Trinidad to Cartagena Colombia report; Final leg of the circumnavigation.

On Monday November 19th I cleared out with customs and immigration in Trinidad shortly after saying goodbyes to a few good friends I have been sailing with and bumping into since Madagascar, possibly never to see again. After giving up on waiting for a few rain storms to pass I just set off a few hours before sunset for a 4 mile trip to Scotland Bay located about a mile before the pass leading out to open water hoping to get a good night’s rest and an early start the following morning. I still got nailed with some heavy wind, rain and terrible visibility but this was all more or less in protected water and under motor so no drama yet. Scotland bay is a nice protected anchorage but there were strange wind and currents for such a small bay and the unfamiliar noises actually kept me up a good part of the night. I was able to get everything stowed nicely and the anchor up by 8AM heading out to sea after a long grueling 6 week marathon living on Salsa in the marina, on land, much like a tree house, with plenty of repairs, maintenance, and a few upgrades/modifications. I was truly looking forward to this passage.

The first day was a very nice and fast sail under full genoa on a beam reach making over 6kts with the current helping a bit. It was also a bit hands-on sailing and trimming as the wind speed and direction were a little flukey this close to land so I was happy to be getting an early start as there would be no sleeping under these conditions if I wanted to make reasonable speeds. I was also heading further offshore to the north than necessary to make some distance from the coast, knowing that there had been a few recent problems with Venezuelan pirates and armed robberies/boardings in the area. Just before dark I turned a little more to the west and downwind so that I could sail wing and wing with 2 reefs in the main making things easier on the boat and me hoping to get some rest, and I think the sails stayed just like that for next 3 or 4 days. Back in Trinidad there were squalls passing through and even as I headed offshore I could see a few around but somehow they all seemed to miss me and things didn’t change hardly at all with winds from 8 to 15kts out of the Eastern quadrant until day 5, except for the water slowly turning from the brown coastal colors to green and then the deep blue. Here is a one minute video from the first half of the trip; click here

 

Day 5, 7AM, 13.10N, 68.54W, heading 277, Speed 5.2kts 477nautical miles under the keel and 507nm to go, nearly half way. With the winds now 15 to 20kts and coming directly from my stern, I was down to the third reef in the main and still making nice progress with at least 1/2kts of current. By 5PM I was making 6kts and could see squalls filling in the horizon and decided to drop the mainsail completely for the night so I could rest easier. Read the rest of this entry