Isla Providencia, Columbia May 24, 2009

Isla Providencia, Columbia May 24, 2009

On Tuesday we headed in the 10 miles or so it took to go outside the dangerous areas leaving Low Cay and into the anchorage in the Providencia Harbor where we called the agent, Mr. Bush, on channel 16. Within an hour or so we were checked in and could raise our Columbian flag, yellow, blue and red. On our entry we noticed some waving banners on the port side of the harbor and discovered when we dinghied ashore and walked across the Lover’s Bridge, walking toward an old fort supposedly used by the Pirate Morgan, that the banners marked a lovely unpretentious “typico” Columbian restaurant. As it was very hot, we stopped for “cervesas frias,” and of course stayed for dinner of fish cooked “as you like it”, with creole, or garlic sauces. Very tasty! We also were served “helados de maiz”-corn ice cream, a typical dessert made right on Providencia. We made faces as we ordered, but gobbled it right up.

By that time it was time to return to the boats, but we planned to rent motor scooters to explore the 4 mile by 2 mile island as soon as Jamie was able to make welding arrangements for his boom.

Wednesday, we walked through the town streets, being careful not to interfere with or get in the way of the motor bikes that are used for transportation on this busy island. Providencia groceries, three different markets, allowed for easy provisioning so that didn’t take long and we had lots of time to play and explore. We hiked up to Fort Warwick in fort Bay and saw some old cannons and walked along the edge of the overlook or Pirates’ Walk to Morgan’s Head, then returned to our dinghies and circumnavigated Santa Catalina Island, this time traveling under the Love Bridge, dinghies almost touching the sides.

The next day we rented motor bikes, with the guys feeling like Marlon Brando. Allison and I just hung on the back of Dan and Randall’s bikes until later in the day after touring the beaches, the mountains, the side roads and byways and having a flat tire or two on Randall’s bike, Allison took me as a passenger. She had really wanted to try driving a scooter on her own, and was very adept! We drove around the island, visiting all the beaches, swimming and people watching.

Later in the afternoon, the sun was beating down unmercifully, and a few drops of rain fell, then a short shower. Allison and I were descending a hill when-WHAT???- we came upon hundreds of black crabs covering the road from side to side, their pincer claws full up and at the ready to defend themselves from passing motor vehicles. Allison carefully threaded her way through and we pulled off the road waiting for Jamie and Randall to appear on their bikes. They worried us as they had stopped to take photos!

Shortly after, when we attempted to return to town by the same road, we found an Army blockade. We happened to be driving on the day the migration of the land crabs to the sea began. I don’t know what kind they are or how long the migration lasts. I got the impression it was a very short time period. The crabs leave the mountain, go into the sea and molt and then if the currents do not sweep them away they return to the mountain. The short rain had triggered the migration; the crabs were crossing a paved road that has lots of truck and vehicle traffic and some hadn’t made it when we passed. We had to return to town the opposite way, since the road circles the island and was blockaded to protect the crabs.

Providencia-2009

The following morning our two ambitious travelers, Allison and Jamie, climbed the highest peak on Providencia, and to celebrate we again went to Rey’s Restaurant for a fantastic meal and she recommended a few places for us to eat in San Andres when we got there. Jamie picked up his welded gooseneck and reinstalled it, then we felt ready to sail on the another Columbian island, San Andres, after checking out with Mr. Bush who was our agent to the Port Captain.

Jamaica to Isla Providencia, Columbia May 14-27, 2009

Roncador Bank, Columbia May 20, 2009
It’s time to leave Jamaica behind and keep moving south to be out of the hurricane belt. Port Antonio, Jamaica has been a wonderful stop. Dan and I are rested after 28 days in one place and have enjoyed being in the ,”No problem, Mon!” culture. I am sorry to leave the beautiful mountains and sheltered bays behind. Another time we may explore the north coast of Jamaica by boat, as the officials are trying to turn the tourist trade around. Some boaters report no negative incidents, but there is a high rate of crime. We were fine in Port Antonio. Our only problem was the marine growth- strings of foot long green grass under our boat and dinghy. We hired a young man to clean the bottom before our passage.


