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- - RTW on my xt660z in lots photos & a few words... ( https://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=18174)

there was rebuilding work being done to one of the docks and it seemed everyone was involved

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Once at the dock we loaded, pretty straight forward, remove your luggage and get winched aboard�there were 13 bikes to load aboard

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and headed off to the island of Carti Sugdub for the night.

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There are 365 islands in the San Blas chain with 48 having inhabitants, so we stayed with a local family and slept in hammocks and took time to wander around the small island village

The sad part that you notice is the amount plastic garbage laying everywhere�it was a good experience to stay there for an afternoon and night but it really was enough�outdoor toilets dropping straight into the Caribbean Sea where we had been swimming about a mile away just 1 hour earlier!!!!

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lots more island shots to come...

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Day 2 was back on the Stahlratte and off to a smaller island in Carti for a BBQ and some chilling out for the rest of the day

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Day 3 a sea day, it was slow going with swells ranging from 10 to 20 feet, the Stahlratte was getting thrown all over the place, people were getting very sick, the Captain FiFi, (LULU is on vacation) said it was the worst he can remember...lucky us :puke1

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Day 4 the sea was still very rough, but to make things worse the engine failed, it burned up an exhaust valve when we were 60 miles from Cartagena, I was called over and asked if it would be possible for me to weld up the problem, I did this the first time but the pressure from the motor blew another hole in the valve, two hours later I re-welded the valve and this time the engine could build enough pressure to run but only at about 50% power so we sailed very slowly towards Cartagena and arrived one day late, (new engine parts were ordered once we reached the dock) and of course just late enough to miss customs for clearance, so an extra day is now scheduled in Cartagena

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Long day starting at 5.15 am to get up and be at the dock by 6 am�it was unloading day from the Stahlratte

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photo below is not me...but you get the idea

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this also means sitting in Columbian Aduana almost the whole day whilst they clear all the paperwork and get you thru

I�m not sure if the process from the Columbian authorities is more difficult when you arrive by boat compared to arriving by land or air but if time is the judge and having personally done all the other options it must be very difficult because once the bikes were at the Aduana building at 8 am sharp as requested it wasn�t until 4.30pm when we were all cleared and officially entered into Columbia, including the insurance as well

With a full day like that I finished it off with a tire at the hostal surrounded by 17 other bikes (that i'd been carrying since Antigua) chain and sprocket change and basically was done for the day

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the next day was spent walking the streets of old Cartagena

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Hi Paul you gave me a idea when the flood water gets deep here. Tenere in a boat.. :blob1:Safe Rideing.

More fantastic pictures - keep 'em coming!