We awoke to good news that very quickly turned bad. We received news from Curacao that the doctors had operated on our friend Don (Odetta) again yesterday afternoon. They removed his stomach and spleen. The surgery went well. They felt that if he could survive the next 24 hours he might make a full recovery even though a week ago they had talked about removing life support. We were more optimistic than we had been in weeks. His sons who were in Curacao had waited with Susan, Walt (Cop Out), Nancy and Don (Texas Reb) at the hospital during the surgery and when they left the hospital they had been very hopeful. This morning however, we received a call that he had passed away at midnight. Don Dawes from Florida was a single hander who was well liked and will be greatly missed by many cruisers throughout the Caribbean.
It was dinnertime when we had another surprise. Don’s sons Mike (who is also known as Don) and Mark flew over from Curacao and were knocking on our boat. Rick took them aboard Odetta showed them where things were and got them settled. They wanted to go for pizza for dinner so we joined them at Pasa Bon Pizza.
Rick made two carafes of coffee this morning. One for us and another carafé for Mike and Mark on Odetta. After breakfast he went to town while I did some laundry. For lunch I heated up some baked macaroni and cheese. Mike and Mark came over and shared it with us. We learned that they had been living on bread and peanut butter while in Curacao in an attempt to cut costs.
There were a group of cruisers (9 couples) going for a special dinner at Richard’s tonight. Mike and Mark joined us and it became an even reservation for 20 people. The dinner was excellent and Mike made a toast to his dad, Don.
The Bonaire International Sailing Regatta kicked off today with a swim from
Bonaire to Klein Bonaire. We had volunteered our dinghy to be one of the
rescue boats. The swim was supposed to begin at 8:30AM. It was a
little late but not bad considering there were 250 people which was almost 100
more people swimming this year than last. The swim is about a mile each
way and it’s not really a race, it’s a fundraiser. There were children
only 3 years old, and every age up to and including senior citizens. One
handicapped senior had his wheelchair pushed into the water where he was able to
swim off (with a life jacket). He went the full distance. Some
people wore snorkel
and fins, others used surf boards and beach balls. The
very young wore water wings and then there were others who were strong swimmers
and used nothing. It was hard watching 250 people in the water all at once
but when someone needed help others around them would raise their arm and we
would race toward them. On the first leg only the very young needed help
and the parents or siblings would pass them to us and ask that we take special
care of them then they would continue with the swim. On the return leg
even the adults were finding it tough. The current was very strong and
carried some of the people well south of the island and the waves were building.
We at times pulled so many people into our dinghy it was
all we could do to make
our way over to a larger boat offload a group and then return to pick up more
people. Eventually we were down to the last few swimmers that were
exhausted but stubborn enough that they wouldn’t give up until they were not
making any headway at all. It was a fun morning and we got to meet a lot
of the locals.
During the afternoon we had some surprise squalls with strong winds and heavy
rain. The weather cleared just in time for our regatta meeting for the
rescue boats of which we were one. When our meeting was over the skippers
meeting began at 6PM and finished in time for the Nations Flag Parade to begin
at 7PM. It was amazing how many countries were represented in the parade.
Many wore their national costumes. The flags of each country were held
high and the truck
leading the parade played music from many of the different
countries. Rick and I were the only Canadians in the parade. He
carried the flag and I wore a silly Canadian umbrella hat (gift from my niece
Heather) that everyone loved. At the end of the parade the flag bearers
all stood on a stage in Wilhelmina Park while speeches were made, kicking off
the regatta.
It was 8:20PM when we were finally able to leave the park and hurry back to
the dinghy that was on the other side of town. We had to make it back to
the boat before 9AM when we had scheduled a SSB call with Cop Out. It was
8:50 when we arrived at the boat. We let
Walt and Susan know that Mike and
Mark would be leaving for Curacao in the morning. Then we went and joined Terry and Dave (Sylvester) for a little get together with the boys on their last
night here.
This morning Mike and Mark were leaving with Tigger. Rick took them the customary carafe of coffee at 6AM. They had a lot to do before their flight, which was at 11AM. It was a bit after 8AM when we and Sylvester met them at Odetta for our goodbye hug.
The morning started out overcast and rainy which is not nice for Regatta week. Rick and I had a quick breakfast and then jumped in the dinghy at 9:30AM. We were to meet the other rescue boats at the committee boat by 10AM. It was well before 10AM but all of the little boats (Optimists, Sunfish, Lasers and the windsurfers were already out and getting into position. The large boats had started their around the island race much earlier. There were 3 rescue dinghies and we spread out to keep an eye on all of the small boats. There were many and it was a very large course that on some legs would take them out of sight over the horizon.
Rick and I chose to follow behind the slower Optimists. They were the
youngest and the slower ones were the least experienced. A few needed a
bit of help but the majority did very well. It was a little after 11:30AM
when Rick noticed that our oil light was on (our outboard motor is oil
injected). Most of the boats were back nearer to shore so they didn’t have
the large swells. We left the other dinghies and headed to the closest
dock (Karel’s Bar). Rick raced to Budget Marine to buy some oil but by the
time he was finished it was lunchtime so we stopped at the Lost Penguin.
After a short afternoon siesta we finally had time to connect the new thermostat. We have been manually turning the fridge on and off the last couple of days. It was a tight squeeze and the capillary tube is a little short but it worked. We’ve left it wired temporarily while we check to see if we can purchase another thermostat with a longer capillary tube. Our time in the pool was a little shorter than normal because we still had things to do. While we were in the pool most of the larger racing boats returned. Our Venezuelan friend Tony on Ava Roa had only sheds of a spinnaker left hanging from the top of his mast. Most headsails on the other boats were only partially furled so it appeared that they had some good strong winds.
We had promised Mike and Mark that we would see to getting rid of the canned goods from Odetta. Canned goods left on a boat in the tropics will explode making a nasty mess to clean up. Most of the canned goods looked in good shape and will be donated to a charity on the island. There was only one large can of ham the looked quite swollen and it was quickly placed in the garbage.
We had dinner on board and fell asleep early.
