Sophistikate

Fun in the sun

Well we made it – we finally got to somewhere that is what was sold to me when signing up for the trip!  Coming across 29 hours from Cartegana to the San Blas with horrid high seas and rolling, rolling, rolling – yug!  Sat on my wonderful seat on the bow watching the sea and then dolphins and suddenly I saw land – felt just like the seafarers of old.  Then more land – this 400 odd island archipelago is amazing and covers a broad area.  It is an independent indigenous territory. The San Blas are just idyllic with tiny palm strewn islands in turquoise azure sea surrounded by coral reefs and thus amazingly protected. We dinghy ashore and have a beach bbq – oh it is so pretty and we are the only boat anchored.

The Kuna people are tiny and very friendly – surviving and preserving their ways and fiercely hanging on to their independence from Panama.  They fish in small wooden dug-out canoes and bring lobster and crab round the boats to sell – very cheaply.  Oscar and Malcolm then cooked and served them beautifully but I discovered they were cracking the shells using my Mac knives and they completely messed them up – neither would admit guilt but Malcolm was actually caught red handed with my paring knife!

14^th is Valentines Day and our wedding anniversary and saw the most colossal torrential rainstorm.  Our planned bbq on the beach was not to be!  We played Mexican Dominoes for hours and had a really wonderful time.  Charlotte had blown up red heart balloons and tied them around the saloon (sadly they looked like boobs when inflated and as they went down men’s genitalia) not the look she was hoping to achieve!  We stayed anchored in east Coco Banderos for four days and were the only boat – we swam to the island and walked round and swam and ate on the beach was total heaven – white sand and waving palms land.  Kuna came to the boat selling mola which are hand sewn in more traditional Kuna geometric designs and the more modern fish; turtles etc – they are delightful and the woman selling so sweet.  The molas are made of brightly coloured squares of fabric sewn together.

We moved on to Salardup where we encountered Lisa – the transvestite master mola maker.  We of course had to buy more of her wonderful creations.  She suggested she could take us on a trip into the Kuna Yala on the mainland in her canoe and we would walk up to a waterfall.  Off the intrepid explorers trekked anticipating a gentle stroll and wonderful swim.  What a different idea she had!  No thought for health and safety here – we walked through rainforest and up hills and down – through rivers (Charlotte was the first casualty falling and grazing her knee in the first river) on and on we went whilst Lisa strode out at the front saying just another 20 minutes quite regularly.  We passed a large gathering of kuna who were burying a baby that had died on the mainland after being taken to hospital and was being brought back to be buried on family ground.  A remarkably moving vision – children and adults brightly dressed.  Eventually we came to a clearing and a waterfall was indeed in front of us.  Lisa and our other young guide then proceeded to tell us we must jump in from a very high precipice!  Bear in mind until now she hadn’t even asked if we could all swim!  Malcolm not to be undone by the youngsters careered off the top – D and Richard swam in the bottom where there were lots of little fish that kept nibbling at us (most disconcerting!).  At this point she tells us we are swimming back down the falls and off we went clambering over boulders and jumping and falling as we go!  A really wonderful day that we will all remember long after the bruises have gone!!

We visited many of the islands – some uninhabited and some with maybe one or two families living in huts with palm leaf roofs, livestock and little else.  We visited a kuna village close to the mainland and were offered a ‘fresh plucked from the water’ iguana!  The village had around 200 people in it and we bought fresh bread (muda) and had to drink beer with the chief (or one of them each island seems to have about three chiefs) at 10am in the morning – something that does not sit happily in the stomach!  Our guide – Leoni – was about 4ft 1” he is stood next to me in the picture – took us all round showing us the church, the community gathering house, the school, bar etc.  A delightful chap. 

Charlotte’s birthday was celebrated with a grilled fish and rice lunch on shore made by a family who allowed backpackers to camp on their small island – a simple meal but very tasty.  The family were again very friendly.  We swam on the reef and saw a small reef shark just metres away.  Fernancio then found us – another master mola maker and his designs were amazing – we are going to have to open a shop back home to sell on all this stuff!

