Aruba! Bahama! Come on, Pretty Mama!
10 March 2009 | Aruba
Jane
Funny how things don't quite go according to plan when you're sailing! Not only did we not go to Tobago Keys, we are now in Aruba, which was never on the intinerary!
We had to abandon the Tobago Keys trip as it was too windy on the couple of days we had set aside to go there We set off for Chicheme Keys in the San Blas Islands near Panama on Tuesday, a journey of about 1100 miles, expecting it to take up to 9 days depending on the weather, We are due to meet James and Marilyn Cobbett on their boat, Flying Scud, and Pat and Pauline Cronin who are visiting them around about March 15. The first two days were really slow with no wind to speak of. Eventually we had to turn the engine on as we were only going about 3 knots. We did have our first fishing success though. A Spanish mackerel. Not very big but Joe cut it into two fillets (or 'flays' as Dave from Vamoose would say, though why you'd want to flay a fish, God knows!) On Day 3 the wind picked up and suddenly we've got winds of 18-22 knots and gusts of up to 25 giving us a speed averaging over 7 miles an hour. On Day 4 it's gusting over 35 and we're all as miserable as sin as we can't sleep because of the movement of the boat and the forecast is for more of the same. We decided we would change course for Aruba and wait until the weather improved a bit. The last night was .... well, lets say good experience! A roller coaster of a ride which, if nothing else, showed us how good the boat is in quite rough conditions.
We were all quite relieved to arrive in Aruba at midday and had hoped to tuck into the marina in Oranjestad and wait for the weather to improve. Unfortunately, everyone else had to the same idea and the marina was full. We were sent on down the coast to Barcadera to book in and had to anchor beside the airport just past the rubbish tip! Very glamorous! I bet The Beachboys never came to this bit when they wrote the song!!
Went into Oranjestad yesterday. We took the dinghy over to a little yacht club near where we'd anchored and tried to walk there but we were on the wrong side of the airport and found ourselves walking through an industrial area in the wrong direction. Luckily a passing motorist picked us up and took us into town (him, his wife and little girl in the front, us four in the back!) He worked at the airport advising tourists so was really helpful. He told us it was mostly American tourists that come here for the Casinos and to eat!! It looked very touristy to us with loads of designer shops and cruise ships but it will do us very well for a couple of days while we wait for the weather to get better. We've now moved up nearer the town behind a fringing reef which is very pretty, with that green water that you can't really believe is true. We are now directly under the runway approach but at least you get to wave at the pilots!
We should be able to leave here on Wednesday and get to San Blas by Saturday or Sunday. I don't think there's any internet there so it will be a while before we get back to Panama and I can write again. By then we should have travelled about 1350 miles and only 9000 to go!! Jx