Born of the Sea

Preparing for a phased retirement on the sea. Muirgen (Gaelic for 'born of the sea')

30 January 2025 | Aruba to Santa Marta
17 January 2025 | Bonaire
10 January 2025 | Spanish Bay, Curacao
03 January 2025 | The Caribbean Sea
16 December 2024
02 December 2024 | Bequia, SVG
28 November 2024 | Union Island, SVG and Mayreau, SVG
26 November 2024 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
22 November 2024 | Paradise Beach, Carriacou
15 November 2024 | The Cove, Grenada
10 November 2024 | The Cove Marina
04 November 2024 | London and Grenada
27 May 2024 | Saint George's, Grenada
26 May 2024 | Ile de Ronde, Grenada
21 May 2024 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
14 May 2024 | Union Island, SVG
10 May 2024 | Mayreau, Grenadines
09 May 2024 | Tobago Cays, Grenadines

Curacao

10 January 2025 | Spanish Bay, Curacao
Donna Cariss
At 0645 hours, our engine was on, Pete dropped the buoys and I motored away from Bonaire and away from the rising sun. We would return to the island again, in a week's time, with friends, Chase and Natalie, who were waiting for us to join them in Curacao. We put the foresail out on the starboard side, making the most of an early breeze off the land. We passed a new Holland America cruise liner, that was making its way to dock in Bonaire; of interest to us as we have stayed on the old 1950's one, which is now a hotel in Rotterdam. The next point of interest was a pair of pink flamingos flying by us. Bonaire is famous for these birds, which feed on the pink shrimps of the salt ponds, giving them their rich, pink colour. Just before 8am, with the wind having died, we put the engine on. The sea was calm, so I went down below and changed the bedding, before the sun rose too high and made any activity in the cabin too uncomfortable. As we were under engine, we decided to switch on the watermaker and top up the tanks, as we weren't sure what the water quality would be like in Spanish Water, Curacao, it being an inland sea. It turned out to be the right decision. As we left the shelter of Bonaire, the swell picked up and we were surfing down waves of up to 3 metres and picking up speed, although there was still little wind. It was a long time before we could see Curacao, especially the south of the island, as it's very flat. As we closed in, we could see Klein Curacao, about 5 or 6 miles to the south. Along the south of the main island, there was an area for kite surfing and we also passed a few lagoons that almost looked manmade. The north easterly swell disappeared as we had shelter from the land, so I decided to take a shower and wash my hair, using the deck shower, while we had some privacy. A catamaran was coming by, so Pete took some revs off, to slow us down. Once we were both showered, we returned to full speed and headed round towards the entrance to Spanish Water. The Sandals Resort is right at the entrance of the channel into the lagoon. It looked rather nice, despite the manmade beach area. We negotiated the channel, which was quite busy with motorboats and headed for Area B, following the screen shot that Chase had sent to us and at 1345 hours, we dropped anchor, on sand, with 5 metres of water under the keel, not far behind Chase and Natalie, on Benevah. There was no doubt that the hook had gone in and that we would be secure. There was a lot of passing traffic; motor boats of all sizes, trip boats, dinghies and jet skis and some were even cutting through the anchorage. The wakes were rocking the boat and the noise was irritating. Chase came over and invited us for dinner on Benevah, which saved us having to immediately go ashore to buy provisions. We had the prized Hairoun beer, from Saint Vincent, to take with us. It was an enjoyable night and great to catch up again. The traffic died down after dark and back on board, we slept reasonably well despite the wind and rain, at times.