We were awakened by the howling wind at about 2:30AM. Lightening was flashing in the distance so we started closing up before the downpour reached us. There seemed to be an unusual motion to the boat. Not much of a motion but enough that I was able to notice a difference. Rick went into the cockpit to check and sure enough the wind had changed direction. It didn’t take long and we could hear the boats on the moorings starting to panic. It was a major wind reversal with no warning at all. The boats were all hobby horsing out on the moorings with the large waves rolling in. A few left the moorings and set to sea. The others toughed it out. The tour boats docked at Club Nautico docks came into the marina but there wasn’t much room seeing as it was regatta week. One sailboat (Dauntless) on the moorings broke loose and couldn’t get control before he was tossed ashore. There were many dinghies trying to help to no avail. It was just before 3AM when he went aground. The locals along the shore were all trying to assist and it was a little after 4AM when a huge crane arrived and picked the boat up out of the water. Obviously one of the locals had contacted the owner of the crane. One would think that with this terrible weather, the regatta races might have been affected but by the time the sun came up the sky was clear and the seas were calm.
Before going to bed last night we noticed that the shore power was off.
We didn’t do anything about it thinking it would come on again sometime during
the night. It was still off when we awoke so when Rick went over to the
marina office to get some fuel for the dinghy he mentioned it to Alfonso.
Within minutes Alfonso was at the dock to determine the problem. It
appeared that the special transformer they had provided us (converts the power
from 134 volts down to 100 volts) had a problem.
Alfonso quickly provided
us with a new one but we still didn’t have any power coming into the boat.
Rick checked out our shore power cord. Sure enough it had a problem.
He borrowed one for a while thinking our problem would be resolved. Not
so! There was power to the end of the cord now but still nothing on the
panel in the boat. Rick appeared to becoming a little frustrated (I would
too). He checked the wires in the cockpit locker and found one that had
become disconnected with all the rummaging around he had been doing down their
lately. He connected it but resolved to change it later. This is the
second time this wire has become disconnected while he has been working on the
refrigeration.
It was 9:30AM and we rushed out in the dinghy to do our tour of duty as a rescue boat. We were both wearing zinc today as our lips were starting to blister with the sun. I had been applying lip protector but it wasn’t enough for the hours we were spending in the hot sun.
The little Optimists were doing fine but we had to tow 2 Sunfish sailboats
into shore. One had a broken rudder and the other had a rigging problem.
It was 1PM when the last small boat and windsurfer crossed the finish line meaning we could return to our boat. We were so covered with salt spray that before eating lunch we needed a swim. Lunch was postponed until after our dip. Ti Amo arrived at our boat just as we were finally finishing lunch and asked us to join them at the pool. Why not? So the rest of the day was spent in the pool.
There were no small boat races today so we had a day off. A day as rescue boat would have been easier than spending the day cleaning and tidying the boat as we did. Finally in the afternoon we retired to the pool until it was time to go into town for dinner. We went to the Mona Lisa Restaurant with Jerry and Sally (Ti Amo) in celebration of their anniversary. It was a Dutch restaurant and bar which is one of the oldest on the Island. We all ordered schnitzel which was wonderful. After dinner we strolled over to Wilhemina Park to see what was happening. We found a group of young folk dancers on stage. We walked past all of the vendors’ stalls on our way back to the dinghies and gradually made our way back to the marina.
%20helping%20the%20kids.jpg)
We were on the water by 9:30AM to do our duty as rescue boat again. The
first of the small boats to race were the junior Optimists. Isabel (Aleluya)
was right there at the start line going the wrong direction when they blew the
horn. Her whole family called to her from shore to turn around and go!
She did. As all of the boats headed to the first racing buoy, Isabel
headed out to sea. We decided that she would be a good one to keep an eye
on. Eventually, as she appeared to be on her way to Curacao we sped up and
pulled along beside her to ask if she was ok. As soon as she saw us she
asked, “do you want me to turn here?”. We just asked her if she knew where
her marker was. She pointed to it and tacked. Throughout the rest of
the race we learned that the
problem was that Isabel either didn’t like to heel
or she was afraid of going into irons because she always stayed well off the
wind. Slow but sure she made it around each of the buoys and finished the
race with a smile on her face. Meanwhile every so often we would race off
and check on some of the other boats but either because of the light winds or
because any problems with the boats had been resolved, no one needed to be
rescued. All of the girls from Aleluya were sailing this day.
Mackenzie raced with the Optimists and did very well. Allison was out
sailing but not racing in a Sunfish. She was with a friend and teaching
her how to steer. MaryLynn (Mom) was racing in place of Bob (Dad) on a
Sunfish and did well enough that his standing improved from
5th place to 3rd
place. In the evening when everyone was back at the boat, Isabel came and
told me that she liked that we followed her today. I promised her that we
would keep an eye on her tomorrow as well.
We had an early afternoon dip in the pool with a plan to go to town in the afternoon. We both decided that a siesta was more in order than a trip to town and that’s how we spent the afternoon.
It was a calm night with no rain. We awoke to what we thought would be a beautiful day but the lack of wind would make it a long one for the racers. We hurried and did a few boat chores before speeding out to the start of the Optimist race. With an eye on all the young racers we again followed Isabel (Aleluya). This time I was sure she was headed for Las Aves. As the other Optimists rounded their first and second buoy, Isabel was working on a very long tack towards the first buoy. The race after hers had started and the boats were heading towards the same buoy as Isabel. As they passed, we could see her try to match the tacks and sail positions of the older group. By this time the weather had changed drastically. There were extremely large black clouds to both the north and the south of the island and they appeared to be closing in on us. After a few wind shifts, Isabel call out to us that she was getting confused and having trouble with her sail. There had been a couple of large claps of thunder and a large lightening fork. We asked her if she wanted to be towed back to shore and she said yes but we could tell she was upset about quitting the race. We dropped her at shore amidst the micro boat races. Micro boats are like radio controlled sailboats but have a string attached and no radio control so it was tricky working our way through and around all of the strings so as not to wrap them around our prop. When we left the shore we checked behind to make sure that there wasn’t a micro boat snagged and therefore following us. We remained on the water watching the remaining Optimists, Sunfish and Windsurfers until the morning races finished. It didn’t take much longer as the squalls had provided some good winds.
We went directly into town after the race. We had to deliver a Canadian Flag to the University. They were having their opening ceremonies this weekend and had asked if they could borrow a flag from us. We took them a nice new one to use.
