Sunday, September 13, 2009

Anchor Up. . . .Underway

Finally - we have moved out of Spanish Waters in Curacao. It was a great month and when we pulled the anchor - it certainly showed that we were in one place a long time. The anchor chain was covered in growth - small underwater trees and vegetation claiming the chain as a new home. It took some time getting it cleaned up and stowed for the trip to Santa Cruz on the northwestern side of Curacao. We got as much off as we could, but it still may stink up the anchor locker.

The trip was uneventful - in a good and bad way. Uneventful good - a pleasant sail - traveling more than 6.5 knots, relatively calm seas and a steady breeze. We sailed with the genoa all the way out. Uneventful in the bad way - NO FISH. The line was in the water, the speed seemed good - but no marine edible found our line enticing. Bummer.

Upon arrival in Santa Cruz - we wonder why more people sit in Spanish Waters for months on end and don't come here. The water is clear, there is a palm studded sandy beach, even a little beach bar with cold beer. You can anchor in 15 feet of water with good sand on the bottom. Plus there's no dust constantly blowing across your decks from the mining. Yet, there is still a very pleasant steady breeze that funnels through the surrounding hills.

We went for a nice, much needed snorkel when we got settled. Michael saw an eagle ray and there were many lovely tropical fish of all shapes and sizes. There is a rock wall on our starboard side that we snorkeled along and it was really nice. The visibility was fabulous. Today, we'll probably take a long swim to a mooring ball that marks a wreck. The swim will be some good exercise as we're not inclined to untie and launch the dinghy from the foredeck where it is all tied on for the offshore trip.

We'll leave this afternoon for an overnighter to Monjes Del Sur - about 100 miles away. We're traveling with Tumshi, a catamaran. Yesterday they had a small headsail flying and Astarte overtook them. But this morning, they were up early putting up their larger genoa so they should be faster than us…but we'll see. Astarte likes a good race!

Some last thoughts on Spanish Waters: It was a great time. We got to know some amazing people that we hope we'll see again in Columbia or the San Blas. We had good social time as well as got some provisioning done for the San Blas. A few small boat projects got completed. It was good to stay in one place for some time - something we hadn't done too much of this trip. Other cruisers have accused us of moving too fast. Some of our blog readers can't understand why we aren't moving on. It was a bit longer than we originally thought - but the propane issue and weather called the shots. In the end - we believe everything happens for a reason. We're now leaving on what looks to be a great weather window and we have a boat to travel with along the Columbian coast for added safety. We were willing to do it alone - but we're glad to have the company.

We will be out of internet access for sometime now. So if you send us an e-mail to this blog page, our website or our aol addresses, we won't get back to you for awhile. Bear with us. We just can't imagine that the rocks that make up Monjes
will have wi-fi!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment