Sailing the Caribbean Coast of Colombia – A Comprehensive Guide

by: Constance Elson, October 2011

Part One: Sailing from Islas Monjes to Cartagena
Part Two: Sailing from Cartagena and the Southern Islands
Part Three: Sailing from Sapzurro to Puerto Obaldia, plus Governmental Regulations for Cruising in Colombia

Part One: Islas Monjes to Cartagena

As a cruising ground, Colombia gets a bad rap. Insurance companies impose a surcharge if you wish to sail in Colombian waters, and blanket warnings persist (e.g. The Panama Cruising Guide, fourth edition 2010, page 398: “…most cruisers prefer to give Colombia a wide berth”). In the 1980s and ’90s Colombia definitely had major problems with guerrilla groups on the left and the right that kept prudent sailors far from its shores. But after a decade of serious effort, with US support, Colombia is presently very stable and la violenza has been reduced to levels typical of other South American countries. Criminal problems with narco spin-off gangs of former guerrilleros do continue but only in very specific regions; for Caribbean cruisers the one area that warrants caution is the bottom of the Gulf of Uraba.

Twenty-first-century Colombia is a fascinating, dynamic, and incredibly beautiful country with reasonable aspirations of soon joining Latin America’s small club of First World nations. The benefits of its robust economic growth are relatively widely (by Latin American standards) enjoyed. Colombia offers unusual cruising destinations and experiences, and its coastal inhabitants who proudly call themselves costeños are warm, helpful, friendly and gracious. A little-appreciated fact is that modern Colombians are enthusiastic tourists in their own country, in the mountains and along the coast. A consequence of this is that all its cruising waters also have small hotels, hostels, and resorts catering not to wealthy North Americans and Europeans, but to middle-class and affluent Colombians and to adventurous young backpackers from many countries.

Between November 2010 and May 2011, my sailing partner and I sailed almost the entire length of the Colombian Caribbean coast from the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast to Sapzurro on the Panamanian border. The places we stopped at are all well known to the set of cruisers who sail Panama and Colombia routinely. Good sets of notes exist for separate portions and are listed in the sidebar, but there is not yet a really comprehensive cruising guide for the entire Colombian coast.

At the risk of seeming presumptuous in writing this based on quite limited experience, I will describe our trip and provide descriptions and anchoring details. Our information is current and I will also point the reader to sources of information for harbors and anchorages we missed. I will also say a little about governmental regulations, which seem to be in a permanently transitional state. I offer this as a travel aperitif – with the hope that someone will write a complete travel guide to Colombian waters soon.
Our travels north of Santa Marta took place in November; travels south of Santa Marta took place in April and into May. These “between-season” times may be optimal traveling times; they were certainly good for us. In a month traveling south from Cartagena to Sapzurro, we saw exactly one other sailboat other than at Cholon. I felt I was seeing a glimpse of what cruising in the Caribbean was like 30 years ago: unspoiled, un-gringoed, requiring enterprise and an openness to the unknown, and entirely blissful. So I write this article with mixed feelings. The desire to see others enjoy an overlooked cruising ground and become acquainted with a gracious hospitable people is tempered by the recognition that many of the anchorages I have listed for these waters are fairly small and will not accommodate large numbers of boats.
General Comments

• WEATHER AND WIND. Yes, it can blow really hard, especially along the northern half of the coast and especially during January into April. It is a very bad idea to try to travel these waters on a tight schedule. But all year long, at least once every ten or 12 days, the near-shore winds let up for two to four days at a time, producing manageable, in fact enjoyable, sailing. From May to September almost the entire southwest Caribbean Basin has long periods with much convection and little or no near-shore wind and you can motorsail in almost any direction you choose. Early fall can provide occasional strong westerlies interspersed with calm periods. In the event of a really strong westerly wind, get into a protected anchorage or get offshore. As a general rule, winds and waves are lower very close (less than five miles) to shore. With a relaxed schedule and the assistance of custom weather information, such as provided by Chris Parker, it is quite reasonable to expect to be able to be entirely non-heroic while cruising along the entire Colombian coast.
• LANGUAGE: The political problems of the 1980s and ‘90s left Colombia isolated. For a fairly well educated people, surprisingly little English is spoken. Your trip will be much easier and more rewarding if you are willing to speak some rudimentary Spanish; costeños cheerfully will speak slowly if you remind them to. “Hable despacio por favor” is a useful phrase to learn.
• NAVIGATION: When I give coordinates as four digits, dd°mm’ representing degrees and minutes, the purpose is only so you can locate the general area on a map. Coordinates given as six digits, dd°mm.mm’, with precision to hundredths of a minute, represent accurate positions for navigation. A warning about chart software: south of Cartagena many popular electronic charts are extremely inaccurate. According to our Navionics Gold charts, on several occasions we were anchored a quarter mile inland – disconcerting until we learned to turn the thing off.
• PROVISIONS: The only places where you can get fuel and water dockside are at the marina in Santa Marta and at Club de Pesca in Cartagena, but you can jerry jug diesel and water everywhere. On the southern offshore islands water might be unavailable in dry season. Big cities have big supermarkets and in even the tiniest communities, small tiendas sell potatoes, carrots, cabbage, local fresh food in season, tinned food, often good bread and – of course – beer. Cell phone minutes are universally available and if you have a cellphone or 3G modem, you can enjoy WiFi everywhere in Colombia. ATM machines (cajeros) that accept international credit cards are available in the cities but are uncommon elsewhere. Banks and a few tiendas in smaller communities will sell you Colombian pesos for US dollars.

