A Little Bit About Bonaire

**Bon Bini. Kon ta bei?** (see below)

Just thought we would give you some information about Bonaire. It has about 40,000 people on an island covering 10 sq miles (some of the Dutch people around Fort Macleod have bigger farms than that!!). There are 4 languages spoken here - Dutch, Spanish, English and Papiamento (a mix of mostly African and Spanish. The theory being it came from the pidgin used with the African slaves which was a mixture of Portuguese and African dialects). The island was under the governance of Curacao but has been working to become independently part of the Dutch governance. I think if was supposed to take place in July 2007 but now is scheduled for early 2009.

The main industry here used to be salt with fishing and tourism supplementing this. I would guess now that tourism has taken over quite a bit of the island money making. Bonaire is probably the dive capital of certainly the Caribbean and would probably give most other places a run for their money. Dive spots are all around the island as well as around Klein Bonaire, the small island that lies about 200 yards from the main island. There are 65 named dives on Bonaire and another 27 on Klein Bonaire. I believe that all of the spots on the main island can be reached by road, which is how most dive shops operate. It is said that although there may be more beautiful dives in other places in the world, Bonaire has the most consistenly good diving anywhere.

One aspect of Bonaire that stands out is the absolute focus on the environment. Anchoring is not allowed in order to keep the coral reefs as damage free as possible. They have started a recycle program and everywhere you look there are reminders that we are responsible for keeping our environment clean and safe. I noticed a sign the other day that said (I paraphrase) - congratulations to countries like USA and Canada that have battery disposal facilities - since we in Bonaire cannot afford these facilities yet, could you please ensure you take your batteries with you back to your countries for proper disposal and help keep Bonaire clean.This is also one of the cleanest islands we have been on as far as garbage on the roadsides and in the streets.

As in Curacao, the houses are brightly painted with all the colours of the rainbow. Unlike Curacao it extends into the countrysides and in the houses in the town. Overall a cheerful feeling place.

We have done some exploring and expect to do more. There is a park and village on the north end of the island that are both apparently worth seeing. the village, Rincon, contains buildings that were built by the original island inhabitants. The park has points of interest that I won't go into now as we will likely blog about it when we have been there.

The storm (Omar) that struck while we were in Curacao did quite a bit of damage along the waterfront. You can look on Youtube under Bonaire storm. It has some good pictures. Meanwhile people are being very industrious in repairing the damage so it will not be long before things are back to normal. The "noisy" bar that was wrecked is already back in business full bore and the marina has a couple of boats parked there even though the docks haven't been fixed yet.

This is a bit of a short blog but I promise when we get back from our tour you will see more. For those of you who have been asking for more videos, we will do some more but we kind of like to save that for the more exciting moments because it is usually difficult to get the videos to download with the wifi hook-ups we have. We will try!!

Quiz for the day - what does this street sign mean?

**Welcome. How are you?**

Bonaire at Last

So, Cheryl got us to Customs and Immigration in Curacao. They were very accommodating and we went through with no problem. Next morning, Tuesday, we were able to leave with only the minor problem of the anchor chain jamming in the chute that directs it below decks. The skies were fairly clear but there were lots of clouds on the horizon so we knew we might run into some weather.

Our first objective was to clear the south end of Curacao. We had considered sailing down to Klein Curacao the evening before so that we would start off further south and maybe get away with one beat from southwest to northeast. The wind had originally been forecast to be from the east and of course Bonaire is pretty well straight east of Curacao so we were looking for some way to get at least some wind into our sails. After checking the forecast last thing Tuesday we found it indicated that the wind might be from the ENE so we decided that leaving from Klein Curacao would likely put us directly into that.

It turned out that what seemed the longest part of the trip was down the west coast of Curacao. Of course in real time that was not the case but we thought we would never get around the end. We had thought since we were sailing southeast we would get some beam wind but it was not to be. By tacking and bearing off the wind somewhat we were finally able to clear the island at which point we set a course for the north end of Curacao (no ENE – straight east wind). Although we had pretty good wind, we of course found ourselves eventually being pushed further north than we wanted to go so it was tacking time. I won’t go into a lot of detail about the rest of the day except to say that we were again joined by a pod of dolphins, this time a much bigger pod. Since the weather and the seas were acting up we were not able to get any pictures and the video we took would likely make weaker stomachs somewhat nauseous so you won’t get to see what we saw which is unfortunate. There were 12-14 dolphins in this pod, including babies only about 2 1/2 ft long. This time they also did a lot of leaping right out of the water, perhaps because the wind chop was churning up lots of froth. Sorry but any time you want to join us, you are welcome to see your own dolphin pod!!!

To make a long story shorter, we finally arrived at Bonaire about 6:15 PM. Sunset was at 6:30 so we had 15 minutes to find a mooring and get hooked up. Although we knew there were 40 double moorings along the coast, we didn’t realize that they were not all in good repair. The good ones have two lines coming up from 6 ton blocks. Both lines are attached to floats which in turn have lines coming from the other side of the float that you lift with a boat hook and attach to the boat lines. The reality is that some of the moorings only have one float and line, others one float and two lines, others two lines with no floats and in our case two floats with no lines. If we had known how they were laid out, we would not have made the mistake we did.

In previous moorings we have tied up to, when there is a float with no line attached, you catch the metal loop on top of the float with your boat hook and the line then comes up out of the float. No problem. Well, when we saw two floats, both with loops on top, I assumed this is what we needed to do. NOT!! I put the boat hook into the loop and tried to pull it up and guess what happened – nothing – except that the boat was still drifting, I couldn’t unhook the boat hook, and I couldn’t stop the boat using just my arm strength on an 8 ft very slippery pole. Result – boat hook in the sea, boat not attached to the mooring and it is getting darker. Of course the boat is still moving and the underwater mooring lines are now under the boat. Next thing we knew, the mooring lines had caught on the prop and there was much clunking and banging under the boat. Cheryl was very quick to go to neutral (thank goodness) but now we had no way to power the boat and darkness was nigh! I grabbed my mask and jumped over the side and luckily was able to unwrap the mooring lines from the prop without having to take a knife to them, even though they were pretty thoroughly wrapped. While I was doing this Cheryl was putting the swim ladder over the side so I could get back on board.

Once we had power again, rather than look for moorings that had everything they were supposed to have (none in close proximity but we couldn’t really see that well by then), we decided to go to the double float that was closest, even though it also didn’t have a connect rope on its floats. I hopped in the water and Cheryl passed me down our lines, one on each side of the bow, and I connected them to the two floats so we could settle in for the night.

