Wind-Borne III - Journal

Las Aves, Venezuela to Bonaire 

July 1, 2004, Las Aves, Venezuela to Kralendijk, Bonaire

Happy Canada Day!

We spent Canada Day travelling from Las Aves to Bonaire, one of the islands in the Dutch (or Netherlands) Antilles.  The weather was finally perfect or as close to perfect as it was going to get.  We left our anchorage about 6:45AM.  The sails were all raised while we were still in the lee of Isla Palmeras.  Rick poled the headsail out to starboard and he had the mainsail well out to port.  It was downwind sail for 35 miles.  The seas were 4 to 6 feet and the wind was 10 to 15 knots.  A little more wind would have been nice but we weren’t about to complain.  We completed the first 30 miles peacefully but had to turn the iron lung on for the last 5 miles at the tip of the island because there just wasn’t enough wind to cope with the swells.  The first landmark we saw was the beautiful, vertically striped red and white, obelisk shaped, 72 foot Willemstoren lighthouse.  Once we reached the lee side of Bonaire we had about 10 miles of sailing on a beam reach.  I think Rick thought he had died and gone to heaven.  This was the type of sailing everyone dreams of.  The winds were 15 to 20 knots and there really wasn’t a ripple of a wave.  Our knot meter said we were travelling at 9 knots however the GPS let us know that it was really only 7 ½ knots over the ground.  We passed some very small white buildings that Rick referred to as ice huts.  He obviously has been in some pretty classy ice huts.  These were small but nice looking and used to be huts for the slaves that worked the salt flats.  Salt is a major export of Bonaire so in rows right next to the slave huts were small mountains of pure white salt, (or snow to go with Rick’s ice huts).  We soon started seeing pretty stucco Caribbean style houses as we got nearer to Kralendijk the capital city of Bonaire.  I thought Rick was going to pout when I told him we had to furl the sails or we would miss the mooring balls (our destination), and end up well past the north end of the island.  It was about 2:15PM when we picked up our mooring ball.  There is no anchoring allowed in Bonaire because it’s a marine park and the anchors would damage all the coral.  Atrea is a couple of boats to the south of us and Windmiller is a few boats to the north.  Sylvia K is at dock in the marina as they are flying home this Monday.  We said a few hellos, had some lunch and then washed and changed to go into town.  It was strange how the noise of cars, scooters, people hammering, dogs barking, music playing was so foreign after more than a month at secluded islands where the only noise was from the birds.  We checked in with Customs and then with Immigration.  Neither of us can remember any other island where the check in procedure was so cruiser friendly.  Customs was open 24 hours and it didn’t matter what time you checked in there are no overtime charges for being late in fact there was no charge at all.  Immigration was just down the street in the Police building.  The immigration people went home at 4:30PM but that wasn’t a problem because then the police took over.  They give you the form to fill out and stamp your passport, again, no charge.  On our way back to the boat we stopped to say hello to Luna-C the boat we met in Las Aves. He assured us that we were welcome to use their dinghy dock at any time.  Although I had earlier mentioned great plans that I had for a Canada Day special dinner, I was too tired.  We had a bowl of soup and went to bed early.

July 2, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

After a wonderful night’s sleep we awoke refreshed and ready to explore the town.  We walked up and down a few streets. Kralendijk is definitely a pretty tourist town.  There were souvenir shops everywhere. We checked out a few but seemed to spend more time in the hardware store, marine shops and grocery stores.  At first we were only “looking” in the grocery stores but eventually Rick wanted to pick up a few items.  We are still reasonably well provisioned but after over a month there were some things he was craving.  So we bought fresh bananas, California oranges which we didn’t normally find even in the Eastern Caribbean.  Venezuelan juice oranges were wonderful but there were no eating oranges available.  While on the orange kick we also bought a couple of litres of Tropicana Orange juice.  Next there was fresh lettuce, tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, eggs and turkey bacon.  We were almost out the door but a loaf of bread seemed necessary to go with the bacon and eggs.  Can you believe it, sitting almost right next to the bread in the bakery area were packages of freshly baked hot cross buns, a must have item!  Not only did we purchase all of these groceries but we also went out for lunch.  We had lunch at The Lost Penguin Bar and Restaurant (WWW.thelostpenguin.com).  It was almost like the “When Sally met Harry” movie.  There was so much moaning going on at our table people were starting to look at us.  Rick had a hamburger that was so huge and as he described it “pure ground beef with wonderful juicy flavour”.  He could hardly get his lips around it.  The sauces and topping were running down his chin.  I had a Greek salad with a pita.  I had forgotten how good a fresh salad could taste.  After a lunch like that all we could do was to return to the boat for a siesta.  The stores were all closed between 12 and 2PM anyway.  In the afternoon we went by dinghy to the marina to check in and pay for our mooring.  Rick took the jerry cans and we bought some diesel.  Prices are quite different here where we paid 50 cents a litre compared to 2 cents a litre in Venezuela.  Oh well, wind is still free.

I had wanted to go snorkelling in the afternoon but we ran out of time.  We returned to the boat for Happy Hour and dinner.

