Iguanas and Lizards, Oh My!

Gretchen's niece, Maggie, and Maggie's friend, Scott, have been visiting us on Bonaire this week.  It is Maggie's first experience of a tropical island, and we think it has been a pleasant one -- for the most part.

We rented a truck, took the pair on a tour of the Bonaire National Park.  This is a very rugged natural area on the north of the island.  The roads are all unpaved, and in very bad shape in some places.  There are a variety of places to stop along the way.  For example, there are several blowholes on the eastern coast, places where waves crash into small inlets sending spray high in the air.

A favorite sight in the park is the ever-present flock of flamingos.

But the "highlight" of the tour was during our lunch stop.  We parked near a little beach named Playa Funchi, which has a couple of simple benches to sit on in the shade. As we got out of the truck we saw a couple of quite big iguanas lurking in the bushes near by.  Maggie had never seen an igauna this close up, and was very interested to see them.

We sat on a bench, and started eating the sandwiches we had brought along.  Suddenly, we were surrounded by lizards (maybe 20) ranging in size from 4-12 inches, plus a big iguana, all of whom wanted our lunch.  They were quite aggressive, running towards us and trying to startle us into dropping food.  This was too close for Maggie, and she walked onto the beach to finish her meal.  An iguana immediately hopped onto the bench where she had been sitting, only a few inches from Scott.  Well, the iguana got his wish:  Scott leaped from the bench and dropped some of his sandwich innards onto the ground.

The iguana didn't benefit in the end, though, because several of the smaller lizards scarfed up the scraps before he could get to them.

For the rest of the meal, it was a war.  Lizards jumping onto our shoes, trying to crawl up our legs.  I had to kick the iguana a couple of times (gently) to get him to back off.  He would move (very quickly) about a foot, and then edge his way back.  Staring intently at me the whole time.  A second, even larger, iguana soon showed up to join in the fun.

It was a very quick meal!  As soon as we could, we jumped back in the truck to continue on our way.

Sorry, no iguana pictures, too busy to take any.

Crashing & Bashing

The trip from Curaçao to Bonaire is dead upwind, and into the teeth of the waves.  Its also a long enough journey that you can't afford to dawdle.  So its always a long day.  Especially when its your first sail of the season.

We left as soon as it was light enough, before 06:30.  The channel that divides Willemstad is a famous relic, a pedestrian bridge that rides on pontoons.  It uses two electric motors, like outboards, to swing out of the way.  You call the harbor master to arrange for the bridge to open.

We dutifully called, and were told to proceed to the bridge and it would open when we arrived.  Well, we arrived, but the bridge didn't open.  Calls to the harbor master went unanswered.  We circled slowly in front of the Willemstad frontage for 30 minutes, until two pilot boats approached --  then the bridge finally opened and we were free.  So much for an early start.

The conditions were exactly as predicted, wind and sea on the nose.  The waves weren't too bad, maybe 4-5 feet, but they still slowed us down a lot. 

We had intended to put two reefs into the mainsail for our motorsail to Bonaire, but discovered that David had rigged the reefing lines drastically incorrectly.  The sea was really too rough to sort it out on the way, so we raised the full main and charged ahead.  Fortunately, the winds weren't too strong and it worked out fine.

About half-way across, a wave over the bow knocked loose one of the straps tying our dinghy to the foredeck.  David went forward and reset it without much problem, but came back more than a little green at the gills (seasick). 

Luckily, with the full main and a slight southerly windshift, we started getting some push from the sail as well as the engine.  That sped us up to 7+ knots, so we arrived in good time, about 14:30.  We had heard rumors that the mooring field at Bonaire was very full.  It was, but there were 4 or so still available to choose from.  We had one of our best, least dramatic, pick-up of the mooring ball.

Happy to be here, and looking forward to some relaxing snorkeling, hiking, and soon some diving.

Ready to Head Out

We've been diligently working down our to-do list, and have completed as much as one ever can complete of such lists on a boat.  We've visited customs and immigration, and tomorrow at dawn we will head for Bonaire.

