I saw Cartegena this morning. We were still at sea, 90 minutes from scheduled arrival, probably only an hour out, but the city is tall and obvious even at that sort of distance.

It put me off trying to fight through traffic and time constraints to actually see it. Unfair perhaps, the old town area is colonial era and by modern standards very pretty, apparently also very colourful.

I did get off the ship, wandered out of the port area, found a normal street, normal people, normal shops. The shops weren’t normal; a ratio of two gun shops for every three cafes.

At one of the cafes I walked in, wasn’t just the only tourist in there, was probably the only tourist ever to be in there. They had wifi though, so I ordered the top item on the menu, sat down, checked my email. They brought out what the menu had called Goulash.

The hunk of bone seemed primarily there to reassure me that there had been meat in it when cooked. There was also chicken, which they hadn’t mentioned, but that was fine. It tasted ok, nothing special but I wasn’t paying a lot for it. The waitress took away the (mosly) empty bowl and immediately put another plate in front of me.

I didn’t know I’d ordered two courses. This one was even simpler, lamb and rice, but the lamb was a very good cut and beautifully cooked. After paying less than £4 for two courses and a drink it may well be the best value for money meal I’ve had in a restaurant.

The walk back to the ship was quick but very hot, even walking in the shade. Somehow on the way back I managed to take 255 photographs. (For the programmers among you: coincidence). The streets had no interest, the cars were mundane, the pedestrians people out for lunch during their work day. The photographs were all in the port itself, a commercial port but with a small area set aside for visitors on cruise ships.

That area has flamingos vying for attention with peacocks and macaws, over 20 of each of the three of them. I barely photographed any of them, instead focussing on the iguanas, the monkeys and the toucans.

Not all of the photographs worked out but 3-4 of them could make a ‘top ten photographs of the trip’ – not even including the ones of monkeys taunting an iguana by pulling its tail. One of those worked out rather nicely too.

Back on board I prioritised backups for the photographs. I don’t want to lose those.

I skipped the day’s film, one I’ve seen before, skipped dinner too, skipped everything. Ten hours after getting out of bed I was back in it, just my book preventing resumption of needed sleep. Alarm set for 6.40am, and a sea day tomorrow too. I may regret that.

An hour later I was dressed again and out on the aft deck. It wasn’t that the afternoon tiredness had vanished (although I did feel strangely less sleepy) but the ship’s rocking had increased and been joined by occasional shuddering, 60000 tons of steel taking a succession of hits.

On deck the wind was high, even in the lee of the ship, but the seas weren’t. I’d need a Beaufort Scale chart to be sure but it looked only force 6 or 7, enough to cause dismay in a small boat but merely noticeable in this ship. I returned to my cabin in disappointment.

Subsequent consultation of the actual Beaufort Scale suggests force 5-6, so I’m going to claim a solid 6 and be right on all counts.