When cruisers get together we always amuse ourselves with
tales of the most frequently asked question.
Our answers are routinely uniform – customs, immigration, currency,
finding shops, shopping, finding
transport for heavy items, loading up the dinghy, getting things on board,
finding space to stow it and if you’re lucky a swim before lunch to reduce your
skyrocketing temperature. Then there’s
the afternoon...
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| Shopping bags still going strong - Anne |
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| ... and I still have to get in |
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| Some dinghy docks are better |
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| ... than others |
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| Trusty bromptons |
So I thought I’d actually recount one of our days to give
you a flavour of what all that involves.
Take last Friday.
I have tried to do some stretching before breakfast since
we left the boatyard but not today. So
it was our typical midweek breakfast of muesli and fruit and a cup of tea. Cooked breakfasts are saved for the weekend
and even then we’ve reduced the amount of bacon and eggs we have. More like beans on toast (Heinz beans
becoming a bit of a luxury since we are in the Dutch islands). Then it’s on with the day’s chores.
There is always a bit of a tussle over who’s getting the
wifi stick. Having internet on the boat
makes such a difference that we’ve now accepted it’s worth paying a bit more
for it. Saves trudging around town with
sheaves of paper/computers to get things done and never being sure how secure
the sites are.
Today I’ve got to order some whipping twine (not as
exciting as it sounds..) The lacing that
holds the leather steering wheel cover in place has been coming undone ever
since we crossed the Atlantic and I’m only now getting round to replacing
it. I managed to get some beige twine to
match the steering wheel and with two needles you have to weave a cross stitch
in and out of the leather cover. There
are 5 sections and I’ve managed to do 2 so far and am about to run out of the
beige twine. Of course after searching
the local chandlery and various internet sites I discover no one is selling the
beige anymore.
So I end up skyping the manufacturer in the UK (‘All Hail
Skype’ it has transformed our lives) where I discover it is still made and I
need to get a retailer to send it to me.
The trouble talking to the retailer is that they have a minimum order of
12 rolls and beige it seems is not a big seller. However, I persuade him I will take 2 and
there may be a rush on the other 10 as beige is so hard to find at the
moment... I’m still waiting for
confirmation that they have put their order in and how much it will be for them
to send it to the Marina in Bonaire near where we are currently moored. Then the real tension sets in as we anxiously
wait for something to arrive knowing we can’t leave until it’s here. Not so bad at the moment as we plan to spend
some time in Bonaire but we are on a 90 day cruisers visa and we have already
used up 45 days.
We had planned to go for a dive this morning but time is
ticking away. Mark is working on the
emergency tiller housing which has developed a good rust crust. So far he has taken it ashore to sand down
and paint with ospho which helps to eradicate rust – well as much as you
can. Rob the guy who has helped us out
with second hand dive gear has also let him use the garden of the dive shop to
paint on the hammerite rust protection paint to avoid paint tins rolling around
on deck and the dust that is blown endlessly onto the boat from shore.
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| What has to come out of the locker |
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| So Mark can get in to work on the tiller |
Meanwhile I finish off masking up the final bit of teak deck
to be caulked. You may remember I did
approx 400 meters of caulking last year and this is the last bit to be done
around the teak on our forward locker hatch.
Once this is completed I can delete caulking from my to do list. As it’s been on there since May 2010 I’m
pretty excited at getting it done. The
sun is baking down now so I’m wearing my Tilly hat – looks pretty ridiculous
but it stops sunstroke. Pat and Carole a
couple we met in the boatyard stop by to see if we want to go diving with them
today and we agree after lunch would be good.
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| Some nice hat harry |
The whole island of Bonaire is a marine park and they
have successfully cultivated an amazing range of coral, fish and sea life. We have often talked about getting our own
dive gear but were never in the right place at the right time. In Curacao a fellow cruiser gave us a dive
tank which we thought would be good for emergencies, and once we got to Bonaire
there are so many dive shops they are happy to sell their old gear. So now we have our own wet suits, regulators
and BCDs all for the price it would have cost us to rent for 3 weeks. This means we can now jump off the back or
head off in the dingy to one of the 60+ dive sites in the bay.
