When we made our long-term cruising plans about ten years ago, we planned on spending maybe a year in the ABC islands before heading north to Puerto Rico and then down the eastern Caribbean. But, when we made those plans, we planned to be at this point probably 5 years ago. As always, life got in the way. We spent more time in the Rio Dulce because of another back surgery. We spent 4 years in Panama due to Covid and our engine issue, then our lengthy stay in Colombia to do work and travel.
So, here we are now at the point in our travels where we had to decide our future course. For the first time in ten years we have decided to change our plans and pivot to an entirely different set of adventures, We have decided to turn around and head back to the western Carib. The eastern Caribbean has always seemed to us to be crowded, expensive and touristy. On the other hand we find the western Carib to be less crowded, inexpensive and more friendly. From Panama, we can do more traveling through South America that we thoroughly enjoy. Because new issues we are also forced to head back to Colombia to have more work done. Cartagena is the best spot to get it done.
A month before we returned to Cartagena in September, a boat 3 slips from us was struck by lightning. We tested everything and everything worked well. The trip to Curacao presented no problems. But, after a while electrical issues began to develop. We can't be sure if they were a result of the lightning or just coincidence, but we need to get them fixed. Foremost at this point is the generator that we had rebuilt in Cartagena. It was working fine until we began having issues in Curacao. We replaced the voltage regulator but it still failed to produce consistent current. The tech that worked on it can't be sure of the issue but needs to pull the generator core out. But, to do that we need to be on shore power. The electricity in Curacao and Bonaire is European at 50 hz and it won't work on our boat. So, back to Cartagena for that.
In addition to the generator some other electrical issues developed after we got to Curacao that we are running down.
The other major project was a sleeping concern since we bought the boat but it has now awakened. Island Packets for many years were built with aluminum tanks. No doubt for their light weight and durability. Unfortunately, the downside of that is that they corrode. The number one issue is the holding tank. For the time until we left the States in 2016 our holding tank worked fine. For the past 10 years we haven't used it because there are no pump out facilities in most of the Caribbean. However, Bonaire requires their use so we complied. Shortly after using it we found it leaking. So, we left Bonaire and I have been cleaning up the seepage daily using Kitty Litter. So add replacing the holding tank to our work list to be done in Cartagena. We are also considering replacing the water tanks at the same time. Big jobs to be done in Colombia.
Curacao
Enough about our issues and back to the story.
After our super pleasant passage to Curacao we spent our first night at anchor in the northwest end of Curacao in Santa Cruz Bay. Santa Cruz was a very beautiful anchorage with smiling blue water. But, after our passage it was time to take stock of any damage. I cleaned the primary fuel filter on the engine to remove water and dirt that had accumulated during the trip and noticed an oil leak in the engine. A discussion with friends revealed a boatyard in Curacao that could do the work so instead of heading to anchor, the next morning we headed into the boatyard.
If you've never been to Curacao it is an interesting place. The main port is actually on an internal salt lake with a channel to the sea. The cruise ship dock is outside on the shore. But, all the cargo passes inside. The Curacao harbor was also home to the largest oil refinery in the Caribbean and South America. It is defunct now but during World War II Curacao was heavily fortified and guarded because of the refinery. The refineries product was Venezuelan crude oil which dried up under the government of Hugo Chavez. Tourism is now the industry on this island with the hulk of the refinery rusting away.
Across the port channel is a wooden footbridge that needs to be moved every time a ship passes through. The boatyard we were going to was inside the port so we had to go through the bridge. The marina had contacted the Port Authority and they were expecting us and the bridge was open when we got there. In fact, we were looking around for this bridge that we knew was supposed to be there. Coming in we didn't see it until later when we saw it in place that we realized where it would have been.
The oil leak got fixed in a few days. Then the air conditioner became an entirely different saga that I won't recount. So, while waiting on parts I decided to have our outboards worked on to finish repairs started in Cartagena that were done incorrectly. Our old original engine ended up being scrapped and we had to buy a new engine. Our newer engine went in for repairs and took 3 months until we got it back.