It was then lunchtime so we stopped at the Lost Penguin for a quick lunch
before picking up some groceries at Cultimara. We wanted to pick up
another new thermostat that had been shipped to us from Curacao. We
learned the difference between a fridge thermostat and a freezer thermostat is
the length of the capillary tube and the settings. We should have ordered
a freezer thermostat instead of the refrigerator one we ordered the first time.
The new one had already arrived on the island and we thought it came on the
Tribon Ferry. We went from one end of town
.jpg)
to the other looking for the
Ferry office. Everyone we asked didn’t really know where it was so we
checked with our friend at the internet café. He steered us in the right
direction but by this time it was after 3PM on a Friday afternoon and the office
was closed. If that wasn’t bad enough, when we returned to the marina we
learned that a fax had arrived for us. Our parcel had come on a different
ship. Rick had stopped at the office for this ship but didn’t have the
correct information without the fax. It was now closed as well. It
was not a big deal but it was frustrating so we went for a very late and short
dip in the pool. Ti Amo was already there waiting for us.
After a dip and shower we quickly changed and prepared a snack to take with us for sundowners. Cliff and Orma on Skylark are Canadians from Port Moody, BC. We met them briefly last Christmas in Puerto La Cruz when we went carolling at Mare Mares. They invited us to their boat for sundowners before going into town for the Regatta celebrations.
Our first stop in town was the Regatta building where we waited for the
presentation of the trophies to the children. There were so many different
races and classes of boats and therefore trophies that the presentations would
continue all night. We left after Isabel and her sister Mackenzie (who
came first in her class) received their awards. We then walked to
Whilhemina Park to check out the entertainment there. When we arrived
there was a new folk group “Kaña Brabu” from Bonaire performing. They we
very good but we had missed most of their performance. We left and
strolled through the vendors stands until we reached City Café where we stopped
for a drink. That was our last stop of the evening. Although there
was a lot more happening later it was past our bedtime.
We all returned to our boats and crashed.
Since we didn’t have the new thermostat, Rick was hesitant to return everything to the cockpit locker knowing he would have to climb in again. He reorganised the storage of some items but mainly we both took it easy. We were in the pool a little early and stayed longer because the day was so very hot with no wind. It seems worse in the marina than out on the moorings where there is a little breeze.
We barbecued some nice steaks for dinner and then watched TV. Shortly after we retired for the evening we could hear the Regatta finale which included about a 20 minute firework show.
When we awoke we declared this Sunday our day of rest and did almost nothing but relax and spend time in the pool. The temperatures were still extremely hot or maybe it was the fact that there was still no wind.
I didn’t plan a big Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was Just Rick and me so I oven roasted some chicken for dinner and we enjoyed it with a nice bottle of wine.
This was our big day. We finally picked up the new thermostat which not only meant that the fridge/freezer would work properly again, it also meant that I could reclaim the cockpit as living space again rather than a workshop area. It was lunchtime when we finished working on the fridge. After lunch we joined Jerry and Sally in the pool. They wished us a Happy Thanksgiving and we wished them a Happy Columbus Day.
Rick and I chose to have another Thanksgiving dinner and went to “It Rains Fishes”. This restaurant has become one of our favourites. The food is always nicely prepared, presented and fresh. The servings are so large we share a meal. So for this Thanksgiving dinner we shared a dish of ribs. The dish included 2 large racks of back ribs, a large salad, fresh green beans with a little broccoli and French fries. Rick had a beer and I had a cup of coffee. Since it was a special meal, Rick wanted a desert. The deep-dish apple pie was large enough for two people although I was only permitted a taste. The total cost of our dinner out was $27 U.S. We returned to the dinghy and made our way back to the marina.
After breakfast and boat chores we met with MaryLynn, Isabel, Mackenzie (Aleluya) and Sally (Ti Amo) for a shopping trip to the Super Store. The store, which is like a large Dollar Store with a few electronics and appliances, is a short walk from the marina. We thought it would be fun to go shopping together. My list consisted of 4 items, bath mat, oven mitts, picture frames and salt and pepper shaker. I was able to find half the items on the list. Sally found nothing on her list but found a nice set of sheets that she liked. The gang from Aleluya found a lot of school supplies. It was a fun shopping spree even if we hadn’t found any items we wanted.
We joined Sally and Jerry in the pool after lunch where we had our own Presidential Debate. It was quite animated probably because Jerry is a Texan. Since he wasn’t voting in this election and I don’t get a vote, the debate was interesting, fun and non-threatening.
Rick made a nice dinner of pasta but now that the fridge is working properly we should go grocery shopping soon for some real food.
Jerry (Ti Amo) came over just after breakfast. He was going to splice some twisted line today and he knew that I wanted to learn how. Lessons began at 9:30AM. Just as we were almost ready to start, Bob (Aleluya) was walking by and stopped to see what we were doing. He became interested and climbed aboard to watch with Sally and me. He didn’t watch for very long before he decided that Allison would be very interested in learning to splice as well. He ran back to his boat and had her leave her lessons to come and watch. Mackenzie wanted to see too, so she tagged along. A little while later Isabel showed up followed by her mom, MaryLynn. The cockpit was overflowing with people when Rick climbed aboard to show his method of whipping line. This dock is becoming very “groupy”. Tim on Camissa said when we were finished we could all come to his boat where we could learn and practice installation of new batteries.
The afternoon was spent in the pool. We went to Pasa Bon Pizza for dinner with Ti Amo and ran into Makai who had just returned from Aruba, Illusion who had been on the hard with us in Aqua Vi, Natural Selection and Delphfinus. They were all sitting at one table and we sat at another nearby. The Canvas lady was sitting at the bar and she came over to say hello. We all enjoyed the pizza and made it back to the marina in time to see the last presidential debate.
We went to town immediately after breakfast. I bought a couple of new bathing suits in town and then we walked out to the Warehouse grocery store. We bought a lot of food and some fresh meat for the freezer. I wasn’t able to buy any eggs. There are no eggs in any of the stores this week, we’re assuming this was a result of the damage done by Ivan in Aruba. It was reported in the newspaper last week that flooding in Aruba had caused the drowning of 9000 chickens. The grocery store delivered our groceries and us back to the marina.
