Pitufa.at

The last two days have been rainy and windy, presumably thanks to Hurricane Sandy that passed north of us, but the anchorage here in Nargana is well protected from the high swell outside. We enjoy the possibility to browse through the mini-mini-markets and have met new friends here (www.bettiedelmar.blogspot.com). Before the weather turned nasty we used the opportunity to take the dinghy up the nearby… Continue reading »

Our first two days here in the bay of Sapzurro we were busy finishing our rain canvas, setting a stern anchor (sometimes some swell enters the bay), cleaning the boat, launching the dinghy, to snorkel along the reef, etc. and only marvelled from afar at the beaches and the pretty village. Yesterday we set out to explore the village and the bay. It turns out… Continue reading »

Setting off from Cartagena we’ll next cruise the Colombian coast and islands to the south. We enjoyed the bustling city life, but are now looking forward to anchoring in quiet bays again

We’ve now spent a week in Cartagena and we absolutely love it. The anchorage is protected and even though the water is slightly smelly fish are jumping around the boat with dozens of pelicans plunging noisily down to catch them–so it can’t be too bad. The only nuisance are the taxi boats and private motor boats that heedlessly go through the anchorage at full speed.… Continue reading »

After visiting some islands in the southern Caribbean between February and July (Tobago, Grenada, Bonaire and Curacao, we’ve now left the “beaten tracks” again and have reached Latin America. Colombia used to have a bad reputation, but now traveling is supposed to be safe. Cruising Colombia means lots of bureaucracy (instead of checking in yourself you need an “agent” to deal with authorities), but the… Continue reading »

We’ve spent the last “florines” in Willemstad, tidied the boat, said good-bye to our friends (that’s the sad side of the cruising life: many of the friends we make sail into other directions…) and will get up the anchor in one hour. The weather forecast looks ok, if it gets too rough we can still anchor in some safe spots along the way

We spent the last 3 weeks in a little side bay of Spanish waters that is quite protected from wind and swell, but experiences gusts from unpredictable directions, so most boats have either a stern anchor, or a line ashore to keep them from swinging against each other or the shore. While our engine didn’t work we had 3 anchors out which kept us in… Continue reading »

Incredible, but we’re still in Curacao. The expected 2 weeks have already turned into 5, but at least we’ve finished all repairs and maintenance jobs on the engine. We’re theoretically ready to leave, as soon as the weather allows it. Sailing down to Cartagena is a bit tricky, because the cape in the north of Columbia (Cabo de Vela) is infamous for strong winds and… Continue reading »

After getting all the love and attention it had obviously missed, our Yanmar is now happily purring again (even the turbo works…). We’re now finishing some minor works, waiting for fair winds and getting in touch with “agentes” in Colombia (that sounds more exciting than it is. These agents don’t have the licence to kill, but the licence to speak to the harbour master to… Continue reading »

We’re still in Spanish waters, but now without a working engine (vital parts of it are at the mechanic being cleaned etc.). The little bay we’re in is fairly protected from the wind that constantly howls over Curacao, but we still get unpredictable, strong gusts from different directions, so we’ve brought out 3 anchors to be on the safe side… Another disadvantage of our little… Continue reading »