We ended up being in the marina for a month. Much longer than we had hoped. We met lots of new people, mostly Europeans and some old friends that were there. From the marina we could walk into Punda which is the downtown with shops, bars and restaurants. We also rented cars a few times to get around the island and find places to shop and enjoy many of the beaches.
After a month we moved out of the boatyard to the main anchorage known as Spaanse Water or Spanish Water. While we were in the boatyard the weather changed. It was no longer the nice calm we came in with as the early trade winds began to come up. The short 4 mile trip from the commercial channel to the entrance to Spanish Water took several hours as we had to tack to avoid beating directly into the wind and waves right on our nose.
Sunset on Thanksgiving. Spanish Water is another inland salt lake connected to the sea with a narrow channel probably no more than 50 meters wide at its mouth. On the east side of the channel is a large Sandals resort. On the other, a scrub bush park and rock ledges that come out into the channel. Shooting the channel with winds, waves and shoals on each side is exciting. Even going through it with tracks is a bit puckering.
Ruins of Fort Bleekenburg which were close by our anchorage. A Dutch Colonial Fort to protect Caracas Bay.
In the summer when boats flock to Curacao from the eastern Caribbean to avoid hurricanes the anchorages are packed with boats. During that time there are many cruiser activities like beach bonfires, parties at local places, trivia, karaoke and other things. Now, it's quiet and not crowded except for the jet skis, excursion boats and party boats. Spanish Water is pretty much where all the pleasure boating activity on Curacao occurs. There is kite surfing everyday, day trip excursions outside and many restaurants around the bay.
There are 4 commercial ports on the island in addition to the cruise ship port. The major commercial one is where the refinery is and they have several docks for container ships inbound and docks for inter-island cargo. There is another port in Fuik Bay that exports limestone from a quarry nearby. Across the road from Spanish Water in Caracas Bay are two docks for ships coming in for repairs or waiting work. Further up island is an oil terminal where oil products come to the island and confiscated oil from the world "shadow" fleet is also being stored. This business is controversial. The Dutch government doesn't want Curacao to be involved and the local tourist businesses don't want the oil business to get a rebirth for fear of driving away tourists. However, the government sees it as a way to increase revenue and provide jobs to help the local economy.
Curacao is a very developed island. The roads are bad and traffic is horrible. There are many grocery and large hardware stores along with smaller stores and shops of every type. Most things can be found here. But, unlike in the US where businesses are clumped in shopping areas, one can find a store anywhere. Even in a residential neighborhood.
The island appears to be booming with commercial and residential construction everywhere. Curacao appears to be the escape place for the well-to-do Dutch. Bonaire also seems to be benefiting as well. We have met many people from the Netherlands that have moved here and there are many Dutch flagged boats everywhere. We have also met many young students who are here doing internships with local businesses. Seems they get to do a six-month tour in Curacao as part of their education. They lived in shared apartments and all were very happy to be here. Seems like a six-month party.
Besides the boat work that we had to do and the routine we got to enjoy many of the beaches of Curacao and I got to do a few Scuba dives. Linda and I also snorkeled most of the places we visited. Curacao is also home to flocks of flamingos, parrots, tropials and other birds making walks and drives fun experiences.
Before we left the marina we discovered an opportunity to have a mooring in Spanish Water rather than needing our anchor. We were able to use the mooring until we went to Bonaire. The mooring was nice because we didn't need to have our ground tackle exposed to the vegetation that grows in the nutrient rich water. I still dove on the boat once a month to clean the growth off the hull.
Right after we left the marina and came to Spanish Water we went back to Santa Cruz for 3 nights. Curacao requires that you get an anchor permit and there are only a few places where you can anchor. In Spanish Water the permit is good for 90 days. In the other anchorages, like Santa Cruz it's good for 3 nights.
We had a great sail up to Santa Cruz Bay, but coming back was not the nice pleasant trip we had when we first came here. Then when we got to the mooring it was really difficult to get back on it. I ended up getting in the water and feeding the line through the pennant. As a result, we never left the mooring again until we went to Bonaire.
One Saturday night I got a text from some sailing friends in our old sailing club. They were coming to town the next day, Sunday, and would like to get together. We didn't have a car and it was too late to make arrangements for one so we planned to take the bus. The bus was only a half-hour late but we met our friends, Dave and Laurie Albert for lunch and visited for a few hours. Then, we took a cab back to the boat.