By the way, the water was wonderful – just what I needed after sailing all day!!!

Next day we moved over to another mooring. This one only had one mooring line but I dove down with another line and attached it to the 6 ton block so here we sit on two mooring lines, snug as an eel in its hole. The water along the coast is 10 to 30 ft deep until about 75 meters from shore when it drops off to 120 to 150 ft. Our boat is moored with the front over the shallow part and the stern over the deep part and it is so neat. The water is incredibly clear so we can really see the delineation where it starts to go deep. When I dove down to attach the line to the block, there were about 10 different species of fish ranging in size from 4 inches to about 4 ft feeding off the algae and plankton that is on the blocks. We can look over the side any time and clearly see fishes swimming around the boat. Randy, you could aim your fishing hook at them!!!

Wednesday we cleared into Customs and Immigration. They were very friendly people and I am sure we are going to enjoy our time here. The map of Bonaire shows all the dive spots around Bonaire and Klein (little) Bonaire and there are so many it looks like a necklace on the map. A favourite way of diving here is to load your gear and tanks on a truck and drive around the shore road. All the dive spots are signed on the road so you just get out, walk in, swim to the drop-off and Bob’s your uncle. More about all this later.

THE VIEW FROM MYSTIC JOURNEY

Sightseeing in Curacao

We have had the opportunity to do some sightseeing while here on Curacao. We spent a couple of days in Willemstad, the capital, and then rented a car for the day and drove to the west end of the island to check out the villa where we are going to spend Christmas with Rob and hopefully the Perry's.

A bit of history first. Curacao was 'discovered' by the Spaniards in 1499 and taken over by the Dutch in 1634. It was well established as a slave trading post in the 17th and 18th centuries. Fort Amsterdam was built in 1635 and Willemstad, a city walled on 3 sides, built up north of the fort. Curacao is a rich cultural mixture of Dutch, Spanish and West-African. The local language, Papiamentu, is one of the best developed Creole languages in the Caribbean. The architecture of the island also blends European style with Caribbean exuberance and climatic needs.

We did a walking tour of the city's historical buildings. The main part of Willemstad is called the Punda which is Papiamentu for the Point. The other side of St. Anna Bay is Otrobanda or 'other side'. The majority of the buildings were erected in the 17 and 1800's. The outside construction is stucco painted in vibrant colours with white trim and red tile roofs.

There are two markets in the Punda. The Central Market which was just stalls of merchandise whenever we were there. No produce or fish etc. The floating market, which from the street just looks like regular market stalls, consists of boats which come up from Venezuela on a daily basis with fresh fruit and veggies.

The Floating Market from the Waterside

The Floating Market from the Streetside

The day we rented the car we headed out to West Punt the western end of the island. Driving through the country side was reminiscent of Southern Ontario as far as vegetation goes until you saw the big 'clumps' of tall cacti. Definitely an arid landscape which is green right now because of the rainy season. We left the main road and headed for Santa Martha where the villa is situated.

Shortly after leaving the main road, at Jan Kok, I noticed a large area of shallow water and almost at the same time Griff noticed a sign that said Flamingo Observation Area. We stopped the car and walked back to the observation platform. Sure enough there were flamingos in the distance - very pink with long necks and legs and the curved beaks that made them good as crochet mallets in ‘Alice in Wonderland’. After taking a few pictures we continued on our way to Soto. We noticed a small sign at an intersection that said Santa Martha Bay and Sunset Waters Resort which was what we were looking for. Off we went down what was indicated on the map as a secondary road. The fellow at the car rental place had warned us that the road we would be on was very steep and twisty. Twisty it was, but no worse than some of the back roads in the mountains and definitely not as steep.

Finally we arrived at the resort. We asked at the resort’s office were we could find ‘Lucy’s Place’, the place we will be staying at. They told us where it was and off exploring we went. The beach area was closed due to damage from the storm (Omar) that we had experienced a couple of days previously. There was little sand on the beach and a lot of coral debris washed on shore and up over the road. We talked with a fellow in the dive shop and he said they hadn’t had a storm with such damage for over 20 years. Here’s hoping it’s at least another 20 years until the next one.

We could see ‘Lucy’s Place’ on the cliff overlooking the lagoon/bay and the place we could anchor the boat below. We stopped at the villa on our way back. It has an average sized yard and a patio overlooking the bay. The area was fenced and the gate locked so we could not look any closer.

Just before returning to Soto we passed the Landshuis St. Martha. This is an old plantation house and land that is now a ‘museum’. There are a lot of these sites throughout the island. They have all been restored to show what life was like when they were built 300 years ago. Unlike plantations in the other parts of the Caribbean these were not primarily for sugar cane, but were basically mixed farming and stations for the slave trade. Now the one at St. Martha is a sheltered workshop for the mentally handicapped. They work the farm and build and restore wooden furniture and baskets.

From there we headed back to Spanish Waters passing a small wind farm along the eastern coast of the island.

The day before we left the island, when we went to Customs and Immigration to check out, we did a little more exploring of Willemstad. We went to the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue and the Kura Hulanda Area. The synagogue has the record of the Jewish community on the island. The congregation has been here since 1675 and the synagogue, built in 1730, is the oldest in the western hemisphere. The Kura Hulanda Area is located in the Otrobanda. A kura originally was a residential area with a house in the middle surrounded by outbuildings and a wall. The Kura Hulanda is now a museum, hotel and little shops and cafes. The museum is dedicated to the history of the slave trade and African art and culture. Because of time restraints we could not spend as much time here as we would have liked. We plan on returning in December and maybe then we can do a more complete blog on the history of slavery on the island.

Some Storm Pictures

Julie asked us to take a video of the storm. That was not possible. However, here is a video of a squall that went through the anchorage this morning. Look at this video and imagine the wind blowing at 35 mph, it raining and it is the middle of the night. That is what the last couple of nights have been like.

THE SQUALL!!!

Same View after the Squall

Since I seem to be having luck uploading onto the blog today I decided to upload the pictures of the dolphins Griff took between Bonaire and Cuacao.

