Author Archives: Mark
Sin City
We went to Sin City. I’ll explain in a little bit. We have been having an absolutely awesome time in the Coco Banderas Cays. Our ear infections cleared up and we spent about 5 days snorkeling in the area. Lucky for us, we discovered one of the best snorkel spots since Bonaire (9°30’35.2″N 78°36’50.9″W). Water […]
San Blas Islands – Coco Bandero Cays
Cream Puff is anchored in a really sweet spot. We sailed to a small group of about 12 islands called the Coco Bandero Cays. We are anchored between three islands that are an easy swim from the boat. When we looked at the guidebook we are using for this area we were amused to see […]
Kuna and Karma
One of the Kuna fishermen cut his foot while out on the panga. The three fishermen in the boat turned towards the anchored cruising yachts for aid. Like us, many cruisers carry an extensive first aid kit. And, I mean extensive. We carry it for times just like this. Being very isolated here, self preservation […]
San Blas Islands – Eastern Holandes Cays
For the past few days our daily routine is to get up, eat breakfast, walk on the beach and visit boats in the area while out and about on our dinghy. Returning to Cream Puff, we eat lunch and go for a swim or snorkel. The waters are crystal clear and warm. In fact, the […]
San Blas Islands – Chichime Island
Venancio welcomed us to the San Blas Islands but more on him later. The San Blas Islands! Most people have no idea where these are. Don’t fret, neither did we before we started this adventure. The San Blas Islands are a part of Panama, well sort of, on the Caribbean side. I say sort of […]
Passage to Panama
It’s my job to throw the dead fish off the deck in the mornings when we are underway. I do this each morning before they start to bake in the sun and stink up the place. They will also stain the deck if left stranded. We had nine dead fish on our second night out. […]
It’s Time to Leave Santa Marta
We decided to leave Colombia. As soon as we made this decision, the wind started to howl making the passage out of here very uncomfortable. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know by now how we are all about comfort. So here we sit just sort of hanging until the wind […]
Rodadero
This past week we extended our Colombian visas. This means we have been here for about ninety days. The itch to get moving again is starting to flare up but we’ll not scratch it just yet; soon, but not just yet. We are still really loving Colombia and the people here. Also, the longer we […]
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 […]
