A Wet Windy Ride to Colombia

"It's one of the five most difficult passages"
"Plan carefully"
"Wait for a weather window"
"Be careful of the katabatic winds off of Santa Marta"
"Don't arrive at night"

This was some of the advice that we received when planning our passage from Curaçao to Santa Marta, Colombia, so let me explain...

Curaçao in pictures

Our first night in Curacao found us in the main town of Willemstad, the capitol of Curaçao. Willemstad is cut in two by the Saint Anne Bay.

As Long As The Signal Lasts......

By Bob

Heading west to Columbia on the way to Panama meant a stop at the middle island in the ABC group of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. As usual something necessary had stopped working on the boat. Actually 2 things were on the fritz.  The watermaker doesn't desalinate quite enough, and our depth and speed instruments have gone incognito. So we came here hoping for solutions from a couple of trained technicians who turned out to be the same guy, and who in the end couldn't help us with either problem, but that's another story...

Klein Curaçao

Our travels have recently taken us to Bonaire and Curaçao, and interestingly both have smaller islands nearby, named after them, Klein Bonaire and Klein Curaçao, klein means small in Dutch. Both of the smaller islands have no permanent residents (Klein Bonaire doesn't even have any buildings on it) and both are ringed by beautiful clear water and colorful reefs. Klein Bonaire is only a half mile off of Bonaire at its closest point making it very accessible for quick trips over for diving and snorkeling. Klein Curaçao is further away from Curacao so the trip there is not as easy, it is about a three hour sail, or 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip for the tour boats from Curaçao.

Bonaire, take two

You can't go home again.
No matter how much you love a place, if you return to it, it will be different. Last year we spent almost four months in Bonaire and had a wonderful time. The friends we made there, the diving, snorkeling and swimming, the land trips, the cultural events. All wonderful.

Returning this year was different, not better or worse, just different.

Octopus love

Rattle, rattle rattle!
Rattle, rattle rattle!

I hear the underwater noisemaker being shaken.

Passage to Bonaire

Dolphins!
Bob calls down to me. I am down in the front berth trying to get some sleep. It is amazing how quickly I appeared on deck! Bob is up in the bow of the boat watching the dolphins. As I come up the companionway I see two dolphins jumping completely out of the water behind the boat. In my mind I think that they are jumping for joy because they have found a boat to play with!