During our pool time in the afternoon, Sally and I discussed grocery shopping. She dreams about shopping in a North American grocery store. I can’t imagine how I would cope with the availability of every type of food. In the islands, if cream cheese is available, there are no bagels, celery, hot pepper jelly or any other ingredients that you would use with cream cheese. When the ingredients do become available there is no cream cheese to be found on the island. If you find a nice muslix on the shelves it’s almost a guaranty that when you reach the dairy products there will not be any yogurt. This is the way it goes on most shopping days but it does encourage some innovation when cooking.
Since we again have a full fridge we were able to have a nice dinner on board. Rick barbecued potatoes and some nice thick pork chops. I made some homemade Caesar salad dressing to go with the romaine lettuce we found and prepared some sautéed onions with fresh green beans.
First thing in the morning Rick went to the marina office to pick up our clean laundry and a parcel that had arrived for us from home. It was fun opening the parcel even though we knew everything that was in it. It sounded like Christmas morning with “Oh look, new credit cards”, Wow, a new rechargeable battery charger”, Look at this, a hearing aid that works again”. When the excitement was over, we returned to our morning boat chores. I put most of the laundry away but had to stop when the morning heat increased to the point that the glow of my skin would drench any laundry I touched.
Dorothy and Ed (Prism) arrived in Bonaire yesterday afternoon so they came over for a visit this morning. They have a few boat projects to work on while here but hope to continue on to Panama by next month.
Terry and Dave (Sylvester) brought their boat into the marina to fill their water tanks. Since their tanks hold 500 gallons and the water pressure was low it took them awhile. The gas docks close during lunch so they put their bathing suits on and came over for a dip in the pool. Although it was just after noon we joined them until the marina reopened at 1:30pm.
It was only an hour later when we joined Jerry and Sally (Ti Amo) again in the pool. It was a very lazy day.
Dinner was a laugh. I wanted to make a tempura batter for sweet and sour pork. I didn’t have any eggs so asked Sally for one before I realised that I was also out of flour. No problem she gave us an egg and a cup of flour. Jerry was craving a salad but they hadn’t been able to find any lettuce on the island today. I just happened to have some romaine lettuce that was still in good condition so we took that over to their boat. A few minutes later, Sally arrived back at our boat with a can of bamboo shoots for us to use in place of green peppers (none available on the island) in the sweet and sour sauce. In the end we had an enjoyable dinner.
The container ship had arrived early yesterday, which meant the grocery store shelves should be full of perishable items. Before going into town we tried calling Promesa (Leo and Blanca), on the SSB and on the VHF. We had received an email from them stating that they were on their way into Bonaire with engine problems. We estimated that they should arrive some time today and wanted to help them pick up a mooring. Since there was no response, we headed into town by dinghy. On our way we could see a sail on the horizon and debated whether it could be them. We tied up the dinghy at the dinghy dock and sat on a bench watching the sail grow larger as it got closer. Eventually we walked over to a large fishing/tourist boat from Curacao (Mermaid) that was tied at the Club Nautico dock and asked if we could borrow their VHF radio for a moment. Sure enough, Promesa answered immediately. They had just turned their radio on and called us and were hoping we would answer. We waited and helped them tie up at a mooring before heading into town.
Our first stop was Napa and then Budget Marine. While we were in Budget Marine, Leo and Blanca arrived looking for boat parts. We all went to the Lost Penguin for lunch before separating again. We continued our shopping and found a supply of eggs had arrived, there were green peppers and lots of romaine lettuce. It was excitement all over again.
Since we had eaten out at lunch we weren’t very hungry at dinner but both of us were craving a nice fresh salad. We tossed lots of nice fresh vegetables and some Feta cheese into a big salad bowl and served it with chicken sate. It was a light but refreshing dinner.
We began our Sunday morning with Rick’s amazing poached eggs, bacon and toast. As soon as we finished breakfast we both tried to complete as many chores as possible before the heat became unbearable.
Pool time became a party but it was a toss up as to whether the kids would out number us or we them. There were kids from a few boats but most of them follow the lead of the Aleluya kids who are extremely nice and well behaved. During the week, normally just Ti Amo and we have our quality time in the pool. I had told some of our friends out on the moorings that they were welcome to join us. So this day, the adults in the pool were Sharon and Bill (Makai), Margo (Revid), Dave and Terry (Sylvester), Dorothy and Ed (Prism), Jerry and Sally (Ti Amo) and of course Rick and I. I think we intimidated the kids enough that they decided to get their portable DVD player and watch a movie instead of being harassed by the adults in the pool. We let them know the pool was empty when we returned to the boat but it was a little too late for them by then.
We had a quick breakfast and got to work. We both washed the walls in the forward cabin. I flushed the watermaker while Rick cleaned the 5 fans we have on board. Then I washed the curtains and screens while he replaced the hinges on our cockpit table and started to prepare it to be refinished with a fresh coat of Cetol.
We had lunch and headed for the pool. More of our friends joined us. Today in and addition to Ti Amo, Revid and us were Leo and Blanca (Promesa), Cliff and Orma (Skylark). It was an extra long afternoon that was very enjoyable.
It has rained during the night, 4 nights in a row. If it keeps up I think I’ll dig out our squall proof wind scoop for the forward hatch to save us from jumping up in the middle of the night for rain drills.
The rain seemed to have removed some of the humidity and it was quite comfortable in the morning. Rick serviced a new (to us) little Honda generator that we purchased. He changed the oil and ran it for a while just to see how it worked. Meanwhile down below I was into a scrubbing frenzy. I washed all of the walls and louver doors throughout the boat. Everything smelled of Pinesol by lunchtime.
We spent the afternoon in the pool and this time Bob, MaryLynn, Mackenzie and Isabel (Aleluya) joined us.
It rained again overnight but nothing could deter us. This was our big day we were moving out of the marina, away from the mosquitoes back onto a mooring.
Before leaving however, Rick had promised to help Ti Amo by going up the rigging to free the furling attachment on their forestay. There was a small bend in the furling which prevented it from descending. He was up and back down again by 10AM.
Next on the agenda was to take a little dinghy ride and find an available mooring. There were only a few inside moorings available and a couple outside moorings that were very close to Karel’s Bar. With the memory of the recent wind reversal that caused a sailboat to go aground I chose to take a mooring near Karel’s rather than an inside one in a quieter location. On the weekend, the water around Karel’s bar will vibrate with music from the volume of the speakers.