July 3, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

We awoke in the morning to raindrops on our heads.  Bonaire gets a total of 20.5 inches of rain a year and we had been told that when it does rain it only lasts a few minutes.  That wasn’t so this time.  It was a good downpour and lasted long enough to give the rigging and the deck a good fresh water rinse.  The halyards are still covered in the red Sahara Desert sand and will all have to be lowered and soaked to get the grunge out.

We had a very lazy breakfast and by the time we were ready to go to town it was almost 11AM.  Since the stores all close at noon it didn’t seem worth it.  Rick topped up the fuel tank using the jerry cans he had filled yesterday.  The two of us changed our mooring lines.  We attached our lines to the bottom of the bobstay and then to the mooring balls instead of having them run from the deck.  We have found that as the boat swings with the current, attaching them this way prevents the line from chafing on the bobstay.

When 2PM arrived we went for a walk.  It was a good distance to the Laundromat but I wanted to find exactly how far it was and how much it cost.  There is only one in town and it’s very large.  You can have them do your laundry or you can do it yourself.  I think that because it’s so far I will do it myself so that I only have to make the trip there and back once.  After the Laundromat we walked a little further to a wholesale grocery store just to check it out.  It was ok but we were quite pleased with the selection and prices at store right in town, which is a lot easier to get to.

We returned to the boat in time for a very quick siesta.  At 5:30PM we went to Windmiller for Happy Hour with Rod, Marci and Stephanie.  We had such an enjoyable visit with them that the time just flew by and before we knew it, it was 8:30PM.  While we were there Paul and Susanne (Trio) stopped by and invited us all to an 4th of July party on the beach tomorrow.  

This was our second full day in Bonaire and we still haven’t been in the water yet.  There is supposed to be a gorgeous reef right below our boat. 

July 4, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Happy Independence Day (to our American friends)

 We didn’t dally over breakfast this morning.  We had places to go and people to see.  We went ashore at 10AM to Wilhelmina Park for Art Day.  It was nice but the majority of booths were crafts rather than art.  We walked around town afterwards and almost everything was closed.  We found only a pharmacy and grocery store open.  It was after 12PM when we returned to the boat and I had just enough time to make a dip to take to a 4th of July party.  We were invited as honorary Americans for this day only.  The party was at No Name Beach on Klein Bonaire.  Klein Bonaire is an island just a couple of miles off of Bonaire.  We followed behind Paul and Susanne (Trio) in their dinghy.  There was a good turnout of at least 8 dinghies.  A lot of people played bocce ball but Rod (Windmiller) and I wanted to snorkel.  When Rick finished playing (his team lost) he joined me in the water.  I had him bring the remaining nachos because it was obvious that the fish were used to people feeding them.  As we swam through the water the fish came toward us rather than swimming away.

They all loved the nachos.  The Blue Tang fish were nibbling on my fingers while the Stoplight Parrot Fish, Damsel Fish, Sergeant Majors and Trunk Fish were all around us racing for the crumbs.  It was a wonderful afternoon that we ended with a bubble-blowing contest.  Someone brought bubble gum.  There was an 8 year old girl in the crowd so we did have an excuse.  Almost all of the women took two or tree pieces of bubble gum (this was a serious contest) and started chewing.  You could tell that there was a lot of variance in the experience level of bubble blowing.  Most of us ended up with bubble gum all over our face.  It was finally time to leave and we all got into our dinghies.  We knew it was going to be a rough ride back but Rick and I were just a little ways back to the mainland when our outboard started to act up.  The engine would rev but we weren’t going anywhere.  It might have had something to do with having wrapped a line around the prop yesterday when we were leaving Windmiller.  Rick waved down one of the other dinghies and they towed us all the way back to our boat.  Tomorrow we’ll try to find the problem.  Since we were already soaked from the rough ride back we went in for another swim.  We are moored on a drop off.  The water is shallow at our mooring and then there is a wall that drops down further than we can see.  Again there is lots of coral and multitudes of colourful fish swimming right under our boat.

July 5, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

We had an exciting night.  At 1AM the anchor alarm went off.  I know it seems strange to have an anchor alarm set when we’re on a mooring ball but I sleep better.  It was set to go off at 100 feet so it would be unlikely that it would sound, but it did.  It was weird!  The boats on our starboard side were all angled with their stern towards us but we were angled with our stern toward them.  Not only that we were ahead of our mooring. The lines were totally slack.  We had to do something or we would hit (gently) stern to stern with the boat next to us.  We tightened up on our mooring lines but it didn’t help much because we were right on top of our mooring and still too close to the other boat.  Eventually we really shortened the port side to try and pull our boat around.  Nothing really helped until the wind finally picked up and all the boats were again in their proper spot.  Meanwhile, I reset the anchor alarm to 50 feet and went back to bed about 2:30PM.  In the morning I learned that when the wind dies at a time when the current is strong all of the boats go every which way.  Since it appears to be overnight when the wind normally dies the anchor alarm will remain on.

