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46. day - 24/11/2006 - , Bye CuracaoWe left the bay at 3 am. We could easily navigate out from the bay in the dark because there is not any dangerous reef here.
We also gave a waterproof torch to Poseidon in the dark. When it fell into the water we could see the light of it from far away.
Reaching the island of Aruba we could see couple of carriers around us then we have noticed a range of smoking factory chimneys. Later on we also smelled them. Other parts of the island looked much better.
At 3 pm we arrived to Aruba. We asked the permission to get into the harbour with the VHF. We got the permission immediately and they assigned the place for immigration. We had to tie the Rotor next to two huge cruisers in the dock. This part of the harbour is very unsuitable for sailing yachts, however the immigration always goes here whenever a yacht comes. Waiting for the immigration was very uncomfortable, the harbour was open so the Rotor was smashed to the shore when a wave was coming. We tried to keep it safe with the fenders.
We arrived to the marine about 3.30 from here. At the marina we stopped again next to sailing vessel Petrushka.
We note that an article in the Caribbean Compass (local news) was about the immigration procedure here. It was noted that they do not stamp into the passport at arrival. I think they read this article and since that they have started to stamp not to avoid the out clearance.
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47. day - 25/11/2006 - , Aruba the Caribbean VegasAruba used to be the gambling paradise of the Venezuelan. There are lots of casinos, bars and hotels here. Every corner you can buy jewelleries or anything else you need. There is a sign on every car plates, which says: one happy island. And it really looks like that. Everything is very expensive here. Even the marina costs USD 1 for every foot of the boat. As we are rather travellers than tourists we decided to stay only one night here. The good thing is that if you are in the marina with your boat you can have the same services as the guests of the Hotel Renaissance. We have got the tickets from the hotel even to use their private island, which is a nice reserve at once. The guests of the hotel are taken with a motorboat to the island. So we had the chance to try the service of the Renaissance Island with its bays and gym. We could see flamingos and iguanas here. If you have time to spend around Aruba you can visit some rock formations and a natural pool at the North-middle of the island.
We cleared out and left the island at around 4 pm and continued our way towards Cartagena. There was not any exciting event during the midnight watching just couple of squalls, one huge cruiser and couple of smaller boats around us. All of them were very far away. We passed also the offshore islands of Venezuela where a radar station of the Venezuelan Navy is placed. You can get permission to anchor here, however this time we did not leave with this possibility thus we continued our way in the good trade wind. |
48. day - 26/11/2006 - We had pleasant wind all day, however a 1-1.5 knots counter current slowed down our speed. This was confirmed by the captain of sailing yacht, called Annapurna on VHF radio. This vessel was on the same track as we were and it was anchoring in Las Palmas next to Rotor.
In the night the wind became stronger. The wind vane is steering the boat with the emergency tiller. Unfortunately, the wind vane broke the tiller. We had to drive ourself all night, however we could see the sunset and the sunrise either.. |
49. day - 27/11/2006 - Before sunrise a flying fish jumped on our board. This was because we turned up the decklights and the fish thought this could be the sunlight. We helped it back into the water as it was too small, otherwise it would have been our breakfast.
Meanwhile Geza was repairing the wind vane I was forcing Rotor back to our track between the wind and the waves, as our off course showed a big difference from our route (due to the midnight weather it was not possible to keep our track). This is what I call sport sailing. I have reached more than 11 knots max speed. I think the top speed of Rotor is currently around 16 knots. We were around 30 nautical miles from the shore. (The weather guru’s say at least 200 miles, but it is safety distance in case of a bad weather.)
We split the night watch with Geza (I was from 10 pm to 2 am and Geza from 2 am to 6 am than change again).
After 11 pm the squalls turned up on the sky and the waves started to grow. The curling waves were very unpredictable and they rotated the boat like a weathercock. I could see the thunder lights around me from the squalls. The wind vane could not deal with these waves so I had to help it all the way.
After 1 am the moon set on the sky and the stars disappeared due to the clouds. It was completely dark. The play kept going between the waves and wind vane and suddenly there was a big noise from the bow. The jib was backwinded. We thought first that the jib had torn. Geza checked it, but only one shackle was missing. We decided to change the jibs as we could not keep our track like that. When we slowed down two big waves came into the cockpit once from one side than from the other so we were completely wet. I had to change T-shirt twice during the night. The rocking on the waves kept going all night so we could not sleep too much but at least the Rotor was on the track. |
50. day - 28/11/2006 - In the morning I believe we looked like the two exhausted iguanas in Willemstadt. We have past two very eventful nights. I smelled also very bad from our rubbish and I noticed a flying fish in it. Somehow it jumped into it. What a suicide!
The night show was also continuing at daylight. According to Geza, this is one of the worst part of the round-the-world sailing. A Hungarian traveller, called Peter Görög knocked down here with his boat. However this passage can be worth during the Christmas Trade Winds.
The waves were still big, we had a 1.5 knots counter current and a slight 15 knots wind. Our average speed was about 5 knots and Geza set up his 12.1 knots maximum speed on this part. The Rotor was still on the track, but the wind vane still needed some help. Meanwhile I was trying to fish, but a fish took my hook with the weights. This could have been a really big fish.
The current of the Magdalena river was not so bad this time as we were rocking on the waves anyway.
We arrived to our turning point to Cartagena and we faced with a huge, black and also fascinating storm cloud. The wind stopped, the Rotor stopped and then started to go backwards with the current. We had to start the engine to get out from this part so we had just a quick shower from the cloud. (This cloud could be the part of the low, which started to grow at Panama, and the weather forecast predicted a possible tropical storm from it. It has never happened, however a couple of days before our eyes were on it.)
Unfortunately at the night our motor bowden, which stops the engine was broken. One more thing to repair. | After we have finished our first off-shore cruising together we had a beautiful sunrise before the channel of Boca Chica. We had to ask for permit from the port control to get into the channel on VHF. After the permission we entered the channel. In the channel the sea was brown because of the mud and plants. I had to sit in the bow to keep an eye on plants, as we were worried they stuck the seacock, and Geza was driving according to my signs. Passing the channel I had my first impressions. A cost guard boat came out from Cartagena and started to chase a boat not far from us and made the boat to stop then they went on board either. Were they searching for something (drugs?) or were they examining something on board? Who knows? Coast guards passed us too, but they did not pay too much interest in our boat. They could see we are travellers because I was sitting in the bow with my camera. Then the bay of Cartagena turned up with its high buildings, port and lighthouse. When we entered the port we could see more military boats, and a sculpture at the middle of the port.
At arrival we found the broken steel shackle from the jib on board.
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52. day - 30/11/2006 - English translation is missing, sorry.... |
53. day - 01/12/2006 - English translation is missing, sorry.... | We could get into the Nautico Marina with Rotor and we have our own place now. Early in the morning we could see that the boat has left, so we occupied back our place.
Today we were just browsing around in the Marina, as we still had not got our passport back.
We had also a mission here in Cartagena. The passengers of yacht called Helen Louise have left their boat keys around Curacao, which was found by Do It. We delivered back these keys to the captain of the yacht. This was the first time I have seen an Amel Super Maramu boat, which is the big brother of our boat. The big brother looked amazing, and it was really huge.
We have got back our passport later in the afternoon.
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