Adventures of a Tribe

Curacao

Posted on December 9, 2016 Updated on December 9, 2016

The 34 nm sail from Bonaire to Curacao was relaxing and uneventful – aside from a sudden wind change that twisted the spinnaker up. It too some muscle and brain to untwist it, but other than that all went well. Curacao is an interesting place. From the outside it looks like a barren island, but once entering the channel into the central lagoon area, one finds oneself suddenly inside an oasis of sorts. At the entrance to the channel, on the starboard side a beautiful resort appeared with tourists lounging around sipping drinks and swimming.

I was of course more interested in the beauty of the port side, with pretty bluffs and landscaping by Mother Nature.

The creatures enjoyed taking in the new scenery as Emma sat at the helm and watched over things.

Continuing in, homes line the inner lagoon banks.

As we motored in to the anchorage, we saw many people enjoying the water on various toys, including windsurfers and mini sail boats.

Once settled, we sent the creatures out on a scouting expedition to see that they could see. It grew dark quickly and the sunset was so beautiful.

It quickly changed from golden to bright orange…

The creatures returned with info on the grocery store location etc. They are such helpful little sailors.

It started raining last night while we were out grabbing a bite to eat, and Emma had to rush back to shut her hatch. Her berth was already flooded, but nothing ruined. This morning it continued to blow and rain, and the day started out slowly and lazily. While relaxing and reading, we heard and felt a huge bump and thud, and quickly went topside to see what had happened. It was raining and blowing so hard, and someones anchor had given way and their boat drifted into Tanda Malaika.

No one was on board, so someone from a neighboring boat, Jude and Mycah jumped on board. Emma jumped into the dinghy and Aidan jammed a fender between our boat and the wandering one.

Emma tied a line to the monohaul’s stern and then onto the dinghy, and pulled the stern out.

Danny worked the anchor chain on our boat and between everyones efforts, we managed to get the boat anchored behind us. Everyone was completely drenched. In the photos it looked foggy, but it was actually rain coming down in buckets.

Once we got dried up the creatures and I went over to a dock in the dinghy, tied up, and caught a taxi to the grocery store.

The place we waited at was decorated in all things pirate.

The grocery run was success and we were soon back home and unpacking bags.

Danny checked the weather a couple times today, and tomorrow we will begin our 3 day sail to Cartegena, Columbia. Since it’s still raining tonight, for dinner I made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches – with fresh gouda cheese from the store. It was a good meal for a cool night.