BONAIRE 12 MAY 2017 NIGHT DIVE WITH BIG FISH!

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Time is passing quickly, but before we get stuck into boat jobs in readiness for laying Sisu up in Curacao we had an excellent day and night of diving. The small island in the bay of Kralendijk is called Klein Bonaire, all around its circumference are loads of yellow buoys marking dive and snorkel sites. To dive there, you simply moor up, and dive over the side of your boat or Rib. Terry and I hired scuba gear from Dive Friends Bonaire where we trained and took off in Tim and Gayle’s boat, Wild Bird for a day of diving. We chose a couple of dive sites on the South side, Rock Pile and South Bay. We were spoilt for choice as we pretty much had the area to ourselves! Terry and I re acquainted ourselves with the dive gear, checked each other over, ensuring we had everything connected from the tank to the BCD, tested our regulators and got ready to dive off the stern of Wild Bird, it looked a long way down, we were used to going in off the beach! I went first. After a couple of false starts and encouraging counts of “123!” from Gayle I took “the long stride” stepping out far away off the deck, making sure my tank was clear of the ladder and stern. Whoosh! I surfaced and inflated my BCD. I felt great, what had I been bothered about?! Terry quickly followed. The dive felt good and comfortable, Terry and I could relax now and enjoy our experience, we’d done our training, and now we could put our skills into practice. We enjoyed taking our time to study the fish and their habitat, gliding over the coral and watching each species behave in its own way. Parrot fish seem quite aggressive at times towards other fish, chasing off when they came close! We dived at around 15/16 metres. Terry and I are qualified to 18 metres and at 16 metres it is plenty deep enough to study fish and coral, where the sun’s rays light up the seabed. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, this also gives our bodies time to recover in readiness for our second dive helping to avoid the dreaded bends. Moving along the coast around Klein Bonaire we picked up our second buoy. This time getting kitted up was quicker, we were familiar with what to do. We’re getting good at this! The seabed sloped down, sand giving way to coral reefs and rocks. Parrot fish, French Angel fish, Cowfish, Goatfish, Trumpetfish, and so many fish of different colours, patterns, shapes and sizes swam around us. The colours are truly magical, some appear neon, some are bizarre! We turn the dive at a given point in our air supply, allowing for the return, the ascent and a bit extra. It’s with reluctance that we turn around to head back along the reef, it’s always a readjustment when your head breaks the sea surface, from the underwater sounds of Parrot fish chomping on coral (really loud!) and the rhythmic bubbling of expelled breath past your mask, the underwater sounds suddenly stop and you’re back hearing “terrestrial” sounds, birds calling, the waves crashing on the shore, the wind, then you realise you can visit two worlds when you learn to dive. It’s very special.

We had arranged to meet Zak, one of the dive masters from the Dive Friends Bonaire school for a night dive. He was leaving to go back home to Texas and this was to be his last social dive. We were pushed for time, so full on for Wild Bird to get back in time to refill our tanks! We just made it in time by sending Terry and Gayle belting off in their Rib with the tanks ahead of Tim and I who motored round to the Dive Centre. A quick change and we were ready for a night dive!

