Monday morning leaving St Thomas was uneventful...the events started that afternoon as we met squalls moving towards Puerto Rico. Then overnight into Tuesday morning, more squalls. So we were wet and tired as we tried to get the boat stabilized in the 30+ knot winds. Tuesday blossomed into a beautiful day and the sailing was pleasant and easy. Same for Tuesday night and we were able to get some needed sleep. The moon was full and the water was calm. Wednesday we were pretty refreshed and continued on our way. By this time we were 300 miles from St Thomas and had only seen one other boat the whole time. The Caribbean can be a very empty sea. The only life we saw were some sea birds and flying fish.
It was pretty exciting to be closing in on our destination and Wednesday evening’s was a beautiful sunset. We took longer watches that night and before dawn Thursday we had Bonaire in sight. Just as the sun was coming up, we had ANOTHER squall. This time it was a complete white-out so we just pointed the boat away from the island till it blew through. Puttering into the mooring field, we had yet another rainstorm (this is the island where it never rains, supposedly...) so we circled till it stopped, and then picked up our mooring in front of Kralendijk. We made it!! 420 miles. The crew voted the most valuable player award to the autopilot, without which, the voyage would have been much more difficult and unpleasant. First runner up was the chartplotter -- again, keeping track of where you are when there are no visual references can be pretty tricky, but so important when your destination is a small speck of land in a big sea.
Glad you made it safely, we are really kicking ourselves for not coming along but, Jolly Mon is waiting for us. We plan to do it next year and then back to the states.
ReplyDeleteCarrie and Carl on Sanctuary