I guess its the same as last year late! but better late than not at all.

 

So we arrived back in Grenada at the beginning of November and it was hot. We struggled hard to cope with the heat, Out-Rageous was in a boat yard with little breeze and it was hot. This year we had brought two extra suitcases of boat stuff which needed fitting or fixing.

Toilets were a problem this year having either blocked pipes or broken macerator motors, all of which was hot, smelly and cramped work.

We also had two new sails fitted, as Out-Rageous still had the originals which were stretched and the stitching was showing signs of UV damage. Now, we ordered these last May, so the sail maker has had six months to get ready for our return. Doesn't work like that in the Caribbean, they only act the day before you arrive back; if you’re lucky. They fitted the foresail but had forgotten to sew on tell tails, which are indicators that help tremendously in setting the sail correctly, it would be like buying a car without a dash board!

After finally launching we were joined by our good Canadian friends Mike and Peggy, and prepared for the 400 mile trip to Bonaire. We were so looking forward to sailing down wind for the first time since we had crossed the Atlantic. Many of you know that beating into wind is hard on the boat, hard on the sails and hard on you.

I was keen to try our new sails but guess what? For the first day there was little or no wind, much to Lynn’s delight!

It was engines only, but that gave the crew time to settle in to the watch system which was 4 on and four off throughout the night and shared throughout the day. Unfortunately there are no pull ins at sea so a watch has to be maintained 24/7.

It was Mike and Peggy's first long passage, but I have to say it was a pleasure having them as crew.

Our route happened to coincide with the tanker route in and out of Galveston which is one of the main oil terminals in the USA, so some of the sightings were interesting. When two hundred thousand tonnes of tanker is approaching or overtaking, especially at night, it’s worth calling them up just to make sure somebody is awake and they have seen you!

So after three days, we sighted Bonaire. Whilst approaching down the side of the Island, Mike drew our attention to what appeared to be bright red flying pipes, about four foot long, they quickly materialised into Flamingos!

We arrived and were helped onto a mooring buoy by a fellow cruiser.

 

Bonaire, where to start? It’s so good, we are still here after seven weeks.

Bonaire is a Dutch protectorate and as such the people enjoy the many benefits of its European homeland. The down side is, it’s not very Caribbean, but it has great supermarkets which are regularly supplied with fresh vegetables and salads from Holland!   

Our first guests were Tom and Jo, who I believe had a fabulous time. The cruising community is great, there are just forty moorings, and there are NO charter boats.

The highlight for us both is that Bonaire is surrounded by Coral reef as you might have guessed from the many fish pics, the diving is literally falling off the back of the boat.

 

We await our friends from chilly Scotland John and Cilla whom we met whilst sailing the Western Isles in our first boat Take Two.

Our next destination will be Columbia where John’s fluent Spanish will be a great help.

 

Enjoy the Pics.