Counting the time in the harbor at Willemstad, we will have to travel about 45 nautical miles to reach  Bonaire.  This is the tradewind zone, which means that the winds are always out of the east +/-.  In other words, we can look forward to a long day of beating directly into the wind.  We will sail as much as we can, but I expect that we will have to motor sail a large part of the distance in order to make Bonaire by sundown.  We do not like to pick up moorings in the dark.

We are a bit nervous, because we've heard a rumor that the mooring field at Bonaire is quite full.  Since anchoring is prohibited, it would be a real bummer if we got there and found no room.  We could try going into the marina, but that is also likely to be full if the moorings are -- and trying to go into the dock in the dark is even trickier than mooring.

So, we'll have our fingers crossed as we head out tomorrow morning.

Chikungunya

We've been in Curaçao for more than a week, trying to complete our chores list so we can head for Bonaire.  The process has been slower than we planned, because Curaçao is experiencing an outbreak of the viral disease Chikungunya. This is a mosquito-borne disease that causes very high fever, and intense muscle and joint pain.  The fever generally is over within a week, but the muscle and joint pain can last for weeks or even months.

Many workers in the boatyard have suffered from this disease, so the yard has been very short-handed.  We had a refrigeration expert, Louis, working on installing a new freezer system for us.  He came down with Chikungunya with the job half completed, so we are stuck with a not-quite-functioning freezer for now.  Not sure how we will sort this out, since we expect to leave for Bonaire early next week.  Louis actually came to the boat to let us know his status.  We appreciated the gesture, but he looked very ill and you could tell he was mentally not up to par yet (from the fever, I assume).

There is no vaccine, and no treatment available.  The only workable approach is prevention -- which means lots of DEET-containing insect repellent and diligent use of the screens on our hatches and companionway.  According to the Center for Disease Control, Chikungunya hasn't (yet) reached Bonaire.  If we can hold out for a little longer, we should be OK.

We celebrated Thanksgiving by launching Callisto and moving her the short distance to a marina slip.  We had been living aboard while she was still in the yard, and found the nights very hot for sleeping.  Maybe things would be a bit cooler when we were in the water?  Nah, just as hot and more humid.  Oh well, only a few more days.

Heading South

The days in Switzerland are getting short, and even at noon the sun is low on the horizon.  Lots of fog, and many rainy days.  Time to head south!

We fly to Curaçao via London and Miami.  Our flight out of Zürich leaves before dawn, so we are spending a night at a hotel near the airport.  We have an extra bag with us, full of fishing gear for our trip to Patagonia in February.  We'll see what the excess baggage charges come to.

I think we will be in Curaçao for about two weeks, perhaps a bit less.  We have the usual list of commissioning chores, plus we need to install our new wind generator and new freezer compressor.  We are planning several days in a hotel while the boat is still in the yard.  When Callisto is launched, we will spend some time in the marina before heading to Bonaire.

The plan so far has us sailing much less this season than we have in the past.  There is the trip from Curaçao to Bonaire, and then the trip back in March.  Period.  I guess it is possible we will do some daysailing just to keep our hands in.

We have guests committed to join us in December (Gretchen's niece and her friend), and in January (our old friends the Antals).  There are a couple of "maybe's" as well.  So we'll be entertaining a fair bit.  Should be fun.  We are also looking forward to seeing which of our boat friends are back on Bonaire this season.  We are excited about seeing Jill and Rod Hearne, who will be arriving in January.

Since we will be in one spot for so long, we are going to be looking to see if we can buy a couple of used bicycles.  Kinder on arthritic knees than running, and a chance to explore more of the island than we could on foot.

We'll post again soon to talk about the commissioning work list.

Windsurfing

This post is out of sequence, calendar-wise, but I wanted to make sure it is included on the blog.

Bonaire has a remarkable venue for windsurfing, called Lac Baai.  This is an inlet on the windward side of the island.  The winds are steady and strong there.  The bay is protected by a reef, so the waves are small.  The water is only 3 feet deep, which is great for beginners since the shallow water makes it easy to climb onto the board.  You have to climb onto the board many times when you are a beginner.  Once per fall.