When we had finished with breakfast Rick and I hoisted the outboard motor onto the deck.  He determined that the safety bushing in the prop was worn.  Meanwhile Windmiller had stopped by on their way to shore to ask if we needed a lift.  We hadn’t thought that we would be ready until the afternoon so we didn’t accept their offer.  Renee saw that we had the outboard on deck and called to see if we had a problem.  When we explained he brought his spare prop over for us to use but it didn’t fit.  He and Annie were going ashore within half an hour and they offered to tow us.  Rick and I walked with the laundry to the one and only Laundromat.  I used 4 washing machines and 2 dryers.  The total cost of doing my own laundry was $50 NAF ($28U.S.).  I told Rick that I will return to washing things by hand onboard or he could just walk around dirty but I wasn’t going pay that much for laundry.

While I was in the Laundromat Rick walked down the road a little way to a Yamaha dealer to see if he could get a new bushing or prop.  They couldn’t help him at all but did indicate that sometimes it’s possible to get Suzuki parts from Curacao.  (There are Yamaha dealers with parts and service available on every island.  Yamaha two-stroke is the outboard motor to have in the Caribbean.)  When I finished the laundry we were going to walk over to Budget Marine to see if Peter, the manager could help us.  By this time however it was 12:30PM so all stores would be closed.  Rick twisted my arm and we went to The Lost Penguin for lunch again.  We had just ordered when Paul, Susanne (Trio) Kim and Kim (Dolfinis) arrived so we all ate lunch together.  It was after 2:30PM when we finally arrive at Budget Marine and Peter had just left.  We left our prop and said we would return in the morning.  Still lugging our clean laundry we made our way back to the dock.  Sharon and Bill (Makai, who we met yesterday) had just arrived but offered to tow us back to our boat.  Since it was down wind we were willing to paddle our way home.  After talking with them for awhile we learned they wanted to see Peter at Budget to place a special order.  If he was not there then they had no reason to go and would return to their boat and try again tomorrow.  This meant that it wouldn’t be an inconvenience for them to tow us so we gratefully accepted.

Back at the boat, I ran the water maker and Rick ran the engine (we still haven’t picked up our new starter battery).  

July 6, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Rick was up bright and early.  By the time I rolled out of bed he was washed, dressed and climbing into the dinghy so that he could be at Budget Marine when Peter arrived at 8AM.  He rowed ashore but broke one of the oarlocks on his way so ended up using an oar as a paddle.  When he returned he had the new starter battery with him, the new props (he ordered 2 so we would have a spare) were being sent by FedEx and will hopefully be here by Friday.  We had a late breakfast and then since the outboard was still sitting on deck he cleaned it and changed the zinc.  He also put the old prop back on and as long as we go very slowly in flat seas it will get us to shore and back.  The last thing he had to do was to install the new starter battery.  When that was finished I ran the watermaker and he (with his new battery) started the engine and ran it for a while. 

July 9, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

We met Mary and Fred at 9AM and dinghied to the marina.  They checked in and then we all walked down the road to a computer store.  Mary and Fred were looking at computer parts and I was trying to buy a new print head for our printer.  We both walked away empty-handed.  Rick moved our dinghy from the marina to a dock closer to town and using a cart we borrowed from Atrea, took our old starter battery to NAPA.  NAPA not only disposes of the old batteries they give out a store coupon worth $7.50 NAF when you bring one in.  I felt we should be paying them a disposal fee.

After leaving NAPA, we stopped at the hardware store for a couple of small items.  I then took some digital pictures of Atrea into a photo store to be printed.  While they were being printed we stopped at a nearby Internet café to kill half an hour.  When the pictures were ready we walked a little further and picked up a few groceries.

Rick and I both needed a little siesta in the afternoon before happy hour, which was aboard Shades of Blue.  Mary and Fred gave us a boat tour of their 54 foot boat that was built by Fred and in which they have circumnavigated.  As we were sitting in the cockpit, Windmiller went by in the dinghy towards town to get some ice cream.  We distracted them and they came aboard and skipped the ice cream making it a very enjoyable evening.

July 10, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

This morning Rick went ashore with Mary and Fred to show them where to find the grocery store and to pick up our propane tank from the marina.

I stayed onboard to continue with my cleaning spree.  I made good progress and stopped in time to make lunch.  After lunch we watched a movie which some how seemed to finish just in time for happy hour.  Dinner was ashore with Fred and Mary at a small local restaurant that specializes in ribs.  This place (which I can’t remember the name) is only open Friday, Saturday for dinner Sunday for lunch and dinner.  We were the first to arrive but when we left there was standing room only.  The ribs were great (Rick and I had seconds!).  We strolled through town but absolutely everything except a small grocery store was closed.  We worked our way back to the road along the waterfront and walked past a cruise ship that was at dock and all the restaurants that were getting quite busy.  The four of us sat for a few minutes and listened to a steel band that was playing at one of the restaurants and then returned to our boats.  It’s nice to be able to walk anywhere here even after dark and feel very safe.