We returned to the marina and Rick stopped to buy some gas and notify Alfonso that we needed him to read the water and electricity meters.
It was a little after 11AM when we left the marina. All of our friends on the dock were there to wave goodbye as though we were never going to see them again. We headed out to open water to do the sea trials on our new autopilot. The conditions were perfect and we swung the compass, set the alignment, then went through the learn process on the controller which allows the gyrocompass a chance to learn how our boat performs. Everything went extremely well and it was a little before noon when we called Leo and Blanca (Promesa) to help us pick up a mooring. We have never had trouble picking up a mooring by ourselves but we’ve learned that it’s the “in thing” to help and allow others to help with moorings.
Within the first half-hour on the mooring after Promesa left we had a visit from Sylvester and Prism as well as a call from Makai welcoming us back to the moorings.
After lunch and a short siesta we went by dinghy to the marina where we paid our bill and made arrangements for the dinghy to have a power wash on Friday. 1½ months in the marina water left a lot of grunge on the fiberglass bottom of the dinghy.
We went into town and completed quite a few errands before returning to the boat.
There was a new French Restaurant on the Island and Jerry and Sally joined us in checking it out. It has been open just over a week and reservations are required. We watched as many people without reservations were turned away. The restaurant is called Bistro de Paris and they are in the process of having a website of the same name created. The webmaster was in the restaurant this night taking many pictures so yours truly just might appear on their site when it is up and running. The meal was decadent! Rick and I shared a Roquefort salad that had lettuce, apples, walnuts, Roquefort cheese with a few other things and a wonderful vinaigrette dressing. Sally and Jerry each had French onion soup that was cooked and served in a bread bowl. Jerry and I ordered Rack of Lamb, which came with asparagus, carrots and broccoli in a wonderful French sauce. We had a large bowl of small roasted potatoes on the side. Rick had a chicken dish, which looked interesting, but not exciting. Sally pigged out on escargot. I know we shouldn’t, but I hope we have an opportunity to visit this restaurant again before leaving Bonaire.
At first it felt wonderful last night to go to bed with a light breeze that caused a gentle rocking motion to the boat and no mosquitoes. Shortly after falling asleep, Karel’s Bar began with Karachi singers from about 10 PM until 2 or 3 in the morning. When Karel’s closed I dozed off again until the mooring balls started banging against the hull due to no wind. I’m not sure if the mosquitoes in the marina were all that bad after all.
Antillian Day is a holiday in the Netherlands Antilles. Everything except the internet cafes and restaurants were closed. I’m glad we picked up a few things in town yesterday, as we had no need to go to town this day. Instead we jumped overboard for a snorkel then Rick cleaned the thru hulls while I began washing the topsides of the hull. He soon took over, as I wasn’t using enough elbow grease and the wave action was a bit too much.
I made lunch and we had a siesta until the noonday sun eased up a bit. Rick then began waxing the hull while I took care of email.
Again we did not have a restful night. According to our weather forecast, severe weather was to arrive at 2AM. Right on time, we heard the loud rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightening which is unusual for Bonaire. I started to close the ports and hatches when Rick announced that the storm had gone by us to the west. Oh no! That was not what I wanted to hear. Sure enough within a few minutes we started to get some strong winds from the west (better known as a wind reversal). We were lucky that it only lasted about 10 minutes and then dissipated to nothing. The boats however all remained with their bows pointed out to sea.
After finally dozing off again we awoke in the morning to no wind and still looking out to sea. We left the boat shortly after breakfast and went with Leo and Blanca to find some new fins for both Rick and Leo. On our way we stopped at the hair salon to make an appointment for Monday but we found they were on vacation until Monday. Next stop was customs to have them check out our installation of Ray de Pilot (new name for our autopilot). They told us to call Rocargo (the Fedex representative in Bonaire) who answered but were ready to leave for lunch so asked us to call back at 2PM. We met our friend Susan along the way and she gave us a lift to the dive shop we were going to. Rick bought his new fins but Leo after checking five different dive shops was unable to find the type he liked in his size. We stopped for a drink at City Café before returning to the boat where we quickly changed into our bathing suit and headed for the marina. Alexander Batista was supposed to clean our dinghy with the high-pressure hose for us while we lounged in the pool with Ti Amo. We found Alexander painting a fence. He apologised because he had forgotten that he was to clean the dinghy today and asked if we could bring it back tomorrow morning. We told him it wouldn’t be a problem and went for our dip in the pool. Just as we were leaving the marina a huge mega yacht arrived and pulled up to dock. It was at least 150 feet long. Pastime, which was a large yacht at the end of the dock that we had previously thought of as huge, now looked like a dinghy.
As we sat in the cockpit eating dinner the boats finally began to turn so that the bows were all pointed toward the land which indicated that the normal east wind had finally returned.
It was another stormy and yet rolly night with no wind in Kralendijk. The lightening was flashing in every direction all around us. We haven’t had an undisturbed sleep for 3 nights now. I sure hope the trough over the Caribbean dissipates soon.
We spoke with Kamytoo and KaraDream this morning on the SSB. Kamytoo is in Porlamar, Venezuela and KaraDream is with Allie Cat in Los Roques. Hopefully we’ll see them this coming season.
After breakfast, Rick went to the marina to have Alexander clean the dinghy at 9AM and while he was there he called Curacao to check on a package we’re waiting for. He learned that Curacao had a power failure and the Island was without electricity all day yesterday. So our package is delayed until Monday.
While Rick was at the marina I ran the engine and the watermaker, did some
laundry and defrosted and cleaned the fridge. I also had time to make a
shopping list. I want to provision the boat so we can leave and head back
to Venezuela next week.
We left the boat about 5PM and stopped at the internet café to do a quick check on another parcel we were waiting for. It should have been here by now but had been routed to Europe and back in error. Hopefully it will also arrive on Monday.
