“Goodbye Bonaire” Our friends, Shawn and Sharon are meeting us in Aruba, so we needed to leave our beloved island of Bonaire to head south west. Unfortunately, there was no wind (less than 8 knots) so we ended up motoring the entire way from Bonaire toward Klein Curacao.
Sugar Shack leaving Bonaire
On the way over, we ran the little generator, water maker, and washer machine (did you know we have a washer/dryer on board – oh ya!). Of course, I was just doing my delicates and things that needed to be lined dried so the laundry service could focus on towels, sheets, and other bulky items. We also had to dry out our dive gear so we could stow it for a few weeks on board.
BC and workout clothes drying
BC and Tanks drying
Some say I have a bikini problem
We happened to leave at the same time as Always Sunday so it was not a surprise to hear them hail us on the VHF. They talked us into heading to Klein Curacao for the night – they did not have to try very hard as we loved this little island stop and just needed a reason to stop short of Curacao.
When we arrived, we met Ricky and Robin (Always Sunday) for a snorkel where we saw lots of turtles, a few scorpion fish, an eel and lots of other little sea creatures. They invited us to their boat for tuna and a card game. They have a beautiful 40’ Lagoon 2013 that is immaculately kept. Robin prepared a lovely tuna dish and taught us a new card game that Matt dutifully won. Despite the fact that they let me cheat my times, I still came in last.
Matt & I with Robin and Ricky
Once we arrived in Curacao, we rented a car and ran a bazillion errands: dropped laundry, Budget Marine (pick up Life Seal that we ordered), Scuba and More (fix our regulators), Digicel (update our data plan), customs & immigration, Cost U Less, Best Buy, Vruegedenhill, Van Den Twill, Kooyman, Mangusa Grocery and Centrum Market. We managed to get back in time for happy hour where we met our friends Steve (Kialoa III), James (Moonrise), Matias and Ulreke (Bella) for a final toddy before we head West.
James, Matt, me, Matias, Ulreke, Steve
The next day, we picked up our clean laundry, repaired regulators, and a swung by few more stores to find some elusive items (diet coke, diet ginger ale, mozzarella, and ribs). We returned to the boat to unpack and stow all our goodies and headed to The Pier for the weekly captain’s dinner where they were serving dorado which was delicious. We enjoyed hanging out with our friends and 25 other boater pals of Spanish Waters.