Los Monjes: The Islas Monjes are Venezuelan, but we include them because they are so often used as a stepping-stone to Colombia from the ABCs. The anchorage (12°21.45’N, 70°54.18’W) is on the southwest side of Isla Monje del Sur. You moor to a two-inch polyester line attached to the sides of an artificially created bay with room for five or six boats. Unless you are absolutely certain the wind will stay north or east, it is wise to drop a stern anchor in 50 feet of water to prevent your boat winding up on the shore side of the big polyester line (as happened to us). The young Venezuelan soldiers who come to your boat to write down your information are stationed there for three-week stints, are polite and will gratefully accept an offer of cold juice or soda. There is no charge for the mooring. An easy hike to the top of the rock provides a great view.

Guajira Peninsula: It is a good idea to get a reliable weather forecast before rounding this cape. We stayed six to 12 miles offshore in eight-foot regular seas and 17 to 25 knots of wind, diminishing to ten knots later, and sailed the 78 miles directly to Cabo de Vela, arriving at the reliable Pizazz waypoint (see Cabo de Vela) after dark. We have no first-hand knowledge of the two possible anchorages along the peninsula at Bahia Honda (12°22’N, 71°47’W) and Puerto Bolivar (12°15’N, 71°47’W) but we know sailors who stopped at Bahia Honda for the night and found it adequate. Heading north it would be a very convenient stop. Puerto Bolivar is Colombia’s largest coal-shipping port and cruisers are not encouraged to stop there but friends who entered because of engine problems received assistance and were cordially treated. It is well lit at night, with channel markers.

Cabo de Vela: Go inside or outside the small island Cayo del Morro to reach the Pizazz waypoint (12°12.25’N, 72°10.69’W) for an anchorage that normally gets you out of the swells. For really bad weather or a longer stay, move in toward the beach keeping well away from the many small plastic bottles which we later learned mark a complete maze of fishing nets and traps of the local Wayu fishermen. We anchored for three days in nine feet of water at (12°12.00’N, 72°09.38’W) during an offshore trough. There was no protection from the northeast wind but the water was completely calm and the holding good. The local fishermen were friendly and curious and the dark huts along the north shore turned out to be mostly posadas for adventurous eco-tourists. Check out the surprising Posada Jareena. We had no pesos but bought some from Colombian tourists to buy beer with. The desert landscape invites cross-country hiking. This bay offers no protection in southwest or west winds.

Cabo de Vela to Santa Marta: The rhumb line is a 124-mile passage that puts you 25 miles offshore at times. It is possible to anchor at the town of Rio Hacha, the tourist gateway to the Guajira, but it is an open roadstead and only suitable in light or moderate conditions. Hot tip: if you time your trip so that in the hour before dawn you are about ten miles offshore sailing along 73°40’N, 73°50’W, you may get to see the 18,000-foot snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Once the sun rises, these peaks usually disappear into mist. It is an amazing sight.

The Five Bays: From east (11°20’N, 74°04’W) to west (11°19’N, 74°10’W) these are Cinto, Nenguage, Guayraca, Chengue and Concha. These steep-sided bays are part of Tayrona National Park and are now (somewhat) regularly visited by the increasingly professional Coast Guard boats from Santa Marta. If your zarpe says Santa Marta you will be asked to clear in at Santa Marta before you can return upwind and upcurrent to stay here. If your zarpe says Cartagena you will be probably be allowed a one-night yellow-flag stop. In either case you will be permitted to stay if you can realistically plead really bad wind and seas.
International visitors to the park must each pay US$17 at park entrances on land, so don’t be outraged if you are asked to pay that. Apparently it is now possible to reach all of these bays by four-wheel-drive vehicle, so if you see a few folks along the shore, they are either indigenous people (usually dressed in traditional white clothing) visiting ancestral holdings or they are tourists who paid an eco-tour operator a lot of money to get there.

Santa Marta: The new Marina Santa Marta is physically beautiful and gives excellent access to the very likeable city of Santa Marta. Entry is at the north side of the extensive breakwater (11°15.00’N, 74°13.01’W) and it is advisable to e-mail the office your arrival plans (info@marinaSantaMarta.com.co) in advance. The marina monitors VHF 68; if no one answers, tie up at the fuel dock at port side of the entry channel and await instructions.

A great deal of money has been spent on docks, plaza, bathhouse and security, all of which are superb. All the staff who work directly with cruisers are welcoming and eager to please. However an ongoing problem is that no one presently associated with the marina has any cruising knowledge and experience; indeed, it is not clear what role serving the cruising community will play in the long-term plans for the marina. We stayed in the marina four months, from December to April (see article in the February 2011 issue of Compass). At times the winds blew 40 knots in the marina, placing real strain on the docks. We were glad to be in safe harbor.

Depending on the wind direction, it is possible for a few boats to anchor outside the marina, staying clear of the shipping lanes used by the commercial port. Boaters who choose to anchor out should contact the marina to see whether use of a marina dinghy dock will be permitted; government regulations make this simple courtesy complicated.
Currently there are only two marinas open to transient cruisers along the entire Caribbean coast of Colombia: Club Náutico in Cartagena and Marina Santa Marta. Santa Marta is by far the nicer of the two. Its excellent security makes it the ideal base for land and air travel and Avianca has several daily flights to Bogotá from the local airport. However for extensive boat repairs or haulout, you should go to Cartagena with its better-developed recreational marine industry. For an informal cruiser’s guide to the town and environs of Santa Marta see www.sailblogs.com/member/tashtego “Guide to Santa Marta”.

