Friday, November 14, the �boat parade� took place. Twenty-two whaling boats, one for each of the beauty contestants, maneuvered the two-mile course with oarsmen providing the power. Of interest was the almost 300 boats that came out to watch the event, party, and have fun throwing water at each other with the Colombian fireboats getting into the act besides. The morning of the event the local boats at Club Nautico could be seen getting their water bag ammunition together.
Saturday, November 15, the narrow streets of the �old� city were closed off and a charity event was held which involved well-known racecar drivers driving go-carts along the narrow streets of old Cartagena. We watched the event on TV, as tickets were $100.
Our month in Cartagena had been interesting and special, but now it was time to sail the boat to St. Pete Beach, Florida. Sunday, November 16, we prepared the boat for sea. Our plan was to leave early November 17. Late Sunday afternoon we had an electrical fire onboard the boat when the relay to the stop solenoid switch for the engine shorted. Luckily we caught it immediately and no damage was done. Phil spent the evening putting in a new switch to bypass the damaged one so that our engine could once more be turned off easily. Because of the fire, we pushed off from Cartagena on the 17th a little later than originally planned. |