Brand New Experience

Well, when Cheryl left you, Omar had been upgraded to a Tropical Storm due to the increase in wind speed. We had pretty well been confined to the boat since Monday when this weather started and that was not due to change soon. Being "confined" to the boat is not too bad when there is room to move around. Sailing for 3 days from Grenada we were able to wander around the boat, on deck or below, so the sense of "freedom" was not lacking. Here in Curacao, however, it is a slightly different matter. We don't have side covers so if it is raining and was it ever raining!!) there is only room for one person to stay dry on top. Since power consumption is something we are always aware of, we couldn't realistically turn on all the lights and feel the comfort of the cabin. If it is sunny outside, it is usually fairly bright below decks but we were totally socked in with the edge of the Omar hovering over us dumping rain in buckets driven by high winds, so it was dark. As Cheryl had mentioned, the wind had been a minimum of 20 kts, at times gusting steadily between 30 and 40 kts so we had to set up a watch system to make sure that first of all we didn't start drifting and secondly that no one else drifted into us.

Those are kind of the physical facts. Now for the "feeling facts". We had never experienced a Tropical Storm before and in fact had not expected to out here in the ABC's. Imagine our dismay, apprehension, catch-in-the-throat feelings when the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) posted the news that they expected Omar to become a hurricane. As I had said, we were right on the edge of the storm. To my mind, Tropical Storm is big, Hurricane is bigger so if we were on the edge of the Storm, it would stand to reason we would be inside the edge of the hurricane. They indicated that Omar was stationary but was expected to begin moving ENE about 3 kts an hour. NOT FAST ENOUGH!!

Lots of people in Spaanse (Spanish) Waters had already begun to move their boats around. Some were heading to Seru Boca Marina but they had limited space. Other boats were lifting their anchors from where they were to move to other spots where they had more room. The area around us originally had 5 boats. In very short order that had doubled because where we are is more protected but had more space.

Here on Mystic Journey sat 2 newbie sailors who had never experienced anything like this before. Thank goodness Denny was here to provide the voice of experience. He told us what he was doing and checked that we had done all we could. So were we worried?? At that point I would have to say we were concerned but not panicky. We knew what we could and would do if we started to drift or if someone started to drift towards us. As I think we mentioned, because Spanish Waters is really like a huge lagoon, we didn't have to worry about crashing waves, although at the peak of the winds, the wind chop was bouncing a lot of boats around rather easily.

Speaking of big waves, we also heard something else in the course of the evening that gave us food for thought. Just to back up for a moment, remember when we sailed from Grenada, our original intention was to stop in Bonaire and I would stay there on a mooring while Cheryl went back to visit. You may also remember we couldn't because due to the Regatta there was no room at the Inn. They say the good Lord protects fools, drunks and small children and here was one of the occasions where it rang true. The wind in the ABC's is 99% of the time an east wind. Once or twice a year they have what they call a reversal when the wind comes from the west and it is a big problem in Bonaire because the moorings (the only place you can stay other than 3 marinas, 2 of which are exposed to the open seas) face the west so when there is a reversal, it is usually a fairly strong wind - 20-30 kts and since the moorings are quite close to land, there are problems with the seas breaking under the boats. So, add to that the fact that the Tropical Storm that was hitting us was hitting Bonaire - from the west - and you can see the difficulty. To make a long story short (too late, I know), we were notified that the seas had destroyed a marina and beach side bar that were exposed to the west swells. Luckily there was some warning and apparently all the boats that were on the moorings were able to get behind the breakwater at the 3rd marina. But we could have been one of the boats scrambling to get to shelter.

So, back to Curacao and Omar the Hurricane.

We were able to get the NHC website, which is updated every 3 hours and provides all the pertinent information you may need regarding tropical storms and hurricanes. You can also get satellite photos there. As you can imagine, a lot of the boats were checking that site and updating, via VHF radio, the folks who didn't have internet. We check the site on a regular basis as one of our sources for weather and we have found it's predictive powers quite accurate. Imagine then how we reacted when we checked it the first time after Omar was declared a hurricane and found that for the last three hours, Omar had remained stationary. Of course we were already a bit anxious about our knowledge base regarding this particular weather because as far as we knew, hurricanes start as depressions/lows or waves, usually originating on the west coast of Africa and building as they cross the Atlantic. Their direction is normally ENE and that direction is why the north coast of South America (southern Caribbean) is hurricane free. By the time they get to the Caribbean they have moved north far enough to miss the southern portions. Omar actually began as a tropical storm towards the west and began to move east.

Of course when we saw Omar had been stationary, all kinds of thoughts raced through our minds, for me primarily "If they were wrong about it moving, maybe they will be wrong about the direction it will take when it does start to go"

Enough of the maybes and what ifs and so on and so forth. Bottom line is we spent a very restless night taking turns standing watch, checking the weather report every 3 hours and hoping for the dawn to break wind and rain free. It didn't!! But as the morning progressed, the wind did die down somewhat and we were actually able to glimpse patches of sky periodically. We were hit by one really drastic, down and dirty squall that dumped water so thick that we could no longer see the rest of the bay but other than that the weather steadily improved. I also had to empty the dinghy 4 times in the past 36 hours.

Casualties of the storm

First of all, I had thought about tying down the blades on the wind generator because I questioned myself whether it was good for it to be running steadily at the speeds the winds werre maintaining. After checking some other boats and seeing that everyone I could see had left them running, I decided to leave it go. Two further incentives to let well enough alone was first, I had no idea how I was going to stop the blades in order to tie them down. In normal winds I would turn the generator so it was away from the wind and the blades would slow down enough but with these winds swirling the way they were there was no way I could safely do that. The second reason is that it was keeping the batteries nicely charged so we didn't have to run the boat.

We lasted until this morning about 7:30. I had just come downstairs after waking Cheryl to take over watch when I heard and felt a loud vibration. I knew at once what it was so I ran up and threw a rope into the blades to stop them. The vibration was horrendous and I was afraid the whole thing would shake apart. End result - 2 1/2 blades gone plus the hub that holds the blades onto the shaft. Silver lining to that cloud - when Iwent up later to take the generator down I discovered that the constant stress had loosened the weld joint holding the generator support to the main frame support. If it had not broken the blades, the whole wind generator would most certainly gone into the sea, never to be seen again. Fools, drunks and small children!!

Second and last casualty - last night I heard a bang from the back deck and looked back to see that the railing on which the Propane BBQ is mounted had worked itself loose from the stanchion. Again, silver lining - if this had happened while we were sailing, the BBQ might even now be 20 fathoms down.

One down side that is not really about last night but indirectly related. Omar is heading for the Virgin Islands and the Windward Islands. We have friends there and after being just barely touched by the edge of just the storm part of the weather, we have been giving a lot of thought to our friends in BVI and praying they are going to be alright. We got a message to Clive who assured us that he flew home from the Annapolis boat show early and spent the day preparing his family and others for the storm. He is confident that they will be alright for which we give thanks.

