Sampling life in Marina Santa Marta

26/11/2012

A fine pair in Santa Marta

              

We had planned to spend about a week in this classy new IGY marina .. a last taste of luxury before heading on to the San Blas islands of Panama. The first thing we were asked by the Marina Manager, was whether we were entering their very first Yacht regatta next week end. Of course we said “No, we are a fully loaded cruising boat, not a round the cans racer!”

       

Wild horses wouldn't drag us into this race!

He went on to say that the regatta consisted of only one race, on one day only, between waypoints in a couple of nearby bays ,over about 12 miles. It was a “fun race”, and every boat that entered got a 50% reduction on their marina fees, was guaranteed a prize, a barbeque, free rum and beer! Other lucky draw prizes included air tickets and fully paid week ends away in luxury hotels!This all sounded too good to miss, so we signed up along with 16 other boats, most of whom were fellow cruisers, intent on halving their marina bill.  

         

Having stitched up our staysail, and patched our genoa, we decided on a strategy to come last, and try and pick up the consolation sympathy prize as well! After looking at some of the other boats competing, we thought we might have to make a gross navigational error if we wished to secure the last place prize! I mean 6 or so were cats, and a couple were long term marina tenants who had not left the marina for a year or so!

Roll on race day!

Mojito man!

Now the ablution blocks are all  lovely smart, air conditioned,  new age affairs, with no taps or manual flushing arrangements… everything is fully automatic!

The only disconcerting thing for me was the Autoflush loo arrangement . On my first visit, I leaned forward slightly, to pick up a note pad next to me, and that slight movement was enough to make this trigger happy thing kick into action…. I thought I was about to get an unwanted enema  and leapt up in horror to find out what the hell was potting! The next day I decided to give that particular stall a miss, and tried the one next door. After what turned out to be a very productive session, I proceeded to stand up, hoik up my pants, and let the thing do its thing! But , horror of horrors… the blooming thing does… nothing, so I sat down and stood up again, trying to kick start some action….. nada….

No nobody likes to walk into a loo, just to find the scatological evidence of a previous occupant, do they?  But what was I to do? No lever to pull, or button to press. This miracle of modern science was on strike!  I decided that I had no option but to try and sneak out unseen, before anyone else came in!  Ah Ha!! The trigger for this particular unit was the opening of the door, and I was mighty relieved to be able to shut the door to the happy sounds of  it autoflushing!

Race Day!! 25+ knots  blowing in the marina, and about 35-40knots outside! No need for any navigational errors or the like to ensure last place….. I just withdrew, saying my poor headsail was not up to beating in those kind of winds, and still had to get us to Panama!  A couple of other cruisers made the same call, and about 12 boats were dumb enough to go on out… One trashing a mainsail, another a headsail, and four retiring in the first 10 minutes! Those that stuck it out said conditions were “horrible!”, but at least the regatta was held, and we all got our 50% discount,( about R1500.00, in our case) . In addition, we won a bottle of Rum plus a case of beer, so in the end, we considered it a fine days racing!

Christmas lights

After the prize giving we went out to see the amazing Christmas light display, put together by the city of Santa Marta. What a spectacle!

We decided to spend our savings on a bus trip to Cartagena De Indias, and spend a couple of nights in the ancient city, and so extended of stay in the marina, at half price, and booked the trip from Tuesday to Thursday.

Colombia is turning out to be so much better than we had ever expected!