Black hole

Colombia 🇨🇴: Our time in Colombia has ended. We had a blast. We’ve been backpacking for a month, enjoying this beautiful interior, and then we ended up in Cartagena, in the Marina Manzanillo, for unplanned upgrades, renovations, new friends, and a new crew member (also unplanned). We stayed longer than intended, but life plays tricks on us. My life stopped as my Dad passed away, and honestly, I still struggle with how to put it back in motion.

But I’ve been told that life goes on, so I’ll try.

Cartagena – is it our new Hotel California?

On our way to Panama, we stopped in Cartagena because provisioning in Puerto Velero was simply impossible. “Just a few days, weather window, and off we go…” – this is something we probably shouldn’t have said because this is how the black holes are created. A black hole is a place where you stay longer than intended and spend more money than you wished. It is NOT a bad place, though. You earn new friends and learn local lifestyle. You truly see people, not just take a picture of them. But the black hole is addictive. It sucks you in, and you cannot leave. We have found a few of these over the years. Martinique, a.k.a Hotel California*, is our famous black hole, but the list is long. It includes San Miguel Tenerife, La Gomera, Chaguaramas in Trinidad, Carriacou, Aruba, and now Cartagena.
We really liked most of those places (except maybe for Marina San Miguel – that was a Nowhere-to-go type of place. Faulty engine keetp us there for way too long, but we also made friends for life with the people next boat, who were also stuck there longer than they wished).
We arrived in Cartagena, in Marina Manzanillo, to the sound of overheating engine. Friends welcomed us on the dock with a good case of cold Colombian beer. It clearly should have given us a hint that we gonna stay longer. A few beers later, we knew it would be a sin to our budget not to make a few upgrades here.

* Hotel California by the Eagles – it goes like this: …you can check in anytime you want, but you can never leave… Makes sense, right?

Life in marina – Boat projects

So we stayed in Marina Manzanillo for a long , long time 🙂 Hereby I present you short list of boat projects and how it built up from few days to 3 months+.
Initial list:

• Heat exchanger renovation – we were afraid that it was broken, but luckily you cannot break 35 years old Bowman that easy!
• Steering reparation – we still have hopes for Henio (the autopilot) to thrive, so we decided to give him one last chance before he rots in the darkness of time… basically “back to work or your time is over and we go hydraulic” kinda warning. Now tested on the way to Panama, and it works!!!!!
  

First week’s addition to the list:

• New solar arch with dinghy davits (yey!)Finally we can sail with dinghy ready to launch, with engine! what a tremendous upgrade
• New lazy bag for the main sail, because new sail didn’t fit in the old cover. Jose did excellent job, exactly what we wanted. Fits perfectly, not too big, and it’s easy to operate
  

First month’s boat projects:

• Bimini welding – our self made structure was based on fittings that made it bit wobbly, so we asked Saul to weld it for us
• Stove renovation – meaning for now extensive cleaning, because spare parts we can buy only in the UK, so they will arrive with friends in September. Now this is what I call long term planning!
• Some jobs we’ve done on other boats…

Second month boat projects:

• Cockpit shower installation — finally easy access to the tap for cold and hot water. — I love it!
• Solar oven renovation — maybe not used as often as we wish, but still ready to extend our time in remote places…
• Sprayhood resurrection (twice!) — This damn thing we should have probably had it done in Colombia, it is barely alive. We would like to make it in aluminum and Plexi… later!
• Deck locker reorganisation including some new shelves and clearing out the space from the items that we haven’t used for the past 3 years
• Ceilings (we haven’t done them all, but to be continued… )
• New covers for mattresses in the guest cabin
• veggie cases in the pantry
• The dog

Third month activities…
…

Wait what? We have a dog now? Well… we do

Introducing – New crew

Marina Manzanillo is full of dogs. The owner keeps them to protect the property but mostly – because he likes dogs. There are tiny puppies, big puppies, feisty small dogs, and gentle giants. One of those tinies became our new crew member! Initially, the marina owner was reluctant, but Vincent was very persistent, and we, the parents, forgot to oppose (which would probably make more sense regarding our Pacific plans). After a few attempts, including the dramatic letter, Vincent’s puppy eyes, and the mental support of his friends (whole bunch of 10 years old “puppy eyes”), he got a deal with the owner: he’d get the puppy, provided that the puppy will be called, like marina, Manzanillo. The puppy responded to “Matt”, so “Manzanillo” became his second name. To be perfectly honest, we call him more often after his father – Fujo Junior, because his father is a legend!

Puppy on board!

Anyways… due to vaccinations and some minor medical issues, the Dog added a few more weeks to our stay in Cartagena. Now we are learning how to live with the puppy onboard. Skip the dippers, and it feels like having a baby, just one with sharp teeth. He decided that it was the highest time Vincent should get new shoes and shorts, my beautiful Aguadeno** hat (I am still weeping!), and… oh yeah – cockpit cushions (damn!). Ever since, the deck has never been so clean. Ropes, hoses, pillows, hats, sunglasses, and laundry clippers are hidden. We live on constant alert for strange noises… needless to say – we are busy!

We call him Master Shredder, but he has many other names. As a puppy raised in the marina, he prefers more industrial toys. For that reason, he is also called Sikaflex/Diesel/Epoxy Matt! He seriously endangered our zip locks, brushes, sponges, and sandpaper reserves. There are many funny stories to be revealed upon this little fella. He brings us a lot of daily joy, starting at 5am. He also taught us how to “siesta” correctly when the temperature jumps out of scale around noon.

Let’s see if the boat life suits him. New adventure starts now.