Dolphins Send SEA-vite: "Big Party at Taganga, Dude"

I am not a morning person. People know this about me: especially, Ean knows. But yesterday Ean had me flying out of bed with a single word - and it wasn't "coffee." The word: "dolphins."

Flashback to the late 1970s.  This new adventure of ours continually reminds me of the other boat trip: the one that I did with my parents. Back then, dolphins were always news. That single word, "Dolphins!" would pull everyone to the bow. "Where?" "There!" It's notoriously difficult to get good photos of dolphins at play, but we tried, of course.

Twelve-year-old squinty-eyed Jane, on the bow of m/v Andante with a bunch of dolphins.

Flash forward: yesterday, Ean woke me up to a whole pod of dolphins having a party in Taganga Bay.

A Time and a Place

Just a few of our many mental declutterers

When we started, many aspects of this lifestyle were foreign to us and that has made for a very steep learning curve. Any skill set from our former life that transferred has been an enormous relief. One such set is organizational acumen. I am loathe to think how much more daunting adapting to this would have been had we not been such well organized people already. It really has made all the difference.

Our boat specific organizational strategies have withstood being field tested for almost a year, we feel it's time to share them. They are few in number, but comprehensive in scope.

1. Lists
We are big list makers. We were long before we were cruisers. List making is one of our most frequently employed tactics in our overall strategy for reducing clutter, specifically the clutter in our heads. Compile a list and then it's not only permissible to forget the items on it, it's smart. Do or get everything on the list and then throw it away. Very satisfying emotionally. We have the obvious ones: grocery, boat chores, boat projects, boat repairs, things we'll get for the boat after we become wealthy from monetizing this blog. We even make lists of lists we should make. 

2. Logs
Logs are new to us. We have only become log keepers since becoming boat owners. Logs, we have discovered, are really the other half of a solid mental decluttering program. The way in which lists and logs work together for us is simple. Lists are temporary; logs are ongoing. The difference is clear from the names of the activities themselves: list making versus log keeping. Logs record what's been done and when it will need to be done again in the future. We are not quite as good at logs as we are at lists, it is true. We're actually good at making logs also, just not at keeping them. This has inevitably resulted in a reduced ability to remember all the logs we've made. When we have time (see below), we will make a list of all our logs.

A Joyful Lunch

We don't get out much. I mean to say, we don't often go to fancy-pants restaurants. But every once in a while, the mood strikes us. This time, it probably had something to do with the fact that we had been in El Parque Tayrona for more than a week, followed by a few days in Taganga, and we were in need of a counterpoint. We took JOY around the corner, dropped the hook in the Santa Marta harbor, and put on our goin'-ta-town clothes. We don't always put on our goin'-ta-town clothes when we're going to town. We save them for special occasions, like eating in a fancy-pants restaurant.

The restaurant was called, "Made in Spain," in English, in Colombia. There we were, in the air-conditioning, at a table with a crisp white tablecloth, which is a kind of a cloth that people put on top of tables. (I'm pretty sure we've seen this type of thing before?) We were giddy. I think we seemed especially silly because the only other diners in the small restaurant were a little crabby. The couple were boaters, apparently, and they were pretty upset with our friend and agent Dino. As far as we could tell, they were having trouble getting one of the 37 different papeles that he had told them they needed. I think it's safe to say that they were NOT enjoying the Bienvenidos a Santa Marta game (click here to read Ean's description of the game).  Eventually, the conversation was taken outside, so I guess we'll never know if they were able to score some bonus points - maybe Dino saw the error of his ways and decided that the Colombian government really wouldn't mind so much, if they didn't have that one papel. The boater couple returned without Dino, the woman apologized for the unpleasantness, and they sat down to finish their now-cold lunches in silence. Then they left.

Meanwhile, I was ecstatic about my drink, which was the house specialty, the most beautiful drink I'd ever seen and the yummiest drink I'd ever tasted. It was mango on top and strawberry on bottom, with rum throughout. We have no photographic evidence of the first "Made In Spain" Cocktail, but here is the second, which was delivered by Judy, who thought we were hysterically funny, but was very polite about it.

We had an excellent cheese plate as a starter - the only thing that would have made it better was some sharp cheddar from Wisconsin. It's true, even Ean the cheese schnob is missing cheddar cheese. Then, on to the main course.

Committing Culture Shock

Fun, but I don't think it would have helped.

There we were, just minding our own business on an ordinary morning of an ordinary day. Doin' the usual stuff: hopping in a taxi, heading for nearest shopping mall, sitting in the food court before any of the vendors opened up for the day, logging onto their wifi network and trying to upload our latest blog post before noon EST, per our agreement with our fellow raft-up bloggers.

With us on this race against time, were our laptop, both iPads, our camera, and our card reader. The efficiency with which we unpacked and set up our equipment would have impressed any local or national law enforcement agency, at least as they are portrayed on American TV.

Three, Two, One, Taganga!

Ensenada de Gayraca has been our favorite of the bays so far. It is calmer than the others and the snorkeling was good. Its one drawback (for us) is that a small settlement of fishermen lives there. We almost met a couple of them as we reconnoitered the bay in our dinghy. They saw us and beckoned us on shore, but it was too steep and too rocky to run our dinghy up onto. It would have been impossible to explain that from a few hundred feet away...over a noisy outboard motor...in Spanish. We hoped we didn't--but suspected we did--come off as rude, but it couldn't be helped.

We saw the fishermen come and go during our couple of days there. Another cruising myth disabused: no one tried to sell us any fish, dang it. As appealing as it seemed to stay a while  longer, we still had two more bays to visit before both our food and room for garbage ran out. Jane stowed a few things, but didn't make any excessive preparations since the next bay, Ensenada de Chengue, was literally around the corner of a rock formation. I did a quick, "pre-flight" engine check. From down in the starboard engine room, I could hear her talking to someone and knew it wasn't any of the cats since she has never conversed with them in Spanish. It turned out to be one of the guys who had motioned to us the other day. Jane was having a merry little chat with him. He had paddled over in what I guess is the coastal Colombian version of a mango wood boat, only minus the leaks and, sadly, any fish.

Backwaters: Back on the Horse and Back in the Water

We've spent a week now, in el Parque Tayrona. Yes, we are definitely in the backwaters, which for us is anywhere without internet. Not even a cell phone signal! But this is what we needed: a break from the noise and busy-ness of Santa Marta. We've anchored in four beautiful bays so far.

Bahia Cinto

Cast Off!

It's been a long cuatro semanas, but Jane is back to being her old left-handed self. We could have gone back to La Clínica Prada, the urgent care facility, but really, what have they got that we haven't got?  So for all you do-it-yourself types, here's how to remove a cast in a few easy steps.

Tools of the trade

First, collect all the necessary tools and supplies:

1. A towel to sop up drips
2. White vinegar
3. A hacksaw
4. Kitchen shears
5. A bucket of water