I will miss the availability of fresh farm produce and the open air markets. There were so many new fruits and vegetables to learn to cook. The market ladies were helpful and friendly. They got a real kick out of hearing I had never cooked their food. I hope we find callaloo, breadfruit and ripe papaya, pineapple and mango again, as well as the basic salad vegetables that are so fresh and yummy. I will say I kind of prefer the supermarket when it comes to buying meat or fish, rather than bargaining at the open market. It was nice to have the choice.

Jamaica market-pole

While we stayed at the Marina, Jamie from Windsong returned to Miami for a wedding where he also gathered necessary items of repair and boat parts, arriving back in Jamaica with full suitcases three days later. He had checked, parts for a boat in transit do not carry a duty according to the information given. Well, he found out they don’t have a duty on the parts but you must prove to their satisfaction that the parts are for a boat in transit and not resale. At the Kingston Airport his boat items were confiscated by customs, necessitating his return to the airport the following day! The extra round trip taxi ride was $200 US and he had to bring the customs man from Port Antonio to Kingston and pay his salary for the day to retrieve his gear. After the ride, the customs person from Port Antonio (where Jamie’s boat was moored) could verify that Jamie was on a yacht in transit. I give this example of how difficult some countries make basic services for boaters. Dan and I received our mail through the US Post Office “Express Service”. It had been opened and rifled through and was held up by customs for two days.


We exited Jamaica on Sea Star, with Windsong and Tregoning at 4:00AM on May 14th, to travel the Windward Passage. The wind had been low for many days, so after a rolling swell on the beam while transiting the west coast of Jamaica we experienced five foot swell on our run through the passage, and winds of 15 knots allowing Sea Star to give us a great ride. The radar showed some squall activity during the night. One squall caused us to run with it, off course, for a short while. With that came a wind shift and we were having a great beam reach. On the trip between Jamaica and Baho Nuevo Windsong had an uncontrolled jibe during the heavy squall and broke his boom. He called us to inform us of the issue but underway, in the dark, he was able to go on deck, secure the rig and jury rig a system. He sailed under jib and made it to Baho Nuevo an hour after Sea Star.

Over 200 miles, very little engine, water showing phosphorescent, dolphins at our bow and we arrived a little tired and safely. Baho Nuevo, a reef area approximately 211 miles from Jamaica, would be our first stop. After a trip of 34 hours we arrived, threading our way in through the coral in the midmorning to anchor as close to a 40 foot sand island as possible. Our pleasant weather held, allowing us time to explore the reef and the island. We found sand hills that made us think we had found a nesting site for sea turtles. After a good day of exploration and night of sleep we were again ready to move on.


On May 17 after 18 more hours of sailing we arrived at our next stop, Roncador Bank, immediately regretting not brushing up on our Spanish! When we arrived in sight of the Island the radio crackled to life. We knew the Columbian Navy has an outpost on Roncador, and we knew they were speaking to us, but we did not know how to answer. Jamie on Windsong told us after we both anchored that he had heard the communication to Sea Star, the lead boat, and we were told to speak to the “Columbian Navy or they would blow us out of the water!” I’m glad we never understood them. Dan tried a few sentences on the radio and then I did. We were able to inform them of our nationality and where we were coming from and going to. We were then requested to visit the outpost on our way in. The anchoring looked iffy right in front of the outpost so we anchored closer to the reef as the radio crackled again. We tried to explain we would come as soon as we put the dinghy down. By then the Commandante had called a young man who spoke and understood some English, and the Naval officers calmed down. Our paper work was in order and so we were invited to visit Roncador in route to our next major port of call.
Since our initial entry, the young naval officers have been very friendly to us. They are quite young, all are under twenty except for the twenty-five year old Comandante. They borrowed our snorkel gear for a few hours today and a pole spear that Randall on Tregoning has and they all had a blast.