July 11, 2004 Kralendijk, Bonaire

It was Sunday and nothing was open in town so we stayed on board.  We would have gone snorkelling but it was quite overcast and very windy.  With nothing else to do I continued cleaning and Rick applied a little Cetol to some of the wood on deck.  In the afternoon he went to help Steve on Shiraz who was having refrigeration problems.  Rick took our bottle of R134 (freon) and topped their system up.  They have a refrigeration man coming to the boat tomorrow but meanwhile they have a separate fridge, freezer and ice cube maker, none of which were working.  They didn’t want to lose all their frozen food.  While Rick was gone, I worked on my chess tutorial.  Rick bought a game of chess and wants us both to learn how to play.  I have been using a software tutorial to help me get started.  Rick who hasn’t started the tutorial had better prepare to get wiped if he doesn’t learn soon because I’m starting to get the hang of the game.  We had a quiet happy hour and dinner on board (fish).

July 12, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

In the Caribbean it was another day of high winds so we just remained aboard and worked on boat projects.  In the afternoon we watched a movie (Big Fish).  Mary and Fred (Shades of Blue) loaned us a bunch of DVDs and they plan to leave Bonaire within the next couple of weeks.  We have to watch movies more often than we normally would if we want to see them all before we have to return them.

July 13, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Happy Birthday Rick

The birthday boy awoke at his normal time and had coffee ready for me as usual.  (What’s wrong with this picture?) I made him a special breakfast before he started his boat chores.  He applied another coat of Cetol Gloss to some of the exterior wood.

I did a little more cleaning but I’m just about out of cupboards to empty.

At lunch the special birthday request was for popcorn and a movie.  We watched Seabiscuit, which was an extremely good but a long movie.  It was a rush to get ready to leave when it finally finished after 3:30PM.  Our first stop was Immigration for a secondary check-in.  They approved our stay until the end of October before having to renew.  Then we walked to Budget Marine to see if our prop had arrived.  It hadn’t but it should be in the store by 5PM.  I made a phone call to California to see where our water maker parts were.  It seems as though everything should be here by next week at the latest.  Our final afternoon stop was at Karel’s bar for happy hour.  We stayed at Karel’s for almost an hour and then it was time to go for a special birthday dinner.  Tony, Benta, Fred and Mary joined us at Casablanca, which is an Argentinean Restaurant.  The evening was extremely enjoyable and the meal was unbelievable.  Rick and I ordered the mixed grill.  When it came there was steak, pork chops, sausages, short ribs, back ribs and a whole chicken halved.  There was enough meat on the grill to serve the whole table and still have leftovers but the platter was for only the two of us.  We were also each served a large dish with salad, potatoes and rice.  Tony and Benta had ordered the same thing.  The leftover meat that we each took back to the boat will be our dinner for the next three nights.

July 14, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

We finished breakfast and got ready to go ashore.  Both of us were anxious to get to Budget Marine as our new prop was definitely in and waiting for us.  We bought both of the props that Peter had ordered.  So now we have a spare onboard.  Before returning to the boat we stopped at the Internet café, roamed through a few tourist traps and walked to the grocery store.  It was lunchtime when we finally made it back to the boat so we had lunch and a short siesta.

Later in the afternoon, Rick and I worked together to get the outboard on deck so he could replace the propeller.  It wasn’t long and from down below I could here the air outside turn blue.  The props were the wrong size!

Rick put the old prop back on and we lowered the outboard back onto the dinghy so he could return to the store.  Peter (Budget Marine) apologised, returned our money and immediately ordered the correct ones for us.  We are again looking forward to next week when all our parts should hopefully arrive.  We had been talking about different sites on Klein Bonaire that we would like to snorkel but they are a little to far to get to with an outboard that just putts along very slowly and could totally stop again at any moment.  I guess the sites will be there for at least another week or so.  Dinner was easy tonight.  I warmed up the whole chicken (last night’s leftovers) and just cooked some vegetables to go with it.

July 15, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

After breakfast this morning Rick declared he needed a haircut.  I don’t like cutting hair onboard as it seems to go everywhere and get into everything.  This time Rick wanted us to try it on the bow.  We closed all the hatches and ports and he sat on the cabin while I used the clippers.  The wind was strong enough that one would think it would be impossible for a single piece of hair to be left on deck.  Well there was a lot more than a single piece, in fact there was so much that Rick swept and washed the deck afterwards.

We had a call from Budget Marine.  Our watermaker parts are on the island.  This is a little sooner than we expected and it would be nice if we can have them before the weekend.  I would like to do another major laundry onboard rather than in the Laundromat. 

The afternoon was dedicated to Rick re-plumbing and raising the raw water strainer for the engine.  We have had the water siphon out of the strainer a couple of times and before installing an anti-siphon hose he wanted to replace the impeller (which was probably the problem) and shortened the hose between the thru hull and the strainer.  By the time he finished it was almost Happy Hour.  The days seem to fly by awfully quickly down here.

