Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Passage to San Blas, Panama – Days 1 & 2

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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 →

Land Sailing, Windsurfing and the New “Welcoming Committee”

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Yesterday was another errand day. First thing, we were back on the camera hunt. We heard about a place at the south end of town that might have one. We walked down there, but still no luck. Every place we have been to sells regular cameras with dive housings, not water resistant cameras. We understand why. They are afraid that someone will take a camera safe for 3 feet into 60 feet of water, then demand a refund. Anyway, we ran a few other errands, including going over to Harbor Marina to pay for the mooring and drop off one of our propane tanks to be filled.

As we were heading back to Kosmos in the dinghy, we saw a sail boat coming into the mooring area. It was about to Continue reading →

The Clean Up Operation in Kralendijk Mooring Area

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As instructed, we were at the rendezvous spot right at 1000, in full dive gear and ready to jump into the water. The rendezvous spot was another boat in the mooring area. We tied up to it. Another couple wearing snorkeling gear came along and joined us, and we all waited for instruction.

Apparently, after Hurricane Omar, a bunch of tires appeared in the mooring area and on the reef behind it. No one is sure where they came from, but the theory is that the tires were used as fenders on the various docks up and down the coast that had been destroyed in the storm. One of the cruisers who spends a lot of time in Bonaire every year contacted the park service and offered to coordinate a clean up effort. Last week was the big day. Many cruisers had volunteered to pick tires up off the ocean floor and put them in the park service boat so the park service could dispose of them. The effort was incredibly successful and they filled up an entire trash dumpster with tires. The only problem was that there were still lots and lots of tires left. So, today’s effort was to try to get the last of the tires.

A few minutes later, someone came over and explained what was happening. Eric and Christi were responsible for Continue reading →

SCUBA and Chores in Kralendijk

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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 →

Settling in Bonaire and Minor Watermaker Trouble

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Yesterday didn’t get off to a good start. First of all, we had intended to get up early. We wanted to get all of our errands run in the morning so we could spend the afternoon SCUBA diving. But we wound up sleeping late, which put us behind schedule.

Our morning routine at anchor/mooring is to turn the generator on to charge the batteries and make water when we get up. Eric turned on the watermaker and was dismayed to see the high pressure pump didn’t go on. Eric suspected that Continue reading →