I’ve done one before in the 1980’s but for Terry, it was his first experience. We would be diving along the reef by Sisu, where we had trained. During dark, different fish come out together with lobsters and the coral comes alive. Night falls quite early here, and as we waited, the 5 of us inflated our BCD’s and bobbed around in the shallows, watching the sun set, chatting and learning how day time hand signals are used with our torches. By 7pm it was suitably dark enough to go so we gave the descend signal and by the light of our torches finned out towards the reef. Colours are so much brighter by torchlight, the coral just glows red, yellow, orange and burst into bloom with delicate fronds and coral flowers. The fish shoaled around us, and Tarpin, one of the larger fish came up around and under us, curious like dogs, their metallic silver sides almost brushing alongside us! They’re nearly as long as we are, but cannot harm you, they eat flies, we cannot imagine how many they must have to consume to maintain their size! Zak had to literally gently push them out of the way as they bumped into him, the Tarpon have no fear, well, would you at that size?! We regularly checked we could see each other, we stick quite close anyway, giving each other “OK” signals. It’s surprising, you’d think that outside of the range of your torchlight it would be pitch black, not so. We can see quite well and for some distance. It’s not at all scary, even with the Tarpon looming up and around you. At 16 metres, we saw a Slipper Lobster, again you don’t see these in day time, they are shy creatures, anenomes of all colours sway in the gentle pull of the sea, feeding on whatever flows past them. Fish dart in and out of rocks and flotsam such as boat engines and old pieces of machinery become part of their habitat. When our air reached halfway we turned the dive and began to head back along the reef, ascending slightly so we could decompress gradually. Of course, as we use our air, our tanks become lighter, which in turn affects buoyancy! For the final quarter of an hour Terry and I simply could not stay down and we ended up finning just under the surface! We were working our way along the string of boats that are moored along the reef edge, we didn’t have enough weight to go under the hulls, so we had to fin around them! We ended the dive by dipping under in a circle and switching our torches off. As it was full moon, we were in for a big treat! Ostracods, no, not big birds mutated into fish…. But tiny marine bioluminescent organisms, seed shrimps, minute members of the crustacean family that light up when disturbed. As we waved our hands around, our fingers were wreathed in sparkles, tiny jewels of fire works that bounced off us and the surface, magical! We were quite lucky to see them, our dive timed perfectly just after the fullest phase of the moon, during the time the Ostracods are active. Bonaire has one of the best dive sites in the world to see this phenomenon. What we saw were 1mm crustaceans getting it on! Every month after a full moon these romantic guys come out and here we have a special species called “Blue tears” or “blue sand” ostracods, they generate bioluminescent light as part of their monthly mating display. I hope we didn’t put them off….

The whole day is one we’ll never forget, and we will try to build in diving in our future sailing journeys.

 

BONAIRE 9 – 11 MAY 2017 WASHINGTON SLAGBAAI NATIONAL PARK

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We’re aware now of days flying past, soon we’ll be heading home. With this in mind we have an ever increasing list of boat jobs to do, any sailor knows, the list never gets ticked off and finished, do one job, it frequently reveals a fresh job to add to the bottom of the list! We make several forays to local hardware and D I Y stores to buy bits and pieces, luckily they are all within walking distance and the return trip takes us past a very good ice cream parlour, we’re working our way through the wide range of flavours. The fact that we’ve not yet got through all the flavours, and we have two scoops each time, shows how big the range is and how often we shop for boat bits!

Mornings are started with a swim, straight from the boat, then do boat jobs before the sun really gets to work. We try to do some sightseeing too. We had a great day out with Tim and Gayle visiting the Washington Slagbaai National Park.

We hired a pick up truck, perfect for the road conditions and great fun! The Park is 14,000 acres of nature sanctuary located in the north west part of the island. Here we saw the pinkest flamingos we’ve ever seen feeding around the many lakes in the park. Parrots and parakeets flew around us, we were lucky enough to see a bird of prey, though I don’t know what type. The plan was to find a couple of beaches to snorkel off on our way round the Park. We were spoilt for choice. But before that we had a hill to climb! Brandaris at 241 metres, 784 feet is the highest peak on Bonaire! Bless. Still, on a pretty flat island just 784 feet still counts as much as some of the higher peaks we’ve climbed on previous islands. The views were no less impressive. The island was laid out before us, we just stood and took it in. We had to go through a gate to keep goats out, as we walked up towards the summit, we saw goats casually eating cactus and shrubs, nothing keeps goats out! We really needed to cool down, so we stopped at Wayaka, rated as one of the best snorkel sights of the Park. Wayaka is a small pretty beach, the white sand flecked with tiny fragments of red coral, gently shelving into crystal clear waters, full of French Angel Fish, these guys are big and beautiful, with bright yellow and grey markings, you’d never fit one in a domestic aquarium! Queen Parrot fish too, far bigger and brighter than the plentiful parrot fish we usually see, all curious and not bothered by us swimming around them. This area was hit by Tropical Storm Mathew, which resulted in 12 metre swells, sadly destroying most of the coral. Mother Nature is strong however, and we were heartened to see fresh coral growth though it will be decades for the reef to recover.

