First things first: The Delfin Solo is home to a great crew – Rengin, Tahsin and their cat Gatito. They are wonderful hosts and so much fun to hang out with. Most important, they make you feel as comfortable as possible in all situations. We all had a bit of bad luck during the last couple of days – if it hadn't been for that, we are very sure that we would have had an awesome time on their boat with them! We love them and want you to know it, even though the following truthful account of our sailing adventure with them might sound different at times...
Sunday afternoon
It's a beautiful day in Cartagena. We just got back from the beach, took a last refreshing shower and are ready to board the Delfin Solo, the sailboat that is going to take us on a cruise to and through the fairytale islands of San Blas, Panama tomorrow.
Sunday evening
The boat is great – not sure how we can (comfortably) fit 8 passengers plus the crew on the beauty but for now it is heaven. We sit in the harbor, enjoy the best pizza in town and marvel at the sunset over the high rising skyline of Bocagrande. The rum keeps coming and the slow waves against the boat give us a nice little swing. It's gonna be a good night after this and we'll be ready to go tomorrow!
Sunday night
Ough, no chance of closing even one eye in this steaming hot cabin. On deck it is bright as day from the cargo harbor and the mosquitos sting, in here we might soon be swimming away in our own sweat. It's gonna be a long and sleepless night...
Monday morning
A hard night lays behind – it is soon forgotten at the prospect of soon sailing towards San Blas. Lets get back on land for some last minute shopping, then meet the rest of the passengers and be off as quick as possible!
Monday afternoon
Everyone is on board but the crew is missing. We kill time reading books and talking. The captain appears to bring us some lunch before he is off again to somewhere to do something. We are stuck on the boat with no information. Shouldn't we have started sailing hours ago? At least the food is good...
Monday evening
Crew is on board and we are ready to go – the Colombians won't let us, though. Some problems with visas that can't be solved before the next morning (unless, of course, we are willing to pay the small amount of 4000USD). We will wait. To keep us calm and quite we are fed a great dinner – yummy.
Monday night
Another sleepless night in the sauna-cabin. The boat is crowded now, there is no way to spread out. This is going to be interesting. Oh well, it is only going to be two days at sea before we have tons of space and land to hang out on in San Blas – can't wait for it!
Tuesday morning
The crew did an extra early start and got all the paperwork done. We are ready to leave! Sails are set, engine is running – we are slowly leaving Cartagena and South America behind. Everyone is thrilled and ready to enjoy.
Tuesday afternoon
We have very little wind but who cares, the motor gets us somewhere. Tiny skyscrapers are all that is left of Cartagena on the horizon, before us is only the dark blue Caribbean Sea. Some passengers still enjoy while others got seasick after lunch. We talk or just lie in the burning sun and wait for time to pass. It is great to be bored for once.
Tuesday evening
The greatness of being bored starts to diminish. We have very tasty dinner, more people get seasick and there is still very little sailing going on. The motor brings us closer to San Blas with every minute, though. Everyone just goes to bed after nightfall. That is 7pm.
Tuesday night
The compass light is burning into the cabin and the motor underneath the bed is incredibly loud – but it is the best nights sleep on the boat so far: we are moving so there is a tiny bid of air coming through the windows and steering night shifts keep Jens out of bed so there is more space. An unexpected and very welcome luxury!
Wednesday morning
Its pouring outside but there is still no wind. How is that even possible? Nothing can get any passenger out there – only Jens is standing the miserable weather to work his shifts. He is all smiles and happy. The boat starts leaking everywhere and most beds turn into little oceans themselves. Everyone is lying somewhere to keep the seasickness to a minimum, there is no talking. Boredom is on board. At least we are getting closer to San Blas and should be there this evening.
Wednesday afternoon
The crew broke the bad news to us: no wind and a strong current in the opposite direction kept us slow and we didn't even make half of the way yet – they don't expect us to get to San Blas before sometime tomorrow afternoon. Then they cooked a great Turkish lunch for us. We are starting to see the pattern, it's called appeasement. Seasickness amongst passengers reaches unknown heights. At least the rain stopped for a while so a sniff of fresh air is a possibility again.
Wednesday evening
Dinner and then to bed. The last anti motion sickness pills are distributed among the passengers. Please let us get to San Blas quickly now.
Wednesday night
The captain runs around the boat like crazy and the motor is being turned on and off all the time. Something must be wrong. No air is coming through the windows this night so there must be very little movement. Sleepless in the middle of the sea.