Bonaire
The "B" in ABC is Bonaire. Bonaire is another former Dutch colony that is about 25 miles east of Curacao. Bonaire is a renowned dive colony and regarded as one of the best dive locations.
After 3 months on our mooring in Curacao we finally got our engine back from repairs and got the boat ready for an offshore passage and went to Bonaire. There is always a lot of work to do to get our boat ready for a passage because we live in the boat everyday and there's a lot to do converting it from comfortable home to a sailboat for an offshore passage securing anything that can move.
Scenes of Klein Curacao
After securing everything we left the security of our mooring and Spanish Water and went out in heavy winds and seas opposing us. Our first destination was Klein Curacao.
About 12 miles off the east point of Curacao is a small island named Klein or little Curacao. It is essentially uninhabited although we found a watchmen there. Klein is the destination for many of the day excursion boats from Spanish Water. Once we got there we discovered that many of the tour companies had built complexes for the pleasure of their guests that almost made it look like a small town. There was also a lighthouse on the island that we found still works at night.
We arrived at Klein in the early afternoon and all the excursion boats were there. We looked for a place in the center of the island to anchor but we couldn't get our anchor to catch. So we went to the south end of the island past all the excursion boats and tried to anchor and the anchor caught but the location had a lot of roll. After we had a bite of lunch I wanted to take a look at the anchor and also see if there was a mooring we could grab after the other boats left. When I swam on the anchor I saw that it was caught on a piece of coral that wouldn't hold. I then found a sturdy mooring that was now vacant and we moved over to it for the night. There was still a bit of roll but it was just a gentle rocking.
We enjoyed being alone for the night under the starry sky while the lights of Curacao gave a large penumbra that still diminished the constellations.
Next morning we dropped the mooring lines and beat our way to Bonaire.
It wasn't long before we saw the island outline of Bonaire begin to rise from the sea. As we got closer we were in touch with friends who had gone over a week or so earlier and they helped guide us in and helped us pick up a mooring in Bonaire mooring zone. As soon as we got ourselves together we dinghied in to check-in with Customs and Immigration.
Looking back at the town from the Blue Cactus
Bonaire is an island that as a diver I've heard about for years. Many of our cruising friends have also hyped it so it had a big image to live up to. After we got all our check-ins completed we needed to make reservations for our anniversary dinner that was coming up on Tuesday. One restaurant was recommended and we attempted to make reservations. What we didn't know was that most restaurants are closed on Tuesday so this one that was open was booked up. We were, however, able to get a seating when they open at 5 so long as we were through by 7. It was a bit early but we did it and the dinner was really excellent.
The attraction in Bonaire was the diving. Our boat sat right over the reef so it was very easy to go off the boat and go straight down 90 ft. I swam along the reef and Linda snorkeled above on the surface In all, I did 7 dives. All but 1 off the back of the boat. The other one was from the dinghy on a close by site. The weather really limited where we could go.
Another major point of interest was the Slave Cabins where the slaves brought to harvest salt lived during their time at the flats.
Most of the dive sites required that we either take our boat or take a car and do a shore dive. Either one presented logistical challenges so we didn't do it.
The Southern Point Light on Bonaire.
Many years ago we frequented the Honduran Island of Utila. Also a big dive island. In fact, diving was all there was. There are some big difference between Bonaire and Utila. One thing that stood out was the cruise ships. Utila doesn't get any cruise ships so it's not as developed or commercialized. Most of the divers and people we saw were much older than the crowd in Utila. Bonaire was more of a winter resort for Europeans, mostly Dutch. When we were on Utlila, it didn't seem like the winter haunt for lots of people.
We only stayed in Bonaire for 3 weeks. We originally planned to stay longer but we had an issue. Bonaire requires the use of holding tanks for sewage. We hadn't used ours in almost 10 years since we left the States. Last year in our projects we worked the valves and looked at the tank and it seemed to be in good shape. But, after using it we found it was leaking. So we had to leave. I am still cleaning the leak using kitty litter to absorb the liquid and the smell. Hopefully, it will end soon and we are returning to Cartagena where we will have it replaced.
