Free Lance: an Outremer 43 in the San Andres and Providencia islands

‘The anchor was weighed at dawn; a course was set for the island of San Andres. Very little wind, or none at all, my engines were called into action until the middle of the following night. Then we continued sailing close-hauled. In the morning, the wind freed, and I was finally able to speed along at 8 knots. Soon the coasts of San Andres were in sight; a bit later we entered the channel, nearly 3 miles long, leading to the harbor. Red to port, green to starboard, the buoyage must be respected, or the penalty will be immediate. The color of the water confirmed the track of the Columbian lighthouse and buoyage service. Yves anchored me opposite the town, between Cotton Cay and Paradise Point. We had covered 220 miles from Porto Belo. The captain carried out the entry formalities at the yacht club bar, which was decorated with equipment which had become useless on passing boats: you could spend hours taking stock of it all. The town’s architectural style is typically Caribbean. After a five-day stopover, the sun rose at the same time as my anchor; we set a course for Providencia, the fraternal twin 60 miles to the north. There then followed a day close-hauled, until we rounded the ‘Quita Sueno’ sandbank, which was a real danger...before the arrival of the GPS. In the lee of Providencia, I met up with half a dozen sailing boats, but there was room for everyone, without touching hulls or tangling chains. Here again, the colors of Jamaica dominate. The windward coast has a barrier reef, which shelters one of the biggest lagoons in the Caribbean. The anchorage is very pleasant, but the wish to have a look further on is stronger. We are leaving for Guatemala.”
Yves, aboard Free Lance
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