We headed back to the Coco Bandero to meet up with some other Oysters for a beach bbq which was enormous fun.  Our freezer gave up the ghost and we managed to distribute some of the contents amongst a couple of the boats and then provided enough meat for the entire beach party.

Porto Linto we moored in the marina which was extremely well made.  Nothing at all on shore only a huge building half finished and a portakabin.  The dock manager took a real shine to me telling me through bloodshot eyes (possibly a chemical influence as well as alcohol) how very lovely I was.  Just think D said you could be living here in that portakabin if you play your cards right!

Portobelo saw us anchoring in the bay amidst a number of boats that had gone aground and were just left with masts protruding.  A huge fort built by the Spanish back in 1700s dominated the town which was very poor and rundown – and then all too soon we were heading to Shelter Bay Marina in 30 knots again and only a foresail.

To get into Shelter Bay you have to cross the entrance to the Panama Canal – there were huge boats everywhere as they anchor outside waiting to be told they can proceed – it was an awesome sight and really quite frightening – we had to stand off for nearly an hour in huge seas before we were given permission to proceed.  Oscar has shown he is made of stern stuff on this trip making terrific decisions and leading the boat team brilliantly.  We made it into the marina and refuelled and then took our mooring and before we know it the first part of our journey is over – next stop is through the canal on 16^th March.  Before that we have to be measured – you pay for the crossing by the foot!  Sadly a 40ft yacht went aground last night in 30 knot winds trying to get into the marina – a salutary lesson for us all as very dangerous waters.  The poor people were so shocked and it was immensely sad.  Our hotel room was given up for them and two other yachts took people on board.  Oscar with a couple of other crew tried to get their boat off the reef together with the marina tender the following morning but were not able to – they have to wait for the tug.  Their dream shattered.

We have booked into the marina hotel here just to get some space for everyone – two months so far and you do need to have a break.

Richard and I have spent a few days now in the most uber trendy hotel in Panama City – so funny with themed rooms (we are in Andy Warhol!).  Took the hop on hop off bus round the City yesterday which was very interesting indeed.  We are staying in Casco Viejo which is the old ancient part of the town which is overshadowed by a vast new town of shimmering glass and steel skyscrapers.  Chaotic place and really buzzing – a mix of chic clubs, international banking, crumbled ancient ruins and slums with construction work going on pretty much everywhere as they gentrify.  The Canal is awesome – we visited the Miraflores Lock and the scale of the thing is breathtaking.  I can’t actually believe we will be going through it.  22,000 people were killed building the lock and the museum was extremely thought provoking.  Panama hats have been purchased – of course!

Deborah and Malcolm heading off to explore Panama before flying home on the 12^th and we had to say goodbye to them after 7 weeks on board.  Deborah has taught me how to do amazing things with leftovers, shown us how to create a mean houmous and focaccia bread.  She has been the most superb fun and is a hell of a lot stronger than she looks – I am still marvelling at her ability to sleep in the forecabin in 50+ knots of wind!  Malcolm is such a trooper and so kind with a mean sense of humour, he is our ace weather and people watcher, has nerves of steel and an ability to handle a watch for hours on end.  It has been a very real privilege for us to have shared this first leg of the journey with them and we are all enormously sad to see them go – we will miss them a lot.  Thank you Deborah and Malcolm.

As a footnote can I say that whilst it looks from the photos as though I only have one blue and white stripy t-shirt and shorts I actually have ten pairs of shorts and four of the same t-shirt!

Well. What can I say about our trip from Bonaire down to Cartagena. I was very, very keen to come here and Oscar managed to find an agent to help us get in and registered etc.  Most of the fleet not coming in as you cannot come in unattended but have to use a local agent so they are going to the much easier Santa Marta – not for us!  In my opinion – for what it is worth – it should be on everyone’s must visit list.

