We had an emotional leave of St Lucia. Eilidh and Scott had travelled up to Rodney Bay from Soufriere to wave us off. Hugs from all the boats around us and 'see you in Columbia'. Leanne and Derek kindly gave us a new boat mascot, a kangaroo now called Tullaroo. We will be taking him back for a visit to his homeland.
We are only at sea for 5 days so provisioning was not so traumatic except there is not much fresh fruit and vegetables to buy in St Lucia. This seems strange as it is a tropical island with lush vegetation and plenty of rain. There are plenty of bananas, great for daiquiris, but otherwise very limited.
After an exciting start in Rodney Bay we headed south to just off Castries and then turned west to Columbia. The bay had lots of boats out to see the fleet off and there was a festive atmosphere. Derek and Leanne had just taken delivery of their new aluminium rib so took Eilidh and Scott out to see the start.
This was billed as the windiest leg of the whole circumnavigation. We had initially put one reef in but soon had to take it out and had full sails up with the jib poled out. We made steady progress and settled back into life at sea with its routine of watches, cooking, reading and contemplating the ocean. A SSB radio net has been established with all boats checking in at 9.00 in the morning for an update on position and a chat about any news. A further radio check at 18.00 before we settled the boat down for the night. This is a great way to keep in touch and comforting to hear there are other boats out at sea. Weather information is exchanged, fish caught, any problems discussed. A lot of fish were caught on the crossing and one day it seemed there had been a mass tuna catch.
Our crossing was pretty uneventful as we sailed across north of Venuzela and past the interesting sounding islands of Aruba and Bonaire. Felt slightly disappointed that we did not have more time to spend exploring this area but to do everything would take a lifetime. We had a really large pod of dolphins with us on Tuesday leaping out of the water and following the boat. These dolphins were quite small and I really must find out about the different cetaceans so I can at least identify them. We did not do much fishing as we had plenty of food but a big fish managed to get away while being reeled in and then we decided to stop.
We kept north of the of Columbia and then gybed to sail south west towards Santa Marta. As we past north and west of the Penisula de la Guajira the seas became increasing large with the waves 3-4 metres high giving us a very uncomfortable sail. We were picked up and surfed down reaching speeds of 12 knots plus.
The wind started to pick up steadily thru the night. We went to 2 reefs in the main sail early evening but this was not enough and decision taken to take in 3 reefs leaving us with a small main sail. This is easier said than done as the extra bit of sail needs to be on the opposite side of the boom as we increased the reefs. Dugald had to go on deck to push the sail thru to the other side. The boat was careering down wind during this manoeuvre with light provided by the moon. He was clipped on to the boat but we all felt quite anxious watching him and were relieved when he made it back to the safety of the cockpit. THe jib was completely rolled away and we continued hurtling down wind being picked up by the waves. There was a full moon which gave a clear silvery light until dawn broke around 6.30. By then we were close to the finish and the waves had decreased as we sailed into the lee of the land. We were lulled into false security as the wind decreased to below 25 knots and the jib was unfurled. We crossed the line with 34 knots of wind and headed upwind to take down the sails before entering the marina.
A rib came out of the marina to show us where to go and after some initial misgivings about going to the end of a pontoon in high wind we were safely tied up. We were the 2nd boat in following a fast catamaran and the first monohull in. Now settling down to recover from our last night at sea.