Lucie
08/18/2009, Montreal

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are in Montreal visiting with my family as my father is very sick and in the hospital. We will know more in the next few days as for his condition. We left the boat at the Renaissance Marina in Aruba and John will probably return in the next week.

Comments [2] | | More

Lucie
07/29/2009, Curacao,Spanish Waters

We are once again back in Curacao.
After leaving los Roques and a great time kiteboarding, we continued on to Los Aves de Barlovento for a couple of days. The snorkeling there was good and we saw squids, turtles and again lots of parrots fish and barracudas. Then we continued west to Los Aves de Sotavento. The fishing between the two groups of islands was not so good, we only managed to catch some bubbies bird who are so stupid and dive for our baits. We had to bring one on board who had hook its neck.
On our first night in Sotavento, John manage to get his hand caught in the wind generator trying to stop it and slice his index finger pretty deep. His kiteboarding days were over for a few days as he wanted to keep his injury out of the water. My kiteboarding got suddenly better as I was the only one practising with a rescue team. We met another boat from Curacao, "Dutchess" and he was also keen to kiteboard. In the morning we would board and in the afternoon we would go snorkelling, hunting for a good diner. We had lots of lobster and fish. We spend a week there and it was lots of fun but the kids were longing for other kids.
We continued downwind to Bonaire where there was lots of kids and it was great. We met "Pickles" with 4 kids,"Stray Kitty" with 3 kids and "New Life" with one little one, all were under 10 years old. We had some amazing get togethers and nobody wanted to leave. Patricia from "New Life", John and I usually went for a dive everyday. We saw sea horses, octopuses, turles and rays. It was great!
We are now back in Curacao where we will do some replenishing before heading to Aruba and the Colombian Coast.

Comments [0] | | More

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.

Comments [0] | | More

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...

Comments [0] | | More

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!!!!

Comments [2] | | More

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.

Comments [3] | | More