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| Cool gear |
Today we are going to a site called 18 palms which is
sheltered from the strongish wind that is blowing. Once Mark is back from his painting and we’ve
had lunch, we load up the dingy and head off on the half hour journey to the
south of the bay. Pat and Carole get
there in a quarter of the time with their much faster engine... We have a bigger one on order but it still
hadn’t arrived in Curacao by the end of March when we left (despite being
assured it would be there by the end of Feb).
So we putter down with our 3.5hp Tohatsu we call Tommy.
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| Fish |
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| Fish and Coral |
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| Fish |
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| Fish and Coral |
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| More fish |
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| Screensaver cutie |
Spectacular dive with sightings of huge tarpon, a couple
of barracuda, a Lionfish and heaps of other reef fish. We are down for about an hour and by the time
we get back to Zenna it’s already 4 o’clock,
We had provisionally said we would meet Pat, Carole and another couple
at City Cafe a happy hour bar at 5 o’clock.
But before we do that we have to clean the boat which is our Friday
ritual so we have a nice clean boat for the weekend. The locals are doing lots of roadwork which
means everything inside and out gets covered in a fine dust which is constantly
blowing off the island. We’ve worked out
by cleaning the boat on a Friday it stays cleaner longer as they don’t work
weekends.
Plus we still have to finish the caulking. It was masked this morning but now we need to
squeeze the caulk in and then remove the tape.
Mark is questioning whether we should be doing it at all, but I’m
determined to get it finished today.
Apart from anything else, if it rains tonight, then the taping will all
peel off and I will have wasted the morning.
So we start caulking. A tube we
had open has hardened and is no good. A
second tube I get out is also no good, so I go to get another type that we
bought right at the beginning of the project and thankfully it’s still ok – but
it is a different type from the one we have been using and is a lot more
gooey. Finally it’s all caulked and
sealed and we prepare to remove the tape – but the caulk isn’t curing. Sh...!
We decide to leave it and hopefully it will have gone off by the
morning.
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| About 3 hours of masking taping |
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| Another 3 hours worth |
It’s now 5 thirty, Mark still has to take the dive
bottles into be refilled but at least the cleaning and caulking are done. I jump in the shower whilst he goes
ashore. As I’m getting dried I’m
surprised to hear strange voices and people boarding the boat. Mark has bumped into a couple we keep meeting
who have been fascinated by the fact we are cruising and has invited them back
for a drink. Once I cover my modesty, I
hand round beers while Mark has his shower.
The couple are from New York. He
is a fireman and she is an occupational therapist and they both love diving
which is why they are on Bonaire.
The meet up with Carole, Pat and the others goes out the
window as we are invited for a return drink on shore. There is a local evening market in the town
square and we watch some hilarious local dancing by 4 of the most aesthetically
challenged girls on the island.
Pantomime dames meet Hattie Jacques – Strictly need not worry. We also try some fried fish which is
delicious although we are alarmed at watching the deep fryer almost burn its
way through the plastic table it’s sitting on.
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| Not the ones we saw |
It’s now 8 o’clock and we know this is when restaurants
start to close their kitchens so we head off in search of somewhere good, not
too touristy and not too Dutch. ‘ Appetite’
is very swish and Mark goes for a surprise
menu of three courses which the chef chooses for you. He is allowed to say what he can’t eat which
in Mark’s case is anything vegetarian. I
opt for a goat’s cheese starter and veal main.
We are rather surprised when Mark’s dishes arrive and are goat’s cheese
and veal... Differently prepared from
mine and less generous servings so I end up eating his and vice verse.
With our late start ashore and more involved meal than
normal we are still out at 11pm. A first
since we got to Bonaire about 6 weeks ago.
We are normally in bed by 8 or 9pm or occasionally 7pm. After we have cooked onboard and washed up
there’s not much to do but go to bed and read a book. We now have LED bedside lights which means we
don’t have to worry about running down the batteries. But tonight we can finally sample the local
night life. As we are moored about ¼ of
a mile away from the town centre we endure the karaoke and dance bars until
4am. Now we actually get to see what
goes on. Tourists and locals all out on
the pick up. All pretty dull really but
we throw in some Ceroc moves (makes us look like real old fogies) and down a
couple of rum and cokes.
OK so the day I’ve chosen was a bit more action packed
than most and certainly involved meeting up with more people than normal. And it was a Friday which is the night we
most often eat ashore. But otherwise
that’s a normal cruising day – particularly all the little frustrating jobs
that rarely go smoothly ... Not a
customs house, shop, bank or bus in sight!