Taganga and Rodadero: These two bays on either side of Santa Marta are popular beach resorts. They make a very nice day outing from Santa Marta by boat (a zarpe may be involved) or by land (a ten-minute bus ride costing 60 cents). Taganga (11°15.94’N, 74°11.60’W) is fun and funky, well advertised in Lonely Planet but still very low-key. There is an active scuba there. Rodadero, also known as Gaira, (Pizazz waypoint 11°12.10’N, 74°13.75’W) is Colombia’s version of Copacabana Beach. By day both anchorages require firm discouragement of youthful swimmers or paddle-boaters. By night only Rodadero is a “secure” anchorage. While Santa Marta is now the main northern entry port for clearing in to Colombia it is apparently possible to do so at Rodadero at somewhat lower cost – contact romovela_ltda@hotmail.com.
Magdalena River: This river is 950 miles long and drains a quarter of the landmass of Colombia; 66 percent of Colombians live in its drainage basin. Offshore an abrupt color change tells you when you have entered its outflow. Some boats cross its mouth (74°51’N, 11°06’W) only two or three miles offshore, keeping close watch for floating debris, cows, etcetera. We remained about nine miles out. We attributed the increasing seas to the river but they turned out to be the beginning of a bad blow that we would have avoided had we remained flexible about our departure date from Santa Marta. (Re-read my weather advice above.) Various entrepreneurs speak about developing facilities for cruisers in Barranquilla but the formidable Magdalena doesn’t make that seem very realistic.

Punta Hermosa: This quiet bay behind a long sand bar is conveniently located 16 miles southwest of Barranquilla. Coming from the north the safe waypoint for turning to enter the bay is 10°56.07’N, 75°03.22’W. This is almost a mile west of the waypoint given in the Pizazz notes; the sand bar appears to have swallowed up an entire island. Once inside you can proceed north almost to the top of the bay in nine to 12 feet of water. We anchored at 10°56.66’N, 75°02.12’W. There is almost no wind protection but the water is calm and the holding good. It is wonderfully empty, with only a few kite-surfers, weekend sightseers, and a couple of intermittent beach bars.
Next month, Part Two: Cartagena and the offshore islands.

Sources of Information
Sailing the coast of Colombia is not a trip that you lay out in detail months before you do it. In the absence of a comprehensive guide, it works better to let your plans evolve as you travel, using information gained from various sources, especially other cruisers who have sailed these waters. Here are the resources we used for our trip.

• Pizazz Cruising Guide for Coast of Colombia. For their latest edition contact Lourae and Randy Kenoffel, sy_pizazz@yahoo.com.
• Log of Jarandeb, 1994-95 circumnavigation of Caribbean. Contact Dick and Jane Rogavin, jarandeb2@yahoo.com.
• In 2006-7, cruisers based in Curaçao put together extensive information for Cartagena, Curaçao and San Blas. It was assembled and written up by Rija on S/V Queen of Hearts, qoh06@hetnet.nl.
  There are many good sources of information and trip descriptions on the web:
• Cruisers_Network_Online, www.yahooGroups.com is a great resource with up-to-date firsthand information from a variety of perspectives.
• The Bernon essays, especially Logs 16 and 17, are thoughtful and relevant: www.BoatUS.com/cruising.
• I have written more informal commentary about portions of our trip: www.sailblogs.com/member/tashtego.
  Finally I thank the many, many cruisers from Trinidad to Panama who freely shared information and advice based on their experiences in southwestern Caribbean waters.

Part Two: Cartagena and the Southern Islands

Between November 2010 and May 2011, my sailing partner and I sailed our Lord Nelson 41, Tashtego, almost the entire length of the Colombian Caribbean coast from the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast to Sapzurro on the Panamanian border. The places we stopped at are all well known to the set of cruisers who sail Panama and Colombia routinely. Good sets of notes exist for separate portions of the coast and these are listed in the sidebar along with other sources of information, but there is not yet a really comprehensive cruising guide for the entire Colombian coast.

At the risk of seeming presumptuous in writing this based on quite limited experience, I will describe our trip and provide anchoring details. Our information is current and I will also point the reader to sources of information for harbors and anchorages we missed. I offer this as a travel aperitif – with the hope that someone will write a complete travel guide to Colombian waters soon.

After leaving Cartagena, during six weeks traveling south to Sapzurro we saw exactly one other sailboat except while at Cholon. I felt I was seeing a glimpse of what cruising in the Caribbean was like 30 years ago: unspoiled, un-gringoed, requiring enterprise and an openness to the unknown, and entirely blissful. Many of the anchorages I have listed for these waters are fairly small and will not accommodate large numbers of boats.

NAVIGATION: When I give coordinates as four digits, ddmm, representing degrees and minutes, the purpose is only so you can locate the general area on a map. Coordinates given as six digits, ddmm.mm, with precision to hundredths of a minute, represent accurate positions for navigation. A warning about chart software: south of Cartagena many popular electronic charts are extremely inaccurate. According to our Navionics “Gold” charts, on several occasions we were anchored a quarter mile inland – disconcerting until we learned to turn the thing off.