July 16, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Tony and Benta (Side By Side) came over before I was even dressed in the morning.  They were getting a gang together to go snorkelling and diving at Klein Bonaire and asked if we wanted to join in.  They had arranged a ride for us in other dinghies.  Since our outboard won’t make it there and back we jumped at the opportunity.  Bill (Makai) came by at 10:30AM and picked Rick up.  Shortly afterward, Fred and Mary (Shades of Blue) came by for me (door to door service).  We went around the island to the southeastern side.  Afterwards the divers all agreed that the coral was awesome however I felt the snorkelling was better on the western side of the island.  Not that the coral was better but there were many more varieties of fish.

The easiest way to return to the big boats was to circumnavigate Klein Bonaire.  It’s not a big island so that’s exactly what we did.  The dinghy I was in (Shades of Blue) ran out of gas just before we arrived home. Fred had extra fuel but no funnel.  We were well in the lee of the island and out of the waves so refuelling wasn’t a big deal.  It was well past lunchtime when we made it to the boat so we had a late lunch, early dinner.  Later in the day, Budget Marine called to let us know that they had received our watermaker parts and we could pick them up anytime.  We immediately jumped into the dinghy and raced ashore (putt putting at crawl speed).  It was a little to late in the day to start installing the pump so we just moved on to Happy Hour.

July 17, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Today was watermaker day.  Rick started at 7:30AM by removing the old unit.  Normal servicing of the watermaker is done through a small door under the forward bunk.  Today we were into major maintenance.  The mattress had to be removed and dragged into the main salon where it sat for most of the day.  Replacing the main unit (Clark Pump) should have been easy except Rick couldn’t get the one high pressure hose to seat properly.  It was a real struggle but eventually we were left with a tiny drip.  One of the feed pumps had to be replaced as well so we check the stall pressure on both and aligned them properly.  We were up to 14 gallons per hour!  Rick replaced the micron filter.  I cleaned the membrane.  There is still another cleaning solution that needs to be run through but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  This watermaker has never been totally serviced like this all in one day.  It better not need it again for quite a while.  

It was after dinnertime when the mess was cleaned up and things put away so it was a good night to go out for dinner.  We tried a restaurant recommended by Tony (Side by Side) call Pasa Bon Pizza and Bar.  After we arrived and been seated, across the room we saw Susan, a lady we met a couple of weeks ago at the laundromat.  She and her partner are going to Fiji and planning a very similar trip to one that we took before leaving for the Caribbean.  Her partner Lisa, owns the restaurant.  Here we can say, “it’s a small island” rather than “it’s a small world”.

July 18, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

First thing in the morning I started to defrost the freezer while Rick climbed in the engine area to take some measurements for an autopilot.  We’ve decided it was time to get serious about cruising and put some comforts onboard.  Really the windvane has been good but there are times when it just won’t work because of wind direction and Rick has tired of hand steering.

Side By Side moved their boat over to the marina this morning where it will stay while they both fly home to the States for a visit.  We went ahead of them in our “putter” to be line catchers on the dock.  Fred (Shades of Blue) helped on board and Mary followed behind in their dinghy.  When the boat was docked everyone climbed on board for a coffee.  

Rick and I returned to Wind-Borne and I finished cleaning the fridge, we had our left over pizza for lunch and left the boat by 1PM.  Fred and Mary met us at the dinghy dock and we all walked to the airport to check out the prices of car rentals.  In the end, the rental place in town (about a block from the boat) was the best price.  It was a good walk back to town to book a car for tomorrow.  We agreed to return and take the car at 5PM.  It was just after 2:30PM.  The lady said we could go ahead and take it then with no extra charge.  She also mentioned that on Sunday afternoon there is a local Bonarian band that plays in a park “Cai” at the south end of the island.  Fed said we had lots of time to get there.  He hasn’t driven with Rick navigating before.  We got lost a couple of times but eventually did find our way to the right place.  It was a fun ride!  We saw a lot of wild donkeys roaming around and some pink flamingos.  We didn’t stay very long at the park because Fred the designated driver said we had time to drive around the whole south end of the island.  We did!  There were more donkeys and flamingos as well as many other birds.  We also saw many windmills and stopped at the salt flats and slave huts to take pictures.  The south end of the island is very flat and arid, covered in nothing but cactus and salt flats.  When we returned to town and parked the truck, we went to the rib place (Bobbejan’s) for dinner.  Yes we ended up renting a pickup truck with the large cab and a front and back seat.  We needed the truck or a four wheel drive vehicle (the truck was cheaper), to be able to go the park on the north end of the island.  It was 7:30 by the time we returned to our boats.

July 19, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

This was our day to tour the north end of the Island.  Shades of Blue had agreed to meet us at the dinghy dock at 8AM.  This was a little early for our tour but we wanted to check out the Cash and Carry Grocery store as well as the Wholesale Warehouse Grocery store.  We were impressed with the meat counter at the Wholesale Warehouse and the selection of produce.  We left but all agreed that it was worth the extra distance for a major provisioning to visit these stores.  The Warehouse store delivers to the dock for yachties so it’s not like we would have to carry everything.

