Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

We are currently anchored within the protected waters of Spanish Waters in Curacao. This is home to nearly 100 cruising vessels. The vessels are mostly long range cruisers who are using this "Hurricane Hole" to wait out the sever weather that plagues the Caribbean during the summer and fall.

The high concentration of voyagers makes for a busy social schedule. The VHF radio net announces the daily activities. We have attended the weekly happy hour to get to know our neighbors. There the children are able to get together to plan their own social activities. There are quite a few children here so birthday parties and beach BBQ's are high on their list. Water sports within the bay are also a priority and the children enjoy wake boarding, knee-board surfing & surfing behind the dingy.

The entrance to the bay is dominated with a just opened Hotel/Resort. The resort has dedicated a portion of the beach to the public. The children enjoy the clearer water and sand beach several times a week. Outside the entrance to Spanish Waters we all enjoy snorkeling around the sunken tugboat. The fish are regularly feed by the tourist dive boats at this site. Each time we snorkel there, we are surrounded by huge numbers of expectant fish.

Daily boat necessities are simplified with the local food markets providing free bus shuttles daily. The public buses allow us easy access into Willemstad. Willemstad is divided into two sections with Punda "the point", is the oldest part of Willemstad and a unique mixture of Caribbean and Dutch influences. Otrobanda lies on the other side of the Annabay and means "other side". The majority of shopping and entertainment is located here. Punda & Otrobanda are connected by the Emmabrug also called the "swinging old lady", a floating bridge constructed in the 19th century. The children love to get caught on the bridge when ships either enter or exit the main commercial harbor via the Annabay channel.

There are many boats from the United States of America here. This is the first time in many years where we are not the only US flagged vessel. It was a real treat to have July 4th, Independence Day BBQ at Caracasbaai. Caracasbaai is a beach just to the west of Spanish Waters. The US is not the only country represented by visiting yachts. There are vessels from Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland & Venezuela.

Phoebe and Drake are having a challenge learning Dutch. They also communicate with other yacht children in French, Spanish and German. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to practice so many different languages. There is also the local language called Papiamento which is a compilation of several languages. It is really a tongue twister!

The future has Aruba, Cartagena, Columbia & the San Blas Islands of Panama in that order. The voyaging life style is one where a change of plan is always possible so we'll see if we make the next three countries before we transit the Panama Canal.

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The picture is of Drake after he broke his arm in a fall at the boat yard. We have been is Hout Bay since January 4th. Here we hauled Blue Sky out of the water for her 8th time. We removed the anti-foul that I applied in Malaysia. It was the International Interswift 655 and it really held up well. We could not get the 655 here so we went up to the Intersmooth 306 with the appropriate primer put on first. We repaired the slight damage to the keel we sustained in the Maldives when I drove Blue Sky on to a mound of coral rubble. When I looked at the damage underwater with a scuba mask the scrapes looked a whole lot worse than they turned out to be. We had Blue Sky craddled up high enough that I was able to sand, fill and fare the entire keel. Blue Sky now has a really smooth bottom! Emma's parents flew in from Tucson and the children were able to spend some great quality time with Ruth and Edward. We joined them for a trip out to Robben Island & up the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. We also made a couple of trips out to the wine farms and Phoebe and Drake had the opportunity to pet cheeta & lion cubs. The whole Cape Town area has just been a dream. We have been looked after not only by Emma's parents but Emma has a cousin here and Liz & Paul de Beers have been fantastic guides. We also have been able to connect with SoCal native Erik Bjerring who lives here now with his wife Colleen and daughter Tanille. Erik is managing the sales and marketing for Bavaria Yachts in the V and A waterfront. He knows where all the yacht supplies are and has helped us tremendously sourcing all the replacement parts to get Blue Sky back up to perfection. One more special thanks goes to Tony Gervais of 3M. He knows all the practical and ingenious solutions that made the re-fit of Blue Sky a pleasure instead of a chore! If I ever have a choice between a 3M product or a copy, I always insist on 3M.

We are now back in the water and just finishing up all the little installations that did not require us to be out of the water. Sails are being re-stiched and new UV covers sewn on. I'm having a brand new stainless radar mount manufactured that will be engineered better and stronger than the original. We are waiting on a few parts for the Yamaha outboard and I received brand new Carefree Tires from California for the dingy.

From here we will head north along the coast working our way to Namibia. From there we will make the jump to St Helena then to Brazil.

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The photo is Blue Sky rounding the northern tip of Madagascar, Cape d'Ambre. This is a very rare calm here!

We are currently at the Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay, South Africa.

Needless to say we are very relieved to be in South Africa. The passage from Chagos to Madagascar was an experience that I would prefer to never repeat. It is all the more chilling now that the British Yacht Lynn Rival has been hijacked by Somali Pirates. The couple is currently being held aboard a commercial vessel that was taken during our voyage from Chagos.

The stress of not communicating on VHF with our buddie boat s/v Moose and when we did our daily sked on the SSB we spoke in a code that we only had. The commercial shipping was just as nervous as we were. We were passed on three occassion. The first was during daylight and a east bound German registered ship steam by and blew their horns wishing us luck and in hindsight blew away any bad luck. The second vessel was encountered on the Saya de Malha bank. It was just drifting and the only thing that Emma and I could guess is that it must have been awaiting orders where/what to load. The third vessel was the worst as it was just before nautical dawn. I received a beep on our CARD (collision avoidance radar detector) and immediatly powered up the Raytheon Radar to see a very strong return displayed only a couple of miles directly behind us. Worse the Somalis were using "motherships" to dispatch their boarding pirates and it was still dark and I could not see what was coming. To add to the stress we were running in "black-out" conditions and so were they! I turned on the engine and made a 90 degree turn to port. The dawn just broke as the commercial vessel passed us within 1/2 mile. (That is REALLY close.) Relief! It was only a commercial vessel but I am still pissed that a vessel their size would even consider getting that close to us. I know for a fact that our radar reflection is over 9 miles so IF the watch WAS looking, THEN they saw us for more than 30 minutes.

Making Madagascar was a relief and we rounded the northern most cape in calm conditions.

Three months of relaxation was what we needed and Madagascar proved just that!

From Madagascar we motor/sailed over to Mayotte. Staying only a few weeks we then proceded to the East Coast of Africa. Ile Mozambique was our landfall and proved a stunning sight with its fort.

We used the southerly/northerly weather to make our way down the coast of Mozambique. We were amazed at the huge population of humpback whales. They would cruise past the boat or we would see them breaching off in the distance or tail/flipper slapping the water. We made it into Richards Bay, South Africa just after our closest pass of a whale. It surfaced directly in front of the boat and that with the engine running and blasting music from the stereo. I guess he was just curious. One vessel did collide with a whale and it disabled his propeller and rudder. The fleet this year gave the local sea rescue a busy time. Of the 9 vessels that left Mauritius 4 of them were towed into Richards Bay with some dammage.

Now that we are here we will take advantage of its proximity to the game parks. Hopefully we will be fortunate and see at least a few of the big 5. Phoebe is hoping for an elephant and Drake wants to see a lion. I'll just be happy to take a quick break!

more to follow....

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