Roncador Navy

Some don’t swim, but with a life jacket on, they tried. They speared five small fish and were proud as peacocks. While the younger guys were in the water, the five of us off the boats sat and talked with the Comandante and the man who was to learn English so the Navy could communicate with boaters, and a few other men. I brought my computer with pictures of New England seasons, our travel to Canada and family. We did our best to dredge up the vocabulary needed to socialize. After that pleasant but grueling morning we were exhausted. The temperature is in the high eighties, as is the water temperature, but snorkeling provides relief and it is fabulous to finally see a place where the reef is still lovely, healthy and full of fish life. Tonight for supper we had lobster, and a Dog Snapper shot by Randall.


Our next stop will probably be Isla Providencia, a Columbian Island Dan and I visited briefly in 1998 on our first Sea Star, a 40 foot Willard trawler. One of the Naval officers has asked to be taken to Providencia when we go, and Randall had agreed to take him but he did not go.

From Willard 40' trawler Sea Star in 1998

We motored to Low Cay, a reef system ten miles or so from Providencia. Our passage was really uneventful. One huge tanker of 863 feet passed behind our boats, and that was the only company seen in the 18 hour trip. We left Roncador at 6:00PM and within a few hours with apparent wind at 3.0 kn, we motored the rest of the way in seas of just a ripple. Here at Low Cay the anchoring is lovely in sand and the snorkeling is great right off the boat because the reef is near. Dan finally found a fish he was looking for- a Spotted Drum, go to next website to see a photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fschiettecatte/1243281375/

a dramatic black and white striped fish with a pointed black curved protrusion from its head. There were plenty of varied species to memorize and check their identity in our fish book. Since Low Cay is part of the Providencia protected reef, we made do with homemade Pizza on Sea Star. We waited until Tuesday to enter Providencia and check in to Columbia. We want to explore this hilly island and Jamie needs to find someone to weld aluminum to strengthen his boom. The fix Dan helped him do at Baho Nuevo isn’t permanent. He’s looking for a welder. We’ll see.


We know that to check in to Providencia you use an agent and that when we arrive at San Andreas we will need to complete the whole process again. Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will anchor outside the town, perhaps find a restaurant and see what there is to do on the island.

Port Antonio, Jamaica - May 7, 2009

RAFTING the Rio Grande
We continue to hang on our mooring at the sandspit, while we have gone on a few explorations. The first trip we arranged was a one day-really half a day- trip to the Rio Grande River. The crews from Windsong, Tregoning and Sea Star were intrigued by the Pavlitis guidebook suggesting that many visitors to Jamaica follow in the footsteps of Errol Flynn, who used to bring his ladies to the river and using a pole and a 30 foot long, flat bamboo raft, traverse the 8 ½ miles from Barrydale to St. Margaret’s Bay while leisurely floating on the raft. The Rio Grande is fresh water, relatively shallow at the banks and doesn’t have many rapids, we were told and so we could stop the tour and swim along the way in clear, fresh water while gazing up the steep banks and cliffs to watch for birds and see the jungle-like scenery.

Our trip began after a few days of trying to see how we could limit the cost for this amusement. We found, well, I guess Reebo found us- an honest river guide who provided the taxi to and from the Rio and the two rafts needed for the five of us to do the trip. We left the marina at noon and were on the water after a fast and curvy ride by taxi to Barrydale, a settlement about eight miles up the Rio Grande. The five of us were jammed into the small wagon-four in the back and the two in the front, and Rebo jammed into the luggage compartment!

