May 2018

Date: 16/05/2018

Position: Santa Marta, Colombia

Yeh mon!! (traditional Jamacian greeting, also used as a substitute for “yes”, “hi”, universal approval and probably 23 other terms)......

Captain Bonzo here with an update from Ari B in Colombia.

When I last wrote to you from the high seas approaching Jamaica, the crew was looking forward to a dose of western luxuries such as internet and supermarkets with items actually on the shelves. They were also a bit tired from having been on the move so much recently, so they were looking forward to finding a nice bay with good internet and chill out for a couple of weeks.

On the 12th of Feb, Ari B entered the harbour in Montego Bay, Jamaica with mixed feelings. The news from Jamaica was that there was a state of emergency in force to reduce the amount of murders that were happening, and the UK foreign office advised people to stay in their hotels and only travel on arranged tours, so the crew was expecting military checkpoints, frightened locals and general mayhem.

The marina responded to our question if it was safe to come to Montego Bay with a confident “absolutely” (we were prepared to sail onto another harbour if need be), so we proceeded to the marina and went ashore to handle the formalities, all arranged by the marina, and completed within the hour. Alex had to assume the role of captain as dogs are not welcome here, (it is rabies free), and I was forced to stay onboard. Alex took the opportunity to check with the marina staff, customs person and immigration staff on the security situation. As suspected, most of the violence is drug related between gangs on the outskirts of town, the military presence had all but stopped any issues and it was probably safer than before. Do not believe everything that you hear on the news.... we spent days walking around and never had any issues at all.

Montego Bay supermarkets can hold their own against anybody, but prices are high. The cost of living is above European level, mainly for imported items, local fruit and veg is reasonable, but a block of Cheddar cheese can set you back 8 US dollars, butter 5 US dollars for example. Apparently that is due to a 48% import tax. No wonder items are expensive.

The cost of living is reflected in many areas, and Jamaicans appeared to consider 20 US$ to be nothing. Our first days left us wondering if we would like it here, but with a bit more info from a German couple we met, we set about discovering Jamaica and left Montego Bay (and its two cruise ships per day), heading East.

A period of strong wind saw us take refuge in Discovery Bay, which looked really well protected on the charts, but was ROLLY with the weather we had. A large shorebreak made it hard to land the dingy too, but the bay was pretty and the crew busy – with getting the internet to work (remember how they were looking forward to good internet......)

The onboard router that takes a mobile network sim card for some reason does not work with the Jamaican network. Well it does but only 2G, so in effect that means it doesn’t work. So plan B was to use the iphone to create a personal hotspot. Didn’t work.

Trip to the bar for internet to research why not. Needs upgrade to iphone. Attempt next day. Download file corrupt. Try again next day, download complete, installation not. More research. Itunes update required. Grrrr. And so on and so on.

It took over a week to get it sorted, can you believe that?? And then it was (stuffed) dog slow J

The overriding impression of Jamaica is the friendliness of the people. Granted, some have an angle that they want to sell you something when they talk to you, but contrary to reports we have heard, none were aggressive. Most people are super friendly, happy to have a chat, very helpful and proud of their country. Bearing in mind that the west end of the island is tourism central, we are impressed with the people – really impressed.

After the weather improved, we made a short hop to Ocho Rios, a tourist town we would almost certainly have skipped due to the write up in the books, but the Germans told us it was nice – and so it was! A great anchorage in 3 meters of water, 50 meters behind a nice reef, well protected, but busy with tourist boats during the day. The village was great, no white people in sight, as the cruise ship dock is on the other side of town, great shopping, cool people and again friendly, friendly, friendly.

The crew hired a car for a day and did a “Taste of Jamaica” tour where they tried all the local specialities from street vendors – Ackee and Saltfish (Jamaican national dish), Curried goat, Jerk chicken, Festivals, saltfish fritters and so on. As soon as you are out of town, away from the tourists, Jamaica is breathtaking in the scenery and the hearts of the people – you show some respect and interest in the country, it’s food and traditions, and you can have a 30 minute conversation on the side of the road with someone you’ve never met before.

At this time, Carla hatched a plan to do a trip to the UK, mainly to sort out her pension (Alex is trying to get used to the idea of being married to a pensioner), visit her mum and do some (boat part) shopping. The crew also considered to replace their radar system (original from 1985) with a new one that can overlay radar images onto the charts – which is useful for the skipper in areas of questionable chart accuracy.

Ari B then moved to Port Antonio, expecting to stay for a few days, as the marina and anchorage area is very expensive. As it turned out, East harbour anchoring is free and mostly calm, the village is great, people are great too and the area is surrounded by lovely mountains with great hiking, so we stayed.....

The crew hired a car again, visited the famous Reach falls, by now being smart enough to avoid the 20 dollar entry fee, explored the east part of the island and fell in love with Jamaica. The Eastern part is less touristy, there is hardly any crime (apart from Kingston of course) and the people are super friendly and helpful – even more so than further west. Carla is learning all the Jamaican dishes – simply by talking to people, who are always enthusiastic to educate her.

In preparation for the UK trip, the crew hit the internet and shopped till they dropped, including the new radar system. Carla hunted for a second hand suitcase that could accommodate the radar dome and Alex tried to find out customs procedures. To cut a long story short, they decided to smuggle the stuff in, it was that complex, and a number of people stated they had not been searched at the airport. As a yacht in transit, we don’t have to pay import duty anyway, but wanted to avoid the bureaucracy.