This has been an experience to remember. We have had some contact with the powers of the elements as we have sailed down to reach Curacao, but this allows us a whole new glimpse at the awesomeness (my word) and scariness that is out there waiting.

The anchorage after a squall on Wednesday

EXCITEMENT ++++ !!!

The past 24 hours has seen a lot of excitement in the Spanish Waters anchorage. It started yesterday morning about 0845 when a call was heard on the VHF asking how to contact the fire department because there is a fire at Sarifundy's. The information was given to call 911 which was done. Now you may be wondering what is Sarifundy's. It is a floating bar/restaurant that serves as a social gathering place for cruisers. That's where the shopping bus pick-up is and it is the mailing address for cruisers in this anchorage. About 0900 we headed in the direction of Sarifundy's to pay for our internet service and sure enough it was on fire. The fire truck had just arrived. From what we could see the back of the building was totally engulfed in flames. That's where the washrooms, laundry and inside kitchen are. What amazed me was the number of cruisers in dinghies that were tied up to the dock. You have to realize that the cooking fuel on most of these islands is propane and Sarifundy's has two big propane tanks at the back. Fortunately they did not blow or I'm sure if they had many of those cruisers would have regretted being where they were. The results of the fire were that Sarifundy's is probably going to be closed for awhile. The restaurant part, which is on a floating dock, and the bar were not damaged by flames, but had smoke and water damage.


After we left the internet boat we headed over to one of the marinas to drop off our laundry, but no one was there so we decided to take the bus in towards Willemstadt to another laundry that had been mentioned on the cruisers' net. We were waiting for the 'big, green bus' when it started to rain and soon it was downpouring. Soon the tree we were standing under was not much protection. Fortunately for us there was a couple just finishing a bike ride and getting into their car. They asked us where we were going and then gave us a ride. They worked for a Canadian and actually knew where Alberta is. The rain had stopped by the time we got to the laundry so we decided to walk to the store and then try walking back to the fisherman's wharf just to see how long it would take. After we had been walking for 30 minutes a fellow stopped and offered us a ride. We accepted and in about 2 minutes we were at the wharf so it wouldn't have taken us much longer to walk the rest of the way.

Now to the rest of the excitement. That morning when we woke up the wind and current had shifted and we were now facing into the bay and were quite a bit further north than we had been (you can check our position at the position report link). We stayed that way all day. About midnight we awoke to wind and rain. The wind had picked up to about 20 knots. We were hearing airhorns, use to alert boats to danger, from around the anchorage. Griff went on deck to keep an eye on things and noticed a little boat had broken loose from its anchorage and had run into Gabrielle which is the boat in front of us. The little boat seemed to have stopped so we figured its anchor had probably hooked on Gabriell's chain. The rain and wind settled down about forty minutes later only to return about 0230 with a vengence.

When daylight arrived, no sunshine, the storm was still in full force. We checked the weather from the National Hurricane Centre to discover that the Tropical Depression that was stationary about 250 miles south of Haiti was now moving southeast at 2 - 3 knots and warnings were being given that it was likely going to turn into a Tropical Storm. At that point it will get a name. That movement has put it about 150 miles north of us and we are feeling the effects of the edge of the system. Hopefully, for us, it will move as forcast and turn to head northeast again. We will probably have this weather until Thursday.


Back to the little blue boat that had hit Gabrielle. We were right about it being caught on Gabrielle's anchor chain. They hailed us on the VHF radio at 0800 to tell us that it had now broken free of their chain and had drifted some until its anchor took hold, but it is only a 10 pound anchor. Griff sat on deck to keep and eye on it and soon someone came in a dinghy and started the boat and moved it back into the bay. Not much activity in the anchorage this morning other than on the radio.

Update - As of 1100 the tropical depression has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Omar which is still moving southeast. The difference in categories is the speed of the wind. In a tropical storm the sustained winds are 45mph. They are forecasting gusts up to 50 today and possibly 65 tonight. It's amazing how much stronger even 20mph winds feel at anchor rather than when you are sailing. And it definitely feels stronger than a similar force wind at home on the acreage. There is a lot of wind chop on the water today. That is the effect of wind over waves. It isn't as bad in the part of the anchorage we are in because there isn't an open expanse of water in front of us. We will add pictures later when WiFi is working better.

Curacao - First Impressions

Griff says it is my turn to write a blog so I will give you some of my impressions of the trip here and Curacao.

The three night trip seemed long at times. I couldn't really get into a routine to accommodate splitting the 24 hours into watches (where only one of us is at the wheel). We basically just set up watches during the night. I was amazed at how easily we slipped into the habit of using Oscar, the autopilot, on a full time basis except for when we changed course. Originally we thought we would only use it at night when one of us was sleeping. Having the autopilot on full time enabled us to relax more during the day as well as rest better at night. Although as Griff said in his blogs we still did not get good rest during the trip.

What a disappointment it was to pull into the harbour at Bonaire and see that there were no mooring balls available. This meant another 6 hours of sailing when we were looking forward to a dip in the ocean and an opportunity to sleep without wearing a lifejacket and being tethered to the boat. Oh well - forward we went.

We are back to the amazing blue colour of the water that we were seeing along the northern islands. It is also very clear. When we were watching the dophins it looked like they were swimming on the surface that's how clear the water was. They were amazing animals. I also enjoyed the antics of the birds we saw. It was surprising that as soon as the sun rose there were birds flying around the boat. I assumed that maybe they spent the night on the ocean since we were a fair distance from land, but then I read that the frigate birds have wetable feathers that means if their feathers get wet they cannot fly. That explained the 'fight' I witnessed between a frigate bird and a brown boobie. The frigate would dive bomb the boobie who would land in the water and would then 'jump' up at the frigate bird seeming to try to pull it out of the air. The brown boobies were swooping and flying around the boat most of the day and were always in pairs. We also had a little hitchhiker one day. A ruddy turnstone, about the size of a robin, sat on the bow lifeline stretching his wings for a while.

Our first impression of Curacao is that it is definitly not a tropical island as we most often think of them. It is a very low island, difficult to see from a distance and with none of the lush tropical, rainforest type vegetation that we have been used to seeing. In fact it looks a lot like southern Alberta or the interior of British Columbia. Lots of cacti and desert type vegetation. The guide book says it has a dry desert climate and scant rainfall, although we have had thunderstorms and downpours daily since our arrival.

