Following the departure of my friend TK and prior to the arrival of my parents, I was blessed with three days alone on Aruba. Most of this time was spent at the casino attempting to win money by betting on sports. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like gambling will provide an alternate source for funding my trip. I lost the one soccer game that I bet on and split the two NFL games that I picked.
On Sunday, I attended mass at a local church. The entire service was in Spanish and I recognized the few other gringos in attendance from the casino. It seems that they were also attempting to win favor with The One above. Perhaps they should change the phrase “there are no atheists in foxholes” to “there are no atheists in casinos.” After placing my bets, I ventured to the north part of the island, where all of the tourist resorts are located. I was told that the best sports bar on the island was located in the Marriott, so I sallied forth among the hoards of tourists.
Yet another reason why Aruba is unpopular with cruisers quickly became apparent: the island is ridiculously expensive. At the Marriott, the sports bar had the gall to charge $5.00 for a Polar beer – the exact same Polar beer that I enjoyed in Venezuela for $0.25. Basically, I could have bought 20 beers in Venezuela, on a beautiful exotic island, instead of one beer in Aruba, on a touristy Disneyesque nightmare of an island. For any cruisers considering a visit to Aruba, I would recommend giving it a big miss. As was to be expected, many of the intrepid tourists staying at resorts were self-congratulatory about their courage to visit such a dangerous island following the disappearance of a single American teenager.
Ironically, the only thing I liked about Aruba was that it was safe. The problem with Aruba isn’t that there are too many dead teenagers from Alabama, but that there are too many living ones. Fortunately, Santa arrived on Monday in the form of my parents bearing gifts for the boat and I. We spent a day in a marina completing some basic repairs and provisioning before setting off for Cartagena, Colombia on Wednesday afternoon. Among the gifts that my parents brought was a brand new cruising chute, which is a beautiful asymmetrical spinnaker (those big, colorful sails that you see racers use when going downwind). This sail is perfect for the Pacific, when there are long stretches of light air. We flew the sail for several hours on Wednesday afternoon, gaining at least an additional knot of boat speed thanks to the extra sail area.
On Thursday morning, we flew the cruising chute for a couple of more hours before my Mom noticed a tear in the sail. My father and I quickly doused the sail, but not before several large tears occurred high up in the sail, likely from getting caught on the metal spreader tip. I wanted to cry. The day was slightly brightened by the catching of a fish that we think was a wahoo. My Mom filleted the fish and prepared a fish fry the following evening. Whatever fish it was, it was delicious and the fact that the three of us haven’t dropped dead yet suggests that it wasn’t poisonous. We hooked another large fish the following day, but were unable to haul in our catch before it broke free.
After three days of cruising in rolly following seas (6-9 foot waves) and strong winds (20-25 knots), we dropped the sails and kicked on the engine to motor the last few miles into Cartegena. This plan was temporarily thwarted when the engine decided to die, just as the impressive skyline of the Colombian city came into view. Luckily, my Dad quickly identified that the fuel filter was clogged and we replaced the old filter before bleeding the engine. I would like to think that I would have been able to figure the problem out, had I been on my own, although I am certain it would have taken longer and included a great deal more profanity.
Happily, we finally reached Cartegena and dropped the hook with both the modern new city and lovely old city within view. Although our Spanish is pathetic, we look forward to spending Christmas here and navigating our way around this historic city. Finally, in honor of Christmas, I’ll close with my favorite Christmas story.
The following dialogue took place during Joseph and Mary’s famous search for an inn:
- Joseph: Please, we need a place to stay.
- Innkeeper: We don’t have any rooms available.
- Joseph: Please, my wife is very pregnant.
- Innkeeper: I’m sorry, but it isn’t my fault.
- Joseph: It’s not my fault either.
Felize Navidad from the captain and crew of Audentes!