So off she went and Alex and me were left to look after the boat. A long jobs list was being worked on while Carla had a tough and busy trip to the UK. Apologies that she didn’t have any time to meet up with those of you in the UK but what with family get togethers, more shopping and chasing suppliers and deliveries she had little time for anything else.

Upon her return (together with several thousand pounds of kit), she was of course stopped by customs at the airport (panic!!). Not sure how, but she talked them round and entered the country without a fine or any charges – phew....

The crew then went to work to install the new systems, only to find that the specialist supplier that actually put the order together (he was told to make sure we have everything we need as we are very far away) not only sent a bunch of cables that weren’t needed, he also sent one that was wrong. It wasn’t crucial, so the system is mostly up and running, but soooooo annoying – the correct cable is en route from Florida on our friend’s boat Wild Bird, who kindly sourced the cable for us.

By now, the crew is properly in love with Jamaica, and after considering a short trip to the Bahamas before heading south, they decided to stay put and make the most of the country.

Jamaica is widely known as a place of posh hotels, nice beaches and high crime rate. But that’s only the surface. Jamaica doesn’t come easy, but if you put the effort in and scrape away the layer of tourism, you will delight in what lies beneath. The mountains around Port Antonio are stunning, there’s no crime here and the Rio Grande valley is easily and cheaply reached by route taxi (a car version of a public bus). Carla found an old hiking ‘map’ on the internet and the crew used this to discover countless hikes on unmarked and often overgrown trails. As with any hike with Carla, it would not be complete without a bit of foraging and they have enjoyed Jamaican apples (a cross between an apple and a pear), guavas, fresh drinking coconuts and bussi. I say enjoyed but the bussi Alex tells me are an acquired taste that he hasn’t acquired! They are a fresh water snail, a bit like a winkle, that cling to the stones in the Rio Grande river and the locals make a soup from them. Of course Carla insisted on collecting some! Our friend Gayle rightly said ‘it sounds like The Diary of a Desperate Forager’. The rivers are also home to rather sizeable freshwater crayfish but sadly they are best hunted at night.

The landscape, the views and the flora and fauna is breathtaking. But, most of all, after recovering from the shock that some white people roam their lands on their own (without a paid guide), the Jamaican people are ALL friendly, interested in what you think of Jamaica, delighted when you tell them you are cooking their national dishes tomorrow and always happy to point the right way out to you.

They work hard – most of them 7 days a week and yesterday, when the crew were in the mountains, a farmer, who was collecting apples for his pig, walked 20 minutes out of his way, with a huge sack of apples on his back, in the pouring rain to show them the way to the next section of the hike – and only reluctantly accepted enough money to buy himself one beer.

If you are open and willing, the treasures of meeting people in the mountains, and taking a small glimpse into their life is there for the taking. It won’t be for everybody, but this crew loves it here – Yeh mon!!

A week into May and I started looking for a weather window for Ari B to take on the 450 mile trip to Santa Marta, Columbia. This is not an easy passage as the seas off of the Colombian coast are known to be rough and windy and are rated in the top 5 most dangerous places to sail. So a calm period for arrival is a must. Additionally there is a west setting current across the Caribbean Sea, and worse still a strong north equatorial current that run N or NW. Santa Marta is a bit further east than Jamaica so we had to get south against the current and east against the current. I listen to Chris Parker (weather guru) on the SSB radio in the mornings and on Thursday 10th May he talked about a calm patch off the Colombian coast on Sunday and Monday. He also talked about a possible depression forming off of Nicaragua the following week, so after a lot of deliberation with the crew we decided we needed to take advantage of this weather window. To help with the routing I paid for a custom forecast from Chris Parker so I knew where the north equatorial current was (it’s 90 miles wide!) and after a mad rush of cooking passage meals, boat prep, customs clearance etc., we left at 4am the following morning.

We didn’t have a great forecast but Chris Parker said he considered it moderate for the passage we were doing and it was likely to be the best we could expect, and we expected some heavy weather. The majority of the passage was fine with 15 to 25 knot winds on a close reach (that’s with the wind coming from just slightly forward of the middle of the boat), and sometimes even on a beam reach (that’s wind from the side). Waves were 1.5m to 2.5m. Carla had to fish of course but there was so much weed around that the lines got fouled all the time. In the end I had to put my paw down and ban fishing for the trip. The wind blew up a bit on Saturday night with 25 knot winds and 2.6m waves and then calmed down on Sunday. The worst is over I thought. Yeh right! Sunday night it really blew up. Over 30knots on a close reach with 2.7m waves from the side. I handed over to Alex and hid down below with potatoes and onion missiles flying over the saloon. Alex was an absolute star – I’m going to have to watch him. I think he may be angling for my job... grrrr. Everything calmed down again on Monday and I resumed control as we sailed the final stretch in relatively calm seas to Santa Marta. Ari B took everything in her stride with no breakages. She really is a fantastic boat and looks after us all when she needs to.

We are now safely tucked up in the marina which is right in the centre of town. The plan is to stay in the marina for 3 months or so, and use it as a base to explore Colombia. The crew are really excited about exploring this country having heard nothing but positive reports from fellow cruisers.