06 November 2012; Cartagena Colombia.

 After a windy night we arrived at the Cartagena Pilot station at 08.30. We had seen on the radar that the Island Princess was on time for her 07.00 hrs arrival and as soon as she was inside a whole stream of cargo ships came out. I still have not been able to figure out, or get the answer from the pilots, about why this happens at this time. Whether the ships leave at sunrise from their berths for some special reason or that it is cheaper to sail after 06.00, I do not know but it is a remarkable pattern. Not that I mind, because it means that by the time we arrive the coast is clear and the entrance channel, open to sail, in without waiting. We had issues this morning to find the pilot boat and it turned out that it was because they had upgraded their equipment; in a rather strange way. More and more pilot boats, worldwide, are adding AIS to their equipment (Automatic Identification System) so approaching ships can recognize them from amidst all the clutter in a port. The Cartagena pilots had received one for their pilot boat here. However upon installing, it became apparent that the software for this box, could not display the text denoting it as a pilot boat, only as a fishing boat. Oops, somebody in government office far away had not done his/her homework. Our pilot was not foreseeing a quick correction to this forthcoming from the governmental decision making process and so he advised us to keep looking for the fishing boat during our coming calls.

It did not stop us from sailing with 16 knots into the inner bay and from there towards the dock. I swung around on arrival and we were docked exactly at the scheduled arrival time with the gangway out, nose pointing towards sea, ready for a quick departure. I have blogged regularly about our efforts for Corinto in Nicaragua, and one of these things is that we collect clothing on board; and with great success.

Our clothing donation going off the ship for delivery.

Near the end of the cruise, there is always the problem faced by a lot of guests, how to get the contents of three suitcases into two and we are very eager to help here. The challenge is that a lot of the clothing is of the large and very large size variation and thus of little use for the schools. Thus we needed a secondary outlet, which we (re)found today in Cartagena. A community center and school which is sponsored by American company’s on a regular basis. Not based on gifts and grants but on a sort of 90% help basis. If it costs $ 10.000,–to build them a house then the family pays $ 1000 spread over many years ,– and the sponsor $ 9000,– At the same time, the organization that looks after this all, is constantly fundraising and selling stuff, to keep the operation going.

The organisation is called Fundado Granitos DE PAZ.

Clothing is a welcome source for generating funds and thus our donations are extremely welcome. On board we will now sort and split the donations of the guests and assign what is most useful for each group. So this morning Roving Reporter Lesley and our Human Resources Manager Verlie were dispatched on a fact finding mission to see what this was all about.

Last year the ship donated here as well and from the proceeds two football tables were bought, which now have pride of place in the community center.

The old folks home, has several bands that plays local music. My wife reported that they were very enthousiastic and produce a lot of noise. 

Reports came back that it is a well organized happening where our donations will be put to good use. We were all gearing up to get out of port as soon as possible but it was not to be as the tours came back on the late side, which mean that the Island Princess sailed first and I had to wait.

This is the entrance to the area where the community centre is located.

All photos courtesy of Henry Hidayat. Human Resources Clerk.

Luckily the captain of the I.P kept up a high speed while sailing through the inner bay and so I could follow without much delay. The I.P is going to the Panama Canal and that is a tight schedule, as I expect that he has to be there at 05.00 tomorrow morning. By 1600 hrs we were well on the way into the Caribbean Sea. Tonight and tomorrow it will be very breezy, but it should get much calmer by tomorrow afternoon. We are now looking forward to 2 nice sea days to end this cruise.