Clarification, Query and Curacao

Clarification about the Donkey Sanctuary in Bonaire. The Sanctuary is run by a non-profit foundation and is staffed entirely by volunteers. If you want more information or to see pictures of the donkeys you can go to http://www.donkeycam.com/

Query – Does anyone know the “proper” procedure for getting rid of a Canadian flag that is too tattered and torn to be flown. We have a couple now that have been repaired, but the material is so rotted from the sun and rain that they are no longer reparable.

We have been back in Curacao since December 10th. We have spent the time anchored in Spanish Waters. Certainly different than the last time we were there. No Omar and only about a third of the number of boats. The “dog boat” is still there with its 6 or 7 dogs aboard that bark whenever anyone goes near but it is not really disturbing, although I wouldn’t want to have been closer.

We didn’t go into Willemstad this time other than to do the customs and immigration thing. I (Griff) wanted to get into town again to shop – still haven’t found the “gift” for Cheryl but we should have time after all the family gets here. One of the reasons we didn’t have time was the “normal” boat thing. We had come into Spaanse Waters and anchored and settled in for the night – all well and good. In the morning I put my tea on and lo and behold, the propane tank ran out. No biggie – switch tanks to our spare. Of course I couldn’t get the spare to make a good seal and so it leaked. Okay, we will go to do the clearance thing, we can be back at noon and on the way I can stop at Budget and get a new regulator and if necessary a new tank. We went over to catch the 9:00 bus at 8:45 because they don’t necessarily stick strictly to the time.

At 10:20 the bus came and off we went to Willemstad. We had “picked up” a young French man who was also going in to clear and had never been here before so he tagged along. Very nice guy who just bought a steel boat in Trinidad and singlehanded to Curacao. He was trying to get the bottom done on his boat and find crew to go to San Blas and we became friends with him.
Back to propane. Of course the bus being late made us late for doing clearances. We knew customs didn’t close for lunch but thought immigration did so we hustled our little buns through the processes and made it to immigration about 11:40, thankful that we would get the paperwork done in time to avoid the lunchtime closedown.

We actually found out that immigration does in fact NOT close for lunch so all seemed well. Out of immigration by 11:47 just in time to go next door to the Port Authority. They are the ones who keep track of where all the boats, both commercial and pleasure, are at any given time so are a necessary part of “things to do”. The kicker – they close from 11:45 to 1:30 so there we were, caught in the lunchtime closedown after all.

Long story short – although we were able to get to Budget before it closed, we ran into some problems because we had not brought all we needed to make the necessary purchases to get our propane problem fixed. We got back to the boat with a regulator but when I hooked it up the spare tank still leaked so our next possible solution was to fill up the tank I had just taken off, get a new tank later, get it filled and all’s well. NOT.

Next glitch was that there is only one place on the island where they refill propane tanks. A lot of the gas stations have a facility where you take in a tank and they give you a full one back but unfortunately they have a different kind of fitting than what most yachties use so that wouldn’t work for us. As far as the refill – it could be done but in normal times it takes 3-7 days to get it done and from all we heard, over the holidays we would be lucky to get it back before 2009. One of the other people in the anchorage offered us the use of one of his tanks until we could figure out what to do or until they or we left so we were able to fire up the propane and ensure that the new regulator was okay. To finish this epic saga, that evening and part of the next morning I worked on the full but leaky tank and was finally able to fix it. No leaks – HONEST!!!

The rest of the time in Spanish Waters was spent cleaning the boat as we had not done a thorough boatcleaning since Trinidad, and as well began getting things organized for visitors. We dinghied over to the yacht club fuel dock and filled gerry cans with diesel and water and then topped up the tanks on the boat from those. On Tuesday we were ready to set sail again for Santa Martha Baai (lagoon). This is where we (Rob and Griff and I) have rented a villa, Lucy’s Place, for the Christmas week and where the Perry’s are joining us.

The sail to Santa Martha was uneventful. We had winds from 2 to 18 knots and were able to set all three sails and only had to use the motor for short periods. We sailed through two short squalls, one off Willemstadt and one just before Santa Martha. We arrived at the lagoon just after 1400hrs and anchored at the base of the cliff where Lucy’s Place is situated. Only one other boat in the lagoon, REBEL, a boat we had anchored beside in Store Bay, Tobago. We have settled in and now await the arrival of family and Christmas.