PROVISIONS: The only places where you can get fuel and water dockside are at the marina in Santa Marta and at Club de Pesca in Cartagena, but you can jerry jug diesel and water everywhere. On the southern offshore islands water might be unavailable in dry season. Big cities have big supermarkets and in even the tiniest communities, small tiendas sell potatoes, carrots, cabbage, local fresh food in season, tinned food, often good bread and – of course – beer. Cell phone minutes are universally available and if you have a cellphone or 3G modem, you can enjoy WiFi almost everywhere in Colombia. ATM machines (cajeros) that accept international credit cards are available in the cities but are uncommon elsewhere. Banks and a few tiendas in smaller communities will sell you Colombian pesos for US dollars.
Cartagena: Who doesn’t want to see this jewel of Spanish Colonial and Baroque architecture and seasonal playground of the world’s wealthy? It is surprising how unappealing the options for bringing your boat to Cartagena are at present, considering its importance as a destination. The only marina open to transient boats is Club Náutico and it is in a state of neglect that has “progressed” from decrepitude to pigsty. However, they do provide a dinghy dock, WiFi and a water faucet for about US$3.50 per day. The long-time cruiser community still runs a net on VHF 68 at 8:00 every morning, offering lots of advice and help if you need it. If you are willing to spend a few nights in a hotel (all price levels are available) you can see Cartagena without bringing your boat there: leave your boat safely in Santa Marta Marina and take a four-hour bus ride ($13) or else anchor your boat in Cholon (see below and also section on governmental regulations in Part Three next month) and return to Cartagena using the 5:30AM launch ($7, one hour and a trip in itself!) to spend a few days feasting on the sights.

If you arrive in Cartagena by boat, the Pizazz waypoint (10°23.45’N, 75°34.47’W) is very helpful for entering Cartagena Bay via Boca Grande because the buoys on either sides of the opening are inconspicuous until you are very close. Once in, you sail along the western shore of Cartagena (Castillo Grande), dumbfounded at the wall of condominium “stalagmites”, before turning into the bay proper. Avoid the buoyed shoal near the statue and anchor near Club Náutico (10°24.68’N, 75°32.50’W).

It is also possible to enter or leave the bay using the marked ship channel at Boca Chica, but we were advised to do so only in daytime.

There are good haulout facilities and long-established recreational marine services in Cartagena Bay. The Club Náutico website (www. ClubNauticoCartagena.com) has a tab labeled “Cruiser Guide” that lists all kinds of information and services for cruisers.

Cholon: Older maps may not show it but there really is a Bahia Cholon, about 16 miles south of Cartagena near the southern tip of the Baru Peninsula. It is a long narrow bay completely protected from the ocean by mangrove islands. The following waypoints will bring you safely through the only sailboat-accessible entry, the first waypoint being very conservative:
10°10.59’N, 75°40.56’W
10°10.41’N, 75°40.32’W
10°10.06’N, 75°40.32’W
10°10.02’N, 75°40.26’W
10°09.91N, 75°40.20’W
10°09.84’N, 75°40.18’W
10°10.59’N, 75°40.56’W

Navionics chartware will tell you that you are sailing over an island. It is wrong. The last two points mark a 20-foot-wide channel with a sandbank to starboard and happy motorboaters med-moored at a beach bar to port. This is not a time to watch bikinis!

Anchor anywhere in the bay where there is adequate depth. Cholon and all of the Baru Peninsula is vacationland for Cartagenans; fast launches provide transport for day-trippers. Long stays are possible here once you learn to ferret out local services; cruiser cognoscenti hang here for entire seasons. The town of Baru can be reached with a two-mile dinghy ride along mangrove channels – hire someone local to guide you the first time. Baru offers fuel and water, a variety of local food, domestic and hardware items, and an ATM machine that accepts international credit cards. Stock up if you need pesos; you won’t see another one until Portobelo, Panama, where the currency is dollars.
The entire shoreline of Cholon Bay is privately owned and only a few places allow you to use their waterfront dock. One of these is the charming Sports Baru, near the cellphone tower. Well-behaved cruisers are welcome to use their bar or restaurant – their second-floor verandah is a sybaritic place for sundowners.
Wind permitting, it is also possible to anchor in very shallow waters off the southern tip of the Baru Peninsula at 10°07.74’N, 75°41.26’W. The on-shore resort there is welcoming and the mouth of a short dinghy channel into Baru is nearby at 10°08.09’N, 75°40.70’W.

A unique way to return to Cholon from a trip to Cartagena is to go to the chaotic mercado, catch a local bus headed to the town of Pasa Caballos, get off and walk two blocks to a ferry, ride it 250 yards across El Dique (a ship channel built to connect Cartagena with the Rio Magdalena, its modern incarnation was dug in the 1950s) and then catch a ride with one of the motorcycle-taxis who will take one of you back to Cholon or Baru for about $13. It’s a bit strenuous but a real hoot.
Rosario Archipelago, Isla Grande: There are several possible anchorages in these islands; good sketch maps are said to be available at Club Náutico in Cartagena. We anchored only at Isla Grande. We passed through its breaker-outlined windward reef safely with good light, relying on the Pizazz waypoint (10°11.18’N, 075°44.45’W), left the drab hard-to-spot concrete post to starboard and eyeballed our way in to anchor at 10°10.90’N, 75°44.39’W. The anchorage was somewhat bouncy when the wind piped up because the protecting coral reef appears to be completely dead, but we had its turquoise waters all to ourselves the four days we were there. The tiny (one cottage) resort La Coquera let us tie our dinghy to an onshore tree and walk across their property to the main path.

The northern coast of this island is proudly Afro-Colombian – imagine an island with only footpaths and not a single road, palm tree groves and a small village whose residents decided to own all their land in common to be able to control further development. Along the paths the houses were minimal (think of a stereotypical Caribbean shack) but the yards were swept and the islanders invariably greeted us with smiles and a “buenos dias”. When we circumnavigated the island by dinghy we found two brightly colored luxury resorts and aggressively ostentatious homes on the leeward side, a jarring contrast with two quieter (also expensive) eco-tourism resorts on the windward side. There might be private desalinization plants at the resorts, but for everyone else water comes from cisterns that fill during rainy season; when the cisterns run dry, water is purchased in five-gallon bottles via a Cartagena launch. Dry latrines, with unique walls made of adobe and Coke-bottle bottoms, provide sanitation for most of the islanders.

