Isla de Providencia, Colombia

Hello Everyone!
I’m not even sure where to start on this one. It seems like it has been a month since we last posted a blog. We are here on Isla De Providencia & have been far longer than we expected. We were supposed to sail from Grand Cayman to Providencia, have a quick (one day or so) layover to catch up on sleep before continuing on down to the San Blas Islands in Panama, but the weather had different plans for us & we have been unable to escape for 10 days now!!! We are still unable to post on the internet here, so I will probably just add to this in the San Blas and you will end up with a lot of reading material. There will be no internet in the San Blas, because it is very remote & the Kuna Indians inhabit them. They try to live the way they always have, but they do have a few more modern conveniences now. We will tell you more about that when we get there though… Back to the trip so far…
So, I think we already talked about Grand Cayman, that was really fun & the water was absolutely amazing! We left there on Thursday the 16th of April & arrived at Low Cay (which is a little piece of coral above water with lots of coral surrounding it barely under the water’s surface just outside of Providencia) there is nothing there but a little light beacon on the “land” and we anchored in the protection of the reef. The plan when we arrived was that to avoid the fees in Colombia and shave off some time on our travels we would only stay in Low Cay for a night, then leave again for Panama, but the weather started to act up & was supposed to be getting better in two or three days, so to avoid an uncomfortable passage we pulled into Providencia the next day after a great snorkel in the morning.
Providencia turned out to be a great place & we are really happy that we stayed here. The people are nice & it’s a safe place. They all speak English too! Very convenient.
We met some new cruising friends including Jim & Laura on Nilaya another Bayfield 36 the same size & color as ours. Although I have to say they have a way better dodger & the floor in theirs is beautiful.(ours is very dinged & scuffed) Their Bayfield is a year older than ours & the layout is also a little different. They do not have a table that folds up against the wall like ours, instead the table is mounted to the floor in the middle of the salon area & the leaves on both sides fold up so you can eat at both couches & it can be used as a convenient lee cloth to make a double sea berth. It takes up more room than ours & although you can feed more people more comfortably I like that we can get rid of ours completely when it is not in use. The galley cabinets are different as well & where we have a chain locker door in the vee berth they have a plain wall….among some other small differences. We had a good time getting to know them & a few of the other cruisers here as well. We didn’t get as social as we would have liked, or explore the island a bunch either, because we were downstairs the whole time sewing up the new spinnaker.
The Spinnaker is a huge light weight 1000 square foot sail that you attach to the front of the boat in light winds so that you are still moving at a decent pace when the normal sails would not be doing much at all. We bought the kit online and have been planning on sewing it in Panama when we get there, but then we realized that we aren’t going to have much time there at all, so we needed to start here. We have done three huge panels out of four & have lots of work to go after we get all those together. We have a few pictures of the process so far.
Anyway, back to Providencia… We checked in with Mr. Bush. He is the guy that checks all the cruisers in & he is very kind & loves to see boaters coming in! He will do anything to help you that he can. You can call him on channel 16 & ask for a mechanic & he will go find one for you & have them meet you at the dock. Very cool. We went to the horse races on the beach on Saturday & it was crazy! We rented a scooter at the grocery store & drove over to the beach it was at. We arrived early & decided to get lunch first at a little outdoor restaurant on the beach. Turns out our table was the finish line! We stayed there & waited for the race to begin. Men kept piling up down on the sand in front of us & as the race got closer & closer the conversations they were having (in some foreign language) got more & more heated. They take their betting seriously here & they were apparently arguing over who would win. The horses were running up & down the beach before the race to try & show off & get bets. Children were all over the beach & the riders had to swerve around them. Finally they got down to it & the race was on. Two horses erupted through the crowd at the far end of the beach & as they got closer the yelling intensified and it was over. One horse won by a nose & the losing horse tossed his owner into the water. We though there was more coming, but nope. Only two horses today! The betters inspected the horses for a long time to make sure noting funny was going on & everyone went on with their business.
We had rented our scooter for the entire day & wanted to get our money’s worth so we scooted around the entire island three & a half times. We took turns driving & took lots of pictures along the way. There were lots of horses loose in the road. One was taking a nap in the road & seemed completely unfazed by our presence. Then there were the herds of cows crossing the roads & being herded up them by their owners on scooters & bicycles. Usually one person per herd. One man was on his bike & he had the last cow by the tail & was directing it by pulling on it’s tail in the direction he wanted it to go & smacking it with it to go faster. It seemed to be working….I for one would not want to be that close to a cows hind end. We also saw a big Blue lizard & some other cool huge lizards & took lots of pictures of the island as we passed.
On our last lap around the island we got a flat tire!! We ran over a nail & had to stop. We were way up on a hill in the middle of nowhere & Ben was pushing the scooter down the road towards town while we were trying to figure out what to do since we were so far from anywhere. We passed some guys on their front porch& they yelled out to us that they knew someone who worked on scooters. The guys flagged him down for us & he took us to his house just down the road where we sat in his lawn as he fixed the flat. He ended up having to put a new tube in, because we punctured ours in too many places to patch, so he gave us one of his. The funny thing was that every time one of his family members would come out of the house to do something they would spot us there in their yard & do a quick double take before running to another building quickly & telling someone else that there were strange white people in their yard. then another family member would pop out from somewhere & do a double take & run to the house or wherever & so on & so on… I think we freaked out like 4 family members by the time the tire was fixed. We thought it was hilarious. It was like if you came out in your yard at home in Washington & saw a rhinoceros in the yard. They just froze for a minute took another look….tried to focus their eyes…then ran for shelter…They were nice though. Just confused. The tire change took about twenty minutes & cost two dollars! Ben tipped him & gave him three. Big spender! We were very pleased!
The island is pretty. I found it funny that almost all the houses looked uninhabitable to me. No doors or windows in the ones in the country & if I were to pass them anywhere else I would have expected them to be abandoned, but all of the locals are really clean & well dressed in new clothes & their hair & make up is always done nicely....odd combo. They also have three grocery stores on the same block all with the same stuff & two bakeries & anything else they could need. Very nice little town. We ate out at a restaurant in town & after a dinner for two with 5 (very small) Colombian beers the tab came to 8 dollars! Awesome!
The mayor of Providencia threw a big celebration for the cruisers in the town square on Friday & that was really fun. The children danced traditional dances for us & a local band played music & they explained their culture to us & welcomed everyone to their island. Ben got picked out to dance with the local girls in the dancing show twice. I have it on video & when I figure out how to put it online I will show it to you. Very fun!
I guess we are going to town now & we are going to try & put this on a thumb drive & take it in to put on a local computer & try to get it online,,,, so I hope it works. Sorry, no pictures for now. We will have tons to show you when we get to mainland Panama. We are only going to be spending about a week weather permitting in the San Blas, because of our delay here. I think it will be ok, because fishing season is closed there & you are not allowed to dive. I am still looking forward to seeing it though. I will try to get a picture of a Kuna Indian for you, but I know they shun pictures. I have heard that if you pay them a dollar they will gladly let you take a picture though, so we will see.
Ok, well, gotta go top town & get some stuff done. We are off in the morning hopefully!! We tried to leave Monday, but decided not to on the morning of, because of the high seas & squalls coming in. It will not be too much better tomorrow, but lower seas. Keep up on the spots & we will check back in when we can!
We miss you all so much. We really really miss Skip Dog too!! We talk about him all the time & just want to get home to see him (& you guys of course) as soon as possible. The boat is not the same without him though. We are pretty sad. Doug & Janet, give him a hug & tell him hello for us!