Thursday morning
It's hot today. And quiet. Something is different. Right. Sometime very early this morning the motor broke down. No engine means only sailing. But there is no wind. Everyone is waiting now. The main sail is down and the Delfin Solo is as unstable as it gets. We are rocking from left to right and back to front like on a ride in Disney Land. No medicine can safe anyone from seasickness now. The boat seems to get smaller and smaller.
Thursday afternoon
There is still no wind. We didn't move a bit at will. The current is slowly pushing us away from San Blas but we try to ignore it. The appeasement-lunch was probably great again but with this kind of rocking no one feels like eating. The movements of the boat make reading, writing, playing or even talking an impossibility. We lay next to each other and silently pray for some wind. A catamaran crosses our way (its engine is working just fine...) and we sing 'Happy birthday' for one of its passengers. That's all the excitement we get today.
Thursday evening
No changes yet. We got some other captains on the radio that told us there should be wind tomorrow, maybe. Maybe is not good but it is all we have. It keeps us hoping. Passengers start being really edgy, the crew continues its great appeasement strategy with food and good mood. Time seems to stand still out here.
Thursday night
Yet another sleepless night, and after all the laying down during the last couple of days the whole body aches anyway. The noises of the rocking boat are deafening, even louder than the motor before. Who would have thought that a calm can be louder than a storm...
Friday morning
We are back on the radio. There is still no movement of the air. Big weather systems pass by and there are thunderstorms in the distant, we can even see the lightnings – but no wind reaches our sails. The weatherman gives us bad news: there won't be any wind from where we are all the way down to Panama for at least 5 days. Wow – that's got to be an incredible breakfast right there...but no, maybe not, our stomachs just don't agree. We have to face it: we are stuck in a really bad situation. The crew proposes to go back to Cartagena: the current pushes us slowly back there and maybe there are some trade winds somewhere in the north. 5 days more out here on this tiny boat with the whole crowd of us, feeling like being on a constant roller coaster ride (minus the excitement of that), melting away in the heat and not being able to wash ourselves or take a swim (we did see sharks at one point...) and apparently no hope of finding some sleep at all – that's not very appealing. Our hearts cry out for San Blas but there is just no way - all passengers agree and vote for going back to Cartagena.
Friday afternoon
The incredible has happened! No, there is still no wind and we are just going towards Cartagena with the speed of the current which is almost nothing at this point. But we met another backpacker boat on its way to San Blas. It still had a functioning engine. It was still moving. And the ship's captain was willing to take four of us to Panama! 8 passengers on the Delfin Solo: 1 has to catch a flight from Panama to Mexico tomorrow, 2 are teenager princesses that cried the whole trip about everything, 1 is a tough business woman that always gets what she wants and 4 are some laid back friends of whom 2 are really laying back since they are so seasick that they can't talk and argue at all and the other 2 are sailors themselves and keep everything running whenever the crew is occupied. You guess which 4 passengers made it on the boat to Panama... Well, now that there is more space and we actually know where we are going it is much more enjoyable to be stuck out here on the open water. We get out the sunsail, some rum and start having the best time we can possibly have out here right now.
Friday evening
The best dinner of the trip and some great talks keep us out on the deck until late – a first on this trip. The seasickness is still bad, though, and it gets really hard to not just jump off the boat and wait for some sharks to do their work. Of course just when we think about that option a big school of dolphins comes up to the boat to play and keeps us company – they would scare off every shark, of course, so there is no point of jumping into the water. Water sounds really good, though, after 5 days without a shower... Please, please, please let us have some wind to get back to Cartagena! Please!
Friday night
No sleep, like always. At least there is more space now and we can all have our own beds. Late at night the rocking stops and we hear a soft sound from the deck – wind in our sails! Finally we can close our eyes for a little break.
Saturday morning
The Cartagenean skyscrapers are back on the horizon and there is wind in our sails! We are moving! It is not rocking anymore. The sun is shining. It is the best day in what feels like ages!
Saturday afternoon
The wind died down when we were 4 miles away from the harbor. The crew called a boat that towed us back in. It took ages. We anchored, drank some rum and then got on and off the dingy as fast as we could. We made it. We survived. We are back on land. We are back in Cartagena. Our brains don't work, our bodies shot down and we are nowhere close to where we wanted to be – but we are off that boat!
