I’ll
begin with the idyllic month of January in Kralendijk, Bonaire. After
digging out all the dive gear we began in earnest. Being so close to
the Yellow Submarine dive centre was a bonus. We could take the
empty tanks in to be filled and gear to be rinsed straight after the
dive. We managed 25 dives to sites, some we have visited previously
and other which were new. I clocked up 1700 hours underwater!
We
also took part in a litter pick along the board walk. Well, the dive
was for 45 minutes and was in 3-7m of water and required scuba gear.
The briefing advised us not to remove litter encrusted with growth in
case there were small creatures living on them. This said it was
quite easy (once you get your eye in) to see fine fishing line and
various ephemera lost overboard. We talked to other couples who like
us were helping out. Jeanette and Michael are from just outside
Quebec and spend 6 months instructing here in Bonaire while the
Canadian winter does it’s worst. We also accompanied them to the
Ribs evening, and they even swam out to Piano to bring us a jar of
Mango Chutney.
Here
are a few snaps of curious aquatic life, remember please that the
water if stuffed full of amazingly coloured fish all claiming our
attention.
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| Calappa flammea |
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| Bothus lunatus |
Peacock Flounder
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Chromis
multilineata
|
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| Gymnothorax funebris |
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| Hermodice carunculata |
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| Pomacanthus paru |
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| Scarus coelestinus |
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| Synodus foetens |
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| Bodianus rufus |
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Sphyraena
barracuda
|
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| Stegastes partitus |
Bicolour
Damselfish - this one wanted my attention and nibbled my bare leg, maybe I was looking at something else. On average it takes far longer to take a snap while underwater!
This huge Urchin shell was too delicate to bring up so I let nature take it's course.
A pleasant interlude of Mexican
train dominoes at the divers diner and sundowners with Charles and
Barbara ( M/Y Tusen Tak 2. I even saw my first GREEN FLASH!!!
Needless to say I didn’t get a snap – even though it lasted a
couple of seconds!
All
too soon we had to think about a not so Northerly wind to sail up
island. We decided to do a last dive out at Angel City and took Piano
for the outing. Which is when we found that the intermittent engine
noise was still with us. Malcolm had already decided that the cutlass
bearing was the culprit. Great news that he could actually dive down
and look at the problem. He removed the rope cutter which quite
frankly was a waste of money and has never done any rope cutting.
This so that he could see the bearing better and take snaps.
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| There should be rubber where the arrow is pointing! |
After checking that we could have the work done in Curaçao we topped up with water and diesel and set sail.
All
downwind in 20-30 knots so all we needed was the staysail. Even then
we had to slow down as Mark was having lunch when we phoned for a
tow. The worse part was waiting outside the pedestrian bridge which
needed to open to let Mark and his boat out to meet us. As usual the
seas were quite big and choppy for this entrance. As soon as we were
inside all was calm again, in no time we were tied up and had wifi
and electricity. This is when we found that the generator would
start but then stop as soon as your finger was off the start button.
Jack confirmed our thoughts that it might be the exhaust sensor, but
was too busy to have a look at that point.
We
were hauled out early the next day and the new cutlass bearing was
fitted with no hitches (unheard of) Manuel was pleased to have the
propeller information to check that it was rebuilt correctly. Back in
the water the following day. It rained for the first time in 8 weeks
or so. This gave me the opportunity to sluice down the decks and
cockpit (again).
Malcolm checked the engine and
it’s cooling system and then started looking at the exhaust sensor
which he found and dismantled then put back together again. Bingo it
works! Now the only thing is a leaky hose which may be long enough to
shorten rather than to replace. That completed it was decided to
return to Bonaire and await the weather window in comfort. Of course
this meant checking out and to do that we needed more petrol for the
outboard. George next door had a van so took me to the petrol station
where I purchased 10 litres.
That
done we made haste to Customs and Immigration to clear out. The lady
at the desk smiled when we told her we were leaving at 0500!
We
treated ourselves to a meal at the Rhodeo Restaurant that evening.
Malcolm had Stroganoff and I had a medium fillet with home fries.
The mushroom sauce and home fries were barely warm and the steak was
75% blue, I asked for foil to take it home.
Malcolm
was up at 0400 the next morning I followed nearer 0530 after Tea to
set me up.
By
0600 we had slipped our berth and made our way to the pedestrian
bridge to wait with the few other fishing boats going out for the
day. By 0630 we motoring along the coast of Curaçao. By 0830 we had
3 reefs in the main and were doing 5 knots. Around 10.30 we had
early elevenses and were sailing with ¾ Yankee, full Staysail and 3
reefs in the main. There was rather a lot of tacking but it was all
fast sailing. We arrived back in Kralendijk at 1800 in time for
sundowners! (the remains of my steak made a very nice Stroganoff for
Dinner that night and boy did we sleep well!
It’s
the morning after and I have been to check in and had lunch, it
rained for a brief while and most of the salt has been washed off so
no cleaning required there.
The Childrens' Carnival parade is on Sunday (24th February) so IF we are
here the snaps will be in the next blog but by then we should be much
further North to pick up our guests in mid March.
Until
then here is ANOTHER sunset snap…
