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.