Guilty as Charged - Part 1

Ok so y'know how you get busy and then distracted and then carried away and then before you know it -  it's two months later??? That'd be me.

So the last update left you hearing about how amazing Bonnaire was, well people we are 2 and half months behind so let me give you the first of a two part blog giving you a break down on how The Adventures of Croc Bones has been progressing.

CURACAO - This was our next stop after Bonnaire and it is, at first sight, a cruisers paradise... that is if you are Dutch (or at least speak it) and quite content to chill and not do very much. Spanish Water is the main anchorage on the island. It goes as far as the eye can see and is filled with yachts of all sorts in every space in between. There is a free shopping bus and a cool little bar where everyone gathers and listens to music that happily plays into the night and even a morning Cruisers net detailing activities and items for sale.

Music Night at the Cruisers Bar

But that's pretty much where paradise stops. The streets and water are covered in litter, everything has a high cost attached to it and there is incredibly poor transport to get you around the island. You can see why a lot of people come here, especially those taking it slow and where cost isn't a problem. It has a strong community akin to Grenada but with nowhere near the energy or enthusiasm - think along the lines of a retirement village. (Harsh but true!). So for us it was a place to move on quite quick from, at least for the next 40 years.

High Point - Central Williamsburg - the capital. A beautiful town to explore with old style colonial house painted in exotic pastels - but it's a one day thing at best.

Biggest Low - The rubbish everywhere. Broken bottles on beaches, dirty water and hardly any sea life just to emphasise the point. Such a shame considering the huge success Bonnaire has made off of its reputable water quality.

Things you find under the sea......

ARUBA - A hop along from Curacao and a free country to enter, Aruba had the biggest draw for me on reputation - i mean, after all, i grew up listening to the Beach Boys singing about it. Yet we stayed for a mere 5 days anchored only 100m from shore which sounds great... until you know that the airport runway started 150m away from us. We were just oh so happy that planes do not land at night time - YEY! So we were mainly in Aruba to take an exam each that we booked way back in Grenada. We revised, prepped and turned up at our test centre to find that it no longer existed*sigh*. A little email to Pearson Vue got us our money back but the disappointment and frustration were ranking quite high for their, and i quote "minor clerical error".. hummmm.

The island itself consisted mainly of huge resorts, a vast amount of very expensive clothes and Jewelery shops and private stretches of beaches. The city itself is very small and just a huge tourist attraction with very little history or culture so we didn't really get up to much here.

Best bit - shamefully it would be our first taste of a Taco Bell meal, which was OMG delicious. I am not saying that we DID eat there 4 nights in a row... but if we did, are we judged??

Worst bit - I think the non-exam centre and the vibrating boat courtesy of the airport draw a tie on that one.

I wasn't kidding about how close

COLOMBIA - Ahhhh Colombia, what wonderful adventures you provided us with. Ok so we're sailing from Aruba aiming for Santa Marta but the wind is not what was predicted and we are burning fuel like crazy. All up - we are not going to make it to Santa Marta and are going to have to take a quick 'pit-stop' off in another place called Rincon. Now we are quite aware that stopping and not clearing in is a bit of a no no so we just made it reeeeeeealllly quick like.....  

"Hello Mr local man we need Diesel, you can get us some? Awesome. Thanks a lot. Cheerio".

A quick getaway... oh i mean 'dash', and we are hitting up Santa Marta, meeting our awesome agent Dino who was to do all of our clearing in with Customs and Immigration and we're off exploring. Santa Marta is lovely. Colombia, in my personal opinion, has way too harsh a reputation of being a 'bad' place. The people are amongst the friendliest and happiest anywhere and are incredibly proud of being Colombian.

Sunrise at the Lost City

Our first and biggest adventure was going on the Lost City Trek with Expotur. It was in a word- AWESOME!! I don't think saying it's the best thing i have ever done would be too far a stretch. We were a group of 8. A Danish couple, an Irish couple, a guy from England, girl from Israel and us. We bonded quickly as a group, and spent the 5 days helping each other, seeing the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountain and experiencing life in the Jungle.

One of the more tame river crossings

From top Left - Maddok, Listo (our guide), Mark, Paw, Jarvis. Bottom left - Shaha, Line, Holly and Me!

We met the local Kogii Indians who live as nomads in the mountains and who still use the Lost City itself as a place of worship. The trek was 50miles all up and included numerous river crossings over 1200 step up to the city and some crazy steep hills with sheer cliffs. We slept in a combination of Hammocks and mosquito netted beds and spent our afternoons playing in fresh water rivers and waterfalls. On the forth day we arrived at the Lost City and it was definitely worth the wait. We arrived a little after sunrise to have the eerie light shine through the trees and see mountains descend around us. The city consisted of about 4 levels of massive circular paved areas and you could easily see how it is considered a place of peace and worship.

It was all over too quickly and before we knew it we were back to the city saying goodbye to new found friends in the quirky little backpacker town of Taganga over wayyyy too many Cocktails ( 2 for 1 for Jarvis is happy times)....

Brilliant night out with new friends

REALLY happy about the 2-4-1 cocktails

 Phew....That's 2 and half countries (lots of Colombia still to go) and part 1 of my mass update complete and we are only up to the end of September... but have no fear because Part 2 will be coming soon (promise this time) and it gets pretty dramatic - 2 birthdays, 2 people go their separate way,  many a boat disaster, some brilliant water funsies and what happens when you say yes to a Jungle Joe....


Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!