Lucie
06/30/2009, Los Roques Venezuela

Well here we are again in Venezuela. Could not stay away. After our last charter, we went back to Curacao to pick up a new anchor, which we love. One of the best purchases we have made in a long time. Then we headed southeast to the mainland of Venezuela for some provisionning. We had a good sail, closereach to Puerto Cabello Marina where we stayed for a couple of days. We took advantage of the running unmetered water to wash everything down which needed it badly after being in dusty Curacao. The boat changed colour. The shopping was good, lots of beer, rhum and nice fruits and veggies for not much. We then left in the afternoon for an overnight sail to Los Roques. First we sailed east along the coast, we thought that we would have to motor up but the wind turn out to our advantage. It can out more southerly and we made good progress without the motors on. Once we reached Caracas' longitude we started our northern leg with a reef in the main. Soon we had to reef again and again. With the smallest mainsail and a couple of reefs in the jib, we were still going 8 knots to destination. We arrived in the early morning, the light was not great to go over the coral reef but we trusted to charts and guide book and headed in the protected anchorage. These islands of Los Roques are so beautiful. We are now at Los Mosquises, two small islands separated by a channel where the wind hollers through at 20 knots. The beach is the perfect set-up for beginner kiteboarders, which WE are. John did get a few rides and tumbles but he is getting the hang of it and by the time we leave this place, he should be able to control it fairly well. As for me, I got the courage to graduate from the training kite to a 7m. Tomorrow, I will let it launch me in the water and drag me around for a bit. See how long, I can last...Theo is a rock star flyer, he gets it from playing gameboy I think. We will see as he does in the water in the next few days. Again if you need to reach us, do so with our High frequency email address which does not need internet access. cfn5324@sailmail.com.

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Lucie
06/19/2009, Curacao

We had a nice visit with Bill. Maria and Sofia. After a few days in Bonaire, we did some good dives, we tacked south to Chichirivichi. The wind was over 20 knots and it made for some rough seas. We spent 2 days on the coast, which was spectacular. The islands are beautiful, the coast is lined with beaches and coconut trees. It was great to get back into the South American culture again. The ABC's are more Dutch, European and wealthier then Venezuela. The people are generally friendlier and I was happy to practice my Spanish again. We did some replenishing on beer and rhum and decided to continue on to los Aves. We left early and headed northeast. The seas became rougher as we got farther from the coast and the wind was also increasing. We reef the mainsail and continued on and after a full day of beating into it, we arrived just before dark.
The next few days were fully R&R. We did lots of snorkeling and manage to find some lobsters for a great feast. The kids had a great time playing in the water. John gave Bill and I a bit of a kite flying lesson and we also manage to get a tour of the mangroves for some birdwatching. On our last evening there, we had a visit from the Costa Guarda, which were very nice and invited us to return soon.
We made it back to Bonaire and the American trio organized their flights back home. It was great to have them visit us again.
We are now back in Curacao. We are picking up a bigger and newer anchor that we ordered from the States and also some sunbrella for some new shades. We are also taking some time to fix our new bimini which needed some stronger sides, the original was made of a foam trim covered with fiberglass. We caught out the foam to replace it with mahoganny. As soon as we are done with this carpentry work we will wait for a favorable wind to head east again. We will head to Chichirivichi and then to los Roques before coming back to Curacao to replenish for our trip to Cartagena and Panama. The kids have been having a great time here. They have met "Evolution" (3 kids) which are staying in one of the marina of Spanish Waters for the summer. Tomorrow, they have been invited to a overnight campout at Santa Cruz beach with our carpenter and his 3 sons. If only we could find a buddyboat with kids to cruise with...

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Lucie
05/31/2009, Bonaire

Long awaited update!!!!
Yes, we are still sailing!
We are now in Bonaire. We have just picked up some returning guests. Bill, Maria and Sofia will be with us for the next few weeks. We will head south to Chichirivichi, Venezuela and then make another tack north east to los Aves and hang there for a few days. The winds have been over 20 knots, excellent for sailing but anchoring and snorkelling in Aves has been problematic we hear. We hope that we will have a bit of a break in the weather and have a chance to try out our new speargun while diving in Aves since Bonaire is a National Park and the use of speargun or sling is totally prohibited. While we are in los Aves, we will be out of internet. We have bought a new modem while back at home this last winter that will unable us to use the high frequency radio and transmit emails. We will test it over the next week. Send us a line at CFN5324@sailmail.com.
The last few days have been great, lots of snorkeling and diving. It's wonderful to be in clear blue water again. The water is a lot cooler then when we were here last October. We are using our full wetsuits for diving. Yesterday dive included a big eagle ray and suicidal tuna running straight for us. We will see what today brings!!!!