We left Bonaire at 4am on Thursday morning having checked and re-checked gribs and deciding we had a window of opportunity – and so off we went with three hour watches in place.  We started off well with big rolly seas but making good speed at force 5/6 but by 9pm that night winds at 6/7 and bigger waves.  By 4^th Feb around 12 noon the seas were huge and we were in 7/8.  Horrific winds then arrived and we were hammered, really hammered for 12 hours with us reaching 14 knots going down waves and 50 knots (54 maximum logged) of wind consistently for hours.  The noise was horrific and the boat was reefed right down.  We took wave after wave right on top of us and our aft hatch started leaking!  627 miles of Charlotte being very seasick – I ate nothing – Malcolm and Richard eating heartily and sitting on watch getting soaked! Oscar puking regularly in between getting the boat ready to gybe which we had to do three times – him out on foredeck and me really thinking this is it we are all doomed – always looking on the bright side!  Malcolm and Richard were totally brilliant and calm manning the boat up top during the worst of it all.  In between all this we had to call up three cargo ships to ask them to alter course to miss us – one suggested we might change course ourselves!  By 10am on 5^th we entered port – I cried a lot!!  The boat had managed the whole thing really well and felt enormously safe – all we had lost was an outboard motor cover and no damage detected to the boat at all – incredible.  So all in all we are having a brilliant time!!!  Just think how boring we are all going to be at dinner parties now – regaling you all with our stories!!!

Colombia’s coastline is dramatic – Cartagena is a colonial city with a really stunning preserved beauty and a really romantic air about it albeit a raw beauty tinged with the smell of sewage!  It is a Unesco world heritage site and a complete maze of cobbled streets, balconied houses covered in bougainvillea and massive perfectly preserved churches, monasteries and palaces the large churches casting dramatic shadows across piazzas.  Boutique hotels abound with inner courtyards and water features, trendy bars.   Spanish is the main language here and very little English is spoken (Deborah and I managed to get our gel pedicure done with some hysterical acting out!).  Oscar has stunned us all by using his A level Spanish to great effect – education not wasted!  The people are incredibly friendly and it is reasonably priced – a breath of fresh air after the Caribbean.  We are moored right in front of the old town with its 13km of centuries old colonial stone walls. Truly amazing place and such a stark contrast to Bonaire which was all about the sea and what was in it.  This was a major slave trading port and there the history of that sits all around with the vast Palace of Inquisition which is now a museum which has some of the inqusitors’ gnarly instruments of torture some of which are quite horrific.  There are naval museums, modern art museums, a gold museum, emerald museums etc etc…..  According to the woman in the museum the finest emeralds in the world come from Colombia and they produce 65% of the world’s entire supply.  Angelina Jolie has a 65 carat emerald ring from Colombian mines!

Wouldn’t recommend that experience although Deborah and I seemed to have cracked a stunning haggling ability without trying.  The woman put a bangle on D and said that’s 12,500USD – I said I think it’s too big and then the woman said 8USD eventually getting it down to 6USD she thought I meant the price not the bangle!  Saw the house of Gabriel Garcia Marquez author of one of my favourite all time books 100 years of solitude.

GP Berry was able to put her skills into play as Deborah lost part of a tooth and I was therefore able to put my vast medical skills into action immediately showing remarkable creativity with my torch and reading glasses!  Making full use of one of my dental kits – not sure if it will stay put but seems to have done the job for now!  Not had to stitch anyone up yet although Malcolm does insist on stubbing his toe regularly – no one much concerned about him just that he not get blood on the teak!

Cartegana seems an incredibly safe place with an inordinate amount of police everywhere as well as private security guards all carrying guns!  Development money is obviously flooding in and down behind the old city there is a bustling and thriving area with many high rise developments.  Like most places we visit in the world poverty sits alongside enormous wealth – very incongruous to be sat in a marina full of multi million pound yachts when I can see on the shore a young lad washing his clothes in the water and a small dug out home-made canoe with two men fishing with a throw net.

Oscar has been doing little videos which are quite fun – links below.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcGqAfTydOo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbXCW58KZ80&t=1s

We will be heading off to the San Blas Islands on Sunday morning as there is a little bit too much wind for our liking tomorrow!

