At around 3PM we reached the southern tip of Bonaire and steered toward Spaanse Waters (Spanish Waters) the largest and most protected anchorage in Curacao which is formed of several anchorage areas divided up by reefs . Navigating into this anchorage was very tricky as the passage into it was very narrow, surrounded by reefs, beaches, people doing water sports, etc. After making it half way through our friends from Contrails, who were slightly ahead on our starboard side, ran aground. Fortunately, our chart plotter had a chart of this vast anchorage and we used it to navigate through the reefs as we moved from one anchorage to another. We finally settled in the largest and most popular anchorage, near the popular cruisers' restaurant, Sarafundy's.
We spent the next week in this anchorage which was populated with long-term live-a-boards. Most of the sailors we met had been sailing for 5 or more years, and many had been at this anchorage living for 10+ years. They would sail to other areas such as to the other ABCs, Venezuela, Colombia or Panama to keep their immigration status current and would then return to what they considered their "home port" at Spanish Waters in Curacao. Many sailors where from the Netherlands as, like Bonaire, Curacao belonged to the Dutch until it gained autonomy by the stature for the Antillean islands.

We have found it interesting to note that language (and perhaps culture) is a major draw for sailors of different nationalities. In English-speaking islands we found primarily English speakers from England, the US and Australia, while in French-speaking islands sailors were predominantly French and in the Dutch islands we found a lot of Dutch people, something we had not encountered before.