Onwards then to Boka Kokolishi. Described as a fairytale boka, or bay, it’s named after the beautiful shells which cover the beach. The cliffs on either side of the bay are astounding, generously studded with fossilised conch shells. In the bay is a clear shallow basin, fringed with perfectly formed half moon rock pools which protect the beach from the rough seas which were pounding the outer edges of the cliffs. It really was magical and spectacular, and we had it all to ourselves! The Park is so big, that even with cruise ships in town, I don’t think they visit some of these areas, perhaps we were lucky, I don’t know, but we didn’t pass may people at all throughout the day. We dragged ourselves away and drove on to Seru Grandi. Here was laid out Bonaire’s geological history. We drove alongside a 190foot terrace of pock marked limestone containing fossil remnants of coral reefs, some of the terrace is over a million years old and around us we could see enormous boulders, hurled there from the sea by ancient tsunamis! Going through the lunar landscape we came to Suplado, a blowhole in the cliffs, as the seas pounded into and under the cliffs, the sea fired up through the blowhole covering us in a mist of salt spray!

We had a quick pit stop back to our boats, to pick up Tim and Gayle’s dogs, Pip and Gemma then off again, heading to the south of the island to find another area to snorkel. There’s so many dive areas marked around the north, west and south of Bonaire, too many for one visit, it was almost like sticking a pin in the coastline map and diving or snorkelling wherever the pin stuck. We chose an area of beach running alongside the salt pans. This was a bit rougher to get in, which made it more exciting! The fish along here were just as plentiful, the black sea urchins more so. Though small, these guys lurk under rocks and in between crevices, Terry’s experienced standing on an urchin and it’s bloody painful. This was our last stop before returning our truck back to the car rental. A tremendous day out!

 

KRALENDIJK, BONAIRE 1- 9 MAY 2017

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Bonaire is simply stunning! The three Dutch A (Aruba) B (Bonaire) C (Curacao) islands are below the hurricane belt, around 30/50 miles north of Venezuela and almost 365 days of sunny skies are guaranteed. Bonaire has a population of around 18,000 and is 112 square miles, it’s a world famous diving and wind surfing destination. We’ve chosen these islands as TUI fly from here and Curacao to Amsterdam and then home. The flights are the cheapest we’ve found, and Sisu will be safe in Curacao, which keeps our boat insurance costs down a bit! We are moored up right by the Dive Friends Bonaire Diving School where we shall take our PADI open water diving course. We are a few feet away from the open water training area and divers are regularly under our hull each day, we can hear them breathing and the bubbles from their regulators bounce off Sisu, we can’t wait to start our course!

As soon as we’d secured our mooring, we grabbed our masks and snorkels, dived over the side and couldn’t believe the sheer volume and variety of fish! We have our favourites already, the Sergeant Major fish is s smallish fish which looks exactly like it’s wearing a hand knitted stripey yellow and black jumper! Another favourite is the demure and gentile Cow Fish, they slightly resemble a wedge of speckled creamy cheese, being rather boxy shaped with odd little fanlike fins which propel them slowly around as they delicately pick over bits in the sand, their faces are like pretty Jersey cows. We simply love the comical and brightly coloured Parrot fish. They scrape algae from rocks and coral, crunching it up in their fused beak like mouth and the ingested matter is ground to a fine powder by specialised teeth in their throat. Each Parrot fish poops around 200 pounds/90kg of sand per year!!! They account for about 70 percent of a beautiful white beach, the other 30 percent is supplied by wave erosion of rocks, dead corals and shells! How’s that for an impressive fact?!

