May 31 – June 26, 2023; 10347 nm and 1558 days after departure from La Rochelle.

Off we were again. The second time we left Cartagena. Who would have thought that a year ago? Certainly not us! Anyhow, we enjoyed Cartagena again very much but after 5 weeks of bustling city life we were ready to get back to more remote places. Our first stop was lake-like Cholon about 20 nm south-south-west of Cartagena. We had been here before and were looking forward to be in a pretty and quiet anchorage. Our goal was to get Altimate´s bottom free from the fast growing barnacles which we brought from Cartagena. It was unbelievable how fast the growth was at the anchorage in the big city. Only a few days and the barnacles were back on Altimate´s belly after we had cleaned it in the Rosario Islands. Same procedure as before, El Capitano took care of Altimate’s outside beauty and I looked after her inside. Laid back as we felt we took our time to finish our duties and spent a whole week at that anchorage. Only one time we went to a little beach where all the party boats took their tourists before heading back to Cartagena. We were hoping to get a simple bbq meal at the beach for a change. Clever as we were we thought we take a little more money as it would probably be a bit more expensive out there than normal. Hahaha, we were right, but not prepared for 5 times the cost. The minute we arrived, the sellers were on to us. Food, beverages, massages, bracelets and more… We would have been happy with having some food but didn’t need any other touristic accessories, (even though -if I think about it now- a massage probably would have been nice!).  Well even if, we couldn’t have paid for it as we didn’t take enough money with us. At least we got rid of the sellers fast when we explained our limited budget. All was really ridiculous expensive. So we ended up watching tourists with each of us having one beer😁. A second one was not possible, hahaha and that on a beach witch was definitely not the most beautiful one we’ve been to.

On the 10th of June we dropped our anchor in the picturesque bay of Sapzurro. We had an over night stop at Isla Tintipan and a two night stop at Isla Fuerte before we arrived there. I don’t exactly know what it is but we just fell in love with Sapzurro. It was and is such a beautiful place! Already when you enter the protected bay you get embraced by jungle-covered mountains and are stunned by fabulously azure waters. On top of that the sun illuminates the bay in perfect soft colours and just like that you’re in heaven🙃. Well, at least it felt like it. The many different trees which were growing close to the beach made the bay not only looking very pretty but were also a playground for monkeys and birds and provided many fruits. We could watch the monkeys hop from one tree to the other from the boat. That was sooooo sweet. Ok, I will stop raving now, I think you all know by now we liked it in Sapzurro!

The first three days in Sapzurro we thought our sim-card was not working as we didn’t have any connection at all. We tried to use the wifi from one of the restaurants but they told us that a lightning hit the cell tower and the whole area was without connection. That was and is the only downside of this whole area from Colombia to Panamá, the many lightnings and thunder. Although you get used to it after a while, somehow I’m not so relaxed as before our lightning experience last year. Well we have to live with it! One night we had another huge lightning thunderstorm. The poor fishermen all came in into the bay to have at least some protection. The only nice part of that was that the temperature dropped down to 24 degrees celsius. That was really cold – just for a little while of course- but also kind of nice for a change. 

We did not do very much but enjoying the mostly calm and relaxing environment. After a few days it felt we almost knew all the people living in the village. I tried to have a chat here and there with the locals and was proud when I understood. As well I was trying to find somebody who or where I could do some washing as in Guna Yala it won’t definitely be possible. At least the towels and bed sheet would have been nice as that is a pita to do by hand especially with only limited water. I kept asking many people and Lina, a very good cook and friendly lady who owns a small hotel including restaurant was so kind to offer to do the washing for me. I was very delighted but when I wanted to pick up my clean laundry Lina had to confess that her washing machine broke down 🙈. No clean bed sheets and towels😩. What a coincidence, but certainly a bigger issue for poor Lina than for me. I got lucky only shortly after another lady from town told me she also had found a lady who could do my washing. Yeah!!! Only when I picked up my fresh laundry I figured out that the lady did all our laundry by hand🙈! My respect! I felt a bit bad but I had to remind myself that that was the way most of the locals still did their laundry. And…the lady was happy earning some money. All in all a win win situation.

Unfortunately I found a small spot on one of my teeth. I wasn’t sure if that might have been caries so I rather wanted to have a check on it. Again we went off asking where to find a dentist or if there would be one at all. Our guess was that I could be lucky if there was one in Capurganá, the slightly bigger village right over the hill. We found out that there was indeed a dentist in Capurganá but she’d be there only at weekends and only once or twice a month. It was again Lina who helped me to figure out when the dentist would be in Capuganá. I was lucky, the dentist would be working the next weekend. Yess! Lina was as well so kind to get in contact with the dentist and got me an appointment at 9 am Saturday morning. As it was a pretty long (1,5 h) and intense walk over the mountain to reach Capuganá, we preferred to take a lancha. Thanks to Lina we even got picked up directly from Altimate. She organised a reliable (her words) driver to take us to Capurganá. We felt special as all other people were picked up at a jetty in the village. The ride took only 15 minutes and we were happy to arrive dry. Lina had told me to ask for a little shop as the dentist would be on the same street. We only had to ask twice to find the little shop. The second person I asked was a young policeman who was drinking a beer. It was about 9am – just hilarious! Drinking beer at that time was already amazing but while on duty was even better!!! Imagine that happening in Germany 🤣. We didn’t care, he was very kind as he accompanied us almost the whole way to the shop. Ok, that were only 2 min but still very friendly! As proper Germans we were of course perfectly in time but we couldn’t quite figure out were the dentist office was. Even though the ladies of the little shop showed us.

