Back at Sea and all it entails and into Bonaire.
17 July 2012 | Caribbean Sea
Ian
It has been 18 hours since we left Grenada and we have only done 120nm. The wind has been a bit iffy and dead astern which is not our best point of sail with the strength alternating between 12 and 25 knots so we have not even flown the Code Zero yet. Thunderstorms marked our departure from Grenada at noon Monday the 16th July 2012 but this mornings sunrise was spectacular. Yesterday started well.
Keely and I cleared Customs and Immigration with Keely giving hugs all round to the officials and a great big hug for Kim at "De Big Fish" bar and restaurant where we had spent a few hours having lemonades and hot chips over the last few weeks. We scrubbed the anchor chain as it came up as growth at Grenada is huge. The hull and props had been scrubbed a few days before. By lunch we had begun our exit from Prickly Bay. Keely was excited, Jo had a headache and Gill and Tizer the HOP decided that rest was the order of the day with several movies to help relieve our batteries of their precious power. They both rest for the first 24 hours and both recover their sea legs during this period. Tizer will be looking for his fresh fish shortly but no luck on rod and reel nor on deck catches. It was a great sail for the first 12 hours with winds in the showers and storms around 20 knots so we slid along quite nicely but it has since died down to around 8 knots so motor sailing is the norm once more. We should be able to raise the new sail today as there are no heavy clouds on the horizon in any direction and the winds look steady. Last night was odd with a fair amount of shipping starting at about 2300. The first ship was on a direct collision course with us when we picked it up on the AIS at 10nm. I had just finished my watch so no rest for awhile. Altered course to starboard by 20 degrees and they passed 1nm on our port side 13 minutes later. It looked like they were on their way to Trinidad and in a slight hurry. They did answer the radio and also altered course to ensure safety. Just after they were clear a light was spotted about 3nm to port moving rapidly with no AIS signal and we could not even identify them on radar. They eventually did a full 360 degree circle around us at the same distance so I can only guess it was a plastic warship or high speed fishing boat. Pirates would not tend to do this I guess and leave their lights on.Many ships later the AIS alarm went off a few hours ago at 0415 and it was a repeat of the first but as he was going a tad faster we had to get a real wiggle on. The AIS is a great bonus to have and I would hesitate to sail the seas again without it. At 0430 I checked the fridge and it had defrosted. The powere levels of the batteries were down to 11.95 volts which is virtually flat. Most appliances will cut out at a certain voltage and when you account for voltage drop the fridge is the first to go. We have been suspecting that our batteries were sus but this has confirmed it so I hope Bonaire has some ready for us. It has just hit 6am and I can hear stirrings below as tummies grumble and Tizer looks for an exit from Gill's cabin so will post this off now.
Addendum Friday 20th July
Well we arrived at Bonaire after about 54hours of sailing. We slowed down once again on Wednesday night as the wind picked up to 30knots and we wanted to make our normal sunrise entry.
We caught several Dorado on the way and landed one with the rest devouring the lures and breaking lines. I suspect they were actually nuke subs or large Tuna or maybe even a marlin. We saw several of these jumping astern at one stage of the crossing.
Lots of shipping and always at night to increase the adrenalin levels and a few flying fish to assist Tizer the HOP in his growth patterns.
We arrived here and moored directly in front of Eric and Lucky on "YELA" who we had not see since May in Grenada. He left Friday morning for Curacao and we will see him again in Santa Marta.
Bonaire is lovely and clean. It is a real change after Grenada and the water is even clearer than Tobago Cays. Will snorkel in a few days after we have installed the new batteries. I think it is my fault. I had the inverter on while running the engines and left the battery charger on at the same time. This appears to have destroyed our 6V battery bank. They can be cgharged but remove the charger source (sun, wind and generator) and they immediately begin to lose the charge at a rapid rate. While sailing our batteries were down to 11.95V after a night with them fully charged at 14.2V at sunset. The autopilot uses a fair bit if juice so it was not noticed as much in Grenada. Luckily Budget Marine stocks them and they will be delivered tomorrow morning and I will install soon after.
More to come but after we have experienced it.
The crew