Well you will be glad to know that we finally arrived in Curacao safe and sound!
We had an amazing trip from Trinidad to Curacao, Honalee did us proud and got us here in record time. We left Trinidad north bound for the first night, bypassing Grenada and then swung west into pirate country around midnight on Saturday. The most Honalee has ever done in a day has been 120 miles coming across the Atlantic – we did 160 miles the first day and 170 the second. So yes we hammered it! The boat sails really well, and despite 25 knots of wind and 10-12ft swells she got us here safe and sound. It was all down wind sailing but the waves rocked and rolled us all the way here, no casualties and no one was sick. I even managed to cook (much to Nigel’s amazement I might add) a Spag Bol and Sausage and Mash, quite an achievement when the boat is bucking like a bronco.
We sailed through pirate country at night with no running lights as we really didn’t want to give our position away. Had a scary moment at around 3am when Nigel and I were on watch together, we could smell an engine running behind us but the wind was so loud we couldn’t hear where it was. Thankfully a merchant vessel lights suddenly appeared over the horizon – big sight of relief! Mind you they would have had a hell of a job getting onboard as we had 12ft swell and a cricket bat/ferry pistol at the ready!
Anyhow – here we are in Curacao! We sailed past Bonaire which looked mountainous lush and tropical, Curacao is flat and quite barren. It has a heavy Dutch influence, canals, architecture and currency (the gilder). We are anchored in Spanish Waters south of Williamstad the capital, I guess at one point it was a mangrove swamp visited by Galleons looking for water and buried treasure. Today it is inhabited by the ubber rich and famous with holiday homes around the shore and mega yachts tied up in very fancy marinas. We were a bit like Mary and Joseph – we got here and there was no place at the Inn – so we anchored with the rest of the ‘plebs’ in the harbour. The are yachts from all around the world who are our neighbours – at the moment we have Swiss and Swedish. Nigel thought he was being very brave the first hour we got here, we all desperately needed a wash, he stripped off and sat in the cockpit for a solar shower – very modest of him. Not our neighbours - they just strip off and dive naked into the harbour – just before we have our breakfast – wrinkly old Swedes - just what you need!
Today we spent 4 hours trying to get through immigration and customs – 4 American mega cruise liners were in – deep joy! Fighting our way through 7,000 Elmer J Fudds and their ‘interesting’ golf trousers. No wonder everyone wants to bomb the b*ggers, I could have quite happily have murdered a few of them myself. Gee honey! Look at that stone in the road – take a picture of it with me Irvin for the folks back home!
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve – not quite sure what we are doing – but with 7,000 less visitors Williamstad sure will be a little quieter and the beer cheaper. I would like to go for a swim in the sea at some point – it’s an amazing turquoise and so warm. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas – I will be thinking of you. Hopefully I will be able to put some photo’s on with this update – I think you will all appreciate the ‘Snowflake’ sign on our neighbours yacht in Trinidad!
PS Sorry no pics - internet speed not fast enough here on the anchorage
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