The last few days aboard have been productive - we are getting little projects done as well as some "maintenance" (also known as massive cleaning!) Laundry by the bucket-full (literally) is also getting done as we wait for the right weather window.
The other day, we also cleaned the bottom of the boat - and got covered in barnacle bugs (ick!) One of the nice things about Bonaire was the blue tangs (fish) that eat much of the green algae that grows on the boat bottom. No such luck here - so it takes a few hours of scrubbing the waterline and the keel.
Along with the projects, we've also managed to have some fun. We've hiked around the area; gone to a happy hour or two (or three) and entertained on Astarte and been invited to other boats. We had sundowners with Ria and Waldy aboard Talagoa and were treated to some Dutch delicacies. We also got a nice invite from Peter and Jenny aboard Cheetah and had some good laughs and good food with them (a British couple). And on Sunday afternoon, we invited Lili and Otto back for a domino re-match and added Tom and Christian from Astahayah as well. Tom and Christian are Norwegians aboard a very lovely Oyster (registered in the British Virgins) that we met at happy hour a few times. They never played dominoes before - so it's always fun to introduce someone new to the game. It was a great match - Otto took the victory AGAIN - that's two in a row for him. But what is most fun about all these evenings with other cruisers is learning more about their cultures, their experiences and their countries. Remember Otto carries a Hungarian passport and Lili a Swiss one - but both grew up in South Africa and left from there aboard their boat Vagabond.
Over dominoes and drinks the six of us had some lively conversations about a variety of topics. It's fun to sit and listen as people break into other languages. Some of what we talked about was funny like the most difficult words to say in English, Norwegian and Afrikaans. We all learned "sayings" from other languages - like in Norway - instead of "counting your chickens before they're hatched" - their version of something that means the same is: "don't sell the fur before you've killed the bear." We talked about issues in each country - immigration, racism, apartheid, politics, indigenous peoples and even whaling. Of course there was also a smattering of talk about religion, sex and rock and roll! The evenings go so quickly and are so rich and memorable. It is one of the very special things about cruising - the people you meet and what you learn from them.
This morning we went into Willemstead to get an anchoring permit for another harbor later in the week as well as to check in with immigration to see if we had more than thirty days in Curacao (it's been 28 so far!) We're good for 90 days…but we definitely will be out of here before then. It's always fun to go into the big city - it means an ice cream treat!
A few new pictures are on the webpage. But we are having some internet issues so they are still uncaptioned. Hopefully they'll get captioned soon.
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