So what news. First day here, we had a guided tour of the City with a
local guide whose enthusiasm for passing on all he knew about Simon Bolivar and
the local history was unfortunately not matched by his English, which was hard
to understand. However, we ended up in a lovely park with lots of birds
and we have seen a bit of Santa Marta. We then had a great day on the
beach to the north of Santa Marta in the Tayrona National Park, courtesy of the
Marina owner, who has a very nice motor boat, a helicopter and, we think, a red
Porche. He has been immensely generous with entertaining us and we
have been made to feel very welcome by the Marina staff.
Unfortunately, the Ship’s Boy was developing a major tummy upset, with
Anthony also suffering to a lesser extent, so they did not come to the beach,
Then it was up at 04.15 to go bird watching with Angel, with a very successful
visit to the Salamca National Park and then on to Tayrona and a delicious lunch
at the Taironaka Hotel, where we saw stunning scarlet backed tanagers and a
whole host of birds just inside the grounds. Then off to find the elusive
Mannikins, which we failed to see but did hear. Sadly, Jane and the
Skipper also started feeling rough and needing regular visits to the loo, so
there has been large quantities of Immodium consumed and a liquid supper, mainly
brandy. Next day, not such an early start and a visit to Minca, where we
had excellent bird watching in the morning, followed by another very good lunch
and a great view of a Trogan and some Toucans. With the crew and Skipper
feeling well below par, the Skipper’s wife was the only one to really appreciate
the lunches.
Yesterday was mainly shopping and we had the Skipper’s briefing and
farewell diner and prize giving, which needless to say did not involve us as we
do not have a spinnaker and we were nursing the pole attachment to the
mast. We failed to find the market and had to make do with street sellers
and the 2 closest supermarkets, with the crew not really focusing well on food,
but we have stocked up on the local yoghurt drink, which undoubtedly
helps.
News has now come through that the port will remain closed for the rest of
today and tonight and the plan is to leave tomorrow morning, but which time we
are hoping the crew will be feeling better.
Hope to be able to send some photographs when we have a better internet
connection.
Alcedo