We have just had a wonderful week diving, snorkeling and touring Curacao with our son Garrow and his girlfriend Lauren. Garrow's highlight was diving on the reefs and seeing a spotted manta ray, turtle, eels, and all the fish and coral. Lauren's highlight was the snorkeling and the battleships (she thought every tanker was a battleship). Our favorite was Playa Cas Abao Beach (see photos). We went there the first day and Garrow had to do a certification dive. The instructor said it would only take 5-10 minutes to check his skills and then Tony and I could dive the reef with them. It was beautiful conditions and the coral, both soft and hard, was spectacular. We saw a juvenile spotted drum, lionfish (invasive, venomous, nasty creature with no predators), shrimp, parrot fish, angel fish, etc. The beach was also one of the prettiest beaches with fluffy white sand (see photos). We liked it so much, we went back a second day.
Garrow also got in a day of golf, and got to experience the 20+ knots wind on the course, and see the Course Marshall (iguana). Lauren accompanied him to find extra balls for him to make up for his loss rate! But, there was one ball that she could not retrieve (see photos). Tony and I caught up with them for lunch and then went to Willemstad touring.
We also dove/snorkeled Playa Porto Marie Beach, which has a double reef. Tony and Garrow dove twice that day. Lauren and I snorkeled while improving our underwater communication skills. Lauren is quite a fish herself! She would dive down >10 feet to photograph the fish, terrorizing some as she chased after them! (see photos and YouTube Video of Spotted Trunkfish:
). We also had a Spotted Trunkfish living in the marina, which we named Marco Polo because he moves around the marina from day to day (see photo).
Our least favorite thing was getting lost on the way to the beaches and trying to decipher the totally inaccurate map, which is the only one they have on the island. Of course, Gail viewed this as an opportunity to start another company!
After 25 fun filled years as an environmental consulting firm owner, Gail sold her company and she and her husband, Tony the CFO, retired to go sailing on their boat Cetacea (see photo gallery). Cetacea was in St. [...]Lucia for 12 years (2001-2012) and they sailed the eastern Caribbean as far north as the BVIs and as far south as Grenada. Almost all thier family and friends (see photo gallery) have joined them on at least one trip and look forward to more island adventures in the future!
In February 2013, they finally unplugged from the dock and headed west. In 2013, they sailed to Bonaire; Curacao; Providencia and San Andres in Columbia; and Bocas del Toro and San Blas Islands in Panama. They left the boat in Shelter Bay, Colon, Panama at the end of 2013 to go "home for the holidays".
In January 2014, they made transit through the Canal and into the Pacific, to the Galapagos Islands. In May, they sailed to the Marquesas Islands, then Tuamotu Islands, then Society Islands. They left Cetacea in Tahiti in September and flew home to be with family.
In January 2015, they returned to Tahiti with a 12-month Visa. Unfortunately, they were "stuck in Tahiti" with an engine repair project, but it was a wonderful time fully immersed in the Tahitian culture. And, finally, they got out to cruise the Society Islands for a couple months before returning home for the holidays.
In 2016, they returned to Tahiti in March and finally got to cruise in the Tuamotu Islands with the best snorkeling ever. In June, they left French Polynesia, and headed west to the Cooks, Niue, American Samoa, Samoa, and Tonga, and finally ending the season in New Zealand.
In 2017 - 2018, they stayed in NZ and completed a major refit on Cetacea, inside and out. In June 2019, they sailed to Fiji for the season, and then sailed to Vanuatu on the way to the Solomon Islands, where they left the boat for cyclone season.
In 2020, they planned to return to the Solomons to continue cruising, but Covid lockdowns prevented them from returning.
In July 2022, they were finally able to return to the Solomons and start work to put everything back together. It took 5 weeks to get everything cleaned up and all critical systems working. Thankfully, new generator and windlass batteries were already shipped in. A broken hydraulic backstay was replaced with some turnbuckles and chain. The upper helm navigation equipment died, but could be replaced with a computer. A shaft was dripping but seemed to have fixed itself. A bilge hose seemed to be plugged so the bilge pump was not working efficiently; no solution except to keep an eye on it. The engine start batteries were on a last leg, so new ones were ordered from Australia, which took 2 months to arrive. In the interim, they did get out to cruise the Solomons including New Georgia, and Santa Isabel Islands. In October, they sailed to Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea, which was the closest place to get a bottom job and some other minor repairs. In November, they will leave the boat in PNG, to fly "home for the holidays".
The plan for 2023 is TBD.
P.S. Cetacea is the higher order biological name for whales and dolphins. Whales and dolphins are cetaceans. And our boat is a big fat whale of a boat, hence the name Cetacea! Not to mention that Tony & Gail, like all sailors, love whales.