Our PADI course was over three days, and it was intensive! Terry and I were given our PADI manuals the day before the course, so we swotted hard all that day, we would also have tests to do, eeek! We were joined by Kimberly Bale from San Francisco, and Tim, from St Louis, was our Diving Instructor. He was superb and we were in his very safe hands over the three days. Zak, another Instructor helped us on the first day too, they made a good pair and made our first dive unforgettable. Diving Friends Bonaire is very well run and friendly. If you visit Bonaire and wish to learn to dive, rent their diving equipment or fill your air tanks, we can highly recommend them! Terry and I were nervous I must admit. I’d learnt to dive in 1983 with the BSAC in Ramsey, Isle of Man and it was bloody freezing diving off the costs of the Island. Our gear back then was, compared to today, quite basic, you had to be a bit rufty tufty to dive then! What a difference nowadays. In 1983 I wore a separate life jacket with a small air cylinder which would be inflated and deflated to bring us down and up. Now, this is integrated into one jacket, a BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) containing a bladder which is inflated and deflated, to adjust your buoyancy, plus the harness and straps for your air cylinder. The BCD also has pockets which can hold lead weights, the weights are contained in separate pockets, and easy to dump in an emergency, plus a low pressure inflator hose which attaches to the cylinder, inflating the bladder via the regulator, we can also inflate the bladder ourselves. There’s also overpressure/quick exhaust valves, these automatically vent if the bladder in the jacket is overfilled. There’s also D rings and pockets for storing gear and accessories. The BCD is a really compact and neat piece of kit, what progress! We have separate weight belts too, the modern way of diving is so much more comfortable than I used to dive with!

We familiarised ourselves with the regulator. This comprises five components, the hub, which attaches to the air cylinder, the regulator we breathe from, an alternate regulator in case your buddy runs out of air or his regulator doesn’t work, or you have problems with yours, the low pressure inflator hose which clicks onto your BCD and the SPG (Submersible pressure gauge) which tells you how much air you’ve got, or haven’t…….. As we were not surprisingly nervous on our first dive, Terry and I sucked so much air, our air cylinders didn’t last long! We learnt how to check that our air cylinders were full, how to put the whole kit together, gear ourselves up, and check that each other, our buddy, are kitted up correctly. As we can’t talk underwater, we became fluent in diving language, the hand signals which communicate that we’re ok, not ok, going down, up, turning the dive, we’re cold, fish, danger etc. After a morning in the class room and our first test, which I was more nervous about than the diving, we got into our kit, jeez the weight of it all, I’d forgotten just how heavy all the gear is! We made our way down to the edge of the sea, feeling, well, like fish out of water really…… Tim, our instructor, was reassuring and humorous and put us at our ease. We couldn’t believe we’d be diving on the first day! We signalled our five point descent, checked we were all OK and took our first breathes under water. Though it wasn’t the first time for me, I’d forgotten the sensation, partly thinking “bloody hell” and “whoaaa, look at all the fish!” After we all settled down and adjusted to the new noises, hearing the air expelling from your regulator is loud, and feeling the bubbles passing up and around your mask is rather weird for the first few minutes! Tim took his little team and rather like ducklings learning to swim, we followed him out over the shallow, bright sun lit sea bed, all around us fish swam, completely unfazed by us! We had to pass a number of skills underwater and at different depths including filling your mask and clearing it, taking your mask off and swimming for 50 metres without it on, giving your buddy your alternate regulator to breath from and learning to become neutrally buoyant. Buoyancy provided lots of laughs, simply by breathing in and out you can either bounce on the seabed or not be able to descend down! We got the hang of it and after a while we could all hover in a zen like manner with our legs and arms crossed for a couple of minutes or more a foot above the sea bed. This is an important skill to learn, the coral is so fragile that divers can destroy a decade of coral growth just by touching a piece of coral.

Over the next three days we ventured out further and deeper. We explored the sides of the coral cliff that runs along where Sisu is moored. One day Tim was instructing us and literally behind him was a huge Eagle Ray! We all turned and watch the ray elegantly swim past us, what a privilege to see. Learning to dive opened up a whole exciting new world. When Terry and I snorkel, we only dive down to a certain depth, obviously as long as our breath lasts. During a dive, we have time to watch all the different fish going about their business, and can really get up close, watching them eat, ow they interact with each other, chase each other, and even look after their young. We became absorbed in underwater life and it felt strange when we broke through to the surface once more, it took a minute to adjust to the sounds of normal life going on in what divers call the terrestrial world, traffic, people talking, and hearing the wind blowing. From the shallows, I looked behind me towards our other world to which we now had a key to enter and explore. It was a tremendous experience and a skill we shall continue to learn and use when we can.