Finally upped anchor and sailed away from Antigua on Wednesday morning 18th – uneventful first sail but Charlotte dreadfully seasick – patched her up with scopaderm.  The volcano oozed steam from its sides as we sailed past it.  We were joined by a pod of dolphins to wish us a great trip and sailed into Little Bay on Montserrat just before dark fell.  Very rolly anchorage.  On Thursday we took a guided trip around the island with Joe Phillip a veritable source of local knowledge.  Incredibly green and lush island with an amazing source of pure natural water which would be the envy of any other Island.  Several earthquakes occurred in 92 in the south of the island and in 94 another large quake.  In 95 after 400 years of peace the volcano erupted wiping out towns – the people were evacuated from their homes and told to take just a weekend bag – they were never to return to their homes.  So poignant driving around the island and taking in the devastation with roofs of houses visible poking out from the ash.  Extraordinary place.

We left on Friday at 10am for the journey to Bonaire.  No wind whatsoever which must absolutely be a first for us in the Caribbean and we therefore motored for 75 hours with just a couple of hours sailing managed.  It was a startling day with flat seas and glorious clear blue skies.  We stopped twice for swimming in the ocean miles from land – I’m afraid I was not brave enough to take the plunge!  We had numerous pods of dolphins joining us on the journey and I perched on the bow seat watching them jumping around in the bow waves – totally magical they are the most wonderful creatures and you can hear them talking to each other just such a privilege to witness.  Night two and I was quietly reading my book on my bed when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving.  Plop.  A huge flying fish landed on the bed next to me!  It had launched itself through the open hatch and was a very surprise visitor!

Came into Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles around lunchtime on 23^rd and headed into the Marina which Oscar had been smart enough to book.  There is a fishing competition going on here at the end of the week and the marina is chock a block.  The moorings outside are only for boats up to 53’ so there is no other option for us – that and the fact that there is a big low coming through mean we are in the very safest place.  Trogged off with Malcolm and Deborah to hire a rental car and all we could get was a sort of American pick-up truck!  Everything else is rented to the fishing bods.  I drove it back to the marina and it is like driving a removal van – hysterical! We are going to have to stick Charlotte and Oscar in the back of the truck to go round the national park although they have rented a moped.

Bonaire is a fabulous and enormously popular diving place with crystal clear turquoise waters and reefs right around it.  It has a desert-like landscape with cacti growing everywhere.  You can literally walk into the water at the shoreline and go snorkelling or diving straight away on pristine reef systems.  The reefs are the healthiest and most densely populated ecosystem in the Caribbean – amazing.  We snorkelled out on Klein Bonaire which is a small (1500 acres) island off Bonaire main.  Nesting site for loggerhead turtles and very well protected.  The reef surrounds it not 50 yards offshore and you can snorkel along the side of it – Richard managed his first ever snorkelling – a really amazing achievement for him.  As well as a vast variety of tropical fish there were corals, sponges, sea fans, brain coral which really look just like a brain and anemones – it was truly awesome and I have never seen anything like this even in the Maldives.

Drove right round the island in the pickup to see what was on offer.  Very bumpy roads!  At one end of the island is a huge national park with bright pink flamingos using it as a feeding ground – the world’s largest flamingo sanctuary and one of the few remaining nesting places in the world for the pink flamingos.  I have never seen them in the wild and they were a magnificent sight.  At the other end old slave sheds and solar salt mountains – salt being a major export of the island for hundreds of years.    They look like blinding white hills of snow and inland a series of shallow bogs varying in colour from green to brown to almost pink stretch out for miles.  These are salt pans and as the water evaporates they leave the salt behind. Not far from them are little white stucco huts no more than five feet high – these are slave huts.  When the slaves had worked all day they would literally have to crawl inside on hands and knees as the entrance is tiny.  A very sobering sight.

Huge iguanas as big as three and four feet sun themselves.