We met Leo and Blanca at the City Café for Happy Hour before going to dinner
at Casablanca (the Argentinean Restaurant). We had reservations for 5
people at 6:30. Susan from “Yellow House” joined us and we finally got to
hear about her trip to Fiji. At the
.jpg)
restaurant, Pablo our favourite waiter
served us. His wife Ines brought their new baby, Juaquin (pronounced
Juakin) to the restaurant, specifically so we could see him. I thought for
sure they would name him baby Pablo. Pablo our waiter is the son of Pablo
the owner of the restaurant. His wife Ines and his mother Ines both work
there as well. I guess it could have become a little confusing with
another Pablo. Dinner was wonderful and since it was the first time Blanca
and Leo had been there, they ordered the mixed grill. Their eyes almost
popped out when they saw the amount of meat on the mixed grill. Blanca
will have a few evenings off from cooking dinner while they eat all of the
leftovers.
We had a reasonable sleep last night but there was still a lot of thunder and lightening happening all around us. We were up early and wanted to go to town a do a little shopping. The grocery stores are only open in the mornings on Sunday. When we were just about ready to leave the boat there was another mild wind reversal and the sky was quite dark to the west of us so we decided it would be wiser to remain on the boat until the weather cleared. Well it took all day and it was dinnertime when the wind finally eased up and changed direction. The whole day had been rocking and rolling enough that nothing onboard was accomplished. It was a wonderful day for Orma and Cliff (Skylark) who left for Las Aves early in the morning. They had the wind right behind them.
Finally a good night sleep was had by all. At least until 2AM when the mooring balls beat us up for a while due to no wind. We were able to leave the ports and hatches open all night and didn’t have even one rain drill to close them.
This was our last chance to visit the Lost Penguin as we hope to be gone by the time they reopen on Thursday. (Closed every week on Tuesday and Wednesday). We decided to go there for a quick breakfast and then be in the grocery stores nice and early to start provisioning. It worked well, sort of… We hit Cultimara by 9AM where we bought a lot but were unable to find many dairy products. We took everything back to the boat and went ashore again to check on our packages that still haven’t arrived. The one that we really need (a new bilge pump switch) was sent from Curacao to Bonaire this morning so we’re confident that we should have it by tomorrow. The other package (a back up macerator pump) has been sitting in Curacao since Friday but Customs have had computer problems since Thursday due to flooding and power outages. They are holding everything up until their computers are up and running again. Hopefully that is later today or tomorrow.
After checking on the packages we continued on with our provisioning. Our next stop was Tropical Flamingo (another grocery store). There we found a lot more of the items on our list but we were still in need of dairy products. The item I most want is sour cream. The sour cream in Venezuela is very different from what we’re use to so I’d like to leave Bonaire with enough sour cream for at least a month or more. We found lots of Gouda cheese, which our friends in Venezuela asked us to bring back for them. I also bought almost a case of cranberries for Mary Elena who hopefully will cook Christmas dinner for us again this year.
We did all we could do by lunchtime and returned to the boat. By the time we put everything away and had lunch, it was after 1PM. We were too tired and hot to do much else so we joined Jerry and Sally in the pool at the marina. We had to be back at the boat by 4:30PM when Rocargo was to bring a Customs officer to check on our autopilot installation. We had posted a bond on the autopilot and we get the money back when we leave. We were back by 4PM and called Rocargo to confirm they were still coming. No they weren’t. Instead they asked us to take the boat into the marina so they could check it there. We had a long conversation with them and questioned why the change of plans. They never really answered the question but did apologise and ask if we could take it into the marina tomorrow. They would contact Carlos (the manager) and there would be no charge for us to dock there for a few hours. This was fine with us and would give us time in the morning to do a few more things that we wanted to do before leaving.
Rick had had a tiring day and wanted to go to City Café for Happy Hour. We ran into Leo and Blanca there so afterwards the four of us went out to dinner again. We suggested “It Rains Fishes” where we all ordered a stack of ribs and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
We were off the boat and through the door of de Kapper (the hair salon) by 9AM. When we came out looking extremely stylish it was pouring rain. We ducked into City Café and had a coffee while we waited for the rain to let up a little. It seemed to become more of a drizzle so we ventured out again only to be dumped upon. We didn’t have time to waste today so we had our friend at the internet café call a taxi for us. He took us out to the Warehouse Grocery Store where we finished the last of our provisioning. We again had to wait for the rain to let up when we left the store in their delivery van. Richard, the driver dropped our groceries and us at the Club Nautico dock. We cleaned and stored everything and then had a nice lunch.
After lunch the sky looked like it was ready to start dumping again and we wanted to be at the marina gas dock by 2PM. Rick asked if I wanted to leave a little early before the next downpour or did I want to wait for it to finish before leaving. I chose to outrun it. We started the engine, dropped the mooring lines and headed in. We had the customs officer come aboard first since he was already there waiting for us. When I showed him some of the autopilot components and told him the rest were under the cockpit floor he decided not to even check them. He had the Rocargo guy give us back the bond we had posted when the autopilot was delivered. They left and we then topped up with diesel, gas and water. While this was happening, the UPS man arrived with our parcel containing the bilge pump switch.
We returned to the mooring ball just about ready to leave. David and Terry (Sylvester) invited Bill, Sharon (Makai), MaryLynn (Aleluya) and us for Happy Hour aboard Sylvester to discuss waypoints. We all hoped to travel together but Aleluya is leaving in the morning so the plan is we will meet up with them in Las Aves. The rest of us have a few more things to take care of first.
When we awoke the first thing we did was look out our port to see if the supply ship “Don Andres” had arrived from Curacao. It was due in yesterday. Our final package that we were waiting for was on this ship. Since it wasn’t in port we went ahead with other preparations. Rick installed the new bilge pump switch and checked the batteries. I backed up all the files and pictures on the computer. We had a few last things to pick up like fresh bread and fruit juice so we went ashore in the afternoon. We made a quick stop at the internet café to get some detailed weather information. When we left there and walked outside we almost got blown away. The sandwich boards for many of the stores on the main street started blowing around. The palm trees all started swaying. Since we were on a street away from the shore it was difficult to determine the wind direction. We hurried back to the waterfront to assure ourselves that it wasn’t a westerly, which it wasn’t and happened to see the Don Andres supply boat on the horizon. We quickly changed plans and went to the Immigration office and then Customs to check out. By the time we finished, the ship was just coming into dock. It was 3PM so we decided to see if we could get our parcel from the ship instead of waiting until it went to the shipping office where it might not be available to us until tomorrow. The guys working the fork lift and truck that hauls off all of the containers were great. They said our parcel would probably be on a skid since it had already cleared customs in Curacao. They asked us to wait while they unloaded the ship and they would try to find it for us on one of the skids. We sat there and watched. It was quite interesting watching the deck hands unload the containers that are squeezed on without an inch between them. During the offloading a few rain clouds came by during which Rick and I took shelter underneath a container on the dock. Finally the ship was unloaded. We checked out the skids which are all shrink wrapped. None of us could see a parcel with our name on it so the Don Andres man said that he would take the skids on the flatbed truck to the office and we could ride with him in the truck. Rick went in the truck but I went to pick up our fresh bread which was what we started out for first thing this afternoon. At the office they cut all the skids open to find our package. I returned to the dinghy dock before Rick and sat and waited only a few minutes until I saw him walking down the street smiling with a package under his arm.
