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 Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Albuquerque Cays, Columbia
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Wow.
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We are sitting at anchor in the most
amazing place. The Albuquerque Cays are two tiny (less than
600 ft wide) coconut-fringed islets surrounded by a circular
reef about 110 miles off the central Nicaraguan coast, and
about 30 miles south of San Andres. We are at anchor
between and a little to the west of the two cays, in about
25 feet of the clearest water I’ve ever seen.
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 The northern cay has an outpost of the
Colombian Navy – 9 sailors – who man a communication
station here. We were asked to come ashore and register with
them, so as our dinghy pulled up, all nine guys, in uniforms
consisting of khaki shorts and dog tags, came out to meet us
and escort us to their commandant. They speak no English,
but were gracious, charming, and hospitable, posing for a
photo for us, then escorting us on a tour of the base. At
the end of the tour, one of the young men asked me to go
back with him to the camp, where he offered me my pick of
small, beautiful shells. Apparently, the guys are stationed
here for 30 days at a time, ferried here with a month’s
worth of provisions and DVDs. The site of a pleasure boat,
and the chance to talk to tourists, breaks up the monotony
for them.
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The southern cay has a fish camp, where it
seems about a dozen guys have a shelter, a generator, and a
nightly bonfire. They go out to the reef in their lanchas
in the morning, returning about 5:00 in the afternoon to tie
off to their buoys and clean conch for two hours before
finishing for the day. We’ve been here since the 13th,
but haven’t seen a supply boat yet. Unlike Vivorillos, the
fishermen haven’t approached us directly, but they wave as
they pass in the mornings and afternoons.
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Snorkeling here has been fantastic, with
both shallow and deep places to explore. Ole’s finally got
the right gear, and is beginning to relax and really enjoy
the experience, although sighting a small nurse shark wasn’t
exactly comforting. We’ve seen the usual reef fishes, but
found ourselves in a current of blue tang that felt like
some sort of great migration, and the gray angelfish here
are the size of dinner plates. Out in deeper water, I got
the chance to see a spotted eagle ray and followed him for
about 15 minutes in 30-40 feet of water.
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One of the highlights of being here is
we’ve had company for the first several days. Attitude,
with Neil and Cathy, is anchored ahead of us about 300
feet. They invited us over for fish curry the other night
(the unfortunate but tasty demise of one of Neil’s
snorkeling finds), but a half hour before we were due to
join them, we got a radio call from the commandant at the
navy base. In my limited way, I understood that he wanted
us to come ashore for something, so Ole threw on his
clothes, grabbed the boat papers, and when he got ashore was
greeted by 4 guys in full uniform with machine guns. The
panic subsided when, by clever use of hand gestures Ole was
made to understand he was being pressed into service in the
Colombian Navy, to ferry the four sailors to the fish camp
to check on a new arrival. Unfortunately we have no
pictures to document this service.
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Once that mission had been accomplished and
we arrived at Neil and Cathy’s, we pondered the Colombian
Navy (Armada, in espanol) and the lack of water
transportation for these 9 sailors -- and we ate, drank,
talked and laughed until late.
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Today we’re just sitting at anchor, watching
squall after squall pass through and thank Neptune that we
snorkeled the anchor and found it buried, with a large coral
head between it and the boat. Attitude left
yesterday morning for Bocas del Toro, heading for the same
marina as we are. They preferred the 15-20 knot winds of
yesterday. We’re waiting for tomorrow, when the squalls
dissipate and it’s expected to slow down to 10-15 knots,
which will have us arriving in Bocas on December 20 as
planned. We’ve got about 180 more miles to go, which should
make for one last 24-hour passage. Emma Jo has been very
very good to us so far this trip!
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Jan the Webmeister
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