There are a few things we have to plan our life around while living on a boat: water, food, fuel, electricity, and data.

We get water delivered every two weeks from the “water boat” even though we have a water maker on board.  Since the water is so dirty at this anchorage we determined it was about the same price to buy the water (which is really good quality) than it was to replace our water maker filters.

We are pretty stocked on food, but will need to do a large provision run before we leave for Bonaire (which will require a car).

We have not refueled Sugar Shack since we left St. Maarten so we will need to do that before we leave as well (need a fairly low wind day). We can buy fuel from the Curacao Yacht Club but docking poses a challenge on windy days.

Our solar panels charge our batteries and if necessary we run our small Honda generator to give it a boost when we are running the inverter or have lots of electrical draw.

We have several sources for data.  Currently, we are lucky enough to get data on the boat from a place on shore, for free, but it fluctuates based on the number of users and the weather.  So, when the weather is bad, or there are lots of users or when we are on shore we don’t have internet access.  So, we purchased a Digicel plan (which is a local provider frequently used on many Caribbean islands).  We purchased a 30-day plan for $50 which gives you 15 gigs.  Normally we run through 15 gigs in about 8-10 days (Blog, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc…), but with the free access on the boat we have been able to roll over our unused data each month for the past few months so that we can use it in Bonaire where there is no “free wifi.”  Our plan was set to expire on a Sunday.  Unfortunately, Digicel is closed on Sunday’s and typically you have to go into the Digicel store to top up.

On Saturday, we set off to town to see a man about some data.  We took the dinghy to the dock, hopped on the big city bus, arrived into Punda and headed over to Otrobonda where the Digicel store is located. As we headed toward Otrobonda, we noticed the Queen Emma Floating Pontoon bridge was on the other side and not allowing pedestrian access so we hopped on the free ferry.  It is a super short ride, but as we crossed over, we noticed why the bridge was open, a giant container ship and two tugs were waiting at the mouth of waterway to come through – cool.  We hopped off the ferry and discovered dozens of tents being set up in the Ortobonda center – a street fair, yeah!  We walked through the maze of booths of clothing, shoes, jewelry, artistry, plants, and food.

Street fair in Otrobanda. These booths are selling wooden signs and clothing.

These booths are selling local food and beverages.

They say, that you can use the Digicel app to top up or renew your plan, but when you do that you tend to lose your unused data.  So, we head into the store each month.  They are extremely nice, very helpful, and have always made sure we left as satisfied customers (you don’t say that very often about a cellular company, do you?).

At Digicel, one of the helpful workers started working on activating our new plan when their computer system decided to reboot.  Lucky for us, she was 90% done and just had to call a technician to finish it all up.  We headed out in search of the bus depot with the hopes of finding the bus route map, but they were closed.  Maybe next time.  Now it was time for a late breakfast, so we headed to our favorite place Plaza Bieu for some pumpkin pancakes.  (3) large pancakes and a lemonade for 8.25 naf (or $4.71).

Pumpkin pancakes at Plaza Bieu

With full bellies, we headed to the floating veggie market (Venezuela barko’s) to pick up some fruits and vegetables.  We bought a huge papaya, bunch of bananas, 5-mandarin oranges, 4-green peppers for 8 naf ($4), such a bargain.

Back in Spaanse Waters, before we headed to the boat, Iwe swung by a small church that we walked past last week.  It always looked abandoned to me, but when we walked by last Sunday, they were holding service with about 6 people in attendance (one woman on the floor praising God).  So, I was hoping to see what time service started this week.  Unfortunately, the service is in Papiamento and it lasts over 2 hours. I could handle service in a different language, or a service in English for 2 hours, but with a small crowd, foreign language, and long service it didn’t bode well for me.  Next, we headed over to Tugboat beach to gather some additional photos for one of our blog posts and then back to the boat.

Matt had noticed that there was a Reggae band playing at a Zanzibar located at Jan Thiel Beach which was walking distance from the dinghy dock.  It was Saturday night so we decided to get a little jiggy and head to the bar.

Happy hour started at 5p and we arrived around 545p with the bar in full swing. I’m sure most of the people were left over from the beach as it was a gorgeous day.  We arrived in time to snag a spot on one of their recently vacated bed platforms to watch the sunset.

Jan Thiel beach is covered with pretty palm trees.

Attempt at a selfie with the sunset in the background..

Pretty sunset, but not many colors and no green flash due to cloud coverage.

During HH they had a DJ in the house playing all sorts of thumping dance music.  Not many people were dancing or paying attention until the band started which was around 630p. The Reggae band proved to be quite the show.  The singer was pretty good, when she sang but she tended to pass the mic to the crowd a lot and that was not always pretty or pleasant.  But the evening was a lot of fun, dancing in the sand, under the full moon, and swaying palm trees.

And that is how I got my 18,000 steps in today!

Quick video at Zanzibar happy hour.

Perfect combination. Sunset + Palm Tree = beautiful!

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Super cute little girl enjoying a coke and a smile.