We took the package first to Promesa because there were also items for them in it. We were totally ready to leave now so asked Blanca if she would make the payment for us. The man we have been dealing with in Curacao to purchase our refrigeration parts, the spare macerator pump and the new muffler and lift pump for Promesa sends us the items and then we pay him. He gave us his bank account number and once we received the items we just deposited the money into his account. How’s that for trust!
While we were at Promesa, Bob (Aleluya) called. They were 12 miles off Las Aves when they were hit with the same squall that hit Bonaire in the afternoon. During the squall their engine quit so the decided to return to Bonaire. They were going to pick up one of the dive moorings at the south end of the island. I told them since the sky was still looking a little vicious I was going into town and check the weather once more and I would give him an update when we returned to the boat.
The weather certainly wasn’t as nice for heading east as it had been for the last week but it wasn’t bad. I called and gave Makai and Aleluya and update. Sylvester can’t leave, as their package hasn’t arrived yet.
We raised the dinghy and prepared for an early morning departure but will check the sky one last time before we finally decide whether or not to leave in the morning.
The alarm went off at 3AM. Although the winds have been reasonably light lately we were going to head directly east into the wind today so I wanted to take advantage of the overnight and early morning calm. I was up but not awake until Rick made and poured a cup of coffee for me. As I was serving him a quick bowl of cold cereal for breakfast, I could see the flashes of lightening all around us. I thought that it might be wise to wait an hour and see what the weather was going to do. Just before 4AM Bill (Makai) called to ask if we were ready to go. When I suggested waiting he assured me that it was just sheet lightening and would probably dissipate when the sun came up. Rick raised the sail while I dropped the mooring lines and we were off. Blanca and Leo who were probably awakened by Bill’s call, called to wish us a save trip.
As we motor sailed down the lee shore of the island we saw the clipper cruise ship from Trinidad which had arrived too early and was killing time until it was time to dock. The full moon had already set so it was pretty dark until a few forks of lightening flashed ahead of us. I was going to call Bill and comment but since we were already underway I thought I would just wait and see.
As we cleared the end of the island the sun was rising and I could see clear skies ahead. Rick settled down and went back to sleep while Ray (Ray de Pilot) and I took charge. Ray got to steer while I did a little fishing. It was about as nice as a passage into the wind can be. The wind was 10 to 15 knots on our nose and the seas were 3 to 5 feet. At 12PM we were 12 miles from our destination when the RPMs of the engine changed. I could tell it was going to stall within seconds. I quickly woke Rick and told him something was happening. The weird thing was that this is exactly what happened to Aleluya yesterday. They were 12 miles from the same waypoint and their engine died. The difference being, they were in a nasty squall and afterwards had a pod of whales all around them putting on a wonderful show. We didn’t have the squall and when I looked around for the whales, they couldn’t be found.
Rick had on one of his trusty seasick patches but going below to check out an engine problem is usually too much for him with or without a patch. He was good, before the engine stalled he had diagnosed the problem as a lack of fuel. He changed the fuel filter in less than 15 minutes and we were underway in no time.
Fifteen minutes later we had the same problem. When he pulled everything apart again he found that the fuel wasn’t even getting as far as the filter. This time he changed the fuel pump, which has a filter in it as well. Meanwhile, up above, Ray and I were tacking back and forth trying to keep things as level as possible for poor Rick who had turned green a while ago. Ray proved himself to be a valuable crew member. I prepared the sheets to tack and as I said “OK Ray, hard a lee” and pushed the buttons, he and I tacked the boat by ourselves with no problems (or yelling).
We sailed and Rick worked for over 2 hours. He had traced the problem back as far as the fuel pickup and decided that we had been sitting in the hot tropics for too long. Even with the regular addition of biocide fuel additives that is supposed to stop algae growth and always using a Baha filter, the fuel had enough growth on it that we could almost mow it. Meanwhile I had gained 5 miles towards our destination. Rick decided it was time to give up on the engine and had to decide whether we would anchor in Las Aves or return to Bonaire. Since Las Aves is an atoll with absolutely nothing other than lots of reefs and fish he decided to return to Bonaire where engine parts are available.
It was 2:30 when we turned around and began our sail back to Bonaire. It’s a down wind sail and conditions were nice but the sail wasn’t as good as it could have been. Normally on a downwind sail Rick would use the spinnaker pole on the head sail (pole it out) and tie down the mail sail on the opposite side so we could sail wing on wing. It was afternoon and the wind was a little fresher while the seas were a little higher. I have seen the ballet he sometimes goes through when he is trying to get the pole in place. Since we had no engine I was not prepared to have any opportunity for a man overboard drill especially when the pole would have to be taken down in the dark. So our sails would snap the odd time but we sat comfortably in the cockpit wearing our harnesses.
IIt was 8PM when we were about 5 miles off the end of Bonaire. Early enough and close enough for radio contact. I called Promesa. Blanca answered immediately. When I explained that we were sailing in without an engine and would probably need some help in picking up a mooring ball she said not to worry she would take care of it. Since I estimated it would be 11PM by the time we made our way to the mooring field I suggested that she go to sleep and we would call her when we were closer. It was a perfect sail in the lee of the island, a nice breeze and no waves and a beautiful moon lighting our way. We sailed up almost to Karel’s bar where we smothered and furled the headsail. About that time, Dorothy and Ed (Prism) came up beside us in their dinghy. They had been recruited by Blanca to lend a hand. They followed along as we sailed up to Club Nautico where we furled the staysail. We were getting very close to our mooring. We were about 50 feet from it when we just ran out of wind. If our mooring lines were a little longer they might have been able to tie them but as it was, we needed a little nudge to push us ahead a few feet. Then Blanca and Leo took the port mooring line and Dorothy and Ed the Starboard line. They just about tied themselves and their dinghies in our mooring lines but within minutes we were secured. We thanked them profusely. It was now midnight and cruisers don’t normally stay up after 8PM so it was very nice of them to come out and help. We had had a long day and travelled over 85 miles from Bonaire to Las Aves and back again.