We went into Willemstadt, the capital, to do the customs and immigration thing. The town is not what you would expect in the Caribbean. The atmosphere is very European. I haven't been to Holland, but it looks like I imagine Holland looks. There are canals lined with tall, narrow, red roofed buildings that are painted in a rainbow of crisp colours. It is a very clean looking city. We were in the city centre and it has a lot of open market areas. Along the main canal the markets are similar to those in other centres - t-shirts, hats, dresses etc for the tourists off the cruise ships. One shopping area is situated in an old fort that is a World Heritage Site. In front of it was a calliope. We stopped to take a picture and a local fellow came up and asked if we wanted him to take our picture. We said yes and then he said we could put the donation in the wooden shoes. He took quite a few pictures, none particularly good, including one of us putting in our donation. We spent some time walking around the downtown area and then headed back to the boat on the big green bus.

Last of the Trip

Okay - as you must have known because you were faithfully following our position reports, we did not stop for long in Bonaire. When we were about halfway up the coast towards Kralendijk, where the moorings and customs et al are found I happened to be re-checking the guide book and lo and behold it said that "early in October" the Annual Bonaire Regatta is held. Of course in this case early meant the week starting 5 October, which was the day we arrived. Actually we went down the row of moorings to see if, just in case, someone was leaving (like anyone is going to leave at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning!!) We spoke to a couple in a dinghy who were on their way to watch a swimming race between Bonaire and Klein (little) Bonaire which was the start of Regatta week.

Sunrise Over the Salt Flats in Bonaire

So, no choice but to go on. Truthfully we weren't too disappointed. Maybe it was the fact that we had just successfully completed a 400 nm, 69 hour trip, maybe it was the fact that the 35 nm to Curacao looked like a piece of cake, maybe it was just the sunshine sparkling off the water but whatever the case, it was "off we go". When we discussed it later we agreed that it would make our time here more interesting. Our original intention was to get to Bonaire and from there Cheryl would visit home and it would possibly be the place where we could pick up Rob if things work out. That would have meant staying there for anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks. Going to

Curacao would provide a different menu to enjoy.

There was actually very little wind that morning, a condition that didn't change much during the short hop. As a result we had to motor sail and to avoid the flapping and/or back winding of the main sail, we just used the foresail (genoa) for the extra 2 knots that the wind gave us.

Next came possibly the coolest thing that has happened to us since we started sailing. Not the most exciting, not the most beautiful but certainly the coolest. We were about halfway there when I thought I saw a fin slice the water off the port bow. On looking closer I saw that it was a dolphin so I immediately went to the front of Mystic Journey to see better. When I got there I was so excited I almost fell overboard. Not one but SIX dophins had joined us on our voyage. The were swimming around, under and across the bow of the boat, surfacing to blow periodically, nearly jumping completely out sometimes. You could see that they were having fun. As they crossed over they would also swim over and under each other. One or two would split off and next thing three would come back. Remember I am basing my beliefs they were playing on human perceptions, not dolphins. Perhaps they were doing what they did for an entirely different reason but if they were and you know why - DON'T TELL ME. I believe today and always will that they were having fun!! It was so amazing that I (Cheryl) even went up into the pulpit (the very front of the boat) to watch the antics. It was almost as if they thought the boat was another dolphin since they were swimming beneath the bow the same as they were swimming over and under each other. They stayed with us for about 45 minutes and eventually drifted off, maybe because we weren't paying attention to them as much as before - again a human perception but don't burst my bubble.

As we approached Curacao we began to meet a large number of boats on their way to wherever.
This is the first time we had seen so many boats out and about any distance from the islands we
had visited. We rounded the south end of Curacao and after about a 1.5 hour trip up the coast we arrived at Spaanse (Spanish) Waters, a huge lagoon/bay with a number of small islands inside the bay itself. The guide showed us there were 4 areas we could anchor and we weren't sure which would be best. Denny, our friend we had met in Grenada, was there and came aboard to "coach" us. Denny is the one whose website is on our link and who has been sailing since 1979. We met him in Grenada and saw him again in Trinidad. He left there to go to Venezuela and then do the outer islands and then continue west, expecting to be in Cartegena by this time. Unfortunately he had some back problems so has been getting treatment here but that was good for us because we both enjoy his company.

Anyway, we decided to anchor in a bay that is not as close to the hub of Spaanse so we would have more privacy and quiet. We let out anchor out and tried to "set" it. We had been told that the bottom was mud and therefore good holding so we didn't back the boat up really hard to set it because the anchor could slide. After we had settled into the anchorage, Denny told us he was taking us out to supper. Truthfully we would rather have made it the next night but there was a good possibility that Denny would be leaving the day after that and it wouldn't work well so we agreed.

The meal was good and we enjoyed ourselves but just as we were getting finished, lightning started, the wind started blowing (we were eating in the open on a dock) so we thought we had best get back. Just as we were approaching our boat, it started to absolutely pour down rain but we made it inside without getting too soaked. I forgot to mention that in this smaller bay there was another boat that had anchored directly in the middle towards the mouth of the approach. It left little room on either side but we were able to fit ourselves in. The reason we had not gone deeper into the bay is because there was a boat next in that had six (6), count them - 6 dogs on board. It was an old boat that looks like it is on it's last legs and we did not want to be awoken or kept awake by a chorus of dogs so we anchored where we did.

Back to the story. When we anchor, we always take a GPS reading so that we can tell if the boat should start to drift because the anchor is not set. The boat had seemed to be in almost the exact same position when we got back from dinner as it was when we left but since it was absolutely pitch black and raining to the point of invisibility, as soon as we got downstairs, I asked Cheryl to turn on the GPS to check. No sooner were the words out of my mouth when we heard several loud blasts from an airhorn. Well,that is a danger signal so I immediately ran up the companionway stairs to discover that it was the boat in middle blowing the airhorn because we had drifted - just in the time it took to go downstairs - completely over to the other side of the bay, heading for the cliff-like shore. I started the boat and stopped our drift and when Cheryl came up, she took the helm and I went up front and lifted the anchor. Now what. We couldn't see anything because of the dark and the rain and we couldn't go around in circles all night (well I suppose we could but we didn't know the bay well enough to know the shallow spots.

After puttering around a bit waiting for some visibility, we finally decided we would try dropping our anchor closer to the other shore. The wind was still very strong so it was hard to get the anchoring sequence done right (I won't go into details but there is a certain way to set an anchor properly and we had obviously not done it correctly the first time. In our own defence, we found out later that the bottom was not soft mud but hard clay. Had we known that, we would definitely have done things differently.

