Author Archives: Mark
Tragedy Adverted
Today could have turned out to be a very bad day for me had I not possessed the foresight to plan ahead. Cruising on a boat forces a person to live with less. Deciding to stock a spare pump over an extra pair of shoes are common decisions made by cruisers when prioritizing space aboard […]
Cartagena – Part Four
A free walking tour is the best way to experience the Walled City. We noticed the tour guides with yellow umbrellas and their groups of about twenty people and wondered if they offered English speaking tours. Luckily they did offer tours in English and we reserved a spot online. I am repeating myself when I […]
Cartagena – Part Three
I am very pleased to say my Spanish is getting better. I now can ask the location of the bathroom. I don’t understand the answer but at least people seem to get the question. I just kind of hope that some part of the answer includes pointing. One of the more recent words I have […]
Cartagena – Part Two
Our choice to stay in a hotel in Cartagena proved to be the right move. This is because we found ourselves in the heart of the Bocagrande area. It is a touristy area due to the long beaches on both the ocean and bay sides of the peninsular. Within a few blocks of the hotel […]
Cartagena – Part One
We are in Cartagena, Bolívar. We decided to leave Cream Puff in Santa Marta and travel by land. There are a couple of reasons for doing this. First, the marinas in Cartagena did not have good reviews and a weekly stay is quiet expensive (we are getting a very good rate in Santa Marta). Second, […]
Shopping in Santa Marta
Shopping in Santa Mart is kind of fun. We have found the city is divided into specialty districts. So far, we have found clusters of specialty stores for hardware, auto parts, bicycles, furniture, mattresses, fabrics and even flowers. We are not use to so many choices. It has been a while since we docked on […]
Christmas Greetings From Santa (Marta)
Santa Marta is one of the few cities to which we have traveled and found the restaurants haven’t yet been destroyed by Coca-Cola and their desire to monopolize the restaurant industry with their exclusivity agreements and strong arm tactics. I guess I need to explain this a little bit. Coca-Cola has convinced restaurant owners to […]
Going Walkabout In Santa Marta
People in Santa Marta seem to be willing to work for any amount of money. The hustle and bustle on the crowded streets of Santa Marta is amazing. No matter which way you turn there are people trying to make a buck. The city is colorful and noisy. Drivers here love their horns. They honk […]
We Venture into Santa Marta, Colombia
The island mindset is gone. Over the past couple of years, we have hopped from one Caribbean island to another. Each has their own traits but there are a lot of similarities. One of the similarities is the lack of availability regarding boat parts, specialty foods, or essentially anything that is not a basic necessity. […]
We made it to Colombia
Yea!!! We made it to Colombia. The passage was as expected. I would like to say it was boring but it turned out to be lively. Winds were forecasted at 20 knots most of the way but as usual the forecast was a little underestimated. We plan for this. For the most part, winds were […]
Hanging Out in Aruba
I am sitting on a bench outside of the Ling and Sons grocery store in Oranjestad, Aruba. It is on the shady side, thank goodness. There is a nice breeze today since the trade winds have picked up a little. The trade winds, besides having a cooling effect, keep the mosquitoes at bay. Sometimes the […]
Loving it on Aruba
Before I get started on all things Aruba, I would like to bring your attention to an article about Bahamian swimming pigs I recently read on CNN Travel. It feels awesome to read an article about a travel place and rather than add it to a bucket list of places to go someday, we can […]
One Happy Island – Aruba
We haven’t purchased a watch and we decide to visit the health department. Let me explain. Let’s start with the visit to the health department. Our future sailing plans include visits to Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica in the upcoming year. These countries highly recommend, if not require, Yellow Fever vaccinations. I don’t know about […]
San Nicolas – Aruba
Cindy is the Entertainment Director aboard Cream Puff. When we arrive at a new location she will gather all the tourist information from the internet and local kiosks or offices. She will then put together a plan of places we should visit and tourist traps to skip. This task is often much harder to do […]
It’s all Dushi
We are in Aruba where everything is dushi. I just love the word dushi. Papiamento is the local language spoken in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, the ABC islands. They also speak Creole, Dutch and sometimes Spanish. Papiamento is sort of a combination of all the languages. We are so happy we have found most […]
