Day 18 West - 01/19/22 - Cartagena - Almost

Overnight the seas were a bit choppy as the Captain had projected.  We slept in a bit and Ian's scenic cruising commentary was nice as we sailed into the moorage area of Cartagena's port.  We passed by the ancient fort, terrific skyline views with all the white buildings shimmering in the morning sunlight, the container port with its many blue cranes.

 

This "service" stop was just to let the pilot come on board, do some form of clearance activity and we would be back on our way to the Panama Canal.  No passengers or crew were permitted to disembark.  While we hovered in position, a Colombian Navy vessel kept watch.  After a couple hours or so, the ship rotated clockwise and sailed back out of the harbor, discharged the pilot, and headed out to sea towards the Canal.

 

We relaxed onboard during the afternoon where I caught up on my blog and watching YouTube videos.  In the evening was a terrific Spanish illusionist, Rubén Vilagrand.  I got called on to help in one of the illusions and it was a fun experience.  We later learned that his luggage went somewhere else and he was supposed to on in San Diego.  He discovered when he got off the airplane, by use of Apple Air Tags, his luggage was 6,000 miles away.  So the event coordinator worked remotely with him and his luggage was reunited with him in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Since tomorrow would be a long day, we tried to retire early. We'll see if I make it up for the early entrance into the Gatun locks.



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