The Log of S/V Astarte: Iguana Rescue

In Spanish Waters in Curacao, an iguana was struggling in the water. He was stuck in the middle of the bay and a long way from the shore. So a rescue team went to its aid. Michael (Hawk) from Astarte and Otto from Vagabond proceeded to help the reptile. The iguana dove once - probably thinking the rescuers were gonna cook him for dinner - but then was grabbed by a gloved Otto and instantly became very calm. The dinghy brought him to a mangrove island and he was set free. Lucky iguana!

IGUANA LOST AT SEA

TO THE RESCUE

THE IGUANA GRAB

HAWK AND OTTO WITH THE RESCUEE - NO MOUTH TO MOUTH REQUIRED

It's been a busy social time for the crew of Astarte in Curacao. On Monday, a dominoes match was played on board with Lilly and Otto. Michael claimed victory (Interesting note - he was also scorekeeper - makes you kinda wonder!) A real treat of ice cream sundaes (whipped cream, nuts and chocolate sauce) was part of the fun dominoes night. The clock struck midnight (and we don't mean cruisers' midnight!)

Tuesday night was Happy Hour at the local sailing club. Lots of cruisers there. A sampling of some local Dutch foods became dinner - a loempa and stoba sandwich. Tasty!

Wednesday (tonight), there's a potluck on Astarte - the crew of Talagoa, Ria and Vladamir (sp?), a Dutch flagged boat and Rich and Pat from "So Cal. So Good" will be joining in the festivities. It should be fun. The chocolate banana pie is chilling in the refrigerator.

Last week too much wine was consumed aboard So Cal So Good - along with a lovely dinner by Pat.

Shopping for a new propane tank has also been on the agenda since the bad news of last week. One was found - the right size (10 lb), shape, aluminum with American fittings at the local chandlery - Budget Marine. It was anything but "budget" - but was needed. It;s been sent out to be filled and hopefully this time it'll work.

After the tank is back, we'll wait for a good weather window to start along the Colombian coast. The winds now are very strong and predicted to continue throughout this week. So projects, cleaning, cooking, provisioning are all the agenda for the Asarte crew. Luckily, there's good internet here so keeping up on e-mails, photos and news is good. Skype is also working much of the time - so making calls and taking care of some business and chats with family and friends is also really nice to get done.

Shopping in Curacao is both a chore and a social event. You meet lots of other boaters on the various free buses to the various grocery stores. There is one store called the V(something)....-Hill - it means Happy Hill in Dutch - (kinda sounds like an insane asylum doesn't it?) This store provides a free shuttle daily for the cruisers. Another store provides a shuttle Wednesdays and Sundays. And one store Centrum, doesn't provide a bus - but cruisers have organized one so for 5Naf per person round trip a bus picks you up and returns you from the store. Each store is a bit different - some provide mostly Dutch specialties; another provides American specialties etc.