Now that I got the last post out of my system, here's what went on on Saturday, our third day here in Curacao.

There is a free bus that runs 6 days a week(0830) from the dinghy dock to one of the big super markets. It also is right next to Budget Marine and Island Water World for any of our boaters needs. Tracy and I went in along with Roy from Serenity as he still needed a new spark plug for his outboard. We(Roy and myself, Tracy was shopping for groceries) ended up at Napa figuring it would be cheaper than either of the chandleries. It was just down the road. Saturdays hours were from 0900 on and we were just a bit early so we stood outside and waited, along with 8 other people. Unlike stores in the US(see a crowd and open the doors especially if you are a small business)they stayed closed and locked up till 0910. We're not in American any more.

Roy got his spark plug and then we walked back to the grocery store and met up with Tracy still going up and down the aisles. The bus picked up everyone(about 8 of us) and we headed back, some more loaded than others. Once we dropped Roy off at his boat, he had his outboard up and running in about 10 minutes. It had been a bad spark plug. He was off again this morning(Monday) to get a few more.

This morning(Monday) we started watching the weather as we knew it was coming. I started in on looking at our start battery bank that had so badly overheated on the way here. I checked each cell and refilled them but they were still reading 12.7 volts on each. Not the sign of a really toasted battery. With them checked and refilled, we started the engine and listened to her purr. We let her run for a while checking the volts coming from the alternator--14.5 so that wasn't the problem. I disconnected the ACR bit of electronics from the start batteries and taped off the ends of the cable making sure that it was out of the loop. We don't need any more drama. We will be ready to up the anchor and move to a bit better anchorage spot tomorrow morning. Where we are is find for north or east winds but if it should shift around to the south, we could come up and personal with a reef should we swing on the chain. Gee, ain't cruising fun? I'll type more tomorrow once we see what Mother Nature is throwing at us then.

It's now Tuesday morning and we've been busy. Depending on what website you look at or weather forecast that comes over the SSB radio, we will either have a storm or we won't have a storm. Some say up to 60 knots, some say just the normal 20(what it's blowing right now). No one seems to have a clue. Satellites and big airplanes flown into Don and still no clue as to what is going to come our way.

After a conversation with Chris and Elaine on Nemo yesterday(they were anchored beside us)we decided to wait till Tuesday(today) and make a decision as to what to do about our anchoring. In the end, we decided early this morning that we really needed to move so up came the anchor just after 0730 and we moved a bit farther south in the many fingered bay. The Curacao government has divided the bay into sections where you can anchor. We had been in B but move over to C(along with Nemo). After repeated tries with our Rocna anchor, we finally got it to hold but after some discussion, we decided that Zephyrs stern was just to close to shore. IF the anchor had broken free, we would have had about 20 seconds before we would have gone aground. Not something we wanted to contemplate, so after about 90 minutes of me sitting in the cockpit watching our anchor alarm and staring out at the rest of the bay and Tracy sitting below having definite concerns, we pulled up the anchor(it had actually set quite well) and head back to close to where we started only farther out in the bay(and outside the B box). When storms come, the Coast Guard will let people anchor outside of the boundaries just to make sure they are safe since inside the boundaries fills up quickly. Where we dropped the anchor, it grabbed quickly and set very well. We again set our anchor alarms and are settling in. We don't plan to leave Zephyr till Thursday if this storm does materialize. We sit and we wait.

It's now Wednesday morning and we were up at 0600 to listen to Chris Parker, the weather guru for the Caribbean. Reception was bad so we moved over to the different weather sites we look at on the net. It still showed Don coming our way but with much less intensity. With us learning that, we again pulled up the anchor just after 0700 and pretty much moved back to where we started, just bit more to the south. The anchor went down in 16 feet of water and I let out the chain and she bit in first try! A good thing. We judged our position so we were not close to Serenity and started getting ready. We could see the storm front headed our way blotting out the Sun. When we'd pulled up the anchor this morning, parts of it were caked in mud so I spent about 15 minutes with a bucket cleaning off the fiberglass at the bow. We knew it was going to rain but I wanted the muddy mess gone before it had a chance to dry and harden around the windlass. We could see the storm coming with it's progressively darker clouds so we put up the side and part of the stern cloth panels that enclose the cockpit. We can sit out and stay nice and dry and be about to better watch what was happening around us. We headed below to have a quick breakfast just after 0800. At 0815, the rain and winds started as the outer reaches of Don started in. We'd gotten set at just the right time so we had a nicely set anchor and an enclosed cockpit. Winds hit in the mid 30 knot range and driving rain came with it. The first of the storm passed in a few minutes and now we are just sitting and waiting for the next arrival.

It's now 1530 and we are waiting for the next round due here about 1730 according to the weather folks. We've only had about 3/4 inch of rain while the north coast of Curacao has had over 7 inches so far today with more coming. Winds are up and down, from calm to only about 10 knots as the front comes through so it's been pretty much a non event but there is still more coming. Believe me, I'm not complaining, I just wish the forecasters were better at their jobs(don't we all).