Anyway, after 3 tries, we thought we had done the job and that I had put out enough scope (chain) to do the job. By this time we were both soaked and unhappy and tired. The make things worse, when we first went upstairs to stop the disaster, Cheryl had needed to get back below quickly to turn the instruments on so she could see the depth we were in. Normally she would turn around and go down facing the ladder but because she was in a hurry, she tried it the other way - with wet feet - with wet ladder - with dire results. I heard a very loud crash and ran to the companionway to find Cheryl in a heap at the bottom. She immediately answered she was okay when I yelled and started down (but of course she woould have yelled she was okay if she was lying there with 2 broken legs and a fractured skull!!) Thankfully in this case it was true she was okay but I want to you all to know that if, when she gets home, she still has bruises, I had nothing to do with it.

We sat around for a bit checking our position and finally with great apprehension and mostly due to utter exhaustion (remember very little good sleep for the last 3 nights), we went to bed.

About 4 in the morning we woke again to find we were quite close to the shore in about 2 feet (below our keel) of water. This was not because the anchor hadn't set but because I had put out about 130 feet of chain, so much that it allowed the boat to move that close to shore. We started the engine and drove up on the anchor and were able to go back to bed for a few more hours sleep.

Next day the tiredness from the last days caught up so we didn't do much. We moved the boat (again!!) after some wind came up. Denny was going to the Chiropractor later in the day so we went for the ride and stopped in the grocery store and Budget store. Came back to the boat and went to bed fairly early. I was still very leery with the anchor - once bitten - twice terrified, so was hoping for some strong winds while we were on the boat but itdidn't happen this day. We were supposed to check into customs/immigration but we were both too tired so took the chance and we were not checked. Still slept well.

I'm trying to bring you all up to date so that we don't get any more hassle about being behind (you know who you are!!!:}) so I will finish up with our day yesterday. We left about 8:30 to go into Willemstad to do our clearances. You need to dinghy to the fishermans wharf and then walk out to a roundabout to catch a big bus. It was weird to be on a big bus for the first time since we got to the Caribbean. It was painted a bright green with polka dots and was easy to catch. It takes you to the main bus depot downtown, about a 25 minute ride. The city itself is really pretty and the dutch influence is readily apparent, even though Curacao has a strong Spanish component. The buildings are all painted bright greens and blues and yellows and the roofs are very European. There is a a system of waterways in the town reminiscent of Amsterdam although bigger channels and a LOT cleaner. The people are nice. It is a bit of a pain to check in. You walk across a foot bridge, walk down a waterfront street and find Customs. After that you come out and cross a big bridge that opens whenever there is marine traffic. You then walk to the docks and down about 1/2 mile. Immigration and Port Authority are close to each other. A bit of a sticky wicket regarding boat movement. We had to point out exactly on a marine map where the boat was and if we want to move it, even to another part of the bay, we have to go all the way back in to town and let them know. Same thing with moving to other bays. We had been considering going upt to the bay where our Christmas accommodation is but this may not happen. We are not sure yet but we aren't staying on Curacao very long this time because Cheryl is flying out of Bonaire and that is where I want to do the work on the coach roof. We will see what we will see.

Last night after we got back I got my wish for weather to test the boat anchor. We had eaten, played some cards, written some post cards etc etc and then gone to bed. About 1 in the morning a squall came through. It was actually a bit bigger than a squall, lasting about an hour and giving us a tremendous display of lightning. I got up and stayed up while this was going on as I wanted to see where the boat was in relation to the other boat that is in the centre of the bay and I also wanted to make sure the anchor stayed set. It did in spite of 30 kt winds so now I can leave the boat and be somewhat comfortable.

So that is it. Cheryl may do a blog about the city. She notices interesting things in that kind of environment much better than I do and I know we got some good pictures of the buildings. There were also some interesting people in town but I will leave that to Cheryl. I'm DONE.

More of Grenada to Bonaire

Alright – we start the rest of the Grenada to Bonaire Blog. I am not going to do a play by play of the rest of the voyage. I think I will just try to figure out what people would find interesting about the whole trip. People have asked us at various times about various things so if I can remember some of them I will answer them in relation to this trip. First of all, sleep, or lack thereof. As mentioned, neither Cheryl nor I got much beneficial sleep the night we left Grenada. Friday, however, it didn’t immediately seem to have much effect. We were both a little groggy as the sun came up but as the wind freshened a little and the sun started to warm things up, a feeling of optimism and excitement (and still a little of the “what are we doing here”) began to shape the day. As it turned out, sleep was a bit of a problem over the time we spent sailing. Speaking just for me, I was reluctant to leave Cheryl up in the cockpit alone in a kind of darkness that seems different than it is on land. Of course we had chosen the time of month where the moon was least visible (waniest!!!) and in addition, it had set by 10 at night so the only light (well, not quite the only but more of that later) was from the stars, which although magnificent did not cast all that much illumination.

In addition to the darkness, we discovered something we hadn’t noticed before about being below decks while sailing. It can be very noisy. The wind seems to whistle louder, the mast seems to creak more and the wave action seems exaggerated. For me that meant that I assumed things were worse than they were weather-wise and I didn’t want Cheryl to start feeling worried about things. For Cheryl, unfortunately one of the things that happened, more in the beginning than towards the end, was that being below in the types of swells we were having, there was a tendency towards queasiness.

Anyway, that situation gradually improved and although we were a little tired during the trip, it never affected how we sailed or put us in any peril from foolish mistakes due to sleepiness. As far as staying awake and alert during watch, I discovered that if I stood outside the cockpit and watched the water and looked at the stars, there was such a sense of peace that I didn’t notice the time. As most of you know, I am not a religious person although I have a very strong sense of spirituality. However, I challenge anyone to come to sea, look up to the skies on a night when there are no other lights and tell me that it all has a strictly scientific basis or that we are the only living creatures in the vastness that you see out there.

There is one other source of light out on the briny and that is the phosphorescent particles in the sea itself. As you sail along and the wave breaks where the boat cleaves through the water, these particles come to the surface. They look exactly like a whole host of fireflies swimming in the water beside the boat except they are green. It is so cool. I must admit I also get a real kick when using the head (toilet to you lubbers). When you pump the water up from the sea to rinse the bowl, the phosphorescence is drawn up and swirls around the bowl. Hey – you have to take your entertainment where you can find it. In one of the heads, the hose that brings up the water is semi-transparent and it is really weird to see the hose start to shine as you pump. Enough of that.

As far as rest is concerned, we were able to take catnaps during the day and it was not physically demanding except for changing the whisker pole from side to side and doing the sail work associated with that.

