Arrived Safe and Sound in Bonaire - 12 09.312N 068 16.793W

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 20 Dec 2009 22:22
The last 24 hours have been another great sail. We arrived this morning and were on our buoy at 10.00. We deliberately slowed down during the night to make sure we made our final approach in daylight. We had 3 great days of sailing and made our greatest noon to noon run, so very pleased. The boat went really well and was well balanced, the only complaint was that the fridge decided to give up after the first day, so we had to put up with warm drinks! We didn't touch the fridge in Trinidad as it all worked fine. I think it felt neglected so stopped in protest! We do have a spare control box for it and I'll try that tomorrow.

We spent 3 nights at sea and had clear skies each night, so we were sailing by star light, which was better than we remember. On cloudy nights it's difficult to see the bow of the boat from the cockpit, let alone spot anything in the water that needs to be avoided. The moon only showed a small segment for a couple of hours or so before disappearing over the horizon in front of us. We had hoped to leave Trinidad around the full moon rather than new moon, as when the moon is up, it's like sailing down a lit motorway. It makes a big difference. We always try to leave on a longer passage at or just after the full moon.

So it's Christmas in Bonaire, as we had hoped - we just about made it! We've still got a few jobs to complete from the work started in Trinidad, but we hope to see the Island and get back into snorkeling and swimming. Had a quick swim off the back of the boat this afternoon and were surrounded by a lot of fish - mostly sergeant majors.

When I went to check in here I found Bonaire closed! As it's a Sunday, everything shuts. Not quite everything; there were a few bars open, but both Customs and Immigration were closed. So we cleared in at the local Police Station and it was probably the quickest and easiest check-in that we have ever made.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com