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Saturday, December 8
At Anchor, Providencia, Colombia
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We are tucked in at anchor in a very pretty
spot: Santa Isabel Harbor on the island of
Providencia,
a protectorate of Colombia. Only 18 kilometers
around, with a population of about 4,000, it’s pretty much
untouched by tourism and one of the friendliest places we’ve
been.
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We left Vivorillos at about 9:30 on Tuesday
morning, heading south and east taking a short cut across
the Main Cape Channel, between Half Moon Cay and Alagarda
Reef before turning a bit more south toward Providencia.
What a nice ride! The wind was between 5-10 all day and
through the night, letting us experience sea swells instead
of wind chop coming slightly off our stern for the last half
of the ride. Even the cats were amazed, since our last day
in Vivorillos saw a wind shift that had us rolling back and
forth pretty violently for about 18 hours and experiencing
next to no rest. Getting underway was a relief! Our
longest passage to date of 188 miles, we tried to stand
3-hour watches and get as much rest as we could.
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Of course, shit happens, though. We turned
on the generator, it ran for a few minutes, then stopped
because of high cooling water temperature. So when it
cooled off a few hours later, we tried it again and again it
stopped. The chief went down to take it apart and have a
look, and found that the problem was as simple as a hose
clamp that had broken and the cooler was sucking air instead
of water. Half an hour, and we were back in the electrical
business, happy that we wouldn’t have to throw out a freezer
full of fresh seafood.
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Then at about three in the morning, Ole
found a freshwater leak in the vicinity of the port engine.
We suspected it was the water heater, since it’s 20 years
old and looking pretty rusty on the bottom, and we ordered a
replacement before we left Roatan to be waiting for us when
we arrive in Panama. But disconnecting the water heater,
then checking a few hours later, the water leak was still
there. Based on the Chief’s knowledge and intuition, it’s
the heat exchanger, a fairly simple part to replace, but not
easy to get. And running on a leaking one means getting
seawater running through the engine instead of fresh – not a
good plan in the long run. We shut down the port engine for
an hour so Ole could do his detective work, but made up the
time with a good following current.
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 Arriving in Providencia at 11:30 on
Wednesday morning, we found about a half dozen sailboats at
anchor, including Attitude, with Neil and Cathy, whom
we met just a few weeks ago in Utila. We anchored up in
about 10 feet of water, and Ole went ashore to meet with the
agent and do the entry formalities with the Port Captain.
Since he had to go back later in the day to meet with
immigration, I went with him and we took in the town, which
is pretty much one main street and one side street at the
head of the bay. |
Everything has to come in by boat here
(although there is a very small airport), but we were amazed
that on the main street a mere four or five blocks long were
not less than three fairly large grocery stores and tiendas
of various types. There are two banks, two bakeries, an
internet café, and a few mom-and-pop restaurants, so it
seems a prosperous place. And the people here are
tri-lingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Creole with
apparently equal fluency. It’s clean, pretty, and lacks the
usual staging of tourism and its accompanying hype.
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We found a little cantina to sit in and
sample the local beer: Aguila (Eagle). Outstanding. While
we sat and watched the world go by, the agent (Mr. Bush)
joined us for a soda, then Neil and Cathy wandered past. We
compared our Vivorillos hauls, and swapped information about
what do with conch – so on the spur of the moment, we
invited them over Thursday evening to try our first attempt
at conch fritters.
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Thursday, while I cleaned house and
consulted cookbooks for fritter recipes, Ole went back into
town because we couldn’t get cell signals, and he needed to
call American Diesel to talk over our heat exchanger problem
and order a spare. He made the phone call from the agent’s
office, and the agent recommended a repair guy “Mr. Bing”
who might be able to jury-rig a solution to our damaged
exchanger. That’s good news on such a small island. We
still have nearly 250 miles to go and it would be better
without worrying about a seawater-infused engine!
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The conch fritters were pronounced a
success (used the recipe in the trusty Joy of Cooking), and
were accompanied by homemade garlic and rosemary focaccia.
Neil brought over a fruit “palate cleanser” – passion fruit
halves with papaya and mint, all local. This cruising stuff
is starting to make all kinds of sense. Over fritters we
agreed to meet in town on Friday to rent scooters and see
what there is to see.
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Friday morning, the supermarket in town
that rents the scooters was fresh out and suggested we take
a taxi (pickup truck with bench seats along the sides of the
bed) to Freshwater Bay, where we found a clutch of scooters
and golf carts and negotiated a rate of $5 per hour with no
paperwork. I like this place. The island itself is
volcanic, with a sharp, rugged interior (no roads and cows
with two long legs and two short legs) and a coast road.
Most of the traffic is scooters and improvised trucks. Most
of the businesses seem to be concentrated in the town of
Santa Catalina, with a few little hotels, restaurants, and
dive shops in Freshwater Bay.
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The highlight of the trip was an impromptu
stop at Refugio de la Luna, the studio of an artisan named
Carmeni Correa, who is living the kind of life I’d love to
someday. She works in papier mache, creating whimsical sea
creatures, panels, and sculptures in vibrant, primitive
colors from her house on The Bluff. A steep path leads from
the road, through a tunnel of flowers, fruit trees, and
scurrying indigenous blue lizards. We were met by three
dogs, , two cats and Carmeni smiling from the balcony. Her
house is a simple two-story concrete block construction,
with a corrugated roof and glassless shuttered windows, all
decorated with murals and stenciled cutouts painted with
fish, birds, and flowers. She works in the open air from a
wide, shaded balcony overlooking papayas, bananas, avocado,
lime, orange and plumarosa trees and out to the sea. Her
house is her gallery – the simple whitewashed walls and white
wicker furniture make her art sparkle. She told us she
walks every morning, and uses a lot of “found” objects and
trash to get started, obtaining her cardboard and paper from
the back of a local tienda, using plastic bottles as the
framework for some of her creatures – a neighbor called her
to report half a mannequin had washed up on the beach and
that became a fantastic mermaid rising from the sea. We
couldn’t leave without buying something – so there’s a new
golden seahorse ready for the Christmas tree!
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Another interesting stop for lunch allowed
us to meet a man who is operating a hotel and restaurant
that sits on the spot formerly occupied by his parents’
home, their original concrete entry steps sit all by
themselves in a place of honor in the garden. The story is
that during the late 60’s a lot of hippies from Europe
discovered Providencia, and came with backpacks and tents.
His mother offered her garden, charging the hippies a few
pesos for a clean and safe spot to pitch their tents. She
spotted another opportunity when, during cooking, she
noticed hungry looks from the garden, and a restaurant was
born. Today, the hotel is a collection of bright yellow
frame buildings trimmed in red and blue, with a restaurant
perched in the open air right at the water’s edge, looking
due west. The food was good, the beer was cold, and the
proprietor was charming. Who could ask for more.
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On our return to town we found out some
good news – the leak in the heat exchanger is a small one.
Word from the Chief is that up to 10% of the tubes in the
exchanger can be plugged without impairing its function.
This exchanger has only one bad tube. Karma wins!
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Today, Saturday, we’ve been boat-bound, as
some weather blew in last night. We’ve clocked winds of 29
knots – Attitude, with a far more accurate wind generator,
has clocked over 31. Rain squalls have been blowing
throughout the day. Ole’s been inventorying spare parts.
I’ve been reading and napping. Tomorrow’s Sunday and we
understand most of the local businesses are closed. If the
weather lightens up a bit, we’ll go ashore and take a walk
around the little island of Santa Catalina which is
connected to town by a colorful footbridge.
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Now it’s time for gin and tonics, as the sun
has gone down.
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Jan the Webmeister
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