I'm back...Columbia pictures first

Had a great trip sailing down island. Started in St. Vincent and ended in Panama City, Panama. The cat was a 48' Schionning built from a kit by the owner over two years. They had been on board for five years and were winding down a round the world jaunt. i was only with them for 6 weeks which although short for them was a long time to be away for me. i loved every minute of it and was even able to get in some good birding which is incredibly difficult from a boat.

We transited the canal which was the highlight of the trip and made it back home in one piece. Not too many boat bites on the old body..

Along the way my camera with months worth of photos ended up in the Cartagena harbor. Unfortunately the owner of the boat had been borrowing mine and fell through an open hatch while trying to shoot a photo of her husband rescuing two boats dragging. She broke her rib and wasnt' feeling too well the rest of the trip. The Cartagena harbor is not a place you want to dive into for anything...probably one of the filthiest in the world, so i said good-bye to that piece of my history.

i had an Ipad with me and started trying to take pics with it but i couldn't do justice to the beauty i saw all around me. If you have ever tried to take a picture with a book in your hand you will understand the difficulty. The pics i am going to put here are a small sampling of the places we visited after losing the camera. Actually the Aruba pic i was testing out how it worked before losing mine. Hope you enjoy them...i sure enjoyed the experience.

Aruba

Cartagena, Columbia

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i loved Cartagena it is such a vibrant city. Good food, easy transport, cheap and the old town is just spectacularly beautiful. But as with all big cities the poor side needs some attention too.

The poor parts, the rich parts, the historic bits and the old parts all mix to make Cartagena a special place.

i'll put up more of the trip tomorrow. Hope i didn't bore anyone to death.