I know I'm repeating myself, but what a wonderful change to be here in a South American country. The West Indies are great in many ways: the beautiful beaches and lush nature. The scenery, the sailing grounds and the volcanic mountains are equally attractive and especially in hurricane season, you can still find astonishing places where your boat is the only one in the bay which gives a sense of disconnection to all and everything. You can also get a hold on good craftsmen for boat restoration and repair, for that Antigua and Grenada seem to be the best. But no matter how much we tried to see it, the culture and way of living didn't rhyme well with the way we see life should be lived. Here in Colombia people are happy though they don't have much in terms of money or security. They find joy and thankfulness in each other, music and just the fact that they are alive. People work hard for the little money they make and they are, generally, very friendly and hospitable to both natives and visitors alike.

In many parts of the West Indies (of the islands we've visited), many of the people we met seemed unhappy for some reason, or unmotivated is maybe the right word. There are many West Indian people that work hard, but most of the ones that you meet, are either extremely unproductive or have an attitude problem or in many cases, both. Something else that could frustrate us immensely is that people rather spend hours and hours, days after days waiting in the shade for that right tourist to pass by who they can overcharge for an, often, bad service or for not such a valuable product, rather than lowering the price and offering a smile, to be able to sell more. The philosophy on how to make a living and keep your visitors and clients happy seem to be the extreme opposite in the West Indies as opposed to a country like Colombia and many other places on earth.

The native West Indian people are also often racists towards white - some are better in hiding that than others, and inevitably, it creates a tension and feeds the negative energy from both sides and a segregation between locals and visitors is an unfortunate fact. Even many of the expats who've chosen to settle on the islands, has become equally bitter and pessimistic, probably due to how they've been treated, this is especially the case in Antigua (Falmouth Harbour area in particular). Sorry to say, but it's one of the most depressing places we've ever been, not because of the beautiful beaches for which they are so famous, but because of the fact that such a large amount of its population, whites as well as blacks seem to be fed up with life and they spread that negative energy all around. I would like to not have to mention any of this at all, but after having lived in the Caribbean for two years, it is a fact impossible to ignore. The only two ex-British islands we've come across that gave us a real positive overall experience were Grenada and Nevis, especially due to the kindness of the people we met, and we can't recommend them enough as lovely vacation destinations. 

The French islands are generally more hospitable than the British in our opinion, and the smaller ones of them, Marie-Galante and Les Saintes, are some of our favorites in the Caribbean - and the special sort of small-island-vibe is very much apparent on both of them. St Martin and St Barts will forever be very close to our hearts but unfortunately in this case, it is mainly because they reminded us of the mixed culture of Europe rather than the one of the other Caribbean islands. I have so much more to say about the West Indies and as soon as I have an opportunity I will go through them all one by one, but for now we are just happy to be someplace else to be able to get a real perspective of our past two years that we've spent over there. As you might know, we had never planned on spending such an extended amount of time in the West Indies, but different events kept us there for longer time than what we wanted and so we tried to make the best out of it according to our possibilities. But it is not before now that we are out of there and being in the light of this new, inviting and hospitable culture, that we can establish a fair look upon what we've actually been through. 

Tommy Hilfiger just posted some of our photos from our stay in the beautiful Piet Boon villa in Bonaire a couple weeks ago. Check it out here! And if you missed it and want to see the rest of the images from those days, click here. Missing that place already...

Very happy to be in safe harbour after a few hours of fighting against the forces of nature this afternoon. 52 knots of wind at one point right at the cape of Tayrona, just before the bay of Santa Marta, so we decided to duck into the harbour here rather than continuing another 100 miles to Cartagena in one go as originally planned. Phew.. at least we've arrived and finally we're in South America, por fin amigos! Just enjoyed a delicious sopa de pesca and a carne asada with the typical South American tomato/onion salad, and the whole meal for only $3 USD per person. I think we've found just the right place to stay for a few months.. 

New steering chain and cable connected, meatballs and lingonsylt ingested, goodbye's said to this fun crew of three Swedish sailors and we're now finally ready to go. Very excited about this leg of the journey, not only because we are finally getting to another continent, the first new one since Morocco two years ago. But also because the passage is by some considered the fourth or fifth most dangerous sailing passage in the world and affectionately known as the Cape Horn of the Caribbean. It is in particular the final part of it, the area around the mouth of Rio Magdalena 40 miles before Cartagena that is considered the roughest where the wind off the sea is said to push up large nasty waves against the outflow of the river and the contrary currents doesn't seem to make it easier. The Rio Magdalena is also known to carry all kinds of debris into the sea like trees and even dead cows so somehow we must make sure to arrive to the area in daylight.

We have picked out a reasonably good weather window and hoping to not have more than 20-25 knots of wind at most for the 460 miles/2-3 days that we have before us. But as we all know how the winds and the weather can so quickly change, we're now hoping to get up a good flow from the beginning and get there as fast as humanly possible. Just a bit more weight distribution to do on the boat and then we're out of here.