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| Greetings from South America |
We've crossed that magic line in the sea......we call it "the Bonaire line".......the point from which getting back to the comfortable Eastern Caribbean becomes a major pain in the ass....as you are too far west. We're now in Santa Marta, Colombia after a 3 night sail that was blasé, boisterous, then terrifying.
We've cruised the Eastern Caribbean for a long time. Everything was comfortable.........and armed with Kirstin's encyclopedic knowledge of where to find anything on any island, life was easy.....almost too easy. Rum punch and arepas on a Sunday afternoon on Bonaire - you got it!
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| A gluten-free rum punch at 2:00 PM......accounting seems pretty far away |
We even know the right beaches to pick up family by dinghy from the airport. Pictured below is Emily and Kirstin (her driver) starting another fun week on the boat with us. Train (DC) to the planes (DC-Houston-Bonaire) and finally via dinghy to the boat...........Emily laughs at business traveling "road warriors".
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| How many young adults consider this normal transportation ? |
But no more..........we've changed continents and at least for a while (and potentially a long while), everything will be new all the time. Could be fun.
Our run from Bonaire started out fine.......wind was only 15 knots with big following seas. Very comfortable......then the wind picked up on day 2. Great. We were flying in front of some 10-12 foot waves (when they come from behind it's kind of fun skating down the front). We were only 30 miles away from our destination when a telltale scary/weird cloud front appeared. We put our weather radar on and saw that this was a super shit-storm coming at us..........we bobbed and weaved for 2 hours trying to evade this storm that seemed to be chasing us, not moving in any particular direction. The lightning bolts were very close by (judging by the flash, boom meter). We sustained some minor electrical damage from the static electricity but were otherwise OK.......but big wind and lightning at the same time are not our favorite things (since 2012 when we experienced a proximity strike in the Bahamas).
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| L'ORIENT in the front row |
We slept most of the first day and a half we were here..........and I have to say.......we've looked down on marina people (anchoring is more legit) but having A/C in summer in Colombia is muy, muy bueno. Call us soft, but at night we now use a comforter.........and are as cool as the other side of the pillow.
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| Santa Marta marina- our base for the next few months |
Oh, and did I mention that we're now billionaires? With the exchange rate between the dollar and Colombian peso, we could buy a drink, leave a billion peso tip, and still be billionaires. Hahaha. It's good to be the king. "I said more ice, damn-it !" "Yes, your excellency". Actually we are scrupulously super nice to everyone we meet......cruisers, marina staff, etc. You will always need help from anyone who doesn't like you.......so make sure everyone likes you.
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| Fifty thousand pesos- buys two chicken sandwiches (no fries) |
Well, billionaires have responsibilities........time to leave the boat, walk around, and start telling these Colombians how I envision running Santa Marta. There's a new sheriff in town, and me llamo Tomas.
