland Bay

Expecting it to be a peaceful anchorage, we were surprised when the party boats turned up that weekend! It became the battle of the sound systems. Reggae blasting out and everyone having a good time. They all disappeared by midnight and then we were left with the sounds of the rainforest. A very beautiful place.

The day came for the lift out, and we headed back to Chaguaramus, all nervous about the next steps. We needn’t have worried. The Peakes Yard team were consummate professionals. They sent a diver down to position the straps under the boat. Azimuth was lifted out of the water in no time. The crane was huge so I didn’t have to remove any stays or equipment from the boat (a lot of hassle avoided!).

I got a well deserved ribbing about the state of the bottom! But 5 guys had the thing scraped off in no time and the high pressure washer had her very clean.

Then the guys transferred Azimuth to a special truck and drove her off to her new home in the yard. From water to new position in about two hours! No messing!

So now the fun really started …..!

Step 1: Fixing the Steering

First job was to check out the steering and get a fix started. That meant going down in to the hell hole that is the space underneath the cockpit floor. Have I told you how hot is was yet? With the gearbox removed without too much cursing and swearing, it didn’t look very good, and it was immediately obvious that the unit needed some serious TLC. A good job really that we had caught it now, because I don’t think it would have been very long until the whole thing fell to bits, and thankfully not whilst we were at sea! After a few days asking around, we managed to track down a local guy who had experience of fixing these very units. All the bearings in the unit would need to be replaced, and then as we got further in to it, it became clear that two of the cone gears that turn a 90 degree angle to where the autopilot is attached were beyond repair. This was the cause of the slipping and crunching sound when the autopilot was engaged, as well as all the play in the steering system.

We went round the houses trying to find some replacement gears on the internet, but nothing could be found. That in case then, the only option was to have a new set made by a local metal basher. Expensive!

The guys at the metal shop really knew their stuff. They even sent me a video of the process. Being the geek I am, I thought it looked like a cool process. Here it is for those of you interested!

Unfortunately, as good as these guys were, stuff doesn’t happen quick in Trinidad. In the end this was to be the major holdup for us here in Chaguaramus, but it had to be done, or Azimuth wasn’t going anywhere!

Step 2: Fixing Toilets!

Well doesn’t this sound like we are living the dream?! Talk to any serious sailing cruiser, and all of them have had the dreaded blocked toilet onboard. Everyone also has there own fix or solution! Azimuth has three “heads” and on arrival, only one of them was actually working any more. Time to get serious! Ailsa took it upon herself to dive head first in to fixing this whilst I got on with some of the other jobs on the boat.

Out with the old pipes andreplace with new

What a job. Basically all the toilet pipes needed replacing. Easy right? Sounds it until you find out where those pipes are routed, inside cupboards, behind wardrobes, buried deep in a rats nest of pipes and cables in the bilge. Oh and add in the 32 degree heat and 85% humidity inside the boat, and it all started to add up to a nightmare. We bought the entire stock of pipe from the local chandlery, all 47 feet of it! Turns out we had about 15 cms left over when the job was done. Very lucky or amazing measuring?

I will leave it up to your imagination as to the cause of pipe blockage… but it was not pleasant. The pipes calcifies up over the 26 years they had been installed and a 32mm pipe was down to about 3mm!

It took about a week in all, but they are all replaced, tested and no leaks!

Step 3: Bottom Painting

Definitely not my favourite job! Two days of sanding the horrible old stuff off the bottom. One day applying a coat of primer and then three days to paint the bottom with new antifoul, where you have to cover yourself up in one of those paper suits and goggles. The antifoul paint is evil stuff that you don’t want to get on your skin.

Step 4: Polishing the Hull

Another favourite! Whilst balancing on a bouncy plan on the top of two A-frames, apply a rubbing compound and use the polisher to take the top layer of oxidation off the gelcoat. Then apply liquid wax, allow to drive and polish with a cloth. 3 days to do Azimuths hull. I think I collapsed a couple of times from heat exhaustion and my arms felt like rubber every night!

Step 5: Sit and wait

Sit and wait for the parts to be made for the steering, see step 1! That’s pretty much where we are as of writing. I think we have been in the yard nearly 4 weeks now and both of us are distinctly looking forward to leaving!!!

While we sit and wait with have seen some interesting stuff though. Check these guys out that live in the trees at the back of the boat

Here’s the view from boat. They pack them in here! The sunsets aren’t too bad either.

We have met some lovely people whilst we have been here in Chaguaramus. There is a great cruiser community. Lots of stories to hear about everyone’s travels. Several of them seem to have been here far too long though?! Got to the yard and never left? We don’t intend to end up like one of those.

We even had one notable day out away from the boat yard when a fellow Brit, Susy offered to take us to the beach one day on the North side of Trinidad. It was a lovely day out and a very welcome change from yard life.

Join us next time when we fingers crossed manage to leave the yard, get the boat back in the water and sail off to the Dutch Caribbean, ABC islands