Aruba and Bonair Ho! 25 to 26 sept 2014

so i resisted the urge to get off the dock at dawn when i woke up and noticed it was flat calm.  i figured we prob should get some food into us first and a good night sleep before starting out to bonaire.  i made us bfast wraps and after we finished these off it was quite windy.  in spite of this we got off the dock and over to the customs dock without too much difficulty.  30 min later we where checked out and underway.

aliie had read up on beaches on aruba and wanted to check one out before we headed over to bonair.  we went just around the corner from the port to eagle beach and dropped the hook in about 10 feet of water off the beach.  i filled up the cooler bag with beer and ice and swam it in in the dry bag.  alas i forgot the speaker.

we took turns taking pictures of palapa and each other.  it seemed like we where there for no time but by the time we where done with the beers and back on palapa i was definitely feeling a bit of sun burn on my back.  i had forgotten with all the "city" time i was not as acclimated as usual!

this first anchorage was so nice we decided to try one more stop before heading overnight to bonair.  this stop was on the south end of aruba and was a bit industrially looking at first.  we actually had to sail by a refinery to get to the beach.  once at the beach and after 1 re-anchor, i need to redo the zip ties on the anchor chain, we took the dingy into the beach.  here they had little palapa huts so fortunately i had some shade.  i sat in the shade and enjoyed the music while allie roamed the beach looking for shells.

we got back to palapa just in time for me to make some bacon mac and cheese for dinner and watch the sunset.  the sunset was quite nice (as was the mac and cheese) and we managed to get out of the harbor before we lost the last of the light.

the cruising guide had mentioned how the 40 nm between aruba and curacou was some of the roughest 40 miles any where.  i was anticipating this but hoped the winds would die a bit in the evening and perhaps it would not be too bad.  alas it was not to be.  as we came around the corner we where pitched and rolled every which way.  it was not a great intro to ocean sailing for allie but she was a trooper about it sitting in the stern seat chatting until she was too tiered and forced below.

by dawn the next day things where starting to calm down as we had cleared the northern point of curacou and where starting to get into the lea of bonaire.  as we approached bonair we could see bouys along the beach off this small island.  we decided to make a swim/snorkel stop before hitting town and after a few tries found a mooring i was happy with.  allie went for a snorkel/beach walk while i took as swim and then huddled in the shade with my shirt on trying to recover from the morning sun.

we could have spent the whole day there but decided to head over to town for dinner.  we got there with just enough time to get ready to go out and enjoy a happy hour r&c before sunset.  i launched the dingy and we headed down the water front looking for a place to dock the dingy.  i apparently was to picky and before i had found the spot the engine died.  after futile attempts to get it going again we broke out the oars and made for the closest dock.  of course we had to climb around the gat as it was locked but we managed ok.

initially the town seemed a bit dead but as it would turn out we where just a bit early.  we found a cool little cuban bar called little havana.  it was very cool but pretty dead.  across the street was a biker bar with a few Harley's parked in front of it.  this was not hopping either but the bar tender had been there for 30 years or so so we chatted with him and he gave us the local beer at the 2$ happy hour price.

allie asked some local chicks what a good bar to go to was and next thing we where invited along with their group.  we ended up back at the cuban place which was going full out at this point.  they where drinking champagne and kept filling our glasses every time we turned around.  after dancing a bit and bopping back to the biker bar i eventually recommended declaring victory and getting back to palapa.  of course we had to row back and somehow managed to miss palapa on the first pass but eventually we made it home.

we wisely decided to polish off one of the remaining subway's i had gotten before going to bed.  in spite of the "early" exit it was still close to 4am by the time we got to bed.  so much for my plan of having an early night so no one was hung over for our big 3 day sail to grenada.  

cheers,

roger