The Americas 2013

Other than dealing with matters relating to the upcoming boat trip and customs exit procedures for the bike, the day has been pretty uneventful from a tourism point of view.

I met the Captain of the good Catamaran Jacqueline, Armin, at 12pm to look over the boat and to enquire about bike loading, securing, travelling conditions, food, water etc etc. The Catamaran itself looks seaworthy and perfectly capable of the voyage. The living quarters are however small, cramped and designed to accommodate as many people as possible in a relatively small space. The social dining area converts into a bed for the first mate and a separate bed for a traveller that doesn’t mind having his sleeping quarters invaded at any time. This WONT be where I sleep!! Other than that the boat has a bit of a “funky” odour although in fairness it hadn’t been cleaned yet since its arrival from Panama the day before with 15 guests onboard.

I have negotiated the double cabin for a little more money so will have a bit of extra space for the bike panniers and other personal effects. The bike loading and unloading are a little bit of an unknown at this stage although the procedures as discussed seemed doable. The BIG unknown is unloading in Carti in Panama. I am advised that if water conditions are no good then we cant dock which means the bike will need to be put onto a dinghy and taken to shore in that manner…hhhhmmmm??!! The securing of the bike onboard however looks fine although she may get the occasional spray of seawater which I will need to try and protect against.

The other area of concern is when I asked where customs was to clear the bike out of Colombia, Armins advice was not to worry with customs clearance and that I should just put it on the boat and go?!? Sounds like a recipe for jail-time or bike confiscation at best so I met with the “famous” German customs broker in Cartagena, Manfred, who operates out of the internet cafe at the back of a busy supermarket who interestingly enough gave the same advice and only when I insisted that the proper channels be followed did he agree to take the paperwork through customs on my behalf??!!

Apparently customs are reluctant to clear bikes out of Colombia that are not leaving on either a cargo boat or plane or by road. Catamarans and other small leisure craft are not considered fit for cargo and after the sinking of the catamaran, “Fritz the cat” last year which had a bike onboard, Colombian customs has started to “enforce” this rule which gets applied in varying degrees of strictness dependant on the size of the whisky bottle or brown envelope….Welcome to South America!

I will keep you updated on progress in this department but as things stand right now, Bike and I will be onboard on Thursday the 25th!!!