Curacao to Panama Verse
When you try to leave Curacao
Get used to “island time”
Where the tradesmen come late or don´t turn up
And the planning was wasted time
But stay at the Kura Hulanda
Surrounding the market square
You´ll eventually be back in the water
Though your schedule now requires flair
We sail 2 overnights to make up time
Then anchor at Guayraca Bay
Cross Rio Magdalene in the calm of the night
Stop at Windsurfer Bay (Puerto Valero) for the day
Then we run down to Cartagena Bay
Coming over the Boca Grande
We anchor just outside Club Nautico
Not in mud luckily but sand
We arrive just in time for Maritza
Who flies in from San Jose
We eat well,we walk the old City
And its walls to keep pirates away
Our guide´s the ebullient Henry
Who brings the City alive
And the fortress and coastal village
The huge, smelly, Mercado hive
We feel safe and it´s fun in Columbia
The people seem happy and free
Their music is playing for all to hear
Though their poverty´s there to see
We sail down to San Rosario
To help get back into the swing
Now it´s overnight to the San Blas
Where relaxation´s the thing
We creep past the Isla Tigre reef
(The GPS has us on land)
At one end it looks like a shanty town
At the other it´s pristine white sand
The Coco Bandera cays are as close
To paradise as you will find
If unwinding´s the thing you´re in need of
Here´s the place where you´ll unwind
The water is clear, the sky is blue
We´re nestled between 4 cays
Where the palms are green and the sand is white
And it´s turned into one of those days
That you hope never ends.
Now the moon comes up as a huge orange ball
And the peaceful lights of the boats
And the stars say it all
The Hollandes cays don´t quite measure up
(The day was dull and grey)
But the Chichime cays are the jackpot again
We stay there an extra day
We buy a colourful mola here
And watch how the Kuna live
It´s a simple self-sufficient life
There´s a lot of advice they could give
The navigation requires great care
Better trust your eyes than the chart
Or like many others you´ll be up on a reef
Painfully breaking apart
There´s a wreck off Dog Island (which we tried to join)
It´s a haven for colourful fish
They boldly swim up and enquire of us
Can we help you? What´s amiss?
We anchor off at Porvenir
(A smelly place to stay)
Then sail past the Costa Arriba
To calm Portobello bay
To a beautiful spot just off the fort.
That´s all, regrettably, there is to tell
Of this special cruise. Tomorrow we´ll be
At Colon, preparing for the Canal.
April 2012
