Denali Rose - Ships Log
This is the Denali Rose - a beautiful 1983 Nauticat 43
| Denali Rose Ships Log - 27 April 2009 Hello Family and Friends, We are still in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). We started this sailing season in the center island, Curacao, which is still part of the Netherland Antilles, along with tiny Bonaire. Aruba, on the other hand, gained a separate status from Holland about 25 years ago. Why am I telling you this? Well, the Curacao and Bonaire government only allows visiting boats to stay for 6 months with one extension of 6 months. Visiting people, on the other hand, can stay a total of 90 days per calendar year. That's right: boats can stay a year, people can stay three months. Our boat had arrived in March of 2008 so, due to their laws, we had to take the boat away from Curacao and Bonaire and get proof from some other country's customs and immigration office that our boat had been there and then we could return to Curacao and/or Bonaire. From Curacao, our easy choices were either Venezuela (where pirates had murdered a boater in November and where Mr. President Hugo Chavez has been nationalizing marinas lately, NO THANKS) or the friendly downwind neighboring island with a marina attached to a resort called Aruba (HELLO ARUBA!). The only problem with sailing to Aruba is a good-news-bad-news dilemma. That is, the 6-hour trip (going west or downwind) to Aruba is the good news. It becomes bad news when you make the return sailing trip (back east or upwind) toward Curacao. This upwind trip can be 12 or more hours of tortuous banging into the wind and seas. We had a lovely downwind sail starting at dawn from Curacao's westernmost anchorage called Santa Cruz, to Aruba, arriving in the afternoon. We checked in to Aruba's Customs and Immigration stations at Barcadera anchorage and anchored off the airport overnight before motoring to the beautiful Renaissance Resort Marina. The only tricky part was bringing our boat into the marina's dock. This required dropping and setting our anchor off the stern of our boat, tightening that line and nuzzling our boat's bow to the dock without hitting the dock itself. A third crewmember would have been helpful in this maneuver (one at our bow, another at the stern anchor and a third at the steering wheel). Luckily, the marina has a top-notch staff and an inflatable dinghy driven by Ramon, who nudged us gently into place. In addition to the marina's crew was a friend of ours. Ready to catch our dock lines was our friend, Dave, captain of the Canadian sailboat, "Angel V," who we had met last year at the Porlamar anchorage in Isla Margarita, Venezuela. Dave and his retired teacher wife, Valerie, liked Aruba so much that they had stayed at the marina since December. Lucky for us, we had built-in experts on shopping, restaurants, festivals, and the Tuesday evening display of traditional music, dance, food and handicrafts. The night after we arrived, I came down with severe stomach cramps and the resulting intestinal sickness. We had heard that there was a Dengue Fever at all of the islands this year and I had some of the symptoms. After a night and day in misery, Jack arranged for the resort's doctor to visit me in the boat! Dr. Anaya was born in Bolivia and did his residency at Johns Hopkins! We could not have had better medical help! He put me on antibiotics and, when I did not improve, admitted me to the hospital where I had a sonogram, CT scan and MRI and placed me in a women's ward all before noon! Tests showed I had diverticulitis, not dengue fever. Three days later after massive amounts of antibiotics, I was released and on the road to recovery. Jack thinks I believe a strong dose of Jameson's Irish whiskey would have cured it, but I don't think so. Ha! While in the hospital women's ward, I gained a wonderful Aruban friend, Janine Croes, a fellow patient and the front desk manager of a family-run hotel. Janine gave us a fabulous tour of the island on her day off. She explained that Aruba is proud of its "one happy island" slogan and the local people definitely live up to Aruba's friendly reputation. They understand that tourism runs their economy. It was a pleasure to walk off the boat, take the local bus to the grocery store, walk around at night and feel perfectly safe. Granted we "old geezers" do not visit the nightclubs late at night, but we thought nothing of walking to dinner after dark. Local people speak three or four languages and a free local English-language newspaper covers upcoming cultural events and international news. The marina manager told us that according to experienced fishermen and sailors, Aruba's strong trade winds would calm down for only a one-week break at the end of Lent. Jack kept close watch on the marine weather forecasts and, after 30 days enjoying Aruba, we left for Curacao. The first day, we checked out of Aruba's Customs and Immigration and went on to a quiet anchorage. It was quite a day because, on leaving the marina, the engine overheated (bad impeller). We sailed into Customs (a unique concept for us, since we use the motor most places); we checked out and replaced the impeller. We started the engine and motored to a quiet anchorage for the night. However, the engine continued to overheat! In the anchorage, we found that the engine heat exchanger was almost 80% choked with marine growth (calcium for you chemists). Once cleaned, and several beers later, we settled down for a beautiful sunset and a calm night. We were glad we came to Aruba but dreaded the bumpy ride into the wind back east to Curacao. We use a computerized navigation system (Nobeltec Visual Navigation Suite) on our laptop to plot and sail our trips. Since Jack had saved our sailing route when we sailed