I knocked at every door in that small street. Only one door opened and the lady there told us it was the next big door. We decided to wait a little but nothing happened. After waiting for about half an hour I went back to the little shop and asked the ladies if they could call the dentist as I couldn’t reach her. They were so kind and called her for me and got hold of her. Yeah! She just said she’ll be there soon. Fair enough at least we knew the lady would turn up and hadn’t forgotten me. Another twenty minutes later a guy on a motor cycle arrived and opened the garage roller shutter. A logo with a tooth showed up. By then we knew we were at the right place. The man startet to clean up the place, wiped the floor and offered us two chairs. So we were sitting at the side curve waiting for him to clean up the doctor’s office and waiting for the dentist to come. Donkey carriages and motor carriages were passing and almost managed to roll over our feet. Again it was a hilarious experience . Sometime later the young dentist arrived and it didn’t take long until she asked me in. She did not speak a word of English so I explained, well tried to explain my situation which she didn’t seem to understand as she kept asking where I had pain. I showed her my spot and asked if that was a problem. She didn’t seem to think that it was something bad. If I understood right she said she could remove it because it was ugly. So she did and also cleaned some of my teeth. About 20 minutes later I walked out the office with partly clean teeth and a good feeling regarding my tooth which I was concerned about.

After the exciting though successful morning experience we needed a breakfast. We found a kind of bakery which provided some “dulce” and coffee. Pleasantly full we then strolled through the village. On our last visit when we walked over to Carpuganá we were a bit exhausted and therefore to lazy to explore more around the village. This time we felt strong and explored every little corner and especially all shops. It’s always good to take advantage of a broader variety of groceries and shops. We also went to see the beach to get an idea how it looked like. Soon we both agreed that we liked Sapzurro better as it is just so much prettier. When we were satisfied with our strolling and shopping we had lunch at the small harbour area and texted Sebastian to pick us up again. Early afternoon we were delivered back to Altimate. Very comfortable!

It almost started to get hobby for me to collect the many mangos which were all over Sapzurro. Every time we went ashore I just couldn’t resist to pick up the delicious fruit. Only within 2 minutes I was able to collect 20 super yammi mangoes and that only from one tree! And there were soooo many trees and all full of yammi ripe juicy fruit. I just had to collect them! Every day we had mango juice, mango salad or just a mango. Of course we couldn’t eat all of them I made many, many jars of mango jam. It was a fruit feast. So yammi! Like that I think Altimate started already to smell like a mango and maybe with a little bit of colour she would have turned into a sailing mango tree… but then we left and the mango harvest time came to and end.

Last time we were in Sapzurro we tried to walk to La Miel but as it was already late afternoon we weren’t allowed to visit the village. La Miel belongs to Panamá what was the reason that sometimes a boarder control checks on you. This time we went there in the morning. It was a beautiful bay only maybe 30 min away . A short but intense walk as you have to walk the (it felt never ending) steps up the hill and of course down again. But the effort was worth it as we were rewarded with a great view on top of the hill (this time without boarder control) and a very pretty bay with only a handful of houses. La Miel as well as Sapzurro and Capurganá were only accessible by boat. As In La Miel as well as in Sapzurro the accommodation offers were limited, there were mostly only day tourists if at all. We had only seen a few people that day and discovered another small paradise at a beautiful beach surrounded by jungle. 

Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to Sapzurro. We would have stayed longer but as we were checked out of Colombia already three weeks ago we didn’t want to stretch being illegally in a country for much longer. On our last day we bought for the last time very delicious avocados, papayas and coconuts all freshly picked from the small farm just next to the beach where we anchored. Of course I also picked some last mangoes!!! And we enjoyed a last dinner made by Lina and said goodbye to everybody we had met.
Next day we headed off but not as early as planned as the weather god decided to demonstrate its power with another lightning thunder. Instead of early morning we arrived just after lunchtime in Obaldia. Victor our favourite port captain welcomed us back and smoothly checked us in. By then it was too late to head to our original planned destination Puerto Escosés (about 28 nm west of Obaldia) so we only sailed to Puerto Puerme for the night.

In the afternoon of the next day we arrived in Puerto Escosés. A beautiful big bay with only a few Gunas living here to tend crops. The moment we set anchor the only two Gunas came to say hello. They were surprised and happy seeing us. It was not the time of year that sailors pass by there. We had a little chat and they gave us some plantains as a present. Very nice people! Kenilson passed by one day and we invited him aboard just before the sky opened its tap. It was pouring down and lightning and thunder were very close. It was terrible but young Kenilson (28) didn´t seem to care – a bit different from us. He was fascinated from Altimate, the interior, the electronics, just everything. When the weather cinema finally was over he also explored the cockpit area and was very proud to pretend to be the captain. He was a rather shy guy and it took him a while to ask wether he could use our phone to get in contact with his family. I already did ask him if he wanted to charge his mobile, but he said he send it home to get it charged there. Now he was waiting to get it back. Of course we let him use our mobile but unfortunately he did not reach his family. Poor guy was sad, he hadn’t spoken to his family for 5 days. He has a wife and two kids, if I remember right, in Mulatupo. A village about 20nm further west. Without an engine he couldn’t just go there and see them. He had to wait for an ulu to come and take him back. It was nice to see that already the next day his family had visited him. I think it was a surprise. He even passed by to introduce proudly his family. It was just a short visits as the family didn’t stay over night but he was still very happy!

After 5 days in this beautiful remote place we headed off further west. We intended to have some more stops but as the weather was not very welcoming and the chitras / sand flys were eating us up, especially me, we headed soon back to the “pool” in the Holandes. The weather usually is a bit friendlier as the Holandes islands are a bit further from ashore and the chitras don’t come to the boat! Only two days later, the 26 of June we arrived at Banedup and were warmly welcomed by Debbie and Ivan.