Saturday evening
The moving stopped and the sickness is gone. We all drank gallons of water and took hour-long showers. We enjoyed dinner at 6pm and are now ready to go sleep. In an air conditioned room with big single beds for everyone. And maybe tomorrow we can start getting back to normal.
Saturday night
Sleeping. Like a baby.
It's a beautiful day in Cartagena. We just got back from the beach, took a last refreshing shower and are ready to board the Delfin Solo, the sailboat that is going to take us on a cruise to and through the fairytale islands of San Blas, Panama tomorrow.
Sunday evening
The boat is great – not sure how we can (comfortably) fit 8 passengers plus the crew on the beauty but for now it is heaven. We sit in the harbor, enjoy the best pizza in town and marvel at the sunset over the high rising skyline of Bocagrande. The rum keeps coming and the slow waves against the boat give us a nice little swing. It's gonna be a good night after this and we'll be ready to go tomorrow!
Sunday night
Ough, no chance of closing even one eye in this steaming hot cabin. On deck it is bright as day from the cargo harbor and the mosquitos sting, in here we might soon be swimming away in our own sweat. It's gonna be a long and sleepless night...
A hard night lays behind – it is soon forgotten at the prospect of soon sailing towards San Blas. Lets get back on land for some last minute shopping, then meet the rest of the passengers and be off as quick as possible!
Monday afternoon
Everyone is on board but the crew is missing. We kill time reading books and talking. The captain appears to bring us some lunch before he is off again to somewhere to do something. We are stuck on the boat with no information. Shouldn't we have started sailing hours ago? At least the food is good...
Monday evening
Crew is on board and we are ready to go – the Colombians won't let us, though. Some problems with visas that can't be solved before the next morning (unless, of course, we are willing to pay the small amount of 4000USD). We will wait. To keep us calm and quite we are fed a great dinner – yummy.
Monday night
Another sleepless night in the sauna-cabin. The boat is crowded now, there is no way to spread out. This is going to be interesting. Oh well, it is only going to be two days at sea before we have tons of space and land to hang out on in San Blas – can't wait for it!
The crew did an extra early start and got all the paperwork done. We are ready to leave! Sails are set, engine is running – we are slowly leaving Cartagena and South America behind. Everyone is thrilled and ready to enjoy.
Tuesday afternoon
We have very little wind but who cares, the motor gets us somewhere. Tiny skyscrapers are all that is left of Cartagena on the horizon, before us is only the dark blue Caribbean Sea. Some passengers still enjoy while others got seasick after lunch. We talk or just lie in the burning sun and wait for time to pass. It is great to be bored for once.
Tuesday evening
The greatness of being bored starts to diminish. We have very tasty dinner, more people get seasick and there is still very little sailing going on. The motor brings us closer to San Blas with every minute, though. Everyone just goes to bed after nightfall. That is 7pm.
Tuesday night
The compass light is burning into the cabin and the motor underneath the bed is incredibly loud – but it is the best nights sleep on the boat so far: we are moving so there is a tiny bid of air coming through the windows and steering night shifts keep Jens out of bed so there is more space. An unexpected and very welcome luxury!
Its pouring outside but there is still no wind. How is that even possible? Nothing can get any passenger out there – only Jens is standing the miserable weather to work his shifts. He is all smiles and happy. The boat starts leaking everywhere and most beds turn into little oceans themselves. Everyone is lying somewhere to keep the seasickness to a minimum, there is no talking. Boredom is on board. At least we are getting closer to San Blas and should be there this evening.
Wednesday afternoon
The crew broke the bad news to us: no wind and a strong current in the opposite direction kept us slow and we didn't even make half of the way yet – they don't expect us to get to San Blas before sometime tomorrow afternoon. Then they cooked a great Turkish lunch for us. We are starting to see the pattern, it's called appeasement. Seasickness amongst passengers reaches unknown heights. At least the rain stopped for a while so a sniff of fresh air is a possibility again.
Wednesday evening
Dinner and then to bed. The last anti motion sickness pills are distributed among the passengers. Please let us get to San Blas quickly now.
Wednesday night
The captain runs around the boat like crazy and the motor is being turned on and off all the time. Something must be wrong. No air is coming through the windows this night so there must be very little movement. Sleepless in the middle of the sea.
