This morning Eric checked with Victor. No paperwork yet on us. He said he’d check again in a few hours and get in touch with us when he knew something.
We pulled out of our slip and ventured over to the edge of the fairway that leads into Bahia Limon. As promised, a big tug boat was waiting for us amongst the bushes just inside the fairway, along the peninsula that separates the marina from the bay.
We didn’t need any fuel at the moment, but Continue reading
Yesterday, Christi woke up not feeling very good. Her tummy hurt and her digestive system was unhappy. Despite that, she had a busy morning. She continued cooking for the passage, and while food was in the oven, went in to scrape more barnacles off the metal and the hull. Eric scrubbed the bottom with a sponge for a little bit, taking off the softer things that grow, like the grass. We kind of dragged our feet with our usual get ready to go routine. We were especially happy in Bonaire and we are having a hard time leaving.
Eric went to start up the engine at 1600. It clicked but didn’t turn over. Hmmm. The battery must be low. Eric used the house batteries to start the engine and we pulled out a few minutes later (the starter and generator batteries are separate from “house” batteries that run the electricity for lights, plugs, appliances, etc). There were a lot of snorkelers in the water near our boat, so we had to be extra careful to make sure we didn’t run anyone over. Even though we moved well away from the snorkelers we could see, there is always a little fear that there is one more you can’t see that decided to swim right in your path. When we were out far enough from shore, we deployed the paravanes.
When we left, the winds were light, the seas were calm, it was sunny and visibility was excellent. By 1800 we could clearly see Curacao in the distance. Wow. These two islands really are Continue reading
We had managed to sweet talk two of the crew on Arielle into taking us diving on Klein Bonaire, which is supposed to have the best diving of all in Bonaire. We have been wanting to go, but the wind and swell are way too strong for our little 2 horsepower dinghy motor to handle. First thing this morning, they picked us up in their powerful rib and we set off. It was actually a fairly long (and bumpy) ride. We went to a site on the west side of the little island called Sharon’s Serenity. One of the crew Mike, was diving, the other, Jack, was snorkeling.
Sadly, Jack said that it isn’t a very good snorkeling site. In all honesty, while Bonaire may be a diver’s paradise, it isn’t a great destination for snorkelers. The reefs aren’t really shallow enough for snorkeling. However, the dive was excellent. We are pleased to report that Mike has a dive camera and that he managed to get some phenomenal photos. The following pictures are all compliments of him.
The first shot is of Christi shortly after we descended, higher up on the reef. We like this picture because you can see the little gray chromium fish that are everywhere on Bonaire dives, and you get a good idea of what the landscape of the reef is like. Note the neat soft corals to the right. They really do look like they could be terrestrial plants.
As we were making our way down, we had a huge school of Continue reading
Since the wall behind the boat is so large and expansive, we wanted to explore it some more. Yesterday was another gray day, with frequent showers that brought very heavy rain, which disappointed Eric. He likes to dive when it is sunny and everything in the water is all lit up. But we dove anyway. We did two more dives along the wall, the first dive exploring more to the south, the second dive exploring more to the north. On the first dive we stayed at 60 feet, and on the second dive we went to 70 feet to check out the life a little lower on the wall. On the second dive we experienced just a little bit of current, but none on the first dive. We could seriously dive this spot a thousand times because there is so much to see!
On the first dive we pretty much saw all the same things we mentioned yesterday. In addition, we saw Continue reading
Yesterday was chore day. Eric changed the forward racor fuel filter, changed the generator racor fuel filter, changed the main on engine fuel filter, changed the generator on engine fuel filter, changed the transmission oil and filter, ran the wing engine, and replaced the sea strainer for the diaphragm bilge pump. Eric also put the storm plates back on the salon (living room) windows, which we had taken down for the boat waxing. He also put Lanicote corrosion protector on the screws for the storm plates.
Christi did laundry, cleaned, and did the never ending and thankless job of reorganizing storage spaces.
This morning we walked over to Falmouth Harbor to go Continue reading