5/14 - Kind of funny. I wake up and think it’s 7:00 a.m. so I wake the guys to get ready to leave, and it turns out that it’s 6:00 a.m., but truth be told, we needed all of the time between then and 9:00 a.m. when we finished fueling to be able to leave on time. Take 47.5 gallons of fuel. Wind and waves are pretty much as weather routing services predicted. Wind 10-15knts, waves 4-6 ft. Wind is moderate and very much behind us after we get away from Martinique. We make very good time sailing nicely until evening, when according to plan we reef main and shorten jib which slows us considerably as does the fact that the wind diminishes. We aren’t going fast enough to keep our schedule which is disturbing, but I figure we’ll wait until morning to take steps to fix the problem (take reef out of main, let out jib and/or turn on engine). I make steak dinner which the guys eat in the cockpit and I eat standing up in the galley. Not very easy, but accomplished without incident. No matter how tired I am I can’t sleep with no engine noise and the weird and inconsistent whining of the autopilot which is right under me, so that’s a bummer. Had a lot of trouble keep my eyes open the last half hour of my 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. shift, but maybe part of the problem was eye strain due to reading the NY Times on my Kindle for the first part of my watch.
5/15 - Winds are light and following in direction with moderate seas so no choice but to turn on the “iron jenny” to try to make up the time we need to get to Bonaire as planned. Winds never pick up enough or veer so we motor sail all day (for a while with main and jib and later just with jib). Seas diminish in the afternoon to the point where sea is about as calm as you could ever expect it out here. We have just a “staysail” portion of the jib out and are motoring. Justin catches a Dorado, so it’s fresh fish for tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. We’ll see.
5/16 - Following seas have increased in the night to the point where we’re surfing some waves but winds remain moderate. It’s hot. We pull out the rest of the jib and are making good time with the jib and the iron jenny and seem to be making up enough time to get to Bonaire in daylight on the 17th. Seas pick up after midnight and I’m a little nervous never having sailed Duet or any vessel in following seas of this size (6-8 footers sometimes), but the boat does beautifully as does the autopilot and I lose some of my nervousness over time. My evening watch this evening is 10-1 and that works well for me and I have the best night’s sleep this night of the three that we have been at sea.
5/17-We are in easy striking distance of Bonaire and it is clear we will be there midday which is really nice. Pat and Justin take in the jib just before my 7:00 a.m. watch, which I don’t understand. One says it’s because the winds are building and the other later says it was in preparation for hoisting the main, but neither makes sense to me but I leave it alone as the boat is still moving along beautifully. Following seas are at the max we have seen and the wind is up, at times blowing the 18-24 knts. forecast, but not generally that high. Justin is clambering around foreward and aft the last two days outside of the cockpit without shoes or a safety harness and I’m not comfortable with that but don’t say anything. I really should have. Following seas are “scary” to me, but again, the boat and autopilot are doing so well that I settle down a bit. After a while we put a piece of the jib up which settles the motion of the boat and adds a little speed. It’s sunny and warm as it has been the entire trip. As we get into the lee of Bonaire the seas drop as expected, but as we make our turn to the SE to get around Little Bonaire to the harbour we have steady 24 knt. winds on our nose and steep short wind driven seas(expected but annoying as hell). We take in the jib and I crank the engine up to 2,600 rpm (something I have not done since we sailed from Spanish Wells to St. Thomas, and Duet punches through the conditions beautifully. We have one interesting event before we enter the harbor. The crew notices what appears to be a “sand island” immediately to the East of Little Bonaire which is not on my chart and they question whether I can pass between it and Little Bonaire safely. We break out the binoculars and slow our speed and after a few tense minutes it appears that it is indeed some kind of manmade island not on my chart but that there is adequate room to pass between it and Little Bonaire. Turns out that it is a manmade island of salt we later learn but that it is an optical illusion and that it is not adjacent Little Bonaire but actually some significant distance beyond it, so we pass around Little Bonaire with no issue and head down to Harbour Village Marina. The entrance is easy; docking goes smoothly; and we’re safely at the dock in Bonaire. Check-in at Customs/Immigration also goes smoothly. Too tired to cook so take the crew to Paris Bistro in the marina complex for dinner, and it’s quite good. We’re facing East so all hatches are open and the cool sea breezes are flowing through and we sleep like babies.
5/18-5/23 - Hang out in Bonaire doing chores and some diving. Rent a car for a day and go all around the Island, including the sea salt recovery facility and the National Park. Bonaire is very arid and National Park was a little disappointing in that I got there late and had to take the “short route” to get done by 5:00 when it closes. Not very many water views on that route and rest is cactus. Was in Bonaire diving in the late 70's. Diving’s good and easy, but I’m kind of jaded. Seen it all before and there’s nothing special. Corals are pretty vibrant, but neither corals, sponges or fans are as colorful or vibrant as in other places I’ve been back in the day.
5/24 - Get off the dock by 7:30 a.m. as planned and have an easy down wind power/sail to Curacao. Sail is easy but entrance into channel at Willemsted is not so simple. Willemsted is a very large commercial harbor, but the entrance can have issues. There is no lee from the wind and waves on when we approach it, and both were not inconsiderable. To compound the situation, there was a very large cargo ship that we saw on AIS leaving the harbor just as we were approaching the entrance and another getting ready to enter, and then of course there is also the pontoon bridge just inside the inlet that had to be radioed to be moved out of the way before we can enter. As it turned out, we arrived at the entrance just after the exiting cargo ship left the inlet and before the entering one got there, and the bridge was being moved aside to allow a large Coast Guard cutter to enter, so we followed the cutter in and weren’t hampered by either cargo ship. After that it was easy to find our way to the dock at Curacao Marine and we tie up by early afternoon. We spend the rest of the day and the next two days (the weekend) readying the boat to be hauled out of the water on Monday,which goes smoothly except for the fact that at the last minute on Monday afternoon we are told that we must take the jib down. As it turns out we had more than enough time because although they had said we would be hauled out at 9:00 in the morning, they didn’t haul us out until 3:00 in the afternoon. Nonetheless the haul out goes smoothly and by the end of the day we’re in a hotel in town for the night.
5/25-26 — We walk around Willemsted in the morning. It’s an old world town and somewhat attractive with its muti-colored pastel painted buildings, but it’s gotten so touristy that to me it lost its charm from how I remember it back in the 70's. Anyway, I fly home in the afternoon. It’s a long day, but also without incident; I stay overnight near Miami and drive home the next day in a rented car. Kind of weird-feeling after having been on a boat in the “third world” for the last 5½ months, but not unexpected I guess. Traveled about 2,850 nm and got almost everywhere I intended (missed out on the Grenadines). Maybe another day. Anyway, to be continued....when I go back to Curacao after the hurricane season.
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