Everything on the island had two price tags: local and outrageous. This is a consequence of the island being a favorite day-trip and weekend getaway for Cartagenans and an eco-holiday for well-heeled northerners in the know. The fishermen who came to the boat wanted 20 dollars for crab and lobster but we weren’t buying. There is a Nature Center on the island and in their log the Bernons, whose blog is noted in the sidebar, mention a private-but-open-to-the-public aviary I wish I had known about. We saw another sailboat anchored near 10°10’N, 75°45’W. Circumstances had us exit the Rosario Archipelago using a waypoint (10°08.21’N, 75°43.30’W); it involved ghosting across 12-foot sandy shallows for a quarter mile. The deeper channel to the west, through 10°09.02′ N, 75°44.08′ W, looks preferable.

The Rosarios archipelago was our introduction to an economic and cultural offshore world that stretches from Cartagena to Porvenir, Panama. It consists of local residents who live in tranquility and security, entirely without cars, having very few material possessions other than a cell phone and TV (ubiquitous everywhere except in conservative Kuna villages), and who are warm and courteous to strangers. In the Colombian islands the shorelines are almost all the property of well-to-do absentee owners; shoreline “ownership” is different among the Kuna of Panama, of course.

San Bernardo Archipelago, Tintipan: We anchored off the leeward shore of the largest island, Tintipan, in the clearest, most beautiful water we had seen since leaving Bonaire. In an effort to anchor in sand we initially were rather close to shore but an onshore wind shift made us move 100 yards out to the waypoint 09°27.47’N, 75°50.18’W.
Tintipan must be entirely owned by a very few individuals because the only structures we saw on the south shore were two large homes, each sporting a thatch-roofed palapa built out over water for shady lazy pleasures; the palapas were huge, each easily big enough to accommodate a party of 100 people. The local fishermen and their families all live about one mile west on a rocky treeless island (Santa Cruz de Islote) that a Colombian guidebook claims has the highest population density in the world. It is reachable only by dinghy and the local lanchas. The Bernons describe some of the other islands in the archipelago, including La Palma, which has an aquarium. On our second evening in our peaceful anchorage we were approached by a small boat with five men aboard whom I had watched fishing farther offshore for several hours. After we got past the 20-dollar lobster offering, I said what I really wanted was just two small red snappers (pargo). They couldn’t figure out how to price such a small ordinary item so we settled on four dollars and everyone was happy.

We motored away on a flat calm sunny day, exiting the island group near 09°43.35’N, 75°50.15’W. There is said to be good snorkeling on the north shore of Tintipan; I don’t know if the north shore also offers adequate anchorage when the wind is from the west.

Isla Fuerte: This island is almost entirely surrounded by shallow reefs and we were grateful to two local men in canoes who offered to guide us into a small quiet bay near the southeast tip of the island. It is big enough to accommodate three boats that coordinate their anchoring. The waypoints to enter (at one point you pass over a bar of coral rubble only eight feet deep) are:
09°23.04’N, 76°10.03’W
09°23.04’N, 76°10.28’W
09°23.05’N, 76°10.32’W
09°23.07’N, 76°10.36’W

We anchored in 15 feet of water at 09°23.18’N, 76°10.46’W and got permission to use the tiny dock belonging to the last house on the point and cross the property to reach the public path.

The alternative if the wind permits is to anchor well out, off the town beach, about half a mile to the southwest of our small bay. If you are traveling in unfavorable weather, you may not find good anchorage and should be prepared to sail onward – which would be a great shame because Isla Fuerte was a surprise and deserved more than the two days we spent there.

As you approach you can see that the island has huge trees growing on it. Much of the shoreline is given over to discreet weekend waterfront homes (belonging to antioqueños from Medellín, at a guess). Aside from caretaker families for those homes, the full-time residents almost all live in the town of Puerto Limón. A pleasant tree-shaded 15-minute walk, sharing the path with tiny donkeys carrying laughing groups of children or impossibly big loads, brings you into town. The surprise is how many of the small houses were carefully finished, at no small expense, and there were paved sidewalk-streets along the shorefront. The town sports a tiny tienda, a restaurant, and a friendly mayor. The Bernon logs, about their week on Isla Fuerte in 2006, are a good resource (see sidebar).
From Isla Fuerte we sailed 80 miles directly to Sapzurro, which will be discussed in Part Three, next month.

Sources of Information
Sailing the coast of Colombia is not a trip that you lay out in detail months before you do it. In the absence of a comprehensive guide, it works better to let your plans evolve as you travel, using information gained from various sources, especially other cruisers who have sailed these waters. Here are the resources we used for our trip.

• Pizazz Cruising Guide for Coast of Colombia. For their latest edition contact Lourae and Randy Kenoffel, sy_pizazz@yahoo.com.
• Log of Jarandeb, 1994-95 circumnavigation of Caribbean. Contact Dick and Jane Rogavin, jarandeb2@yahoo.com.
• In 2006-7, cruisers based in Curaçao put together extensive information for Cartagena, Curaçao and San Blas. It was assembled and written up by Rija on S/V Queen of Hearts, qoh06@hetnet.nl.
  There are many good sources of information and trip descriptions on the web:
• I have written more informal commentary about portions of our trip: www.sailblogs.com/member/tashtego.
  Finally I thank the many, many cruisers from Trinidad to Panama who freely shared information and advice based on their experiences in southwestern Caribbean waters.