People have asked what we talk about when we are sailing for long periods of time. I’ve thought about that and to tell the truth, I am not sure. It might be how the boat is handling the seas or the seas are handling the boat. We talk of the people we love back home and we talk of the future, whether on the boat or off. Sometimes we talk of our beliefs and how we have lived our lives. The nice thing about our relationship is that sometimes we don’t talk at all and it is very comfortable in the silence. We have discovered that dead air doesn’t need to be filled all the time because it actually has a life of its own based on our relationship. I’m not sure if that makes sense to others but the only way I can answer is with my own perceptions.


Back to a bit of day by day. By Friday morning we were past Tostigos and heading toward La Blanquilla. We had a schedule to adhere to in that we wanted to arrive in Los Roques in the daylight to deliver the parts to Mustang Sally. Los Roques has very tricky channels to traverse to get to where the anchorages are situated. We could have asked Mustang Sally to send a dinghy out but the seas we were in would likely have swamped them. As it turned out it is a very good thing we chose not to do that. More later.

Although the forecast had been for 10-15 kt winds, in reality we were getting 7-10 knots and the favourable westward current that is supposed to add 2-3 kts to our speed in fact only gave us about ½ kt. We were still managing 5 kts with those conditions but we needed 6 kts to keep to schedule so the first and second nights, when the wind died down to nothing, we were forced to do some motor sailing. I am not by any means a purist as far as sailing. Some folks will sail with 5 kts of wind at 3 kts per hour because they say they are sailors. If we are going somewhere, part of the purpose of the trip is the sailing but equally as important is the arrival so we were willing to motor. The down side of course is that on a downwind run with weak winds, the diesel fumes from the motor tend to blow forward through the cockpit. Sometimes it was like following a bus through downtown. Not often though.

So we sailed past La Blanquilla on the starboard side after first passing Los Hermanos, some small islands that, although uninhabitable, are in fact higher out of the water and easier to see. Blanquilla is actually about the halfway mark between Grenada and Bonaire so we were happy to see it go by and to be able to figure out that we would be in Los Roques in daylight. It is difficult to set a schedule for sailing long distance because of course certain parameters need to be met such as how much wind from what direction, how much current from which direction, which conditions suit the particular boat etc etc so we were happy to be halfway to our destination and probably two thirds of the way to our “Angel of Mercy” destination and still on time.

Back to questions people ask - did we see wildlife? Well, until the Bonaire to Curacao crossing, the only thing was saw, well, actually that Cheryl saw, was a big bully of a frigate bird picking on a brown boobie, which was holding its own but badly outweighed. Oh and we saw some flying fish, although not nearly as many as we have seen in other parts of the Caribbean. Bonaire to Curcao is another story which I will tell in another blog.

Final question I can think of right now is what do we do to fill our time. We didn’t seem to have a problem with that. I mentioned to Julie that three days of sailing is easily done unscheduled. Three weeks I for one would have to figure out what I wanted to do with my time. For this trip we had conversation, naps, our DS (Thanks again Jason), books, watching the sea, playing with the sails and whisker pole arrangements, eating and I guess whatever else there was to do that I have forgotten. I never found myself bored although there were certain times of day or night that seemed t o drag. Mornings always seemed longer for me than afternoons – not sure why. 3-5 in the morning sometimes dragged. Overall, time was not a problem on this trip.

We were lucky and didn’t on the whole run into any really mean weather except for a 10 minute period in Los Roques – trying to do the parts handover of course. Our biggest problem was not enough wind and the small changes in direction that, when you are flying wing-on-wing, can be problematic. I had mentioned in the last blog about all of this so won’t re-hash. I will tell you about Los Roques next.



Sails set wing-on-wing


After our second night at sea, dawn came bright and early and we actually had enough wind from the rear to run at a broad reach which was a wonderful change. It is amazing how the boat responds when it gets wind it likes. Without looking at the instruments you can tell that we are getting something good. A “swish” comes from the bow where the boat divides the water and although this sounds strange, Mystic Journey behaves like a horse that has just scented water after a dry day. It kind of leaps forward. I had read this before and heard all the terms and thought “Oh yeah, silly sailor talk” but it is true.

As we approached Los Roques we got into radio contact with Mustang Sally and made arrangements exactly where we would meet them so they could dinghy out to us. Of course the sailors’ equivalent of Murphy chose that time to play tricks. We had gone through the channel to get to the inside of the islands. Los Roques as you have probably guessed means the rocks and is a group of islands fairly close together. La Grande Roque has 3 rather big hills on it so is easy to spot but the other islands are quite low and hard to spot. We had come in the channel between 2 islands and then turned southwest between 2 other islands and then back west to come up the coast of La Grande Roque where Mustang Sally was anchored. We had left the mainsail out because we could use it to power the boat (along with the motor) and also because the main sheet was way out and also because if we took it down we would have to put it back up and my work avoidance principles had to be adhered to. We had taken our other sails down and as I said, we were coming up to the anchorage where they were to dinghy out and pick up the package. Murphy said “now’s the time” and up comes a squall behind us. We were down to about 2 kts by that time and the squall was travelling about 25 kts with winds, as we discovered, up to about 35 kts. It hit us just before we got to the anchorage. If it had come from straight behind it would have been less of a problem but of course winds in a squall can be like a hurricane in that there is a circular motion. Bottom line, it hit us all at once – no gradual build-up but WHACK. Mystic Journey heeled over to probably 50 degrees. Our toe rail was underwater. When that happens it feels like all ability to steer is gone which in a way is true. We needed to get the main sail down but two problems – to put it down properly the sail should be heading directly into the wind and to do this properly the sail should be centered on the boat. Of course neither of these conditions were being met. We applied “much” power to the throttle and attempted to come around which of course kept our mainsail side on to the wind and kept us heeled over. I was finally able to bring the boat around enough so that even though the boat wasn’t directly into the wind the sail was (don’t forget it was way out to the side). At that point we let loose the main halyard (that holds the mainsail up) and I kept the sail as much directly into the wind as I could. This is necessary because the sail is held to the mast with sail slides and in order for the sail to come down, the sail should be loose so the slides can slide. If the wind is pushing on either side of the sail, the slides bind and the sail doesn’t come down OR, the sail at the mast comes down but the rest is blown off to the side of the boom. Too much sailor stuff but I’ll get back to the squall. By keeping the sail centered into the wind, it finally came down, although it wasn’t pretty. While all this was going on Doug and Wendy from Mustang Sally were in their dinghy but hanging on to the side of their boat watching our antics.

Los Roques - yes the water really was that colour.

