That was about 30 hours ago, and since then we have been working on getting our selves and our bikes on-board. This was accomplished in a full day that involved getting bikes checked out of Colombia at Customs in Turbo, and then riding back along the road toward Cartegena about 40Km to a small town along the way (including a rather nasty bit of dirt road).
(all pictures courtesy of Greg George)
This is what a cheap meal looks like down here.
The captain and his daughter.Then we man-handled the bikes and luggage from a beach into a 7m launch with a 200hp outboard (actually I didnt touch my bike at all, I rode it down to the water edge and then it was pounced on by a group of about 10 brawny brown locals who just picked it up and plonked it in the launch), loaded eleven people into the boat as well as about 400 litres of fuel and set out across the open waters of the Caribbean.
Then it was about an hour and a half of fast cruising (with not too much bouncing around in the waves, Thank heavens!) to get to where the yacht was.
The launch captain didnt want his picture taken because hes not supposed to take people and cargo in the same boat load...slightly illegal.
Then it was another hour or so of winching the bikes up out of the launch and onto the yacht deck (Which was made quite entertaining by the dynamic mix of personalities involved... Yacht captain being very emotional and with explosively expressive emotions, Launch captain being surly, impatient and rough with the bike cargo, and Greg and I with being protective and maybe a bit paranoid with our trusty steads! ... At the end of it all though, the bikes were safe, captains were paid, and the damage to our stuff was not too bad. And another hour of lashing things down so that its all secure for when we sail... We´ll see how well we've done that when we head for open water tomorrow.
Then we had to get our selves checked out through immigration, so that meant a hike through the jungle for about an hour to the village in the next bay where the last immigration office is before entering Panama.
The village is called Carpulganna and I have to say it was a really nice little tourist town located on a particularly beautiful and relatively undeveloped and unpolluted coast. The thing I particularly liked about it was that there are absolutely no roads in the area so there are no cars or even motorbikes and quads.... That meant the place was beautifully quiet and dust free... Ahhh (Ive never seen any Latin American town like it!)
Then there was another launch ride back around to the yacht just as the day closed and the fading light of the sunset disappeared. We pulled into the dock just as a large open-top police launch powered with triple 350hp outboards headed out loaded with a full compliment of heavily armed marines with face paint... Drug patrol! (Its the Darrien gap dont ya know... Lotsa ¨bad hombres¨ in the area !)
And that was it for a busy but "experience rich" day... After which we had a bite to eat, a bit of red wine, and some conversation on the yacht ... Ahhhh
So, it seems Im finally on my way to Panama and it feels very good :)))
Ill post again when I get to the other side in a few days (probably 3 days time)