Part Three: Sapzurro to Puerto Obaldia, plus Governmental Regulations for Cruising in Colombia

Part Three covers the remainder of coastal Colombia and information on governmental regulations.

Between November 2010 and May 2011, my sailing partner and I sailed our Lord Nelson 41, Tashtego, almost the entire length of the Colombian Caribbean coast from the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast to Sapzurro on the Panamanian border. The places we stopped at are all well known to the set of cruisers who sail Panama and Colombia routinely. Good sets of notes exist for separate portions of the coast and these are listed in the sidebar along with other sources of information, but there is not yet a really comprehensive cruising guide for the entire Colombian coast.

At the risk of seeming presumptuous in writing this based on quite limited experience, I will describe our trip and provide anchoring details. Our information is current and I will also point the reader to sources of information for harbors and anchorages we missed. I offer this as a travel aperitif – with the hope that someone will write a complete travel guide to Colombian waters soon. (I recently learned that the Colombian government is developing a marine guide for the entire coast of Colombia. It may be available by summer 2012. Cruisers who wish to contribute useful Colombia cruising information can contact Omar Bechara at samantha.CosmoImageBank@gmail.com.)
After leaving Cartagena, during six weeks traveling south to Sapzurro we saw exactly one other sailboat except while at Cholon. I felt I was seeing a glimpse of what cruising in the Caribbean was like 30 years ago: unspoiled, un-gringoed, requiring enterprise and an openness to the unknown, and entirely blissful. Many of the anchorages I have listed for these waters are fairly small and will not accommodate large numbers of boats.

NAVIGATION: When I give coordinates as four digits, ddmm, representing degrees and minutes, the purpose is only so you can locate the general area on a map. Coordinates given as six digits, ddmm.mm, with precision to hundredths of a minute, represent accurate positions for navigation. A warning about chart software: south of Cartagena many popular electronic charts are extremely inaccurate. According to our Navionics “Gold” charts, on several occasions we were anchored a quarter mile inland – disconcerting until we learned to turn the thing off.

PROVISIONS: The only places where you can get fuel and water dockside are at the marina in Santa Marta and at Club de Pesca in Cartagena, but you can jerry jug diesel and water everywhere. On the southern offshore islands water might be unavailable in dry season. Big cities have big supermarkets and in even the tiniest communities, small tiendas sell potatoes, carrots, cabbage, local fresh food in season, tinned food, often good bread and – of course – beer. Cell phone minutes are universally available and if you have a cellphone or 3G modem, you can enjoy WiFi almost everywhere in Colombia. ATM machines (cajeros) that accept international credit cards are available in the cities but are uncommon elsewhere. Banks and a few tiendas in smaller communities will sell you Colombian pesos for US dollars.

Sapzurro and Capurgana: It was a thrill to sail into Sapzurro, the end of our Colombian odyssey. The jungle-covered hills in front of the much higher mountains of Darien, and big swells crashing into the cliffs on both sides of the bay, added to our exhilaration. Aside from the swells, entry was straightforward up the middle to waypoint 08°39.85’N, 77°21.61’W. Cruisers have anchored off the town dock but we anchored off the small, wonderfully tropical beach to port at 08°39.32’N, 77°21.79’W, in water that became the color of bean soup after each big rainstorm. Two neglected boats tied to trees on shore reduced the limited available space. One day during our stay, surge and currents had us rolling heavily so we too tied a line to shore to hold the bow into the swells.

Our arrival euphoria was slightly dented by a young man representing the “Junta Accion Comunal” who arrived in a launch requesting approximately 15 dollars, ostensibly for a fund to install moorings in the bay, for garbage services (which concept I enthusiastically support) and for unlimited water (which turned out to be had for free at the town dock faucet). We ante-ed up and when the garbage service did not materialize after several days, I located the head of the group at his mother’s house and handed him our bag of plastic and paper garbage to be burned with their household garbage. Which somehow is Sapzurro in a nutshell.

We stayed a week and in retrospect we should have stayed longer. Sapzurro is described in numerous guidebooks and in recent years it has become a travel destination for people from Medellín and Cali, as well as backpackers crossing the Darien Gap by coastal freighter or sailboat.

Sprinkled among the very basic concrete-block houses of original residents are the equally small hostels and guesthouses built by newcomers and sporting amusing artistic, architectural and landscaping flourishes. Be sure to eat a meal at Doña Trini’s; she cooks possibly the finest fried fish in the Caribbean.

And watch for a white-haired, brown-skinned man looking like a Colombian version of Gandhi walking along the stunningly beautiful jungle beach where your boat is anchored. He lives in a palapa on the beach, without any walls, and anyone who needs a place to sleep can use a hammock in the adjacent palapa. Isn’t that sweet? Do not be fooled: born in Sapzurro, Jorge had a full career in Panama as an architect, has published seven novels, two of which were translated into English, and he and his brother will sell you the entire south wall of Sapzurro Bay, from the waterfall to the headland, for a mere 40 million US dollars. Jorge was just one of several interesting people we met in Sapzurro.
At 08°39’N, 77°21W, Capurgana is about a mile and a half south of Sapzurro as the crow flies. For the earthbound, it is a two-hour walk up a gorgeous jungle trail over the ridge that separates the two towns, or a 12-minute launch ride around the south headland into a harbor that looked way too shallow and rocky for sailboats. Capurgana has an airstrip, has more space to grow than does Sapzurro, and is further along the tourism-development path, but the ambience of both towns is very similar.