On with our tour, we were barely outside of Kralendijk when we realised that we were on the wrong road (Rick was the navigator).  After getting ourselves straightened around we headed towards Rincon.  On our way we stopped to see some Indian inscriptions on some cliff or cave like walls.  There are quite a few locations on the island where these inscriptions can be found but we decided that we would only visit this one spot.  We continued on to Rincon with a little sidetrack on another wrong road.  Leaving Rincon we again started out in the wrong direction but with a little back tracking we were soon on our way again.  When we arrived at the park (Washington Slagbaai National Park) we stopped and checked in at the office ($10 US entry per person).  We bought a few souvenirs and toured the museum.  The drive through the park took us almost 3 hours but that included a stop to feed and play with a couple of huge iguanas and a tea break at Boka Slagbaai where we sat and watched a few flocks of flamingos in the salt-pans.  We went through areas that if there is such a thing as a cactus forest we were passing through it.  The cacti were so thick that I don’t think a rabbit could squeeze through.  There weren’t any rabbits but we saw a lot of wild donkeys, small wild boars, goats, iguanas and geckos.  The birds were plentiful and colourful as well and I’m sure we would have seen many more of them if we took the time to just sit and watch for a while.  We did see some troupials (bright orange birds) mocking birds, doves, small yellow finch like birds and of course many green and yellow parrots.  There were small mountains (the highest one was 784 ft).  Seru Grandi was an interesting rock formation.  It had a higher terrace or level that was about 1 million years old and a middle terrace that was 340,000 tears old.  The two different levels of rock look volcanic but they’re not.  The rise and fall of the ocean level caused them.  As we looked way up at these two layers of rock it was hard to believe that the ocean level could change that much.  There were also a lot of good snorkelling and dive sights that were accessible from within the park but there were enough other things to see that we didn’t take the time for a swim.  When we left the park and found our way back to Rincon we stopped for lunch at a small local place called Rose’s.  The restaurant was cooking curried conch as Fred parked the car and the smell was wonderful so that’s what we all had for lunch.

It doesn’t matter where you go on the island there are wild donkeys everywhere and you would think we had seen enough of them but no….  We wanted to go to the Donkey Sanctuary where we could pet them.  It’s located on the opposite side of Kralendijk.  Without any wrong turns (except when we accidentally drove into a gravel pit area) we found the Donkey Sanctuary.  “Closed on Mondays”.  Oh well, by this time we were all tired and it was almost time to return the truck.  We stopped at the grocery stores again and picked up a few items before calling it a day.  

July 20, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

First thing in the morning Rick called Budget Marine to see if the propeller had arrived yet.  It was not even on the island let alone in the store.  We’re getting used to putt, putting along.  

Fred and Mary came over in the morning and we traded videos and pictures of Bonaire.  Fred is a much better photographer than we are so it was nice of him to share his pictures.  

When they left we had a quick lunch and I ran the watermaker and did some laundry.  Rick did some head maintenance (one of his favourite jobs).  When he finished and had time to play he tried to teach himself how to splice twisted rope.  We have always used braided but twisted is much more popular down here because it doesn’t chafe as easily so we need to know how to splice it.

Windmiller called to say they were leaving on Friday.  Atrea came by to say goodbye they are leaving tomorrow morning.  Rick and I watched 2 movies in the evening so we could return the DVDs to Shades of Blue who are leaving on Thursday.  Side By Side left today, so we’ll have to hold down the fort in Bonaire for a while.

July 21, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

It was such a bad day today I didn’t want to write a journal but it’s important to remember the bad times as well as the good times.  The day started with Rick’s announcement that the macerator pump for the holding tank was not working.  We had to go to Budget Marine to pick up our new propeller that was in so we would at the same time buy a new macerator pump.  We got to Budget Marine and the propellers that had just arrived were again the wrong size.  The last time it had been Peter’s error but this time it was the company he ordered them from.  So it will take at least another week for a new prop but this time we decided to order it ourselves from Canada.  Peter had no Macerator’s in stock and after a phone call to the other marine store we learned that there were none on the Island.  Peter called the Budget Marine store in Curacao.  They had one and would put it on a flight to Bonaire tomorrow.  We left the store and attempted to call Canada to take care of the prop problem.  There are special international phones throughout town for calling long distance. 

The first one I tried was right by the road and I had difficulty hearing but I know that the operator clearly said my calling card was not valid.  I walked a couple of blocks to another phone that I had used before but again my call was rejected because of the card.  I was about to give up and put it on my visa when Stephanie (Windmiller) walked by.  She told us we were doing it all wrong!  The Internet café provided long distance calls at a better price.  We walked to the Internet café and when I asked about making a call to Canada the guy behind the counter handed me his cell phone.  I made the call with no problem and it was a good price.  The dealer we called in Canada did not have a prop in stock but said he could have one by Friday.  That seemed acceptable to us so we’re again playing the waiting game.  We headed back to the boat but stopped on the way to say good bye to Shades of Blue who are leaving in the morning for Curacao and on through the Panama.  They invited us aboard and soon Mike (Wombat of Sidney) came by and joined us.  He’s leaving for Venezuela in the morning.  After a nice visit with our friends we returned to the boat feeling in a little better mood.