Gretchen and I went for lessons, along with our friends Rod and Jill.  Jill ended up chickening out, but she was a great videographer, recording the event.  Rod had some recent windsurfing experience.  Gretchen and I tried it out when we were first married (30 years ago!), but never made much progress.  The technology has changed a lot -- for the better -- since then.

Anyway, the three of us signed up for a beginner's lesson.  Our teacher clearly had a ton of experience with novices.  We started out on a demo setup on land, and he quickly explained the basics of getting on the board, bringing up the sail, and starting to move.  It is easier to gybe a windsurfer than to tack it, so he also explained that maneuver.

Then we were off to the water.  The beginner's boards that they gave us were more like barges than surfboards -- almost 80 cm wide.   This was great for us as we learned our balance.  The sails were also quite small (3 square meters for me), which also helps to keep things manageable.  So, while the experts were zooming back and forth, we were plodding along.  But we did manage to get the boards moving, and to stay on top of them long enough to make some progress.  Here is a video of one of my tries:

We had an hour with the instructor, and another hour to practice on our own.  But we all tired out before the time was up.  By the end of the time, I was able to gybe pretty consistently, and to sail upwind to a degree.

It is a truly beautiful spot, and we had tons of fun.  I am sure we will take more lessons when we return to Bonaire next year.

Callisto is out of the water (and we are too)

We miss the sea life already!!!  We left Callisto yesterday at Curacao Marina for the season.  This is the first time we have left the boat outside the hurricane zone, so our to-do list was a bit shorter than normal.  www.curacaomarine.com   The yard manager is quite young, but has lots of years of experience and everyone at the yard is on the go, hustling onto the next job.

Our last sail from Bonaire was lovely, downwind, traveling at about 7 knots, including one knot of current.  About halfway to Curacao we saw three flamingos headed east.   We were both startled when we suddenly saw pink off the starboard side.   I surmised that they had gone to Carnival in Curacao and were headed home...  We were impressed to see them flying dead upwind, low to the water, like pelicans.  Bonaire is home to many flamingos, who feed on crustaceans in the big salt marshes on the island.

Now for the boat bits part...we ordered a new AB 9 ft aluminum dinghy and a new refrigeration unit from Budget Marine.  They will be delivered in time for our late fall 2014 launch.  We also bought a D400 wind generator today, also to be installed in the fall.  And then we had to go to Kooymans (like a Lowe's) (twice) to get the parts for the faucet I broke showing David how not to use the faucet!  She's a boat.

We went to dinner on Sunday night at Fort Nassau.  The Fort was commissioned in 1796 and now serves as the control tower for the harbor.  The old historic part of the fort has a restaurant which is quite fine. I had a lionfish served with head and mouth open, looking very ferocious. 

The meal was delicious with, of course, great views at sunset.  I think there was a Japanese "research vessel" next to the port authority office.  Dolphins and whales beware!

Last night we tried a neighborhood Surinamese restaurant recommended by the hotel owner/manager.  The young restauranteuse is a native Israeli and the food was indeed eclectic and well-prepared.  There are only three tables plus four chairs at the bar, with quite a bit of take out and locals enjoying an evening out.  Today we visited Kura Hulanda which we thought was "just" the slavery museum.  It is so much more.  The man who was responsible for the restauration of the buildings and associated hotel, also had a large well documented collection of artifacts from the cradle of civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates.  The exhibition on slavery pulled no punches and was the other side of the story we learned about in Ghana at El Amina.  The remaining part of the "triangle" for us is the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, England.   

Our next stop was the maritime museum, which is a bit unfocused, but does have a few unique displays.   

Tomorrow we will take a rental car and visit the national park.  There are supposed to be spectular blow holes and heiroglyphics from the indigenous people (who originally came from South America).

We leave Thursday am (7 am flight) for the US to visit children, and then soon after HOME!