At arrival, a few local men approached us to purchase some Red Stripe beer, the common beer of Jamaica and we were glad to buy one for each of us and one for our two river men, Rebo and another very knowledgeable river guide for Dan and my raft. Our chosen day was hot and sunny by the time we arrived at the river. It had rained in the morning, so we were a bit worried about our day, but with the exception of a five minute shower the weather cooperated. We loaded on into the bamboo seats, Dan and I on one raft and Allison, Randall and Jamie on the other. The seat was built with a back for comfort and a raised platform that kept our backpacks up off the raft and our seats dry underway.

The men pushed off and we began our journey! We looked at fabulous scenery; ivies, vines, canopied trees growing flame-red flowers, bamboo, rocks of awesome dimensions and finally the two close rocks called Lover’s Lane featured in the articles about Errol Flynn’s rafting trips. Along the way we leisurely lounged and studied the river birds such as egrets, herons and kingbirds. After about three miles, Reebo turned in behind the shelter of two large rocks and the five of us had a blast jumping into the 60 foot deep emerald pool, then climbing up the rocks to jump again, and again while the rafters rested and ate their box lunch.

Soon we moved on downstream with Reebo and the other man trying to outshine each other in poling prowess and showmanship. Reebo won, hands down. He poled and sang reggae songs, songs he made up about the river and politics, and displayed incredible agility and balance by dancing from one foot to the other. The men worked hard to get us downriver! They were in good physical shape and had to be to control the raft at all times. We stopped for a second rest stop and exploration and continued on. We came to a place where a pile of bamboo was pushed up against some rocks looking like a huge pick- up-stick game. A few days previous to our trip, one of the other Rivermen had lost control of his raft and crashed there. We heard of other tourists whose Rivermen accidently dumped them and their gear into the water! We had no mishaps and our trip went off without a hitch. Yes, the rafting is a tourist trap and maybe Errol Flynn was first to do it, maybe not, but we had a great time rafting the Rio Grande in Jamaica and recommend our licensed river rafting guide, Reebo, who is available in the late afternoons at Errol Flynn Marina.

Jamaica +raft on line

TRAVEL INTO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS- MOUNT EDGE BIRDING
The next off-the-boat travel into the Blue Mountains our three boats did together, too. When sailing in toward Port Antonio, I explained how beautiful the mountains appeared to us. There are the Blue Mountains, that peak at 7200 feet and the smaller Jim Crow Mountains that are near enough to Port Antonio near the eastern part of Jamaica to visit. Alison and Randall are knowledgeable in botany and enjoy bird watching as we on Sea Star do, and with Jamie we arranged to rent a van, not an easy task as there is one rental car agency in Port Antonio. We reserved accommodations at a guest house by the name of Mount Edge whose internet site sounded great, and headed off into the Blue Mountains for a few days.



Well, not quite so fast. Roads in Jamaica are constantly being washed out as a result of the torrential rains. We had been duly warned about road condition and learned the truth of the admonition that it can be best to rent a car and driver, instead of renting a car. We spoke with the owner of the rental cars, showed him on a map where we would go and he felt that we did not need a 4-wheel drive or anything more than the van. We decided that in order to use the car for the time in the mountains, we would be best to rent. The road we were to take had been under construction for quite some time, so we had to plan to drive into the Capital city, Kingston, and double back up the mountains on another road. Jamaica is a British country and the driving is on the left, with the steering wheel on the right of the car. We were lucky that Allison just happened to have grown up driving in England and she drove out of Port Antonio and began the climb toward Kingston, where Dan took over. We were traveling along nicely, bouncing through the pot holes and slamming on the brakes as needed to allow the faster taxies to pass, as needed enjoying the scenery and passing through small villages, people walking the paved road with goats, dogs, etc. We came around one of the many sightless bends … and saw an animal stretched out in the center of the narrow road. To avoid what might have been a live dog in the road, Dan came close to the rock overhang and into a pot hole where we heard a bang, then a thump. When the guys got out to look, they discovered that we had blown a tire. They then retrieved the spare from under the car; the spare was useless.