July 22, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

This morning we wanted to visit with Marci, Rod and Stephanie who are leaving the boat and flying back to Canada tomorrow.  The wind was strong and the water was choppy.  Rick didn’t think the outboard motor could handle it so we took the dinghy to shore close to our boat and walked to the marina.  On our way I stopped at Marlis Sail and Canvas Shop.  This has got to be one of the nicest boutique stores on the island.  There were items from all the Panamanian countries.  Moulas from San Blas Islands, carvings, woven bowls and platters, jewellery and calabash bowls.  Almost everything was a work of art by the natives.  I found so many things that I wanted to buy that I had to have them put aside for me until next month.  We also stopped at The Bonaire Super Store.  It was a large store similar to Walmart (not quite as big).  We started out just looking but Rick found a pressure cooker.  I have never used a pressure cooker onboard but many cruisers swear by them so I agreed to give it a try. 

We finally arrived at Windmiller and had a nice visit.  Marci had some eye surgery recently and she was recovering nicely but anxious to get home.  When we said our good byes we returned to the dinghy had headed into town.  It was getting late but still too early for the stores to be open so we stopped for a world’s best hamburger at the Lost Penguin Restaurant.  While we were waiting for our meal I called Budget Marine using the VHF to see if our macerator pump had arrived.  It was at the airport and Peter was on his way to pick it up.  We finished our lunch and stopped at the grocery store for a few things before going to pick up our new pump. On our way we met Michael and Edie (Panda). They had asked us to join them at the City Café tomorrow for Happy Hour but since we were all in town they asked if we could join them tonight.  No problem!  We picked up the new pump and raced back to the boat.  Stephanie arrived by dinghy shortly after we did.  She was delivering food.  They were going home for almost 6 months so couldn leave things onboard.  When Stephanie left, Rick had the old pump out and the new one installed within half an hour.  He washed and changed and we went back into town for Happy Hour.  The City café was a good choice, drinks were 2 for 1 and free snacks.  This was Michael and Edie’s first year south and they were interested in hearing all about Venezuela.  It was a very enjoyable evening. 

July 23, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Everything is back together and working well (except the prop).  Rick cleaned stainless while I tidied and did some laundry.  It would have been a good day to go snorkelling.  We heard the tour boats on the VHF radio telling each other where the dolphins were playing in the bay.  I tried out our new pressure cooker and made curried chicken for dinner.  Rick now wants all meals cooked in the pressure cooker (I think that means he liked the meal).

July 24, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

There is a little excitement onboard.  Kelly the web mistress announced last night that she was coming for a visit next week.  The cleaning and planning will have to begin soon. 

Rick spent the morning changing the engine and transmission oil.  I did some more laundry in the morning and spent the afternoon making a new shower curtain and curtains for the two ports in the head area.  I had purchased the material last April but just hadn’t bothered to get the sewing machine out until now.  We had an early dinner and then went to the show with Edie and Mike (Panda) to see the new Harry Potter movie.  Unlike my nieces back in Canada we didn’t have a Harry Potter party before the show and there were only 4 of us that went not 40.

July 25, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

The guestroom (previously the storage room) has been emptied out.  I washed sheets, curtains and carpets today.  Rick repaired a couple of screens and washed a few halyards.  In the afternoon we tried to watch a VHS movie (Shades of Blue left us bags of movies) but the video head needed cleaning.  Rick pulled the video unit out for me (it’s built in) and I cleaned the head with Q-tips and rubbing alcohol.  After it told us that the head was too damp to use we waited a hour to view our movie.  With perfect reception I then watched a video and Rick fell asleep.

July 26, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

The water maker is working hard to keep up with me.  Today I washed all of the settee covers.  Although I washed and rinsed them I didn’t hang them out to dry until after we went to town. 

I booked a flight to Curacao for this Thursday.  I feel like I’m going on vacation.  I plan to meet Kelly and then just the two of us will roam Willemstad and return to Bonaire on Friday.  We’re booked in the Hotel Otrobanda for the one night.  While I was booking my flight, Rick went to Budget Marine again (we’re becoming good friends with Peter, the owner) to purchase some wiring.  The cabin light in the aft cabin wasn’t working and Rick determined the trouble to be in the original wiring possibly pinched in the bulkheads but he couldn’t trace the problem so decided to replace the wiring.  I checked UPS tracking number on the internet for our props, they’re in Puerto Rico.  We exchanged some books at the Lost Penguin (yes they have a book exchange) and decided to have lunch there as well.  Our last stop was Cultimara, the grocery store where I picked up a chicken for dinner.  When we returned to the boat I hung the laundry to dry which hardly took anytime at all with the strong winds.  Mike (Panda) stopped by to gab for a while just before dinner and Bella, their dog (the security officer) came aboard to say hi.  I think she liked our boat but Mike wasn’t parting with her.