Kristen


Ben here! We have been so busy working on sewing up our new beautiful Spinnaker, we have hardly had time to see this island… We did go and snorkel some rocks and a cave where the notorious Captain Morgan stashed his loot. We also saw a stump of a fish that looked like a fat lizard. I expected him to have little feet up front and shook my flipper in front of him to see if he would move. We bolted away super fast and scared Kristen and I. Weird fish though, he had markings like a rattlesnake.
On another note, observing our anchorage in a more distant port… We are tied for the smallest boat. We are actually exactly tied as the other boat is a Bayfield 36 with a very nice couple, Jim and Laura on board. Other observations… There are no Beneteaus… Almost half of the boats have a furling main sail. There are about 24 boats now… Everyone is patiently waiting for the moderate winds to subside. Most people here are full time cruisers and spending the hurricane season either in Panama, Colombia (Cartegena) or heading up the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. Some are on their way back to Florida, but not many… We haven´t gotten to know many people though, as most of the fleet seems a bit leery of our young crew. Or maybe we do not take enough showers… Not sure which. We have met some really nice folks though, and in truth, we have mostly been sweating away belowdecks slaving over our new Spinnaker. I sure hope we like our new sail! We should be heading out tomorrow and have a solid two day passage to the San Blas Islands where the Kuna Indians make their youngest son into a girl (transvestite) if they haven’t had a girl yet…Can’t wait! Beautiful Islands and hopefully surf-too lucky! We will not have internet, but will spot while there. We only have about a week or ten days there though before we need to get through the canal… Doug-thanks again for watching Skip-Dog! Hope he is being a well behaved gentleman. I am also hoping Spring has sprung back home after a fairly nasty winter as I hear it. Miss you all!
Ben (el capitan)