|
| ...continued from the previous page |
28. day - 06/11/2006 - , Bye Venezuela!In the morning we had to wait until the Sun raised so high that we were able to see the reefs. We could not use the GPS trackback function as the accuracy of it is around 5-15 meters.
We said good-bye to Venezuela and sailed towards Bonaire where we arrived around noon with the help of a little current and a bit of breeze. |
29. day - 07/11/2006 - , BonaireBonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles with the other islands Curacao and Aruba (so called ABC islands). Bonaire’s two main industries are salt and tourism (especially diving). The island is extremely clean and environment is strictly protected. You could not even anchor here (you have to pay USD 10 /day for mooring) because the coral reefs are mainly alive and complex associations of leaving animals. All boaters enter the surrounding waters are subject to the Marine Park regulations which is available at clearance. When we arrived the Immigration Department was closed therefore we had to go to the Police Station to clear in. We heard stories about difficulties clearing in Bonaire if you are over your 7 days or 4 weeks (depending on the source) time lag clearing out from Venezuela, however we did not experience any procedure like that. May be it is because we proceeded at the Police Station. The fact is that upon arrival we had to give our spear gun to the police as well as the flair-gun as the spear fishing is prohibited. These are locked until departure. Anyway our spear gun is currently useless because Geza was very exited about a fish on the Caribbean last December and shot a stone instead of it.
Unfortunately, my husband got some flu in Venezuela and infected me so I do not feel to do too many things today at least studying. |
30. day - 08/11/2006 - I feel much better today, but still not ready to the activities. . |
31. day - 09/11/2006 - , KralendijkKralendijk is the capital of Bonaire. It has colourful streets more shops and bars. There are mainly American boats around us and a few Dutch. . |
32. day - 10/11/2006 - We left our boat at Kralendijk (capital of Bonaire), rented a car and went to see the south part of the Island. Here is the Solar Salt Works and the Lac Bay. We passed the salt crystals stand in a cone, the crystalliser and condenser ponds. The Lac bay is the home of the green turtles, however we could not see any of them. . |
33. day - 11/11/2006 - Bonaire is a diving paradise so we had got ready our diving equipments and went to the Washington Park at North Bonaire. Unfortunately, we could not buy a one-day ticket only a yearly ticket, however it was only USD 10/person.
The park was quite interesting with its limestone plateau with a view of the sea, the dunes, more historic sites, a blow hole, the vegetation of cactuses and the lakes with the beautiful pink flamingos (as Bonaire is one of the nesting and feeding place of the pink flamingos). There was also a museum where we learnt a bit about the history of Bonaire and also about the flora and fauna of it.
Amazing how many lizards (including iguanas) were interested in our activity in the park. Mostly when we left our clothes on the shore and sank deeply under the water. The reefs were beautiful and rich in rainbow coloured fish.
On the island we also found that locals protect their gardens (I think mainly against goats) with cactus fences. They use the candle cactus (called Yatu) as their thorns keep away the intruders. These fences and the vegetation made a special style of the island. We could see some yellow-shouldered parrots (small green parrot with yellow head), which are also native birds here. |
34. day - 12/11/2006 - We left Bonaire early morning after we cleared out on the previous day. We decided not to take on the dinghy (Rotorka) so we pulled it all along the way to Curacao.
In line with the weather forecast there was not any wind just a little breeze, so the Rotor rolled left and right on the waves. So does Rotorka, which sometimes took advantage on the waves and came next to Rotor.
At around 10 am we have got the following VHF call: 3x Sailing Vessel on my port side. Do you read me?
A huge freighter called us as it wanted to cross our way. (When a sailing yacht and a motor vessel are on a collision course a sailing vessel has the right of the way.) It seamed that it was not sure whether we collide or not. So we gave to them our course. However, it crossed our way far foregone from us.
We arrived to Curacao to the channel of Spanish Water just before sunset. This was the first night without mosquitoes.
|
35. day - 13/11/2006 - Curacao looks like a typical Dutch town with organised and colourful houses on the shore. In the morning we asked the owner of the Belgien boat, Petrushka how we can clear in. Chris, the owner was very kind and gave us his pilot book, which contained the details about it. As we just missed the bus to the town (Willemstadt) we were hitchhiking.
In Willemstadt the trading quay is where the trading ships use to trade. The buildings were situated here with their red tiled roofs (brought over from Europe) that bring to mind Amsterdam. These are today small hotels and restaurants. I think the most interesting part of the town is the floating pontoon bridge (Queen Emma bridge), when a ship arrives she swings open aside parallel with the shore and allows ships to enter or leave the harbour. We had to cross this bridge because the Custom and Immigration was on the opposite side of the shore, therefore clearing in took us couple of hours, however it was completely free as well as the anchorage.
Interesting: the local dialect in Curacao is called the Papiamento, which is the mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, Arawak Indian and African languages. |
36. day - 14/11/2006 - In Willemstadt there are many historical sites from the times of slavery. We went to visit the Kura Hulanda Museum, which has the best African artefact collection on the Caribbean. . |
Continues on the next page... |
|
|
|