Other locations along Colombia’s southern Caribbean coast: Currently, most cruisers traveling between Cholon and Sapzurro only stop at the offshore islands described in last month’s Caribbean Compass, as we did. The adjacent mainland consists mostly of long high-surf coastlines but there are a few anchorages that would be useful to know more about, if only for emergency use. We offer the following scraps of information gleaned from other sailors and from Colombian sources, and whose accuracy we cannot vouch for.

We look forward to a time when reliable information about the entire coastline is widely available.

• Punta Bernardo: 09°41’N, 75°42’W. The Bernon Log #16 reports good anchorage in calm waters, helpful people, and an excellent nearby adventure resort, Sanguare Resort.
• Tolu: 09°31’N, 75°35’W. A popular beach destination for folks from Medellín. I don’t know if there is any safe anchorage when the waves are high, but in times of quiet waters there are many piers where you can bring your dinghy in.
• Coveñas: 09°25’N, 75°41’W. Another popular beach-holiday area and also an important oil trans-shipment port. There is said to be a protected anchorage there big enough for three or four boats.
• Isla Tortuguilla: 09°02’N, 76°20’W. A very small one-owner (absentee) island with friendly local caretaker. Not sure whether there is any good anchorage because of the coral reefs encircling the island (see Log of Jarandeb, referred to in sidebar).
  •Arboletes: 08°52’N, 76°26’W. A bit of a mystery. The town is a hub of a cattle-growing region but it is not clear whether it is also a port. The Bernons were advised against traveling there in 2006, possibly for safety reasons.
• Laguna del Aguila: 08°32’N, 76°55’W. Appears to offer protection from prevailing northeast winds and waves. In 1994 Jarendeb called it “desolate and remote” with no dwellings on shore. It is a 27-mile sail from here to Sapzurro across the mouth of the Gulf of Uraba. The Bernons were advised to avoid the area near Cerro Aquila a few miles to the north.
• Necocli: 08°25’N, 76°47’W. Some lanchas carry tourists between Sapzurro/Capurgana and this small town. It is an open beach offering no protection if waves are high.
• Turbo: 08°03’N, 76°45’W. Located rather far down the Gulf of Uraba, this is the main connection point between Sapzurro/Capurgana and the rest of Colombia, with several lanchas making the 35-mile trip every day. There is enough water to anchor near the Colombian Coast Guard/Army station and you are advised not to anchor elsewhere. One long-time cruiser in Colombian waters says that the coastline from Turbo to Capurgana is the most beautiful in Colombia. However, be sure you understand what the current security situation is before you travel there.

Puerto Obaldia, Panama: We began this coastal journey in Venezuela and we end it in Panama. The anchorage at 08°39.84’N, 77°25.33’W is an open bay offering no protection when waves are from the northwest. If the water is too rough, postpone the whole check-in procedure until you arrive a few weeks or months later in Porvenir, Portobelo, or Colón. In Kuna Yala no one is interested in whether you have cleared into Panama because the Kuna barely acknowledge the existence of Panama. Hot tip: if your Colombian zarpe lists your destination as Puerto Obaldia and weather prevented you entering there, your situation will be treated with sympathy in Portobelo. Check with other cruisers you meet in Kuna waters to see whether that also applies to Porvenir.

To clear in at Obaldia, row in, tie your dinghy to any tree along the beach, and show your passport to the strong-looking but very courteous guys at the police stop; then proceed past an army post and over a footbridge to the Immigration and Customs offices. When we were there in May, we were told only “two or three” cruisers arrived per month. We were processed efficiently and the Customs office even stayed open an extra ten minutes after closing time (!) while I retrieved my “radio license” (VHF callsign) from the boat. This extra information was necessary only because I had requested a cruising permit as part of clearing in.

A Panama cruising permit may be optional in Puerto Obaldia but eventually you will have to get one in Porvenir, Colón or Bocas del Toro: the nearly 200-dollar Panamanian cruising permit is needed for all dealings with marine authorities. Be sure to check that the end date on your cruising permit is for a whole 365 days and not just for the remainder of the calendar year – the mistake can be corrected in Colón but it is a nuisance.

Puerto Obaldia is dominated by a military/police presence because inland the Darien border between Colombia and Panama is a major drug-smuggling highway. The town is not cute in the way that Sapzurro is but seemed relaxed and practical. We stayed only one night, watching dubiously as the passengers on a decrepit Colombian trading boat nearby became noisily drunk; the flashlights of the police stationed in the beach outpost were reassuring. It was our introduction to these coastal traders, many looking barely able to remain afloat, that bring commerce to all of Kuna Yala waters. We acquired real respect for them as we sailed up the coast of Panama. But that is another story.
Governmental regulations for cruising in Colombia: Every cruising guide for a country should explain the basic arrival and departure requirements. That this is surprisingly hard to do reliably is a comment about the nascent and underdeveloped state of marine tourism in Colombia. Take the information offered here with several grains of salt – talking about Colombian regulations is like picking up jello with your hands – and check the internet resources and with other cruisers for changes and updates.
ENTRY: Colombia’s entry procedures for yachts are more complicated than those of nearby countries and seem to have been adapted from commercial shipping regulations, without much understanding of the differences between commercial shipping and recreational cruising. For an extreme example of how ludicrous this can be, some of the first boats clearing into Santa Marta in the fall of 2010 were asked to supply the vessel’s pest management plan and clearance papers from the previous ten ports visited!