As quick as it came, the squall was gone and Doug and Wendy came out and got their part and kindly gave us some homemade peanut butter cookies. In 15 minutes we were out the west passage and on our way again. Of course we had to turn into the wind to put up the main again. We discovered while doing this that the seas had come up and we had 9-10 ft swells coming from the northwest and the winds had begun to blow a steady 18-20 knots. GREAT sailing weather – except we had a problem.

You may recall reading in our blog about the trip back from Trinidad to Grenada that we had to take sails down because we were going too fast and didn’t want to get to the anchorage in the dark. Guess what – now that we were free from the delivery schedule, our need was to get to Bonaire in daylight and WE WERE GOING TOO FAST!! This time we couldn’t slow down. The “lost current” had found us and we could not get down to less than 6 kts. We eventually even took down the mainsail but of course we had to have some power to keep some control of the boat so to make a long story short, we got to the shores of Bonaire at 4:00 AM where we very slowly motored along using our chart plotter to keep us away from shore until we could see.
I can’t describe the exact feelings we experienced as we motored towards the bay where we hoped to pick up a mooring ball and stay. Satisfaction, pride, tiredness, a bit of let down, apprehension about whether there would be moorings available. They are very “green” in Bonaire and in order to keep the coral safe, they do not allow any anchoring. There is one good marina, two not so good marinas and 40 mooring balls. I had gotten a reply to an email I had sent to them about 6 weeks earlier that said there were always mooring balls available but about 5 days before, we heard from someone who sailed there that they had gotten the second last one.

Tune into the next blog to find out!!!

If you want to get a sense of what is like to sail on Mystic Journey check out the video on the Perry's blog in our Other Link section.

Next Day

Next Day
Well, although I didn't get back to this last night, at least I didn't forget. Last time I talked about sailing with the Perry family and what a great time it was. We had been scheduled to leave the next day for Bonaire, with a stop to drop off a part of another boat in Los Roques. I am not going to describe locations - the internet is a great source of information - but I will say the route would take us past Los Tostigos, La Blanquilla, Los Roques and the Ave's before we got to Bonaire, which
is part of the Netherland Antilles (whoops - forgot). Due to some stores being closed for stocktaking on the Tuesday and also due to the fact we had not done enough things in advance, we decided to leave on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Part of this was also due to the fact we had not intended to leave until after lunch on Wednesday and thought we could do our catch-up in the morning but since we wanted to arrive in Los Roques in daylight we needed to leave earlier. Whatever the reasons, we
spent Wednesday preparing for our Thursday voyage.
Thursday morning we cleared customs, topped up the diesel and water tanks and by 10:30 were on our way. It was a bright sunny day with good winds, at least when we started out and aside from wind shifts and the swells changing direction a couple of times, we made fairly good progress. We had never sailed wing-on-wing before but had practiced putting up the lines and the whisker pole so we decided to try it later in the day. We discovered that in theory it can work well. In practice, certain conditions
have to be in place. For instance the wind needs to be of sufficient strength to fill the sails and even more important, the wind is much better when it comes from a slight angle, one side or the other. This is particularly true if the wind is not strong. The choice of which side to put the main sail and which side to put the foresail is also made easier by the slight angle. Of course you put the main sail on the side towards which the wind is blowing. Even allowing for the slight angle, if the wind
is not strong enough, the sails have a tendency to back fill and then "slap". I won't explain that but sufficient to say it is not good and very annoying. This also happens if you make the wrong choice about which side to put which sail.
So, we learned and we practiced and we got pretty good at moving the whisker pole to one side or the other. Oh, did I mention that the God's of wind just love newbies to try new things so that, for example, as soon as they get the sails on the right side and the lines strung and everything looks good, The Gods will change the wind direction.
We managed to fill the day with busyness and learning and yes Julie we did eat. By nightfall we were ready to rest. We had decided to try watch-standing as our friends on Southern Cross do it. Dee stands the first watch to midnight and Don does the next 6 until dawn. Since I am usually in bed and asleep first, we decided I would sleep early and work late and Cheryl would do the opposite of course. This would likely have worked well if I had been able to sleep in the early evening and if Cheryl had
been able to sleep when her watch was done. I ended up bobbing up and down the companionway all evening either trying to find a place where I would fall asleep or else worrying about what the boat or the weather was doing. By 11:00 PM I gave up and told Cheryl she might as well try to sleep. Of course that didn't happen either but we both made it to the morning and I will leave it there for now.
Don't forget, this is by SSB radio so shorter is better. Next blog I will talk more about the beauty and joy of what we are doing on this trip rather than the problems we experienced.

Catching Up

A Catch-Up at Sea
I'm writing this as we sail to Bonaire (with an Angel of Mercy stop in Los Roques to deliver a part to a boat. It is a Cataraman - Mustang Sally - but we can excuse that because they are Canadian!!) from Grenada. We thought it was time to catch up with the last few days because Bonaire will start a new page in our adventure book.
After Cheryl's delightful birthday party at the Perry's apartment we all went back to Mystic Journey the next day for a sail. We got there around 10 if my memory serves me (time IS different here!!) and after squaring everything away, we sailed out of Prickly Bay for parts unknown. Actually we knew where we were and we knew where we were going but it sounds adventurous to say it that way. Graham took the wheel as we left the bay and in fact sailed for the whole trip. When I helped Graham take Artemo
to St Davids he gave me the same privilege and I remember how nice it felt to sail once again behind the wheel. At that time we hadn't sailed for about 5 weeks and it rejuvenated me so since Graham hadn't sailed since being back in Canada I thought I would return the favour.
For those of you who have checked the Position Report link on the blog you may have noted 2 points south of Grenada - that was where we sailed on Tuesday. Julie, Alex and Amelia spent some time sitting on the side with their feet dangling (see Casting Off's blog) and then Alex and I moved further up the boat and sat with feet dangling while we discussed a wide variety of topics. It is really great to talk to Alex and Millie like that because they are so wise and so knowledgeable - not just for their
age but in all aspects.
Cheryl kind of hung out doing her thing - talking about the boat and the upcoming trip and as soon as we got back she was busy making lunch for all. Not to say that making lunch is her thing but that day it was!!
We got back to Prickly about 2:30 and the kids (and I) were immediately in the water, soon joined by Julie and Graham. Too soon, however, they had to head back and we said our farewells. It was really somewhat sad - but in a good way. We had so enjoyed having them around and now we were leaving but we also know that we will see them as soon as they possibly can after they get Artemo back in the water.
Well, since I am sending this through our SSB link and it is better to keep things short, I will close this blog and later tonight or early tomorrow while I am standing watch I will see if I can bring you all up to the present date and time