Going the “Wrong Way” the Right Way
By Michael C. Wade, photos by Jennifer Cheng Wade
Last April, my wife, Jen, and I made the 3.5-day passage from Cartagena, Colombia to Curaçao in our Island Packet 380, Brightnest. The nearly 500 nautical mile passage east from Colombia, against prevailing wind and waves, is a notorious one. However, with patience and timing, it is possible to complete it in relative comfort. With Curaçao turning out to be one of our highlights of the cruising season, and that hard-won easting beautifully positioning us for a passage north to Puerto Rico, the passage proved worth it!
Cartagena and Passage Prep
After transiting the Panama Canal (Pacific to Atlantic) in February, we spent a glorious month cruising the remote and unforgettable San Blas Islands of the Guna Yala region. We then completed a two-day upwind passage with winds mostly in the low-to-mid teens, crossing the Gulf of Darién from Snug Harbor, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia.
In Cartagena, we acquired a slip at Club de Pesca Marina, where we could walk directly to the historic Walled City. This incredibly easy access to top-notch wandering helped offset the often uncomfortable home setting, as the wakes from a steady stream of party and fishing boats left Brightnest rolling in her fixed dock berth. Do we even need to mention that it was humid and hot?
Cartagena walking highlights included strolling the walls overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the night food market at Plaza de la Trinidad where we indulged in such street food delicacies as arepas and meats-on-sticks, sipping scratch cocktails while listening to live music and admiring the vibrant murals in the bohemian Getsemaní neighborhood. We enjoyed probably the best cup of coffee we’ve had since leaving Seattle in 2021 (yep, topping Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama).
As we spent balmy days meandering the streets of old town Cartagena, we kept a sharp eye on our forecasting apps for developing weather windows. We also employed the weather routing services of Jamie and Behan Gifford of Sailing Totem (www.sailingtotem.com) for additional guidance. With few weather windows along this route, we had agreed that a Zen-like approach was best for us — don’t get attached to any plans, enjoy the present moment, and stay attentive to a potential window. When one comes, be ready to roll.
Our end goal was reaching Puerto Rico, where we planned to put Brightnest on the hard for hurricane season at Puerto del Rey marina on the island’s east coast. Originally, we were considering a direct passage from Cartagena aiming for the Dominican Republic, pointing as high up into the wind as possible. However, as an unusually long weather window appeared in the forecast, we shifted gears and decided to plan for a four-day motor to the Netherland Antilles, commonly known as the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.
The trade winds remain strong for passages east even after the Christmas winds let up in February, with windows generally occurring in April and May. Heading northeast from Cartagena, two potentially major challenges lie along the route. The first is getting past the katabatic winds that often blow down relentlessly from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in northern Colombia. The second is rounding the Guajira peninsula at the Colombian-Venezuelan border. We planned to manage both by giving the shore a wide berth, between 30-50 nautical miles offshore.
After only two weeks in Cartagena, it looked as though we would get a very fortuitous window with wind speeds under ten knots for the better part of 72 hours. With our weather router Jamie’s help, we soon realized that the three-day window would buy us enough time to get around the trickiest geographical features and make landfall in the Netherlands Antilles on day four or five, given our typical boat speed calculations of motoring an average of five knots per hour in most conditions.
The Passage
On the day of departure, we departed Cartagena through the narrow Boca Grande channel and headed out to sea with between five and seven knots of wind. With conditions so light, it was nearly impossible to sail, but we motored at good speed on calm, comfortable seas. We maintained our speed diligently, fully aware that conditions would likely roughen beyond the third day of passage.
We settled into passage mode and our watch schedule of four hours on, four hours off, occasionally remarking on our fantastic fortune of having such calm seas that allowed us to tick away the miles quickly and comfortably. This continued for over 300 nautical miles, well into our third day, when trouble struck.
Just enough wind had sprung up that we decided to give the engine (and us) a rest for a bit and sail upwind while conditions permitted. When the wind died down, and Jen tried to start the engine, it wouldn’t turn over. I went down below to investigate, while Jen used our Starlink Internet connection to consult a trusted friend who had watched our boat when Brightnest was back in Mexico. While we troubleshot the problem, Brightnest continued to sail upwind at a crawl.
Tired, I gazed across the expanse of glassy sea, trying to banish the nagging thought that the Venezuelan coast was not a great place to have an engine break down. The engine starter battery was dead, and I suspected an underlying charging issue. Fortunately, Brightnest is equipped with a handy button next to the ignition that allows us to parallel the starter battery with the house battery bank. We gave it a try and the diesel engine fired up.
As so often is the case, we would be arriving at our new destination after passage with at least one urgent maintenance project on the list. This was no different, but our thoughts were centered around how grateful we were to be making good progress again. It looked possible to make Curaçao with a little daylight left the next day if we could maintain our speed.
Curaçao
Toward the end of passage day four, the sun was setting as we motored along the western coast of Curaçao. We were under the gun to anchor before nightfall, and the sea state was beginning to pick up. We had already decided to save the trickier navigation of the main Spaanse Water (Spanish Water) anchorage entrance for good light in the morning and headed into the neighboring anchorage of Fuikbaai.
In the morning, we felt a great relief to have made it to the ABCs, going “the wrong way” from Colombia. We were now well-positioned for a relatively straightforward three-day passage north toward Puerto Rico. We ended up staging from Bonaire, to gain further easting for the Caribbean crossing. Once our next weather window appeared, we set the sails on a close reach. We held that point of sail with winds in the mid-teens for three straight days until we reached the anchorage of Salinas, our days of relentless motoring now a distant memory.
Michael Wade and Jennifer Cheng Wade set sail from Seattle, Washington, in August 2021. Currently, they are sailing the Caribbean.
