20 December 2009 The final leg

As dawn was breaking we rounded the headland where the Rio Magdalene sends it polluting waters into the Caribbean Sea. The river is navigable for 800 miles to the foot of the Andes and disgorges mud, trees, rubbish,, flotsam and jetsam with such force it can build waves and a very clear line marks where the muddy freshwater is amongst the clear blue sea. By midday the high rise blocks on the waterfront of Cartagena were visible through the haze and at 4pm we were on the final approach.
To enter the inner harbour you can either go wide and deep entrance of Boca Chico adding 2 hours to the journey time, or take the small vessel entrance at Boca Grande. Al hough the entrance seems wide you have to pass between a red and a green buoy not more than 70' apart. In the 16C the Spanish built a submerged wall across the mile wide entrance extending to 2' below the waterline to stop the dastardly English navy from entering and attacking. Only between the buoys is there 12' of water. Drake and his fleet found the gap and attacked the Spanish, we found the gap and sighed with relief.
The harbour is large and deep. It took 40 minutes motoring to reach the anchorage and we are in 15m, or 50' of water between the marina and the cargo and cruise ship dock. We estimate there are over 100 yachts anchored.