In addition to the dives, we did dinghy over to Klein Bonaire one day to No Name Beach for snorkeling. The snorkel was very good. But, with the wind blowing so hard we were limited in the sites we could reach by dinghy.
View looking down on Rincon
So we cut our Bonaire time short and headed back to Curacao to wait for a weather window to go back to Cartagena.
Return to Curacao
We had a quick uneventful trip back to Curacao. The wind and seas were up so we didn't even think about going to Klein Curacao. We got back to Spanish Water to anchor this time and our anchor caught right away.
Our time back in Spanish Water was spent doing our normal chores, spending some beach time, doing a few dives and getting ready for our sail back to Cartagena. The big time job was watching the weather. Winds were mostly over 20 kts everyday with a few days over 30 kts. With the wind blowing like that it was difficult to do lots of things.
One of the things we liked about Curacao over Bonaire, and in fact over many places we've been, is the wonderful grocery shopping. The stores carried lots of American products as well as European products that we like. Because the ABC's are desert islands, not much is grown on them. There was some local produce but much of it was shipped from the US or Europe. It was expensive and its useful life was short. But, we were able to find products we wanted that we haven't seen anywhere else we've been.
Shopping for other things on Curacao was also good. There were several large home products stores that carried well-known brands. We always had shopping lists for the large hardware stores and weekly stopped at the marine stores. There were also some liquor stores that sold a large variety of products not normally found in cruising places. One store, Bottles, had a nice selection of wines from South America and Europe. Before we left we stocked up because the wine and liquor choices in Cartagena is limited due to the customs and tax laws in Colombia.
In the final week in Curacao we were able to meet up with some friends that were passing through on a cruise ship. Jim McElheny went to the same high school I did, although he was several years before me. We met them at Kokomo and enjoyed an afternoon of visiting.
We began seeing signs that there might be a break in the weather that would allow us to go west. For a sailboat many would think that big winds from behind would be good and since the waves would be from behind that they didn't matter. But, from our experience watching this area and talking with others that have passed through the forecasts are not to be believed. Before we left Cartagena heading to Curacao we talked with an English sailor who had come from Aruba. He said the forecast was 20-25 kt winds with 3 meter waves. But, halfway through he had 40-50 kt winds with 7-8 meter waves. Forecasts fail to account for the acceleration in the zone from the topographic features and the resulting increase in wave height from the higher winds against a higher current. So our preference, having gone through there twice now is minimal or favorable wind.
Such a forecast was appearing for the time around 20 March and the forecasts seemed to be holding. But, to be sure, we hired a weather router to help us in our trip and maybe give us a little more confidence in our reading the weather and also possibly some valuable advice. With everything looking good, we hauled anchor on Wednesday the 18 of March and went into Seru Boku Marina for a night. We needed to clean our anchor chain from being down in the water for several weeks, we could walk to checkout of the country and at one point it seemed like I would need to clean the bowlight but that was unnecessary. We cleaned the anchor chain and friends picked us up to drive us to Customs and Immigration to check out and then we had a final happy hour with them.
Thursday morning we left the marina and had a nice sail to Santa Cruz Bay where we spent the night. I brushed clean the prop and bow thruster along with other parts of the hull. On Friday 20 March we left Santa Cruz at 0745 heading for Colombia.
Happy to say the passage was uneventful. We motor-sailed the passage because we wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. The first day the wind was dead behind us, the next morning there was no wind and we were fighting current so we were going slow.
Later in the day we found a dissipating low pressure area and once on the back side of it wind from the west-northwest filled in nicely. It wasn't enough to sail, but with our sails gave us good lift against the opposing current we were able to keep up 7 kts.. The wind held up until early Sunday morning when it moved further behind us and died for a short while before returning heavily later.
We went into Puerto Velero for the night. The same place we left from on our trip to Curacao. We had a steady breeze all night and the next morning headed to Cartagena. We crossed through the Boca Grande channel and into our marina. After refueling we were in our slip by 1600. It was the same slip we were in when we arrived in Cartagena in May of 2024.
Our 6 month trip to the ABC's was over and we were back from where we started. We now have emergent work to do and then on to Panama.
No comments:
Post a Comment