There are at present three ports of entry in Colombia: Santa Marta (or Rodadero), Cartagena, and Capurgana. The first two require you to use an agent; the last one does not. Clearing in involves three governmental entities: DIAN, who are concerned with the boat; DAS (Immigration), who are concerned with the people aboard (and who may be undergoing a change of acronym), and possibly the local port captain. According to the DIAN and DAS officials I spoke with, they charge NOTHING for a boat and its crew to spend up to 90 days in Colombia. If this is correct it means that the approximately US$75 to $100 entry fee you will be charged in Santa Marta and/or Cartagena goes entirely to the agent and to port captain charges, whatever they may be.

LOCAL CRUISING PERMIT: If you are based in Santa Marta or Cartagena and wish to visit nearby bays, islands or anchorages, you are required to purchase a local cruising permit. The Cartagena version has been in effect for some time, costs $75 and is good for 60 days. The Santa Marta version was instituted in April 2011, costs $90 and I do not know the time restrictions on it. If the permit is required for day-anchoring, our carefree afternoon spent in Taganga Bay, four miles from our marina slip, would have cost us $90! That’s not exactly conducive to development of marine tourism.

DEPARTURE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY: When departing a Colombian entry port bound for another country, the cost of your exit zarpe should be included in the agent’s initial fee. Verify this when you arrive. If you ask for a zarpe that states “y puntos intermedios” (“and intermediate locations”), you can stop anywhere along the coast of Colombia and stay reasonable amounts of time, provided you leave the country within 60 days and provided your location is a plausible “intermediate” point. The chances that anyone official will ask to see the zarpe before you reach your stated destination are very small, at least at the present time, but there is peace of mind in having it.

DEPARTURE FROM SANTA MARTA TO CARTAGENA OR VICE-VERSA: You must get a travel zarpe specifically for this. At the present time, this means that in addition to paying an anchoring fee for the second port, you will also have to pay an agent fee all over again. This perception of paying a “double entry fee” is self-defeating for the Colombian marine industry. Because of it, many cruisers avoid Colombia altogether or limit the ports they visit in Colombia. One can hope that with better computer record-keeping by DIAN and DAS, persons interested in growing Colombia’s marine industry will see the wisdom of removing or significantly reducing the “double entry” cost of visiting both Santa Marta and Cartagena by yacht.

CUSTOMS CHARGES: Although not a problem on entering the country, these become a big headache if you want to have work done on your boat while in country – or stay long enough that you want mail or need to have boat work done. Every personal or boat-related item with declared value that enters by air is charged 27 percent duty, with an additional $30 fee for the paperwork. All air shipments arrive through Bogotá and Bogotá does not recognize ‘yacht-in-transit’ status for boat-related items. (Shipments arriving by sea are charged less, which is how the Cartagena shipyards manage.) Such high fees are extremely counter-productive: boats always need repairs, almost no marine parts are available in Colombia, and few transiting cruisers want to wait six or eight weeks for parts shipped by sea. Our first (and only) mail shipment cost us so much it literally would have been cheaper to fly to Miami and pick the mail up ourselves! The situation is so bad that the advice offered by long-time cruisers in the southwest Caribbean is “have everything shipped in to Panama and then take it to Cartagena to have the work done.”

For the record, I must state that we did not have any trouble clearing in or out of Colombia. We contacted the Romovela Limitada agency (romovela_ltda@hotmail.com) in advance, paid Edgar Romero US$100, and were completely satisfied with the efficient and trouble-free service he gave us. Because we decided to visit Cartagena by land, leaving the boat in Santa Marta, we entered and exited Colombia from Santa Marta. Our exit zarpe for Panama stated “y puntos intermedios”, which allowed us to make the short stays along the Colombian coast described in these notes, all the way to Puerto Obaldia. Cartagena, of course, can’t be claimed an “intermediate point” but we got away with yellow-flagging it for just one night on our way south, just in order to experience sailing into historic Cartagena Bay.

In summary, it is fair to say that in the area of governmental regulation, some of Colombia’s bad rap is self-inflicted. There is a need for careful, informed restructuring of regulations and fees to bring them into line with neighboring (and competing) countries, for accessible publication of the regulations in a simple and clear format, and for consistent and transparent enforcement of the rules. Such reforms will greatly reduce cruiser anxiety about coming to Colombia. I hope that this guide will also reduce anxiety about visiting this wonderful, vibrant country.

Sources of Information
Sailing the coast of Colombia is not a trip that you lay out in detail months before you do it. In the absence of a comprehensive guide, it works better to let your plans evolve as you travel, using information gained from various sources, especially other cruisers who have sailed these waters. Here are the resources we used for our trip.

• Pizazz Cruising Guide for Coast of Colombia. For their latest edition contact Lourae and Randy Kenoffel, sy_pizazz@yahoo.com.
• Log of Jarandeb, 1994-95 circumnavigation of Caribbean. Contact Dick and Jane Rogavin, jarandeb2@yahoo.com.
• In 2006-7, cruisers based in Curaçao put together extensive information for Cartagena, Curaçao and San Blas. It was assembled and written up by Rija on S/V Queen of Hearts, qoh06@hetnet.nl.
  There are many good sources of information and trip descriptions on the web:
• Cruisers_Network_Online, www.yahooGroups.com is a great resource with up-to-date firsthand information from a variety of perspectives.
• The Bernon essays are thoughtful and relevant: www.boatus.com/cruising/ithaka/logbook.asp.
• I have written more informal commentary about portions of our trip: www.sailblogs.com/member/tashtego.
  Finally I thank the many, many cruisers from Trinidad to Panama who freely shared information and advice based on their experiences in southwestern Caribbean waters.