On the final evening, Kimberly, Tim, our instructor, Tim, Gayle and ourselves went out for a delicious celebratory meal at The Blue Garden restaurant, we’d all earned it, especially Tim our instructor!!

 

We are preparing to leave Sisu safe during the hurricane season, so our time here is spent doing jobs on the boat. Terry’s made mozzy blinds for all the hatches, when she’s laid up, we will still need some ventilation through the boat, it’s going to be very dry and roasting hot in Curacao, but we don’t want critters in squatting or worse, multiplying when we’re not there! The screens are being used now, we occasionally get mozzies in through the night, they don’t bother me, Terry gets bitten to hell.

A regular job of mine is scrubbing the hull, it’s the first time I’ve been working my way round Sisu’s hull with nosy Sergeant Fish inspecting my work! Below me I could see divers from the diving school, I envied them, we were playing amongst the coral a few days earlier. Lucky buggers. One thing we consider, though I’m not sure everyone on a boat may do, is that as we are so close to the diving area, we do a quick check to see if any divers are below us before we make a meaningful visit to the heads…. If you get my drift……. Pun intended. What goes into a heads loo, comes out…… It’s the aquatic version of the old music hall song “not while the train is standing in the station”. The lines “workmen working underneath, are apt to get it in the teeth, and they don’t like it, neither would you!” Fish don’t mind at all however and have normally eaten any evidence of our being there within 100 metres……

I’ve learnt how to mix epoxy and together we checked over Sisu for chips in her paintwork and holes which require drilling out and refilling with epoxy, not such a chore when afterwards we can dive over the edge and snorkel with the fishes! We needed some paint to cover where we’d filled and generally tart up our girl. We found a paint shop in the town. We needed a piece of paint off Sisu for colour matching. Hmm….. we didn’t want to chip any more paint off, so Terry removed a locker cover and brought that! I think it made the shop keeper’s day when we brought in the large cover! He did a great job matching the paint though!

 

PASSAGE FROM ST ANNES,MARTINIQUE TO KRALENDIJK, BONAIRE 464 Nautical Miles 24 – 27 MAY 2017

A bright, early morning, 15 knots of South Easterly winds, perfect sailing conditions and we were off once more, this time a four day passage to the Dutch island of Bonaire. We quickly raised our main and head sails, wonderful to feel Sisu rouse herself from being restful at anchor and settle into what she does best, take the waves and ride the wind! We were averaging 6 to 7 knots, ideal. It takes a day or so to settle into sailing a passage, getting used to the three hour watches, adjusting to a different sleeping pattern, napping when possible during the day if needed. I’d batch cooked some sausages, hard boiled some eggs as quick snacks and prepped a big pan of pasta in a tomato sauce for our evening meal. Not having to cook on the first night makes life on board easier, if anything unexpected happens, sail changes, sea swells bigger than anticipated etc, then prepping food goes out of the window, or at least all over the galley…….

During the afternoon we were on a broad reach and aft of us at times, we put a reef in the main to stabilise the boat and goosewinged the head and main for a while to bring us back onto course, mind you a few miles off course early on in a 464 mile passage is nothing! By late afternoon we’d covered over 60 miles, a good days sail, we need to keep our speed up, we didn’t want to arrive at Bonaire in the dark, and hang around another night waiting for sunrise!

Flying fish launched themselves out of the sea without a care that they could end up on our boat and pretty little Terns flew around us, the sea swells were 1 to 2 metres, nothing like the Atlantic! We were in swimming trunks, bikini and bare feet, this is what I thought crossing the Atlantic would be like!

We put out our towed generator, keeping our batteries topped up is essential, we also put out a fishing line, just for the hell of it, our success rate is dire, but we are always optimistic! A good start, we lost a good lure straight away, the metal clip had rusted, darn…..

We kept hearing a peculiar noise which didn’t fit in with our surroundings. A gentle cooing, exactly like that of a pigeon! We looked around, birds do settle on our boat, but no sign of a pigeon. But there it was again, cooo, cooooo, cooooo……. Coming from the stern. We realised it was the towed generator once the propeller had reached a certain speed and generated enough power, the voltage controller which we had just fitted would slow the prop down, then the prop would speed up, it emitted a cooing sound! During the entire four days we had this sweet cooing from our stern, it was very funny and yet strangely comforting!