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Lucie
04/14/2009, Curacao

How good to be in the water again!!!
We have been at Curacao Marine for a few weeks getting all kinds of work done. First, we worked on the bottom, taking many layers of toxic paint off right down to the gel coat, re-epoxied 3 coats and 3 coats of antifoaling paint.
The boatyard have started working on a hard top fiberglass bimini to cover the cockpit and to replace the present sunbrella and we are doing maintenance on all kind of other stuff. The windlass needed to be cleaned up and decoroded and painted again. The wind generator needed some balancing, the freezer needed a new control box, the teak needed some sanding and varnishing....the list does not seem to get any smaller as everyday we keep adding something new to fix, change, clean,or upgrade.
We had a great Easter weekend at Spanish Waters. We escaped the boat hell as the kids call the boatyard and ventured south for a few days of R&R.
We are hoping to get going soon and our first stop will be in Bonaire for some diving, kiteboarding and wakeboarding for the kids.

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12/04/2008, ABC's, Venezuela and Panama

After entertaining quite a few guests this summer, we have decided to try chartering.
We would encourage other families to join us but singles and couples are also invited.

Our itinerary for 2009 is:
March 22 to the end of July: Netherland's Antilles (ABC's) and Venezuela Islands (Los Roques and Los Aves)
October, November: Colombia and San Blas Islands, Panama (Caribbean)December and January: Panama Pacific side

Our rates are:
Low season : 15 May to 15 October
High season : March to 15 May - 15 October to 31 December

1 adult: $2000
2 adults: $3600 each child $600
3 adults: $5000
4 adults: $6000 High season add 15%

Rates are base on a weekly package.
Price include all meals, beverages, gas, use of any toys.(kayaking,kiteboarding,windsurfing,snorkeling and scuba equipment, wakeboarding and surfing...)
Extras are an excess of alcoholic beverages.(ha!ha!)
Flights and transfers, custom and immigration fee are also extras.

If you have any questions, please email sailingtyee3@gmail.com

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Lucie
11/08/2008

Once again, we came back to Bonaire to swim in its beautiful crystal clear water. We are moored in 20 feet of water and see the wildlife swim underneat us. A spotted eagle ray and a moray eel are frequent visitors. After Mamie's departure, we waited a couple of days for some other friends to join us. Steve and Angie from Jasper flew in from Curacao, John and the boys go to pick them up. They walked across the street from the airport and jumped into the dinghy with all their luggage to get back to Tyee. I spent the afternoon in company of Derek ("Idyll Island" their boat named after an island off SaltSpring Island where we used to live) and Frank ("Anomos"). We had a dive off Klein Bonaire that was fantastic, the best that I had so far. Our agenda was quite full! We had to get ready for Halloween, we were invited at the chief customs officer's house for a party. The kids had a blast. Nydia and Eddy had organized a bunch of games for them, they were great hosts.
The following day, we then invited Eddy, Nydia and their son Ethan for a day sail around Bonaire. It was a gorgeous day and we stopped at Klein's beach for an afternoon swim on the way back.
We had to get back to Curacao for the haul out, so we headed for Klein Curacao. We spent 2 nights there. Steve and John had a blast with the kiteboards and I was quite happy snorkeling and chasing fish. Our holiday was coming to an end and it was a bit difficult to head back to civilization.
We had a great sail back to Spanish Waters, unfortunately the fishing was not so good. We anchored once again beside our Canadian friends "Meggie". We met with Steve and Angie's travelling buddies, Monica and Stu and organized a day sail for the next day, to go to Curacao Marine.
The next day, we left Spanish Waters with a full crew. It was like a day charter...John, the boys and I, Steve and Angie, Monica and Stu and Kylie and Mike from Meggie joined us to. We sail to Willemstad, Steve popped the cork out of a champagne bottle for Tyee's last voyage of the season. It was sad to tie up at the dock and wait for the tractor to pull us out but...another adventure awaits us back home.
Tyee is now at Curacao Marine until our return mid March.

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