Bonaire

Bonaire
The sailing this year has been really nice. The wind and the current are behind us pushing Mystique at 6 to 7 knots without a lot of changing of the sails or really doing anything. This is great, we only turn on the motor to charge the batteries at night so we can turn on the running and instrument lights. Having no generator is really a big pain. Most of our crossing last year the wind was on our nose so we had to use the motor. Now that we can save money on diesel we still have to charge the batteries, well things could be worse.

We arrived in Bonaire safely with Sunway leading the way. In this anchorage the reefs are really close to shore and the water drops off really deep about 100’ out, so they have installed mooring balls for the cruisers. The only bad thing is that they charge $10.00 per day. There is only one dinghy dock that you can use in the bay. It’s owned by a restaurant so they charge $35.00 a week. Nothing is free here! The cruise ships come into the bay just beyond the moorings sometimes arriving in pairs. It’s really cool to watch the crew anchor those hug ships with the massive ropes that they use. I also like watching the passengers get off the ship, It looks like little ants flooding the town.

The ABC’s, though still part of the Caribbean are in a class of their own. They are part of the Nederland Antillies, the islands are full of Dutch and European influences. The currency is in guilders (NAf) exchange is 1.78 NAf to 1 US$. Tourism has not yet taken the charm away from the people, they go out of their way to help you out. We hired an older gentleman MAX to fix our generator. He ended up making some of the parts we needed by hand and sailing all the way to Curacao to buy some bearings that we needed to replace. We ended up staying at the Habour Village Marina for a week just waiting for the generator to get fixed. The marina is walking distance to a small store, chat n browse the internet café and a ice cream shop. “I’m in heaven!”
Sunway and Mystique rented a car to tour the island. In one day you can see it all. We visited the salt pans that look like small pyramids of salt. They are one of the most successful solar salt industries in the world. Their was a group of small slave houses along the shore not much bigger than a dog house still in tact. With the abolishment of slavery in 1863, the Spanish brought donkeys to the island to cart water, salt and other goods. They are still here wild on the side of the roads. If you stop to see them they come right up to the car looking for a handout “really cute.” As we drove we could see little lakes of water with wild Flamingos standing and bathing in the water. We really enjoyed Bonaire beautiful clear water, great reefs for snorkeling. I saw the biggest reef fish that I have ever seen before.

We will be saying our goodbyes to Sunway. “We will miss you!“ We are going to pass by Curacao on to Aruba to meet up with our good friends Dick & Terri. They are meeting us in Aruba and sailing all the way to Panama with us. We are so excited.