First Anchorange - Monjes Del Sur
Monjes Del Sur has been established as a Navy post by Venezuela. Charts show two large volcanic rock islands, however, the two islands have been joined together by a rock dam. A large rope has been placed across the man made bay to allow for boats and yachts to tie up for overnight stays. Monjes Del Sur is not the only volcanic rock island in the vicinity. It is quite a sight and Mal and I have never seen anything quite like these islands before.
Monjes Del Este 
On arriving seven and a half hours after leaving Aruba, we radioed the Navy base on Monjes Del Sur and requested permission to anchor. The response was “OK”. As we discovered when talking to the base on VHF, Spanish is the language, no one speaks English, however, they obviously understood our request.
After securing Hasta La Vista to the mooring rope, we were hailed from the shore by two naval staff calling out “Dingy”! Yes, we gathered that they wanted us to put the dingy in and bring them aboard which we did. We presented the two young staff with our boat papers and passports, so that they could complete the entry forms that they brought with them. We don’t know a lot of Spanish, but with sign language, our little Spanish and their little English, we were able to answer their questions and even have a little conversation over a cold beer. It seems that their pet name for the island is “Iceland”! They informed us that they spend 30 day shifts on the island then go back to Venezuela for a break, I’m not sure for how long and then return for another 30 day shift. There were the necessary buildings on “Iceland” and a basketball court as an exercise outlet and that was all.
We spent a comfortable night after enjoying fresh tuna that we caught during the day for dinner and left the following morning to sail to our next stop on the way to Cartegna.
12 April 2010
Second Anchorage – Carbo De La Vela
Rising at 4am, we set sail for Carbo De La Vela, Columbia, 80 nautical miles from Monjes Del Sur, and the next recommended place to anchor overnight on our way to Cartegna. Carbo De La Vela translated is Cape Sail. We had a great sail with winds firstly being East 9 – 15 knots with our mainsail and headsail hoisted, then as the winds slowed, we dropped the sails and hoisted our spinnaker. During the afternoon, the winds changed direction to North-East and increased and ranged from 15 – 22 knots. As we approached at 4pm that afternoon, the winds increased and we were just able to pull the spinnaker down without it throwing Mal overboard. The winds had increased to 28 knots by the time we anchored.
Carbo De La Vela is a cape at the end of a large bay lined with fishing villages. The land is windswept, dry and baron.
Two fishing boats approached Hasta La Vista the next morning wanting to sell or trade their catch, mostly painted crays. We purchased 4 small crays from the first fishermen with US$20 as this was the smallest note we had on board. He asked for drinking water which we gave him and on a handshake, presented us with two small yellowtails in thanks for our friendship.
At 10am, with winds at 8 knots and sails hoisted, we commenced our sail for our third anchorage, one of five bays along the coastline of Columbia, approximately 120 nautical miles away and 18 hours of non-stop sailing.
13 April 2010
Third Anchorage
We anchored in a bay along the coast at 10.00am on the 14 April 2010 after pulling up anchor at Carbo De La Vela the day before, 24 hours of sailing in varying winds. The bay in which we anchored was surrounded by lush hills backed by quite high mountains and lined with fishing villages.
15 April 2010
Fourth Anchorage – Punta Hermosa
We headed out at 5am for the next stint of our sail to Cartegna, 65 miles to Punta Hermosa, and the last overnight anchorage before we finally arrived at Cartegna. The winds were 6 knots. We hoisted the spinnaker but the winds were just too light, so down came the spinnaker and on came the motors. The most interesting sight of the day was passing the mouth of the Rio Magdalena and seeing the highrisers of the city of Barranquilla. The Rio Magdalena is a huge fresh water river and the mouth and the area directly out to sea is notorious for large logs and water discolouration. One can actually see the change of colour in the water as the fresh water mixes with the salt water.
We anchored at 3.30pm behind a low lying sandy headland in readiness for a good night’s sleep and the final day of our sail to Cartegna.