An eco-tour kayaking trip was hysterical through the mangroves in Lac Bay with a wealth of bird life and acquatic life.  We at one point snorkelled through a tunnel in the mangrove which was really spooky and the current so strong coming back that it was really tough going.  When we came to get back in our kayaks Deborah nimbly leapt aboard whereupon Malcolm clambered in upending the kayak and pitching Deborah into the water!  Very funny and Malcolm even managed to stay totally dry!!

We had an hydraulic oil leak which we discovered – quite apart from the obvious problem it is hugely damaging to fibre glass.  Once Oscar (ably assisted by Malcolm and Richard) discovered that it was the hydraulics on the furler on the mast we had to take off the boom and dismantle the goose neck to access the pipes.  Antigua Rigging had replaced the vang and the hydraulics in Antigua and just neglected to do up a nut properly – intensely irritating when we have spent such care – not to mention a king’s ransom – to make sure Sophistikate was totally ready to go on her big trip.  The gooseneck was secured so firmly it took hours of Oscar hanging in a bosuns chair to sort out.  The boom is huge and removing and securing it to stay put whilst working on the mast was no mean feat.  Oscar and Charlotte have certainly earned January’s salary!!

We are planning to go to the National Park for the day tomorrow and then get ready to leave on Wed morning heading to Cartagena in Colombia.

Well what a whirlwind time we have had! Sophie was an absolute trooper and kept herself busy drinking cocktails by the pool with a good book – the sacrifices that have to be made! The days have rushed by in a haze of sweat and heads in holes in the boat. The life-raft which had been sent off to be serviced last summer had leaked battery fluid and then blew up fairly impressively when tested. New life-raft now delivered and installed. The rig has been checked and we have been given a clean bill of health. The generator and engine had a three day service from Lindsey who had flown out from the UK specifically to do this. Safety at every turn.

Sophie saw and photographed a one metre long Iguana which climbed out of the water and up onto the dock at the Marina whilst she was sat in a café there. In torrential rainstorm we had three tarantulas washed into the swimming pool – the intrepid Charlotte is proving fearless against creepy crawlies – Oscar proving not so fearless! I found a huge cockroach on the boat – dead – screamed and Charlotte once again rescued me!   I think it might have flown on as there is no sign of anything else but just to be sure placed twenty cockroach traps around the boat underfloor only to be told by Oscar that I had put them all the wrong way up – didn’t have my reading glasses on.

We moved Sophistikate round to Nelsons Dockyard on Thursday ready for the big photoshoot and finally moved onto her. The historic Dockyard is the most wonderful harbour with the old buildings making an amazing and dramatic backdrop for 31 Oyster yachts ranging in size from the awesome 885 to the 46 with a large number of 575’s in between (that’s us). The Oyster leaving party (Deborah and Malcolm arrived and joined us for the evening) was held down on the quay on Thursday night with a free bar – not words which should be bandied around loosely where my family are concerned! Fabulous evening with a live singer and dancing. Sophie didn’t even spend one night on her namesake – she partied until 5am and then used a spare cabin on a neighbouring boat (much bigger of course!). Oscar was decidedly the worse for wear whilst test sailing Friday – apparently vodka and Ting should be avoided in future!

Test sailing Friday as a problem with the engine detected. Transpires that our turbo charger had failed (of course not a spare we are carrying amidst several hundred spares!) – very, very kindly Ayesha was carrying one and gave it to us and we have ordered a replacement for them which they will collect in St Lucia. Just one example of the camaraderie amongst the fleet and everyone in it together. Lots of people wanting to be chums – they haven’t picked up on my antisocial nature yet and that I already have a full quota! A number of Americans in the fleet keener than the British to have many friends – and persistent!! I have, however, joined the OWR Book Club and the first book that has been chosen is Fallen by Elizabeth Jane Howard (cover doesn’t look great!) and I’ve duly downloaded it – Sophie/Liz please can you read it and give me some intelligent comment so I look smart at our first meeting in Panama!