Tim and Gayle in Wild Bird were a little behind, soon they would overtake us, we radioed each other during the day exchanging weather and sail settings, good to hear them, by the second day we would have put in sea miles between us and no longer see each other on our AIS.

We started out using our wind pilot, but the waves were affecting its steering so we used the auto pilot for the passage. When we fitted our wind pilot blade and two rudders to the main steering column early in the morning, we cast our minds back to repairing it on our Atlantic crossing. It’s a solid, heavy piece of kit. How on earth did we manage in huge rolling swells bring all this gear off the stern and back into the cockpit for repair, then put everything together, hang off the stern once more to fit it all together again!? It seems superhuman now, but we had no choice then, we had to do it, it’s not something we’d like to repeat!

Our first day ended with a beautiful sunset, clear skies and a steady wind. Sisu was our little world once more. We put on a t shirt, light trousers, and socks to keep us warm through the night, felt strange wearing trousers and socks! Overnight the winds increased, at dusk we attached our safety lines from our life jackets to the cockpit for the overnight section and at 0200 hours we put a second reef into the main sail. We’re a good team at reefing now, I took the helm, turning her into the wind, just keeping her steady, watching the main flutter and loosen so Terry in his place at the mast could drop the main to put the reef in. I loved feeling the power of Sisu and am becoming more sensitive to how she is feeling in the swells, what makes her happy, how the three of us work together. It’s quite emotional, ah, maybe it was because it was stupid o’clock in the morning and the invisible pigeon cooing away was making me soft! Or perhaps it’s because boats when they’re doing what they were built to do, simply get your heart strings and twang them. During the peaceful night Terry and I watched the starred heavens above us and the sparkling phosphorescence light our way.

Day 2 and we’d covered 145 miles in 24 hours, yay! We had reasonable sized swells, but hey, compare to what we’d experienced, these boys were nothing! We’re glad now, our crossing had been a challenge, we stretched our comfort limits absolutely, but it was all worth it, as we have a base line from which to sail. Our speed increased as we rode off the tops of waves and surfed down them, excellent! I seem to be a wave magnet, whilst Terry was sleeping below mid morning a wave flicked her hands full of sea crest on the port side and got me, damn! Terry came up later and said it’s like sleeping in a sauna below. We have the fore and main hatches shut during sailing so the temperature goes up. I know this all too well from cooking in the galley furnace! In fact, using our rescued big and super soft cockpit cushion we slept out in the cockpit at night for the remainder of the passage, taking turns after each other’s watch, it was blissful, peaceful and cool. We would swap port and starboard side, depending on which tack we were on. That way we leant into the deep side of Sisu’s cockpit, comfy as you like!

The winds were gradually pushing us about 15 miles off course so we tacked a couple of times, all good practice, taking it in turns to tack. Our company for the day were a couple of tankers in addition to the vast numbers of little flying fish learning to fly!

At around 0500 hours Terry and I were sat together in the cockpit, it was our watch changeover. Suddenly over our Port side we saw an incredible sight! A huge meteor was burning it’s way over the sky! We could clearly see the flaming ball of the meteor, green, white and orange flames streaming from the head of it, the tail was long, blazing orange, green and red, it was so close! We were able to take our time watching it, really having the opportunity to study the meteor as it burned and stormed its way downwards, I hope it burnt up before landing! When we reached Bonaire and caught up with Tim on Wildbird, he had seen it too as he’d been on watch, how fabulous is that?! These are the blessings which make the crappy, cold, bloody scary times sailing utterly worth it.

By Day 3 we’d covered another 143 miles, with only 176 miles to go. Another perfect morning greeted us, with our reefs out and changing tack we were back on course. We are heading to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) and Bonaire is roughly 20/30 miles from Venezuela. Sadly, Venezuela is going through difficult times, and visiting is not recommended. There are reports of pirates near the Venezuelan coast. Though we are not that close, we are still vigilant. During the day we saw a large white vessel, on our Port side, doing a steady 5 knots. It was unusual to see a fishing boat out here. Uh oh. We kept an eye on it, however as we drew closer, it was clear the vessel was a fishing trawler going about its business. Phew.

