Friday morning after Thanksgiving was a busy one. Scott had cleared out of Bonaire with Customs & Immigration yesterday but we still had to fill out our tanks with water, do some last minute shopping and pay our bill at the dive shop. It was 10 AM before we finished battening down the interior and dropped our mooring. Ellen & Cal were joining us for a few days at Klein Curacao,
a small flat island 17 miles away. At one time this had a mining operation but now it has a picturesque lighthouse, a breathtaking white sand beach (that's our dinghy to the right with "Patience" behind) and a small day bar/restaurant for boats from Curacao that come for a few hours. We've been here before three times, once alone, once with Sean & Sarah, and last with Brent & Wilma. It's great downtime (from our "stressed out days???") with nothing to do but swim, snorkel, walk and read. Ahead, particularily for Scott, is the dreaded repairs "on the hard" for nine days in December and then three weeks when he returns in February.
He's planning to rebed all our windows and hatches among other big projects. Without me there he can leave his tools around, the floor boards up and work without interuption (cleaning up). We're hardly ever apart for even one night, so that'll be the hard part!
Willemstad is the capital of Curacao and a very charming colorful Dutch city. A cafe lined canal connects the ocean to the big industrial lagoon in the interior. Connecting both sides of the city is a 1900 walking only bridge that floats on pontoons and is motored open to allow traffic to pass. That's the bridge opening on the left above and the view right as we motor through.
Curacao Marine is the haulout facility and now a small marina with the addition of 15 slips. Our boat was pulled from the water by a John Deere tractor! Shades of Vermont! Tony and Hilary of "Miss Charlotte" were there to greet us. We've been hearing about them for years from Bob & Barbara so it was lovely to get to know them.
rou
No comments:
Post a Comment