Bonaire - May 2006

We had a wonderfully smooth sail from Grenada to Bonaire. The 300 mile sail took us 2days 6 hrs. The wind was directly behind us, we were going with the waves and part of it we sailed with the spinnaker only. We had dolphins chase us for part of the way.



Currently we are in Bonaire which is absolutely gorgeous. The whole island is a marine park and is often described as one of the best dive spots in the world. It is literally like being able to swim in an aquarium from the back of your boat. The water is so clear. Daryl is tempted to hire gear and do a full dive.



We hired a car and spent a day exploring the interior of the island. It was how I imagined Mexico to be - huge cacti everywhere, iguana scampering off the road as we passed by and wild donkeys looking on.





The locals are extremely conservation conscious, which is refreshing.
We saw many pink flamingos.
We also spent time on the salt flats visiting the slave huts. There used to be 4 slaves to each hut . A very sad part of history.



As is the way in the Caribbean, we have been waiting a week now for a warranty part for the inverter and it’s not expected for a few days yet. Because the inverter is only a few months old and this is the only agent for miles, we have little choice but to wait. I can’t think of a better place to have to do the waiting, but we are also keen to get to Panama before too long.
Roger, who we had met several weeks earlier , joined us as crew to make the 4th person an is going to stay on board until we get to Tahiti.
We have met up with another boat, Archangel, that is also going through the Panama and on into the South Pacific. They travel at a similar speed to us, so there is a strong possibility we will travel in convoy. Archangel was previously owned by Peter Blake, this couple having recently bought it in Spain from Peter’s widow, Pippa.



Daryl has gained the title as ‘the first person to fall overboard’ when getting into the dinghy. He did it ever so gracefully with only me present. I live in fear that my turn will come when we are on a dock in the middle of town!!!!
(Amendment to paragraph 6. Laurel pushed me !!! )
Our plan is to leave here at the end of the week, and then do a 4 day sail through to San Blas, which is a beautiful group of isolated islands within half a day of Panama.