Did a huge provisioning shop which saw us loading four trolleys with everything we might need (bet we’ve forgotten something vital). Lists are being made, heads down cleaning, servicing, provisioning etc. Then of course the hard part is finding a place to stow everything on the boat and logging what is where so it’s easy to find. Found three cans of corned beef at the back of a cupboard Charlie! Oscar and Charlotte have been working like Trojans – I am really liking having crew! We could not realistically have done this in the timescale without them – and Charlotte is relentlessly cheerful and positive which is wonderful even when she had to spend twenty minutes wedged in a corner holding up a slatted blind which had broken, whilst the boat was anchored to avoid damaging it! Oscar is proving a most talented and committed Skipper – his knowledge and guidance are invaluable. I do feel enormously proud of him.

Having been moored stern to in Nelsons 31 yachts all had to get out. Stern to in this case meant drop anchor and reverse back on the anchor and then use lines on the quay to hold the yachts. With high winds for three days and 31 boats’ anchors all in a small space carnage was expected as we left. Sophistikate left the quay first with no problems fortunately and with Malcolm and Deborah on board to share the experience. It was amazing to motor out with all the yachts behind us and truly an emotional experience with lots of boat horns going off to wish us a safe voyage. And we were off – 31 yachts heading for the marked start line under sail. This is not a race but a rally Oscar kept telling us as the countdown to the start was broadcast over the radio – however, obviously this family is not even remotely competitive! I could see he was absolutely going to make sure we were first (or as close as possible) over the line! Barking orders at us and with the excitement mounting we were over the line first we think or certainly in the top three! Remember this is not a race! The photos of all the events including the start are on the oyster website www.oysterrally.com/gallery/oyster-world-rally-start or if that doesn’t work just go to the gallery Sophie to show Nana – my internet is not good enough to check the link properly. To track the Sophistikate’s journey use this http://live.adventuretracking.com/sophistikate

Words cannot describe the emotion of crossing that line and knowing that we have officially started the circumnavigation – the sun shone, the sky was a startling blue, the waves pretty high and the yachts just the most amazing sight all around us. A helicopter hovered over us taking film and photos and little boats risked life and limb bobbing about amongst us to share the excitement of the event. It was awesome and tears were wept – well certainly from me!

As we had to change the turbo charger and do a final test we then headed back into Falmouth Harbour with a number of others. Deborah and Malcolm joining us tonight (Tuesday) and we are heading off to Montserrat tomorrow.

We are finally beginning the circumnavigation that we’ve been dreaming and planning for now for a number of years. A couple of false starts but we are actually here. One big difference on this trip is that after many years sailing mostly just the two of us we have crew – something we have never done before. This will enable us to explore off the boat in the many wonderful places we will be visiting without worrying about the boat – not to mention taking an enormous amount of work off our shoulders. Heaven.   Our Captain Oscar and the wonderful Charlotte have been working flat out getting Sophistikate ready to leave on 15^th and I must say after her major refit during the summer she is now looking as good as she did the day we left Ipswich with her back in 2011. Very sad of course to leave our family but we are in the amazing position of being able to leave the Treasury Today business in the very capable hands of Sophie and Meg with John. Flo has been adopted by Daisy (only temporarily if Flo is reading this) and we leave our new house with another six months to go before completion in the able hands of our project manager – what could possibly go wrong!

Sophie, Oscar, Charlotte, Richard and I together with 14 bags arrived in Antigua via Gatwick and vast quantities of champagne (way too much in my case!). We are staying at Sea Shanty the beautiful house of Deborah and Malcolm and it is a wonderful retreat for us whilst we sort out Sophistikate ready to leave on 15^th.

We gathered with great ceremony at the boatyard to watch as our beautiful boat was hoisted up in a goliath of a hoist and carried to the water. She was slowly lowered down and gently placed into the sea – suddenly from below deck a cry of water from Oscar! Really not what you want to hear. A new valve that had been fitted was leaking and water quickly flooded in – Sophistikate maintained her dignity amid much chaotic activity whilst she was hoisted back out of the water and left hanging!  Workmen descended upon her and after a couple of hours delay she was afloat.  Anyone requiring technical details please email Oscar!