On Sunday morning, we were up relatively early, to catch the bus into Willemstad, to clear in. Pete downloaded the ABC Curacao app, which provides details of the bus stops and timetable. We weren't going to make the next bus but assumed there would be another within the hour, so we took the dinghy to the dock, tied up and locked up and walked up the road to the nearest bus stop. We checked the app and it said 97 minutes to the next bus; damn! There was a coffee bike by the bus stop, so we sat down and had a coffee and a toastie, in the shade, while we waited. Eventually the bus arrived and we paid US$2 each for the ride. The bus went at breakneck speed, frequently slamming the brakes on at bus stops to let people on or off the bus. We had read that the journey took an hour but we were at the bus terminal in less than 30 minutes. Curacao was a Dutch island, so typically, the bus terminal was on the side of a canal. To reach Immigration, we had to keep the canal on our right until we came to the swing footbridge across to the north side. On the way, we passed customs, where we would go after immigration. Willemstad, on both sides of the canal, was stunning, with typically Dutch, colourful buildings, all in immaculate condition. It really was pretty. We crossed the bridge and turned right, went up the hill and located a booth with a security guard. Here we had to show our passports, to be allowed access to the quayside to continue to the immigration office. All visitors to Curacao are required to complete an online immigration form but we had abandoned it as we were unable to complete the fields for airline, flight number and hotel, so we were presented with iPads to complete the forms and advised what to select in the fields that are meaningless to yachties. The lady and man in the office were efficient but helpful and chatty. Immigration complete, we retraced our steps to the customs office. Pete said that Eric was extremely friendly too. We checked the ABC app and there wasn't a bus back to Jan Thiel until 3.30pm, so we took a walk through the streets and squares of Willemstad and stopped at La Boheme for lunch, before returning to the boat. Being the first Sunday after New Year, it was the Faulk, a festival where around 400 boats go to a small, enclosed bay, just outside Spanish Water, anchor and raft up to each other and party like there's no tomorrow. We were happy to have missed it. Chase and Natalie had gone, along with many boats from Spanish Water. With plenty of space, we decided to re-anchor away from the passing traffic. All the boats started to return and the pirate pizza boat tied to a mooring which brought them about as close to us as was comfortable. Next, another boat, full of drunken, noisy passengers pulled alongside and rafted up to the pizza boat and it was dangerously close to us. Pete really wasn't happy. I argued that it couldn't be staying there all night and sure enough, after 20 minutes, all the passengers from the pizza boat moved to the second boat and it left to return everyone to shore. The anchorage became extremely peaceful and there was no wind and we spent a very pleasant evening, in the cockpit, listening to music and had a restful night.
On Monday, we had to return to Willemstad to obtain an anchor permit, as the port authority office had been closed over the weekend. This time, we were at the bus stop in plenty of time to catch the 0750 hours bus and we arrived in town at 0820. We cut across town to the footbridge, only to find it was open and the gates were shut. The free ferry was operating instead, which was rather nice. Once on the north side, we repeated yesterday's route, showed our passports and went to the port authority, which is upstairs in the Pilots building, just beyond Immigration. We completed the forms, paid our dues and had a laugh with the female port officer. Back on the south side, we had breakfast in Cafe Iguana, on the canal side and then visited a couple of jewelery stores to look for watch batteries. P&P offered the service at US$20 each, a bit pricey but it was a classy shop. The staff were great. The 2 guys dealt with the batteries while the lady chatted to us enthusiastically about Manchester United. Unfortunately, Pete's watch was declared defunct but mine was up and running again. We browsed a few shops; well I did, while Pete hung around outside looking impatient. We took a turn down a street and found ourselves in a lovely courtyard, with 3D murals on the walls and a bar, Copa Cabana, offering 3 Caribs for US$10. Pete went for the deal and I had a cappuccino. The enthusiastic proprietor was called Vincent and he sold a variety of beers, as well as cocktails made from different types of Curacao liquor. Pete told him all about Hairoun, which Vincent had never tasted. Pete was 2 beers in when Vincent caught a falling glass and badly cut his fingers. Along with some of his friends, we helped put away all his tables and chairs so he could close up and go to the hospital for stitches. On our next visit here, we found out that he had 6 stitches but only after his friend crashed the car and had all been to the police station. We left the courtyard and ambled through the narrow streets, taking photos of the many murals painted and sculpted on the walls. It was beautiful, colourful and interesting. As there was no bus until after lunchtime, we walked south for 30 minutes, to the Boulevard Market, which we had seen coming and going on the bus. By the time we arrived there, we had 21 minutes until the next bus was due there. We dashed round the supermarket and made it out in 18 minutes but Pete saw the tail end of a bus disappearing down the road. We walked to the bus stop and waited for 15 minutes before determining that the bus had been early and we had missed it. The app said 86 minutes to the next bus. There was a Chinese takeaway nearby, so we went there, sat in the shade and ordered a ribs and chicken meal and a couple of beers. 2 minutes later our 6A bus went sailing by, 20 minutes late, not early. The owner of the takeaway put our fresh food in her fridge, so it wouldn't go off. The size of the meal was ridiculous and could have fed 4 people for lunch. We ate most of the meat and the kimchee but hardly touched the rice or fried potatoes. They went home and fed us for 3 more meals. We retrieved our groceries and walked south to the next bus stop at Mambo Beach and were back on board Muirgen at 1520 hours. Around teatime, a couple of guys fell off a jet ski, while speeding through the anchorage and the jet ski ploughed into the side of the yacht next to us, at 20 knots, causing some damage. The Dutch boat owner was much more cordial with the guys than we would have been. I slept badly, with banging fireworks going off every so often, like canon, making me jump. Pete slept through it all.