from Curacao, we just followed the same route back and arrived in the same anchorage well before sunset. We could have arrived in the dark of night using our computer and radar, but Neptune took pity on us and we arrived faster than expected. It was a bumpy ride with a few spells of 6 to 8-foot seas right on the nose, but there were no major problems with the engine (overheating problem solved) or other boat systems, just lots of blue water over the deck and even over the dodger (windscreen). The next day we continued the trip to Bonaire with surprisingly calm seas while we were protected by the island of Curacao and NOT surprisingly, rough seas for the 20-mile run from Curacao to Bonaire. Dianne, our best sailing buddy in Bonaire, had moved her boat, "Cloud 9," into the Harbor Village Marina. We hailed her on the VHF radio, as we got close. She came zipping out in her dinghy and helped us pick up the mooring ball and celebrate our arrival. We were happy to be back in Bonaire, home of some of the best scuba diving in the Caribbean, where we could snorkel or scuba dive in pristine, azure blue waters right off the back of your boat! The only costs are the $25 annual dive fee for the underwater park tag, air in your dive tanks, and $3 a night for the mooring. The next day we took our passports and boat documentation to Bonaire's Customs and Immigration offices and got everything in order. Dianne caught us up on all the important changes to boating life at Bonaire, including where and when to meet for Happy Hour with cruisers this season. These events are fun, especially if you are looking for others who plan to sail to Colombia next fall so we can sail together as "buddy boats" which is safer than going it alone. So far, we have about four boats (Karadream, Angel V, Scott Free, and Dovekie), heading that way in mid October (the best time to sail that route according to experienced sailors). EASTER My long-time friend who lives in West Virginia, Felicia, flew down for a week's visit. She was the perfect boat guest: she limited her baggage to a foldable duffle bag and packed swimsuits and tropical-weight leisure clothes. She has gained VIP status for bringing a second bag filled with Jack's boat replacement parts and our mail (including some Christmas cards!). As hosts, our only task was to keep her supplied with mango juice for breakfast, lunch and happy hour (oops, dinner), thus she was crowned "Princess of Mango Island" or PIM for short. Jack gave her a short course in snorkeling and off they went to see hundreds of fish and lovely coral beneath our boat. Each morning Jack and I would wake to find her sitting in the cockpit. As a princess, we found her surveying her watery domain. More than once a young turtle surfaced for her entertainment. We rented a car for three days. We toured the island's Donkey Sanctuary and the desert-like northwestern park and saw slide shows about sea life, especially the turtles here. Since her flight home left Bonaire at 7 a.m., we were all awake at 4:45 to prepare for the trip to shore. We loaded the dinghy and rode the half mile to the marina under a sky filled with constellations. Since Bonaire is only 12 degrees north of the equator, we could see both the Big Dipper to the north and the Southern Cross to the south. We arrived at the marina to find a slight problem. Our taxi was waiting as scheduled, but the marina gate was locked! Luckily, Jack had borrowed a key but it only opened one of the locks. Then, with island ingenuity, Edgar, our taxi driver, reached thru the gate and pulled the hidden lock bolt at the ground and opened the door - so much for keys! We hugged Felicia goodbye and sent the Princess of Mango Island on her way. Felicia emailed us that it took her until midnight to arrive at home (Bonaire to Puerto Rico to BWI and then a drive to West Virginia). What a long day! This past Thursday was the annual Rincon Day, a fiesta with parade traditionally in honor of the Dutch queen's birthday. We hired Edgar to drive the five of us (Julia and Paul from "Coral Bay" plus Dianne from "Cloud 9" and ourselves) to Rincon, Bonaire's original town. Edgar picked us up at 10 a.m. and drove us the "scenic route" to Rincon, past flocks of flamingos and a few wild donkeys. Knowing the tiny town's center would be blocked off, Edgar drove through a seemingly invisible route of dirt paths only a local would know. Many locals set up booths, BBQs and drink tents. There was a short, 30-minute, parade, not too big but lots of color and sound and historic costumes. We were not too keen on the Iguana stew but the BBQ ribs and chicken kabobs with sate sauce were perfect with beer. On the trip back, Edgar said he only liked the Iguana stew with the skin off and we only saw the stew with bits of meat with black-and-white dotted skin. Jack said, "With the skin on, it was not easy to think of it as chicken!" We all had a great time and recommend Rincon Day to anyone visiting Bonaire. Now it is back to the drudgery of cruising or in other words: repairing the boat in exotic harbors around the world. Repair generator, new fresh water quantity system, inventory spare parts, find water leak, order new water heater, clean the bottom of the dinghy and boat, and find more items for the To-Do list of future repairs. However, beautiful diving is right off the back of the boat and we are getting in the water whenever possible. For tropical fish and turtle enthusiasts, this season we have seen the following: Tarpon, We
hope we hear from you (including YOUR NEWS and any questions you might have about
our recent travels). We also hope to see many of you in the near future. Jack and Fred Click here for a nice picture of Jack & Fred. |
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