An Amazing Ride on the Cat and Cartagena

Wow...the last few days of our trip deserve an entire blog in themselves. We spent the last 4.5 days sailing from Panama to Colombia on "Fritz the Cat" Catamaran and it was a pretty incredible experience. There were many highs and lows on the boat including beaufiful islands and beaches as well as 12 foot swells in the open ocean that led many onboard to lose their stomachs. Not to mention our Captain, Fritz, was a pretty amazing guy who made the entire experience so much more memorable.

There´s so much to talk about and I think Kyle is going to go into much more detail about the trip so I would just like to upload some pictures from the trip and leave the knitty gritty to him. Plus it´s St. Patty´s day and we´re in the most beautiful City we´ve seen so far on the trip. Yes that´s right, it´s Cartagena, Colombia. Absolutely amazing place. I know I´ve said that before but it truly is the most picturesque place I´ve seen. Absolutely breathtaking. Anyways, here´s some pics...

The road from Panama City to Carti where we picked up the boat was a lot of fun. Pretty nicely graded dirt road. We were definitely sliding the rear around some of the corners. We passed the Toyota Land Cruiser carrying the rest of the crew on our boat on this road.

There was one river crossing we had no choice but to traverse. It was actually pretty fun. We watched a few cars go through first then I worked up the courage to go through. Not too bad at all, just some wet feet.

Here´s Kyle going through, makes it look easy, huh?

Oh man loading the bikes o the boat was quite an experience. The Captain Fritz was super confident though and everything worked out well. Fritz sure knows how to tie a knot. He used his boom to lift the bikes and sit them on the deck.

Here´s my bike being loaded. Big thanks to the Aussies Alex, Matt and Paul who were a huge help with the bikes. Truly a real class act of people we met on the boat.

This is a shot of one of the little islands outside of Carti not far from where we launched the Cat. The local people have built their huts literally RIGHT up to the edge of the water. Kinda reminds me of a little village from the movie Waterworld. They all have hand carved boats and are truly expert fisherman and boaters.

One of the local women on the island. They hand stitch these beautiful patterns into all sorts of materials.

Here´s a shot of some of the folks on the boat on the first night. We put back a respectable amount of Rum that night. In total there were 8 guys and 5 gals, including 4 Aussies, 3 Israelis, 3 Canadians, 1 Spaniard and of course your 2 favorite American Guys. Oh yeah, Fritz is Austrian, such a great accent. It´s Arnold without the American influence.

Here´s a shot of the bike strapped down to the boat with one of the awesome little Carribean islands in the background. Remember the upright position of the bike in this shot.

Doesn´t it look like something out of a Corona Commercial? Rough life we have right now.

Here´s Frits, the One and Only. I bet kyle will give you some good Fritz stories. A really good guy that Fritz. A chef by trade, we had some really awesome meals and fresh baked bread every morning when we woke up. Not a bad sailor either.

Like I said, rough life we have....

Such clear water. These shots are still in the San Blas Islands before we hit the big ocean. Everyone was still happy and holding down their lunch at this point.

Here´s my bike after a really tough night on the open ocean sailing towards Colombia. Didn´t get much sleep that night. Kyle and I were lucky enough to not get seasick. Can´t say the same for many others.

About 6 dolphins literally escorted us the last 10 miles into Colombia. Such an amazing thing to see. They were playing all around the boat and weaving in and out from each other. We all took it as a sign of good things to come in Colombia. A great way to end the boat trip.

You can see the port of Cartagena in the background. A lot of big buildings and construction going on there.

This crazy looking Pirate Ship was anchored in the Port we pulled into. Looks like something you see at Disnelyand on the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Fully functional and operational boat though. Pretty amazing.

The above and following are a few shots from today in Cartagena. By far the most beautiful city we´ve been to so far. It feels really safe here as well. Not something you expect to hear about Colombia, eh?

That´s all from me for now. Log in soon to hear from Kyle....