From Port Antonio, Jamaica - May 7, 2009


So- what to do next became the issue. Dan had pulled way over, far enough around the bend where we didn’t think we would be hit. Our luck and the caring of Jamaicans had us back on the road with a “new” tire, and a fixed spare in 45 minutes. To make this happen, the three young men who stopped left their buddy on the road with us, drove Randall and Jamie and the two tires to their friend’s tire place in a near town called Castleton where they woke up the proprietor and he did the work. The men returned the guys and the tires, changed the tire and we were off again! Amazing- in 45 minutes and $65.00- $40 for the tires and $25 for ride and tip. We were thrilled to get going again so soon.

Allison took over driving and we bounced along through Kingston where we stopped for snacks we had been missing like chocolate, cashews, and Pringles, bought a sought after birdbook, then continued bouncing up the mountains to around 3000 feet, arriving at Mount Edge around 12:00PM.

Our first impressions were of the incredible beauty that surrounded the guest house! The majesty of the Blue Mountains made the guest house which is also the home of the proprietor, Michael Fox, seem small, but he had plenty of rooms for us and two more couples that were staying there. From the balcony of the main house where we spent many hours of gazing time, the vista was non-ending through valleys and ravines filled with greenery twittering with the endemic bird species we had come trying to see.

We unloaded our gear into our rooms. In our small and modest room, Dan and I had a double bed, a private bath and a mahogany armoire. The highly polished marble looking floors were clean. I noted a black sleeping bag/comforter folded on the side and realized that we were to have cool, comfortable nights when compared to Port Antonio’s sweltering heat.

Everyone was excited to begin exploration and we had been told that the guest house served breakfast and dinner only, so we decided to find a recommended place called “The Gap”.


Allison brought us around narrow, curving roads, blasting the horn as required to allow oncoming traffic to know of our presence and we wound our way further up the mountain, through the army camp and up to a wonderful restaurant. We wondered how it could make a go of it in such an out of the way place! Not only was the food very special; pumpkin-chicken soup, curried goat and chicken dishes, but from their balcony in the midst of fabulous tended flowers and shrubs, hung a hummingbird feeder where we easily watched the otherwise elusive Jamaican National bird, the “Doctor Bird”, a blue iridescent feathered Red- billed -Streamertail with a tail about a foot long, feeding with more species of hummingbirds.

Later we arrived back at Mount Edge for rest and then dinner. We met Malva, the cook and all around kitchen person, and later Carla and her two handsome boys. All of them strove to answer our questions and make us feel at home as we gathered at the large dining table, family style and tasty, plentiful food.
We hiked, we ambled along roads Michael pointed out on our map, leading to private estates or coffee plantations, always going higher and higher into the mountains, Allison daring to drive where roads were undercut by water and ravines, where two cars could not pass and small tour busses appeared around the curve frequently. The temperature up in those cloud forests was comfortable even for the daytime hikes. Allison and Jamie, the more adventurous two, went with the two boys, Johnathan and Nicholus on an exciting river walk down a steep ravine and back up again and out a road culvert. The boys never even had any shoes on.
We had just the kind of trip we envisioned and after two nights and three days away we arrived back at our boats. Here is a recalled list of species seen in various places in Jamaica- mostly in the mountains.

Ring-tailed Pigeon
Jamaican Crow
White chinned Thrush
Jamaican Owl
Jamaican Stripe-headed Tanager
Red-billed Streamertail
Yellow-shouldered Grassquit
Orangequit
Jamaican Tody
Jamaican Mango
Jamaican Vireo
Jamaican Oriole
Redstart
Red-shouldered Hawk Kestral
Sad Flycatcher
Jamaican Woodpecker
Turkey Vultures
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Tri-colored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Loggerhead King Bird
Vervian Hummingbird
And many more birds that eluded our sight for identification.

Check out Kathy's photos. A lot are through the car window, sorry.
Some are from Alison and Randall

Mount Edge on line