Cartagena – First Impressions

January 18, 2024

We departed Santa Marta on the 12th (Friday) early in the day, and arrived in the bay at Puerto Valero as dusk settled over the landscape. The trip there was not hard, but the wind and waves had migrated to the north, making the broadside waves a bit more exciting from time to time. None were too big but the roll was exciting from time to time.

As we approached Barranquilla, we got a little too close to shallow water and were hailed by the port authority over the radio. I was pretty sure I had lots of water, but there are a LOT of warnings about the variability of the depth and so we added a half mile or so to the north to make sure we were well clear of the silted areas.

In similar fashion we were very careful in Valero bay which is known to have silted and shallow areas. There are a couple of recently grounded boats acting as markers to help identify ‘do not go’ areas. (That is funny if you ignore the empathy for the pour captains who lost their boats).

There are many reasons to be afraid of travel in places like this and of course there are warnings about anchoring, pirates, and more. A few weeks ago there was an attack on a sailboat just outside of Santa Marta for example. So Jinhee in particular was a little uneasy about anchoring in Valero bay, but we dropped anchor in front of the marina and resort hotel which meant at least there were eyes on us. It was a beautiful place to spend a night at anchor. Something we haven’t done for a while.

Early in the morning we pulled up anchor and started on our way to Cartagena with much calmer seas and almost no wind. And while the current has not been in our favour over the past few weeks, since we turned south toward Santa Marta, it was still a very pleasant run.

As you approach Cartagena, the skyscrapers appear in the distance, in our case slowly pushing their way through the haze covering the shoreline until you get a sense of why they call this place the Miami of Colombia. The buildings are new, quite tall and strikingly white. Its a pretty place but there will be more on all of that later.

We arrived at the marina to find out the slip they had assigned us was not appropriate and they didn’t have any more room over the weekend so we dropped anchor in a very crowded, very busy bay and settled in for a weekend aboard. Luckily on Sunday they allowed us to grab a dock for the night and allowed us to get our first taste of the city. Really what we were trying to do was escape the boat traffic that is fast, loud and constant. This place is full of tourists and clearly a significant number want to go for a boat ride or swimming, who knows, there are a lot of them though.

While lifting anchor I had a trapped anchor for just the second time in 6+ years. In this case the boat had spun through the night and picked up a very heavy chain and twisted it around the anchor fluke. I was lucky that my windlass was powerful enough to pull up the anchor with the chain attached so that I could see it. With equal measures of finesse, brute force and engineering I was able to free the anchor over the course of about a half an hour.

Finally on Monday we got our ‘final’ slip for the next month and started preparing to be tourists.

I have enjoyed some cycling, with a lot more to come, and we have gone on a couple of walking tours, found the grocery stores, good restaurants and a first world shopping mall. All the basics are covered.

While we have walked a little bit on our own, we have been on two guided walking tours through the old city (a UNESCO heritage site). I wasn’t expecting so much here, but the sights are quite interesting and the city is loud, dynamic and still very safe and the people, at least so far, kind. That is a significant discrepancy from what was expected based on the reputation of the country.

Country Summary: Violent crime, such as homicide, assault, and armed robbery, is widespread. Organized criminal activities, such as extortion, robbery, and kidnapping, are common in some areas. Terrorist groups and criminal organizations continue operating and carrying out attacks in Colombia.

US Department of State

Here are a few photos to show some highlights, I will post more in the coming weeks.

One mural and the works of a local artist in the Getsemani area. This is just outside of the old, walled city and the area was covered in a lot of graffiti and murals. A local guide (Luis) who has been in Getsemani for his whole life showed us the murals and offered an informative (if biased) history of the area.

We walked up to the local fort (not a castle) San Felipe de Barajas and enjoyed the views.

There is a LOT more to see in this city. I will keep the updates coming with even more colourful photos.