On March 18, we left Trinidad and sailed to Bonaire, giving the Venezuelan coast a wide berth. Two and half days and 400 miles later, we grabbed a $10/day mooring in Kralendijk, Bonaire. The “anchorage” area is very deep (90+ m) and shallows steeply and suddenly to shore, and, the Bonairians are trying to protect their extensive reefs; therefore, anchoring in Bonaire is forbidden. Luckily, many cheap moorings are laid out for boats. 

On our second day in Bonaire, we found a gecko skillfully racing around the trampoline, a stowaway from Trinidad. Alec caught it in a tupperware container, and Mark swam it ashore for relocation with our best wishes for a long life in Bonaire. Around this time, we began to hear a cricket somewhere in the starboard side between Roan’s berth and the tool shelves - another stowaway from our life on the hard in Trinidad. Every night, we ‘enjoyed’ a cricket concert lasting a few hours. I shivered at the thought of what other life forms could be traveling with us (*Gasp, an Alec!: Roan Comment) (so far so good on the creepy crawlies front - no cockroaches have been caught in the multiple traps that I have set for them around the boat). We sprayed the boat with insecticide and have not heard the cricket since then.(Sadly however, Alec is still alive: Roan Comment)

Our week in Bonaire was spent diving (Mark & Roan) and snorkeling (Alec & Marta) Here, Roan did his first night dive and his second wreck dive. Alec and I found interesting snorkeling just off the boat: mini reefs had formed around the mooring blocks and were teeming with life. We rented a car for a one-day trip around the Washington Slagbaai National Park to admire the flora (mostly cacti) and fauna (pink flamingos, loros, iguanas and many insects). We left Bonaire with good wind forecast for our next destination: Panama.