COMPANY HAS ARRIVED AND WE ARE OFF TO THE BAY OF CHOLON

JUNE 12, 2014

ITS GREAT TO SEE FAMILY!

Last Saturday my sister Judy arrived from Phoenix, Arizona.  She traded tons of air-conditioning for nightly air-conditioned accommodation's on It's Perfect here in the heat of historic Cartagena.  After a day to recuperate from her travels we were off to do a little sailing and see Punta Baru.

JUDY HARD AT WORK

SAILING FOR PUNTA BARU

We left Cartagena on Sunday morning headed out past Isla Tierra Bomba and into the Caribbean Sea. The winds were light and we expected a 4 hour sail down the coast.  It was a lazy day on the water, much cooler out and away from the city.  Just about half way there the sky began to darken and the thunder and lightning was just behind us.  Rod turned on the radar and sure enough the storm cell was about 7 miles long following close behind.  The entrance to Punta Baru runs between reefs, we did not want to attempt to enter in the storm.  We turned west to let the storm pass in front of us.  With a delay of about 2 hours we were finally on our way into the Bay of Cholon. 

SUNSET OVER THE BAY OF CHOLON AT ANCHOR

This is a beautiful large bay with few boats.  We dropped the anchor in about 30ft of water and settled back to enjoy the sundown with a cool breeze and flat water.  We spent 3 nights here taking in the sights and relaxing.  There are many private residences that front the water and a few island rentals.  We took a dinghy ride around the shore checking out the beaches and homes.

With a few directions from other cruisers we again boarded the dinghy to go through the mangrove cut to the small town of Baru.  This cut was made by hand about 200 years ago so the fishermen could get to the Bay of  Cholon to fish without having to go out into the Caribbean Sea in stormy weather.  As we wound our way through this tunnel of mangroves the world dropped away and it seemed we were all alone.  We finally stopped in  Baru a very small poor town. The streets are dirt with outcroppings of coral, all the fresh water was caught in rain barrels and there seemed to be limited power.  The people were friendly as we walked to a nearby store for a cool soda.

THE MANGROVE CUT TO BARU

Our return through the warm waters of the canal led us back into the open bay and It's Perfect.  It is great having Judy aboard.  We rarely have company from the states and she fits right in like was made for this life.  On Wednesday the water pump decided to take a break.  It's always something in Water World.  It was time to weigh the anchor and head back to Cartagena.

GREETED BY CHILDREN OF BARU  IN THE CANAL