On Tuesday morning, we moved again, anchoring away from the pizza boat and closer to the dock but well away from the passing traffic, although the traffic was much reduced on weekdays and the anchorage therefore a lot more pleasant. Pete topped up the diesel tank and then went to the fuel dock to fill up the diesel cans and the outboard fuel. I stayed on board and did some banking and updated my cashflow forecast (once an accountant....). In the afternoon, we took the dinghy to T14 bar by the 'beach' and had drinks with Chase and Natalie, Adam and Beverley, from yacht Blu and Mitch and Avie from Miocene, a cat. Everyone had been monitoring the weather for onward travel. We had decided to head back to Bonaire on Friday, which Benevah was also doing and the others were also leaving Friday but for Aruba. Pete and I walked across the wasteland to the swimming beach and had a dip and then went to Brisa Bar for bitteballen, which is a Dutch drinking snack and a drink. I was in bed before 8pm, tired after having no sleep the previous night. Overnight it was eerily calm, with not a breath of wind or a slapping wave.
Early on Wednesday morning, while Pete was still sleeping, I emailed Santa Marta marina (Colombia) and Nanajuana marina (Guatemala) to provisionally book places for our trip. I rechecked the weather forecast and decided that Friday was still the best day to head back east to Bonaire. The winds were dropping and the swell would be at its lowest on Friday. Within no time, we had a reply from Santa Marta and there was a lot of information and documents that we needed to send them, so we set off to find out what was over the hill to the northwest. We knew there was a supermarket, Van Den Tweel but there must be other shops and bars, as the bus route went there. A bar or cafe would be a good place to sort out the response to Santa Marta. What we found, over the hill, was Papagaya Beach, a number of shops, bars and restaurants, the supermarket and plenty of hotels and upmarket resorts. It was all very modern, clean and tidy but still had plenty of charm. We sat down in Mojitos and Snacks, overlooking the beach and infinity saltwater pool, for coffee and worked through the list. With that chore completed, we paid a visit to the supermarket, which was a great store, of the like we haven't seen in the Caribbean. It stocked lots of European brands and was about a third the price of Bequia. On the way home, we took a right turn to cut off a corner but found ourselves at a dead end so, rather than retrace our steps, we took a shortcut down a dry storm drain. After lunch, Pete snoozed on deck for a couple of hours. Chase came over for beers around 7.30pm and we had a late dinner before bed. During the night, a French yacht arrived and anchored beside us and had a very annoying strobe as an anchor light, disturbing my sleep once again.
Thursday, before Pete awoke, I reviewed the weather forecast and completed the Sailclear online submissions for our departure from Curacao and our arrival in Bonaire. We caught the 9.05am bus to Willemstad and visited customs, followed by immigration, to clear out. Again everyone was very friendly and chatty. We stopped at Steve and Friends, for bitteballen and then bought a bottle of gin at a liquor store, before visiting Vincent at Copa Cabana. Pete gave him his last bottle of Hairoun. On the way home, the bus was stuck in a traffic jam, which turned out to be a serious road accident and had to turn around and take a different route. After an hour, we eventually disembarked at Van Den Tweel to buy provisions. There we found that the plastic lid on the gin bottle had broken and all of our documents were soaked in gin. We walked back to the boat, carrying the bags of shopping, as we knew there would be no bus anytime soon. Chase and Natalie had left Spanish Bay to go to Klein Curacao for the night and Blu and Miocene had also departed. We laid all the documents and passports out on the starboard side bunk to dry out and prepared for our early departure next morning, lifting the outboard and dinghy, taking down the anchor ball and the Yorkshire flag ad removing the sail covers. I set the alarm for 6am but we agreed that we would leave earlier, in the dark, if we were both awake. That set the scene for me to have another sleepless night, looking at the moon and trying to ignore the strobe next door.
Comments
Vessel Name: Muirgen
Vessel Make/Model: Westerly Typhoon
Hailing Port: Hull
Crew: Donna and Peter Cariss
Muirgen's Photos - Main
75 Photos
Created 15 July 2024
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Created 18 July 2020
Photos of Muirgen preparations
8 Photos
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39 Photos
Created 11 August 2017
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Created 23 June 2017
Photos are limited as the weather was dreadful and was mostly a white out. Photos are from the phone as too wet to take the cameras.
10 Photos
Created 19 June 2017
9 Photos
Created 17 June 2017
11 Photos
Created 15 June 2017
17 Photos
Created 15 June 2017
The Beautiful Kvitsoy
5 Photos
Created 5 June 2017
Weekend with Hommersak Divers at Kvitsoy
8 Photos
Created 5 June 2017
13 Photos
Created 30 May 2017
Mad creatures
16 Photos
Created 29 May 2017
Getting to Norway and waiting for Donna to fly out
6 Photos
Created 18 May 2017
12 Photos
Created 6 December 2016
Buying Muirgen
6 Photos
Created 26 November 2016