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Making Winlink Friends - The Cruise starts in BonaireIt was a pleasant surprise when we received a Winlink email from Gisela and Walter from Trinidad. They had their boat serviced there including a new coat of antifouling paint on the underwater part of the hull. The invitation was for joining them when cruising through the ABC islands in the Netherlands Antilles, that is, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. This island group is less than a day’s sailing from the coast of Venezuela. We have a babysitting commitment for our grandchild but after some discussion we thought that the opportunity was to good for Tony to miss that cruise.Rather hurriedly, travel arrangements were made for flying from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) to Bonaire and then, following completion of the cruise, to return from Aruba by air to Washington DC. The most challenging part of the air trip was getting through US Security when leaving and returning to the US. The fact that some of my diving equipment was thought to look suspicious didn’t help matters at all. On arrival at the airport in Bonaire, Gisela and Walter were waiting at the airport. They had walked the five miles from the pier near their mooring in Kralendijk, the capital of Bonaire, to the airport. We took a taxi from there back to the boat. Just as well, as I was lugging along a large supply of ingredients intended for Walter's proposed experiments in brewing beer onboard. We embraced like long lost friends.
Settling in took a few days because; frankly, it’s a big adjustment to step down as skipper of one’s own boat to crew member on someone else’s boat. Kralendijk on Bonaire is but a small but very friendly place. Bonaire's main asset are its hundreds of pristine dive sites. The coral is so well protected that special moorings have been placed by a World Heritage organization so that visiting boats do not use anchors and chain that could damage the coral. These were the best moorings that I have ever seen in my long cruising life. Unfortunately, as we found out on Saturday evening, the convenience of the mooring nearest the little restaurant pier was also its greatest disadvantage. Reggae music sounds great on the islands but starts to wear one down when it goes on till the early hours of the morning and anchored about 200 feet away from the loudspeakers. The next day we snorkeled at a number of sites and drank cool Dutch beers at the harbor front bars. On our the last full day day on Bonaire we checked out with Immigration and Customs for our departure to Klein (Little or Small) Curacao the next day.
To read about Klein Curacao please click on the link. |
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