Curacao N.A.

Pronounced…Cur – a – sow… The Bonaire customs guys showed up with the shotgun about 6:45am Saturday May 16th and we were ready to go! We had a wonderful sail…7-8 knots…and the seas were not too bad! Of course the main got caught in the mast again so we had to take it down manually, then raise it again…This is the southern end of the island of Curacao...AND…once inside the protected multiple Spaanse Water Bay in our search for a good signal for internet while blowing 20 plus knots…the windlass QUIT…yes, I said QUIT!!! For a boat that drops anchor and lifts anchor by windlass…this WAS quite an event!! I even got to drive the boat in a stressful situation!!! Spare anchor down (Paul always keeps a second anchor on the second anchor roller and 50 feet of chain and lots of line just for this type of unexpected event)…all was well.P&J saw us on the way back to Delphinus and swung by to say hi! So good to see them…we went out with them to a little shack right off of the fishermen’s dingy dock to have rotis for dinner…um..um good! Sunday afternoon P&J came over for our last “snake tournament” (as they call it)…and Paul’s tortillas (Phils favorites)! Joanna is flying out Monday back to the States and Phil has crew flying in Wednesday for hopeful departure date of Thursday. Delphinus will begin her passage back to the states. We will truly miss having them to buddy boat with. Paul has waited patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for four years for Phil to get Delphinus back out into the waters of the Caribbean! There does seem to be some sort of beer/rum/sailing bond between the two. It has been great fun…we do thank them so much...both Phil and Joanna...for their very special company on this part of the journey...wish them the best... including calm winds and following seas for their summer adventure on the Chesapeake Bay.

We waited until Monday morning to take the bus in to Willemstad, Curacao for official check in. Everyone here is so very nice and helpful!After customs check in.... Paul waited at the ferry dock for me to cross the inlet and go to immigration and the Port Authority. The longest floating bridge was broken again...this is the floating bridge open against the immigration side (versus the customs side where Paul was waiting)...This is the bridge that I had to walk down to and then under to get to the immigration office... Both were quite a walk from the ferry dock. The above map kept me from getting too lost...along with having read P&J's Delphinus blog the night before where she had pictures posted (thank you J!)!!We stopped at the floating market on the way back to the bus stop and bought some onions, limes, tomatoes, and green peppers and then waited for the bus to take us back.This is why they call it the floating market...the actual market is on the pier...the boats are floating behind ...Only $3.20 Guilders for both of us to go into town one way on the bus! Pretty cheap as the exchange rate is around $1 u.s.d. to $2.75 Guilders. Paul had announced on the morning cruisers net that he had the 250 feet of chain (has been bow ballast since Baltimore) and Little Bit (the little dingy that has served us so well since November 2008) for sale.…we’ll see what happens! We will be busy as we have sail repairs and now windlass repairs to attend to before we leave for Roatan...