July 27, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

I washed any remaining thing I could find to be washed (including oven mitts).  Most of the laundry was finished before lunch.  I had found fresh dill in the supermarket yesterday so I made an artificial crab salad for lunch.  Rick went to town to check on the props (they’re still in Puerto Rico) and roam the building supply store.  He pulled the old macerator pump apart and was able to get the motor running.  As soon as he attached the impeller and pump to the motor it quit.  He was pleased he was able to get the motor running, I said it didn’t count as a success unless the pump actually worked.  It was a fun project for him. 

We had baked macaroni and cheese for dinner and a bottle of Venezuela’s finest wine.  This may not sound exciting but I don’t have a lot of cheddar cheese and I am rationing it until I can find some in the stores on Bonaire.  We are getting close to having all of our chores done (except the prop replacement) and by the time Kelly arrives and we should have time to play.

July 28, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

This morning while I washed the cabin floors Rick went to the marina to get some gas for the dinghy.  At the speed we travel in the dinghy we’re not using much gas but even that is more than the marina had in the pumps.  They were out of gas but should have some tomorrow.  Rick then went ashore to the internet to check the status of our prop.  It was still shown as being in Puerto Rico.  He returned to the boat and scrubbed the cockpit before lunchtime.  We both had a short siesta after lunch and then went ashore to call UPS and to get my hair cut.  Before calling UPS I checked the tracking number on the internet one more time.  I then called the UPS representative in Bonaire.  He had to think about it and find his tracking sheet but when it all came together he remembered delivering our parcel just after lunch to the marina.  I gave him many kisses over the phone line.  It was too late to pick it up today as we had agreed to meet Edie and Mike for Happy Hour but it’s almost number one on the to-do list for tomorrow.  We had a fun time at Happy Hour and returned to the boat for dinner. 

July 29, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Major excitement today!! I flew to Curacao, Kelly arrived in Curacao from Toronto.  The prop was waiting for Rick in Bonaire. 

Rick stayed in Bonaire with the boat, picked up the new prop and finally thanks to Chris at Marsh’s Marine in Canada, the prop was the correct size this time. 

Meanwhile, in Curacao, Kelly and I met at the airport and then travelled to downtown Willemstad together.  We checked into the Otrobanda Hotel and then went for a walk.  We found a nice Café nearby so we stopped for a cappuccino and then started exploring.  The Kura Hulanda museum was almost next door to our hotel so we spent all afternoon wandering through the museum.  We were both a little tired, especially Kelly who had been travelling all day so we had an early dinner at the hotel on an upper deck overlooking the Punda side of Willemstad. 

July 30, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

Kelly was trying to get into the sailing mode so she was up with the sun in the morning.  This most probably occurred because I left the drapes wide open and the sun was streaming in.  We began our day with a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  We crossed the pontoon bridge to roam the streets and stores in downtown Willemstad on the Punda side of town.  We stopped in all of the duty free stores and bought a few small things.  We strolled through the Central Market and then spoke with the men at the Venezuelan floating market.  Eventually we ran out of stores and vendors and it was getting close to noon when they close so we began bar hopping.  Our first stop was back to the Otrobanda side of town to the Mega Pier where there are some stores and restaurants.  We were sitting on a forth floor deck with a fantastic view of the city.  We went from there back to the Punda side of town (we started to lose track of how many times we crossed the bridge.  Most of the afternoon continued this way until we decided it was time for a late lunch and early dinner.  We went first to the Hotel Kura Hulanda where there are four restaurants.  Just the one was open and it was only serving from their luncheon menu.  We left and crossed the bridge and walked to the La Pergola Restaurant in the Waterfort Arches where we had a wonderful meal.  That was the end of our day in Curacao so we returned to the hotel for our bags and took a taxi to the airport.  Our 15 minute flight was on time and we were back in Bonaire by 9PM.  When the taxi took us to the Club Nautico dock we found Rick already there waiting for us.  Onboard Wind-Borne it was almost like Christmas again.  Kelly dumped her bags of all the things she had brought for us.  It was late when we finally finished rummaging through everything and called it a day. 

July 31, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire

It had been a very windy and rolly night.  It seemed a little too rough for snorkelling today as we didn’t even see any dive boats venturing out.  After breakfast we went ashore and walked through town stopping at a small juice place Rick and I had not previously discovered.  The lady who owned it was Venezuelan and the fresh fruit blender drinks were the same ones I enjoyed so much in Venezuela.  We picked up some groceries at Cultimara and returned to the boat.  No one was hungry since we had had a huge pancake breakfast so we all read for a while and had a siesta.  It was time to get ready for Happy Hour when we awoke.  Our first stop was Karel’s Bar where Happy Hour begins at 5PM.  By 5:30PM we had moved on to City Café.  Happy Hour lasted there until 6:30PM.  It was time to have dinner so we wandered over to Bobbiejan’s Rib place for a large plate of ribs.  We returned to the boat but Rick and I had prepared ourselves to go out again about 10PM for a live band that was to play Samba music.  Granted Rick dozed off while waiting but we would have gone.  Kelly said it wasn’t necessary she didn’t really want to go.