Merry Christmas (or shall I say, Felize Navidad) from Columbia!!
Yes, i know what you are thinking, and so were we. Ville and I had a great trip down on the boat to Dominican Republic, but because of some small issues (which included a much needed personality adjustment from the captain, maybe his age to come down exponentially and health to improve as well as some questions on the level of safety), we decided to leave our Capt. Bob and Capt. Jack on Cheesburger in Paradise there in Dominican and found a great cheap place to stay and reevaluated our plans. (If you want the full story, it will come much later when we meet again over a few beers, preferably on you :)
Soooo....we ran into some great kids, about our age, who were on a boat that left Virginia and was on it`s way to Cartegena, Columbia and then on to the San Blas islands off Panama. The boat is bigger, beautiful, and way more spacious than the last (also, things tend to not break as much on this boat as the last) and overall a jump from rags to riches. I wanted to get an update out last stop, but was unable to before we climbed aboard Alliance and hit the seas on our way to the land of snow.
As we pulled into port, we were all surprised to discover that the capitol of Columbia looks very similar to the Manhattan skyline. Weird. And the old town is neat, but swarming with tourists just off cruise ships and people trying to sell you all kinds of stuff you don`t need. We were able to finally use our legs again yesterday and walked all over town sampling beers and food and taking in the sights. Last night our cook (YES, we have an amazing cook on the boat who cooks three excellent meals a day) made a big Christmas Eve feast we ate on the boat all together. It was really nice, but I have to say I really miss my family again on Christmas.
The plan is to head out on Sunday and it will be only a 2 day sail to the San Blas Islands. These islands are inhabited by very old native tribes and therefore are scarcely populated. We will literally be able to pull up, anchor out, and jump off the boat into the very blue-green Caribbean water and snorkel all day. We are really looking forwards to it. Will promise to write as I can, and hope you all are having very relaxing holidays with your families.
Miss and love you all,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
Kristen & Ville
Check out www.schooneralliance.com and start drooling cause it`s all free for us!
