We've barely got off the boat, except to get in the water and head to a "happy hour(s)." The "happy hour" takes place on an old shrimp boat turned cruise boat turned party boat that anchored in Cholon owned by Robert. He has built a house on the hill known as the "Crow's Nest" with an incredible view on all sides. We'll perhaps climb up there today or tomorrow and get some photos. He's a really nice and interesting guy and on Wednesday night we had a great time. He also put out hundreds of books for people to take (not trade). So, against our better judgment and room restrictions, we took a bag full. We know we can get rid of them in San Blas where there is always a great need for a fresh supply of reading material.
Projects are being checked off the list daily. Michael got out the sewing machine and has re-done the rain catchment gutters with vinyl. Since he's completed them, no rain! So we're certain he's designed rain "deflectors" not "catchers." We looked for terry cloth fabric in Cartagena to make boat cushion covers for the cockpit (the vinyl covers get sticky and we wanted to protect the vinyl longer), but we didn't have luck finding anything. So we made use of two big towels Barbara's sister Carol had given us and Michael made some temporary covers that work great. Next on the sewing agenda is re-doing the aft sun shade to fit the new arch.
We're both pretty much over our colds, so the stay here has been good for that as well. Several large Colombian power boats come in and they party and enjoy the bay but aren't too bad about keeping their distance from the anchored sailboats. They have, unfortunately, caused the price of local lobster, shrimp and fish to skyrocket here. It sounds like the holiday goers just plop down big dollars for a fish or lobsters, so when the local fisherman come by the sailboats, they expect the same $100 bucks for a fish! Ouch! We haven't purchased anything yet.
The shore noises are quite Interesting. There is a very loud donkey or two on shore that make the funniest noises. It's right out of a cartoon – loud, discordant and it just makes you giggle. He seems particularly loud when Michael is on deck doing projects. Hmm!
Unfortunately the weather continues to be bad for our crossing. There is this big trough sitting over the area creating very large seas (12-15 feet) and wind from all the wrong directions. We'll wait – it can't last forever. This is a nice spot to get the last of the barnacle feet off the bottom and continue to work the list of projects down. The San Blas area is wet- it's been raining there non stop with big squalls for weeks. In fact, in Portobello, there were several land slides that killed at least four people. The roads between Portobello and Colon are closed a lot and there is flooding in areas. We heard from some cruisers that even the Canal got shut down due to strong currents from the overflowing rivers and that it was chest deep water in the streets of Colon. So we'll enjoy the sometimes sunny, nice breeze, weather here and wait for the perfect window to cross. We have guests Margaret and Lloyd coming in January so we have plenty of time to get there.
Just cut open a watermelon we bought at the Bazurto in Cartagena! Yum.
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