It's hot today. And quiet. Something is different. Right. Sometime very early this morning the motor broke down. No engine means only sailing. But there is no wind. Everyone is waiting now. The main sail is down and the Delfin Solo is as unstable as it gets. We are rocking from left to right and back to front like on a ride in Disney Land. No medicine can safe anyone from seasickness now. The boat seems to get smaller and smaller.
Thursday afternoon
There is still no wind. We didn't move a bit at will. The current is slowly pushing us away from San Blas but we try to ignore it. The appeasement-lunch was probably great again but with this kind of rocking no one feels like eating. The movements of the boat make reading, writing, playing or even talking an impossibility. We lay next to each other and silently pray for some wind. A catamaran crosses our way (its engine is working just fine...) and we sing 'Happy birthday' for one of its passengers. That's all the excitement we get today.
No changes yet. We got some other captains on the radio that told us there should be wind tomorrow, maybe. Maybe is not good but it is all we have. It keeps us hoping. Passengers start being really edgy, the crew continues its great appeasement strategy with food and good mood. Time seems to stand still out here.
Thursday night
Yet another sleepless night, and after all the laying down during the last couple of days the whole body aches anyway. The noises of the rocking boat are deafening, even louder than the motor before. Who would have thought that a calm can be louder than a storm...
Friday morning
We are back on the radio. There is still no movement of the air. Big weather systems pass by and there are thunderstorms in the distant, we can even see the lightnings – but no wind reaches our sails. The weatherman gives us bad news: there won't be any wind from where we are all the way down to Panama for at least 5 days. Wow – that's got to be an incredible breakfast right there...but no, maybe not, our stomachs just don't agree. We have to face it: we are stuck in a really bad situation. The crew proposes to go back to Cartagena: the current pushes us slowly back there and maybe there are some trade winds somewhere in the north. 5 days more out here on this tiny boat with the whole crowd of us, feeling like being on a constant roller coaster ride (minus the excitement of that), melting away in the heat and not being able to wash ourselves or take a swim (we did see sharks at one point...) and apparently no hope of finding some sleep at all – that's not very appealing. Our hearts cry out for San Blas but there is just no way - all passengers agree and vote for going back to Cartagena.
The incredible has happened! No, there is still no wind and we are just going towards Cartagena with the speed of the current which is almost nothing at this point. But we met another backpacker boat on its way to San Blas. It still had a functioning engine. It was still moving. And the ship's captain was willing to take four of us to Panama! 8 passengers on the Delfin Solo: 1 has to catch a flight from Panama to Mexico tomorrow, 2 are teenager princesses that cried the whole trip about everything, 1 is a tough business woman that always gets what she wants and 4 are some laid back friends of whom 2 are really laying back since they are so seasick that they can't talk and argue at all and the other 2 are sailors themselves and keep everything running whenever the crew is occupied. You guess which 4 passengers made it on the boat to Panama... Well, now that there is more space and we actually know where we are going it is much more enjoyable to be stuck out here on the open water. We get out the sunsail, some rum and start having the best time we can possibly have out here right now.
Friday evening
The best dinner of the trip and some great talks keep us out on the deck until late – a first on this trip. The seasickness is still bad, though, and it gets really hard to not just jump off the boat and wait for some sharks to do their work. Of course just when we think about that option a big school of dolphins comes up to the boat to play and keeps us company – they would scare off every shark, of course, so there is no point of jumping into the water. Water sounds really good, though, after 5 days without a shower... Please, please, please let us have some wind to get back to Cartagena! Please!
Friday night
No sleep, like always. At least there is more space now and we can all have our own beds. Late at night the rocking stops and we hear a soft sound from the deck – wind in our sails! Finally we can close our eyes for a little break.
Saturday morning
The Cartagenean skyscrapers are back on the horizon and there is wind in our sails! We are moving! It is not rocking anymore. The sun is shining. It is the best day in what feels like ages!
The wind died down when we were 4 miles away from the harbor. The crew called a boat that towed us back in. It took ages. We anchored, drank some rum and then got on and off the dingy as fast as we could. We made it. We survived. We are back on land. We are back in Cartagena. Our brains don't work, our bodies shot down and we are nowhere close to where we wanted to be – but we are off that boat!
Saturday evening
The moving stopped and the sickness is gone. We all drank gallons of water and took hour-long showers. We enjoyed dinner at 6pm and are now ready to go sleep. In an air conditioned room with big single beds for everyone. And maybe tomorrow we can start getting back to normal.
Saturday night
Sleeping. Like a baby.
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