Santa Marta Columbia

Places to come back to or to recommend.....put Columbia on the list!

Santa Marta was a complete surprise...as we blasted into the bay in 40 knots of wind after 3 days at sea, my first thought was "Perhaps we should just keep moving!"

However, the opportunity to step on Terra firma for a day or two outweighed the unappealing sight of the coal dumps guarding the harbour mouth and the untidy beach we could see through the binocs.


Al and I first came past the Colombian coast on the first Legend 25 years ago. Drug running and piracy were a big problem at the time and yachts gave the  area a very wide berth..it was the Somalia of the time.

We had hoped to slip by without drawing attention to ourselves and were dismayed to spot a menacing warship on our bow early on the morning of our 4th day at sea.

It turned out to be a US coast guard vessel heavily armed and hailing us on the radio. We tentatively answered them and when they asked us were we were headed and how much money we had on board, we foolishly answered, "Cape Town and $5000.00."

They must have been quite convinced that we would never make it home on that amount of money and the only way we could be supporting ourselves was by nefarious means.

They immediately launched a rib and boarded us in rough seas, searched the boat and frightened the wits out of us.

Skipper in his son's Espadrilles..ready to Samba!

The search of course revealed only the declared amount of cash and our determination to make it home before it ran out. They politely left, thanking us for avoiding an "international diplomatic incident", and returned to their gunboat shaking their heads at our foolhardiness.

On this less eventful trip, we enjoyed great restaurants, excellent supermarkets and shopping and a comfortable, reasonably priced marina.

Perhaps we were particularly lucky because the town was vibrant and full of energy.We were in the city just before carnival and the squares and plazas were alive with huge groups of beautiful youngsters practising their Samba routines.

Street food!

Carthegena would also have been worth a visit, but we were in a hurry to spend more time  in the San Blas islands before our date with the Panama Canal transit authorities. Perhaps better to fly in and explore the whole area at a later date.

Vibrant street..great shopping..hats and shoes and handbags..crew in her element

All great fun and worth waiting 25 years to get here without having to dodge gunboats and drug runners!