The seas had calmed and we needed to keep up our mileage. We did a quick calculation of our speed if maintained and what time we would reach Bonaire. Based on our present speed we would reach Kralendijk late evening. We didn’t want to enter a new area in the dark, if we can pick up our speed we’ll arrive mid afternoon. We just need some more wind. We got it! Overnight the wind shifted to East North East and gave us the power we wished for. Sisu was flying, her phosphorescence skirt flowing out around her, with full main and head sail she was free and loving it! We surfed and looked up at our sails, set perfectly, catching the warm winds all through the night. With big grins we regularly saw 10.5 and 11 knots on our GPS readings a combination of wind, waves, and current all in the right direction, yeeeha! She was comfortably galloping along, and we ate up the miles, this is what sailing is about. Steaming through steady swells, under a 360 degree clear canopy of stars, feeling the warm winds on your face as you lean over and look up to her bow, then casting your eyes up at her sails, dark cream, full and magnificent, then beyond where the horizon draws its circular dark grey line all around your boat, it’s just pure magic. These are the times you are reluctant to drop anchor and stop, you have everything you need here, right now. Sisu is carrying you always safely in her bosom, you are with the one person you want to be with and who you’ve learnt to live with 24 hours a day, your gear is working, and conditions are perfect, we really savour these times……. they are precious!

Day 4 and our ETA is 1700hrs, perfect! After the overnight winds of 20 to 25 knots, they’ve steadied to 15 knots. There are now sea birds around us again, Terns and I think Boobies, rather like Gannets. We chuck them a couple of sausages and the birds wheel with grace and ease into the crest of the waves and catch the unusual sea bounty! Time to bung a bottle of Fizz in the fridge to celebrate our passage over another stretch of the Caribbean Sea. We only do this when the passages are of some days duration, not a day sail, mind you……..

Soon we’ll be amongst friends and new people, this has been a tremendous, joyous four days, Terry and I have time together, we work well sailing, our focus on getting things right and looking after each other, making sure we drink plenty of water and eat well. We bicker less than when moored up, hell we wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t occasionally bicker, we’re both strong, or perhaps headstrong, people!

During day four we see a plane coming towards us, flying rather low. Crikey! It drew near towards our stern, it was so low we could clearly read out the word “Coastguard” on its side. Bloody hell, we knew Tim and Gayle would be moored up by now, had they sent out a search party?! We could clearly see the Coastguard pilots! Due to the distance between us, we’d been out of radio and Delorme contact for a couple of days, but the plane took a look at us and flew on. It seems they were just doing a regular check for piracy and boats peddling drugs, we only carry Rum, cheap wine and beer!

We had made landfall, the Southern coastline is very low, lined with the whitest beaches we’ve seen, and pyramids of salt, so many of them, grouped along the coastline. There is a salt extraction plant here where they evaporate the sea water in huge lagoons until only the salt is left. The low land is perfect for these lagoons. Twenty or so brightly coloured kite surfers dance and fly up and down in the near distance in the clear, sparkling turquoise waters, it’s the stuff of postcards. We’ve made it!

We sail a further ten miles up the coastline into Kralendijk bay. We are in Bonaire National Marine Park, to protect the delicate, living reef, anchoring is not allowed, so we pick up one of the Parks mooring buoys. The sea around is stunning, half of Sisu is in 20 foot or so of the clearest turquoise waters, her stern in dark blue sea. Underneath us the sandy seabed gradually slopes, then there is an immediate change in sea colour to dark blue where there is a vertical cliff of coral, at the foot of the coral cliff the seabed levels to sand again, the sea is so clear we can see this! Immediately around our hull, a wide variety of multi sized and coloured fish are curious and checking out Sisu for food, barnacles and fauna which have grown during our passage that they can nibble on. Tim and Gayle dinghy over to us to welcome us to the Divers Paradise!

We enjoy our celebratory Fizz over sundowners with Tim and Gayle, making plans to do a PADI diving course, and what we’ll see here. There are also lists of jobs we need to do before laying up Sisu for the hurricane season, but for now we watch a deep orange sunset over an aquamarine blue sea.