BONAIRE  16/1/10 - 18/1/10

This is the third time I have attempted to type this blog out then the computer crashes and it becomes deleted. 

We eventually arrived in Bonaire at 6.am. having held off for awhile as it was too dark to come in. 'UHURU' an Oyster 62

owned by Steve Powell was alongside, we had met him at a mutual friend's party. Also along side was 'FESTINA LENTE' a fellow Discovery55 owned by Nick Pochin. Sadly he was not on board, but we were greeted and helped alongside by his crew a delightful young couple and I'm afraid I have completely forgotton their names. 

Having rung around all car rentals to find most had no cars available we found a rental with a clapped out old jeep. We set off for the Salt Pans on the eastern end of the island and watched the flamingoes fly off at dusk for Venezuela, so elegant and comical at the same time with their long legs and necks stretched out.  Dinner at a very good restaurant called 'Appetite'. The tasting menu, had by John, was especially good.

The next day we had great fun exploring the country park on the western end.  Cacti so huge, bumpy dusty roads, enormous iguanas, ponds full of flamingoes, lizards scuttering everywhere.  The ground was sharp as it is all old coral and limestone.  The museum was very well done showing how the island was formed, it's history, how the plantation (the country park) was run and the process of making aloevera, charcoal and lime.  There were also a huge number of very colourful birds and parakeets.  Lunch down by a lovely cove and swimming in an azure blue sea. BLISS. The jeep nearly let us down a couple of times as it refused to start,and we had visions of being stuck in a very arid area of the island. Despite that it was huge fun and more enjoyable being in an open clapped out old jeep going down unmade roads and wondering if we would make it up the next hill.

Drinks onboard UHURU which was fun and then all out for a rather mediocre dinner at 'Richards'.

On Monday morning we checked out through the very effecient and fast customs and immigration and on our return to the yacht were met by Peter and Carol Bailey on BALI BLUE ( another BWR yacht) who had just arrived from Union Island. Unfortunately we could not stay long with them.

We set off for the 30 odd miles to Curacao, an uncomfortable sail with just the genoa up and winds gusting to force 6, and a large sea all over the place.  We rocked and rolled our way, reaching Spanish Water, a large inlet almost totally enclosed, by 1800. The recommended marina, Sarifundy's, had apparently burnt down but we managed to get ashore at another club. Had dinner at Mei Mei, which was good and if we had finished in time before they closed we would have had a free salsa lesson! Jonathan and John were quite pleased that the dancing had finished as they really were not so enthusiastic about it, but Fen and I were all for a bit of dancing.

 

19/1/10  CURACAO

We rented a car from Budget the next day and went off to explore Willemstad, a UNESCO world heritage city.  Very Dutch, baroque, colonial architecture.  A bridge, the Queen Emma Bridge, which floats back to allow shipping through. We had a delicious lunch looking over the inlet at De Rouvilleweg built in the 19c. it had a lovely cool court yard at the back with an old fountain.  Far too many cruise ships in so Willemstad was quite crowded with tourists.  Jonathan was rushing around sorting out our immigration, customs was quick, immigration was closed for lunch by the time we found it having been sent to two wrong buildings beforehand.  We looked around the Synagogue built in 1730 unfortunately the museum was closed.  The Maritime museum was also closing in half an hour so we plan to visit that tomorrow, as well as explore the rest of the island.

We found a very good wine store on our way back to the yacht, so have stocked up on nine months worth of wine, stowing it is going to be interesting.

 

When we have worked out how to attach photos we will do so.