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Here it comes at last
We left St Maarten in really lovely weather. Russell made us a curry he
was feeling so normal. The next morning we caught a fish, a lovely
little Skip-jack tuna just the right size for us! It was really yummy.
Day 2 was really rough and the wind was stronger. I made history and was
actually sea-sick for the first time on Nui! Des was too so I was in
good company. The kids were fine & Russ was hanging in there as usual,
but it’s a bit hard when the kids want to eat & I couldn’t care about
anything. Anyway we managed. The self-steering rope broke and D replaced
it but an hour later he saw that the block that it runs thru’ had done a
self-destruct number, so he had to replace that too. ( Our wind
self-steering has been named ‘Timon’ because he is the Timoneer –
apparently the name for the helmsman or tiller man in times gone by )
The 3rd day the conditions eased off again but the day is never without
incidents. Jared kicked Dylan off our bed, which is quite high up & of
course he landed on his head again – this child is not destined to be
normal! So we had blood all over till we cleaned it up to find a small
scrape on his scalp. Thank goodness we didn’t need stitches! At the end
of day 3, Sunday, we got into Los Roques. It was very busy with lots of
people coming & going & many people kite surfing happily. There are
large stretches of protected water where the wind blows consistently &
these guys have a tremendous time skimming along really fast! It looks
like a sport for the fit & strong tho’.
The next day the wind was still blowing a hoolie so all the kids (big &
small) played on the computer for as long as they could – which was most
of the day. Des did repairs to Timon & his ropes & replaced some uphauls
that desperately needed it – we should have done that in St M but
forgot. Then we took a walk around the salt lagoon on the nearest piece
of land.
They apparently have flamingos in these islands (tho we didn’t see any)
& the water in the lagoon is a red colour – obviously the stuff that
keeps the flamingos pink like in Botswana. On the other side we found a
surfers beach & waves! Waves in the Caribbean! I played with the old
ropes & made some mats to prevent the bocks from hitting the deck when
we sail.
The next day we sailed between the islands & had a closer look at 1 or
2, just from the water as we went by. We need more time to spend a day
in each one, so we chose 2 & cruised past the others. We spent the day
at one where we parked so close to the shore in such shallow water that
it was up to Des’ belly-button! We share it with the Pellies who were
busy diving all around us, not at all bothered by us. We walked around
the boat & scraped it & cleaned it. Then we took a little walk on the
beach. While we were cleaning the kids disappeared to play on the sand
dunes. They haven’t seen sand dunes for a while now & when we got there
Jabs got all excited & said to Dibs ‘Hey, there’s piles of sand Dibs.
They call them dunes!’ I forget these things sometimes & it didn’t occur
to me that Dibbo might not know that! Sure took me by surprise. Anyway
Russell went to find the kids & then we went on to the next island –
half an hour away, in flat water! Great stuff! When we picked up the
anchor we went aground, so Russ had to jump in again & pick up the
anchor out of the sand & pass it up, & then push us off again. Crazy
these Wharrams!
The peacefulness here is unbelievable. Everything us so untouched &
clean. There are no boats rushing anywhere. The place is large & open. A
lot of the island cluster is uncharted & so kept as a reserve area ‘cos
people wont go where there are no charts normally. Some islands are kept
as a reserve for birds & you aren’t allowed to anchor there. There’s no
fishing except with hand lines, no reels etc. So its being well looked
after.
The next day was Dibbo’s 7th birthday, so I made a cake from a recipe
from Granny Annette & it turned out quite well. This recipe has no eggs
but has vinegar & bicarb instead, no margarine – oil instead, & makes a
large cake too. My kind of cake! Then we sailed over to the next island
(Isle de Agua) & along the way caught a barracuda, but a hungry shark
bit off the useful bits & left us with the head & not much else, while
it was still on the line! Damn cheek. Anyway we anchored in a quiet bay
but soon after the day-trippers arrived. This turned out to be the beach
that the charter boats use to bring MANY people to spend the day on the
beach. It was like a railway station! Anyway we took a walk to the palm
trees where we dug in one of the holes & found fresh water & a little
sparrow-type bird decided she needed a bath (had to be a female) so we
sat & waited while birdie did her thing. She was not at all scared of
us. The next morning we took a walk on the beach to the lighthouse & on
the way back we found some gannet type birds – called Boobies – nesting
in the sand just above the high water line. Some had pink faces & some
had blue faces! Then we moved on the Aves de Barlovento in a windy,
squally & lumpy sea. This is also a Boobie breeding place & the mangrove
trees are full of nesting birds. There are heaps of them in the air,
squawking & grunting & the guano smell is quite strong. We took the
kayak up the swamp between the mangroves & again the birds are not
afraid of you but come to see you instead. The wind was still blowing
hard so we parked with the fishing boats where it was a bit less windy.
All the other yachts were around the corner in the windy part.
The next day we left for Curacao & the weather was lovely this time! We
got there too early so took down the sails & waited till it was light.
Then we went looking for the anchorage – ‘cos we don’t have a chart for
the place! We found it up a beautiful little river – where we also found
Brandal 3!
So here we are for a day or 3 before we move on again on a long trip –
roughly 700miles is the next leg, so it will take us about a week. That
is to San Blas Islands which has nothing but islands, wind, sea & sun.
So I will send the next instalment from Panama somewhere I think ( in
about 2 weeks time ) So long & all the best.
Des, Ally, Russ & the island-hopping monsters!
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Posted - 25
April 2004
Topic ~
Curacao
