81) Curacao

Harbour Village, Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

12° 09.848 N 68° 17.077 W

I drove John and I in our rented high-performance finely tuned race truck to customs to check out so we could leave.  The bench seat is permanently fixed in a severe leaned back fashion.  Ya sit up ya lean back ya sit up ya lean back.  The clutch was good if that matters.  We then returned the truck to the rental place.  I was deemed qualified to go to the gas station and put in some go juice while John waited there.  He said, just put in a couple gallons.  I luckily found the gas station and then tried to figure out what to do.  Some guy approached me and I thought he worked there, and he did, and I gave him a large handful of coins and said how much gas can I get.  After he took out the Euros, oops, he pumped the gas.  That went quick so I gave him 1 USD and thought that was 2 gallons at least.  Well, the car rental guy said the tank had to be half full.  So I went back.  This time I didn’t even get out.  I pulled up and handed her a USD $5 and watched the gauge.  The gauge would not move.  Great!  Two more fives went out the window and I said that was it.  They knew what I was doing cause I told them and they just kept smiling.  Luckily, it read over half full.  I was not here long enough to learn and recognize Guilders and the exchange rate is about 1.75G to $1USD.  I just wanted to get rid of all the change I had and I thought that would do it.  Unfortunately, I had to give up some cherished USD currency that is hard for me card to come by without an ATM .

We secured some stuff on the boat, left the dinghy trailing behind and departed.  As we were leaving the Coast Guard helicopter flew by real low and waved to us.  That was a great send-off.  The locals are very friendly in Bonaire.

Course to secure the motor.

Course to recapture the dinghy.

       (In both images the track starts from the right side, north is up and we are going west)

After getting several miles offshore we realized this was going to be a rough ride.  And, it was.  The seas were 4-6’ and maybe more and very sloppy from all sides.  It was a washing machine.  The winds were in the high teens and gusting into the 20s and coming from directly behind.  Since we were going directly downwind we were motoring again. This was by far the most consistent rough uncomfortable ride we have had to date.  It was terrible.  There was a lot of dramatic rolling left and right and lots of stuff sliding around on the boat.  The only good thing was that it was daytime and this was a short 40-mile run.  About a 1/3^rd of the way John noticed that the motor on the dinghy was tilted and that meant it was not secure.  We slowed the boat down and reeled it in.  Alan jumped in it, I let it out so it wouldn’t bang the boat and he re-tightened it.  He didn’t get too wet, we didn’t drift too far and this ordeal was over.

About 2/3rds of the way across I was sitting down below and felt a tug and heard something when the dinghy separated and floated away.  Luckily Nancy was alert in the cockpit and let us know that it happened.  This was a terrible place for it to happen and that’s why it did.  The u-bolt on the front of the dinghy has hit many things too hard in its life and it finally gave up the ghost. 

Our first image of the dinghy was that it was already 50’+ away.  We at least had to try to get it back.  This was a time I wish that I had my camera in hand but didn’t.  I could have run below and gotten it but I wanted to stay topside.  In these rough waters we had our hands full.  Nancy did comment that she thought the line was too short and I was the last to pay it out.  I am not sure how long the line needs to be on this boat.  She said probably twenty feet.  It took several passes to get close enough to the boat just so we could bump it.  Alan had the boat hook forward and I had the line with a carabiner (an oblong metal ring with an operable spring-hinged side, used in rock and mountain climbing).  He eventually snagged it while it was close.  I hung over the side between the lifelines and when the boat rolled and the dinghy surged upward I was able to attach the line.  I dragged it aft and fastened it.  I already thought that if this didn’t work I could go in the water and retrieve the dinghy on free diving gear?  I thought it wasn’t worth it.  Then I thought about dropping in the dinghy, starting the motor and driving to the boat.  That too would have been exceptionally hard in the large seas.  Nancy did say that she was prepared to abandon it if we could not attach the line.  Overall, in the guise of safety that is the best option.

Now the fun part.  It was tied close to the transom and we could not tow it anymore because the attachment ring was gone.  We needed to get it on the davits.  But, a snap-shackle was missing on the port side block and pulley and that is why we have been towing it.  The shackle is on board just not installed.  I did not know it was inoperable.  I must pay more attention.  It should have been repaired as soon as the part came on board.

A volunteer was needed to jump in the dinghy and secure the davit lines to the lift cables.  I have the most experience of this crowd with small boats in rough water and I was the last to volunteer.  Alan offered and I accepted.  John was at the helm, I was handling the painter and after I got it close enough Alan jumped in.  There are many little details that I am leaving out for the sake of getting through this event.

Once he was on board we all realized just how difficult it was for a person to be in that dinghy in those conditions.  That boat was a bumper car on a string.  The sailboat would heave and jerk it and then the swells would turn it sideways.  It took him a while to get his bearings and then I reeled it within the limits of the davit lines.  He tried to attach the side with the missing part and that took quite a while.  The most vivid memory I have of this particular event is that the dinghy was bumping into the transom and both boats were heaving up and down dramatically.  The transom went underwater and when it came up it was full of water and almost perfectly poured that water over Alan and into the dinghy.  Now the fuel tank and oars were floating.  Then the good oar floated over the side and away.  That was the only thing lost in this matter.  Some more finagling and it was time to raise the boat.  It still had 50 gallons of water in it and that added quite a bit of weight.  Once it was up we said let’s get back on track.  I then secured it with 2 more lines to keep it from swaying and put a fender between it and the transom.  In its best form it is not the best arrangement geometrically and parts-wise and this attachment was worse.  But, it worked and we have a dinghy.  The u-bolt still needs to be replaced.  

Spanish Water, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

12° 04.639 N 68° 51.485 W

Green boat icon is over Curacao

  

Entrance to Spanish Water, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

Entrance to Spanish Water looking aft, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

After the excitement the boat settled back into its passage routine and things got back to normal.  We made the entrance to the river that feeds the harbor before dark and made our way to the anchorage.  Sometime around 9pm a fireworks display occurred very close to us.  It was pretty good and we have no idea why it was there.  And, I’m thinking some mosquitoes have set up shop on board because they are still flying around on the boat.  Bug bites are the worst part of boating and they happen primarily in marinas.  I won’t miss this part of sailing and there will be no re-adjustment.