I thought I would want to sleep late after being so sleep deprived yesterday but I was up at 7AM. Leo and Blanca headed out to Curacao this morning so we said our goodbyes on the VHF. We also listened to weather reports, spoke with some friends on the SSB, listened to the security net and then called our friend Alfonso at the marina. When we told him we were back, he laughed and said that it took us 4 days to say goodbye to all of our friends on the island and we didn’t really go anywhere. We told him that we wanted to come into the marina but that we needed a tow. He would come for us about 10AM. While we were putting our fenders and lines on the boat many of our friends stopped by to welcome us home and ask how the trip was. Alfonso and Carlos arrived about 10:30AM with 2 dinghies and helpers, one of the dinghies was very large with a big outboard. Carlos and a helper tied along side of us. Alfonso in the smaller dinghy tagged along ready to give a nudge if required. They had decided to put us in our same slip. They did it so smoothly that you would think we had driven in under power. They had one helper on the dock to catch our lines along with our dock friends who also welcomed us home.
As soon as we told Jerry (Ti mo) what our problem was, he had a pump and hose setup that he uses to remove, add or clean his fuel. He told us that our friend Batista would loan us containers and get rid of the fuel for us. It’s too bad this didn’t happen in Venezuela where the fuel is so inexpensive. It had been 4 years since we had the fuel tank cleaned. In the tropics and in the future we will plan ahead and clean it every 2 years when the tank is empty rather than full.
IIt was 2PM by the time we had finished talking with everyone, had hooked up the power and TV and had a little lunch. 2PM is quality time in the marina so we headed for the pool with Ti Amo and Aleluya.
We awoke to a sky that was so dark it looked like it was still the middle of the night. At home it would be called a good growing rain but on Bonaire not much grows other than cacti, sea Grape trees and Palm trees. Rick however did place our two indoor plants outside and if all was quiet you probably could have heard them gulping the rainwater! As usual there was no wind in the marina so when we finished breakfast Rick went out on deck and raised the mainsail to let it have a nice fresh water wash. My chore today was to wash the salt water off the deck and stainless but that was no longer required. Mother Nature did the job for me. Instead, Rick and I both worked to empty the fuel tank. It didn’t take long to empty half the tank using Jerry’s (Ti Amo) pump but we ran out of containers and Batista wasn’t in today so we would have to wait until tomorrow for him to dispose of the fuel and return the containers in order to empty the rest of the tank.
We found a “Boo” note and a “Boo” sign left in our cockpit with a bag of candies. It was cute so I followed the instructions on the note.
Boo!! The air is cool, the season is fall, Soon Halloween will come to all. The spooks are after things to do, In fact, a Spook brought this to You! “BOO” is a shield from the witching hour… Just hang it up and watch it’s power. On your door is where it works. It wards off Spooks and Crazy Jerks. The treats that came with this cryptic note Are yours to keep, enjoy them both! The power comes when friends like you Will copy this and make it two! Then others here among our friends Will give warm fuzzies that will not end. We’ll all have a smile upon our face… No one will know who Boo’d whose place. Just one short day to work your spell Or a Big Zap will strike your tail. And don’t forget a nifty treat Like something cute or something sweet. Please join the fun, Let’s really hear it, And spread some BOOs and Halloween Spirit!
Directions on the back /p>
TThen on the back of the note we found:
Enjoy your treats Place your BOO on your door Now you have 24 hours to copy this twice, make 2 BOOs and 2 treats. Deliver them to 2 neighbours who do not have BOOs on their doors. Watch how far this spreads by Halloween!!! (October 31st)
The sign was a hand drawn big “BOO” with pumpkins and ghosts. We hung it on our bow rather than our door./p>
Rick walked to town and checked back in with Customs and Immigration. On his way back he stopped and picked up a few items he needed from Napa and Budget Marine in order to fix our fuel problems.
HHe returned and the sky cleared in the afternoon allowing us to go to the pool. Allison, MacKenzie and Isabel (the girls of Aleluya) asked if we could play dominoes (Mexican Train) so they could learn. We sat in the pool and set the dominoes up on the edge and played for a little while. Eventually their friends joined in the game as well.
The weather was a repeat of yesterday. It seemed that it was going to
rain all day. In the morning Rick worked on cleaning and checking
everything in the fuel system while he waited for Batista to take away the
containers he had already filled with fuel. The marina is only open in the
mornings on Sundays and we don’t know if Batista forgot that he was going to
help at 11AM or whether he just got too busy but he didn’t show. It’s too
bad because I think we could have finished emptying and cleaning the tank in the
afternoon.
The rain finally stopped just after lunchtime. I decorated the boat
with our little Halloween flags and placed our pumpkin on the bow ready for the
Trick or reaters.
The girls from Aleluya (Isabel, MacKenzie and Allison)
came by and asked if we would play dominoes with them at the pool again. I
had considered not going to the pool today because we have had two days without
sun and the water would be a little chilly. However, Ti Amo and we braved
the elements and went for our regular dip. While there, I played dominoes
with the kids while the adults had their regular discussion.
We knew the Trick or Treaters were starting at 7PM so we had dinner in the cockpit wearing our “Eau de Off” for the hoards of mosquitoes before then. Rick barbecued some nice steaks and potatoes while I cooked up some fresh brussel sprouts down below. Normally when we are in the marina we don’t venture out into the cockpit after 6PM because of the mosquitoes but the smell of diesel down below didn’t mix well with mealtime.
We donned our domino costumes just before 7PM and the all cruising kids arrived right on time. We lined them up and took pictures. They made us get into some of the pictures because we were wearing our domino costumes. They continued boat to boat down the docks, the young ones collecting candies while the older ones were collecting money for the animal shelter. When they finished with the docks they all climbed into one large dinghy and went boat to boat in the mooring field. It was nice that the weather co-operated for Trick or Treating.
