Dara and David Sail india: January 2020

After the beauty of Bonaire, we were keen to see what Curacao had to offer, being the ‘C’ in the ABC Islands. It is only a relatively short hop from Bonaire and the sail there was unremarkable. We had only planned to spend a short time - just three days - in Curacao as we were on a schedule to reach Aruba for our haul-out and trip back to the UK. We arrived in practically the only anchorage in Curacao, Spanish Waters, mid afternoon and found a spot in one of the three anchor fields there. The island appeared to be rugged, a little hilly and arid, like most of these southern tropical Caribbean islands. On the way to Bonaire from Grenada we had flown our old Code Zero light wind sail and had picked up a small tear on one side, so we reached out to a sailmaker we found online in Curacao to see if there was enough time for him to fix it for us. We were surprised to hear someone calling our name shortly after we anchored and it turns out our sailmaker was sailing his yacht in the area and just happened upon us recognising the name of the boat! This was ultra convenient as we had no way to easily get the sail to him otherwise as Spanish Waters is a few miles from the main town Willemstad. After he docked his boat I took the sail in the dinghy to his car, and he was able to effect the repair and return it to the same point two days later for only $30!! What service!!

So the next morning we needed to present ourselves to Customs and Immigration for clearing-in. As I mentioned the town of Willemstad is a few miles distant, and that’s where all the port authorities are situated - convenient of course for the many Cruise ships that visit the island. We had read ahead of time, and expected, that the clear-in and out process would take some time, having to travel to town, but it turned out to be quite the trek. After dinghying to the local marina we walked a few hundred yards to the bus stop and waited for the bus to town. Nobody seemed to have or know a schedule so we just sat there. Eventually the bus arrived, and after 20 minutes or so we arrived in Willemstad at the main bus station. It was then a 20 minute walk to the Customs office, and a half hour while they ‘processed’ us, then a 40 minute walk along the main river that runs through the town, across the swing footbridge, up the other side to the Immigration office, where they too took some time to process our passports. The last thing was to purchase an anchor permit for Spanish Waters, but the office handling that piece of the bureaucratic pie were at lunch for another hour and a half. We had no choice but to kill time until they returned so we walked back to the other side of the river where we had spotted an alluring riverside restaurant serving cold beers and appetisers. We sat and enjoyed some lunch and beers, watching the tourists wandering through this pretty Dutch colonial town. Another long walk back to the anchor permit office after lunch and we were complete - it had only take five hours so far! Since we were here already, and apart from the town, there was not a great deal to do with our limited time, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets, visiting the Blue Curacao bar to try one their many eponymously named cocktails. By five o’clock it was time to catch the bus back to the Spanish Waters, and so it was it took literally all day to clear-in. The clear-out process was exactly the same, apart from the anchor permit office, and so on Wednesday morning we retraced our steps to Willemstad to do it all again. This time we stayed focused and were back at the boat by lunchtime, since we had planned to leave that evening for Aruba. And that’s it - aside from clearing in and out and seeing the pretty town, there wasn’t time for anything else, not that there was really much here anyway. It was a useful staging for our onward journey, to break the sail to Aruba into day-long chunks, and served to add another pair of visa stamps in the now rapidly filling-up passports.

Willenstad is a pretty Dutch colonial town

Very colourful

The Blue Curacao bar!

Spanish Waters anchorage

After checking the weather for a couple of days now, we knew the sail to Aruba would be fast with good downwind conditions. We timed our departure from Spanish Waters so that we would arrive very early morning in Aruba - about 80 nautical miles. The wind cooperated as expected and we made great time, and even rounded the Southern tip of Aruba earlier than expected, at around 5am. This meant we had to mark time until things opened up around 7am. We contacted Oranjestad Port control right at 7am, and they requested we report to the Barcadero dock a few miles south to check in. We navigated back south, and found the small dock where the Customs and Immigration were situated. With the fresh Easterly wind and West facing dock, we knew it wouldn’t be easy to tie up india since the wind is wanting to push the boat away from the dock as you swing the stern around to come alongside. Luckily there were four dock workers killing time as we approached and we were able to throw them lines and have them manhandle us onto the dock. On top of that the whole approach was super shallow so we had to be very careful in many ways. Checking in was otherwise painless, after Curacao, and so within an hour we were moving off to find somewhere to spend the night before our haul-out at Varadero marina and boatyard the following day. The boatyard was not far away, just a couple of miles along the coast, inside a barrier island. We carefully moved through the shallow waters until we were just outside the boatyard and found an unused mooring ball so we could tie up for the rest of the day and night. After relaxing with a refreshing latte and some breakfast, we took the dinghy into the marina to introduce ourselves since this would be home for india for the next four to six weeks.

We were particularly excited as our plan was to fly to London the day after haul out to visit two new grandchildren born in 2019 that we had not yet met!! Our daughter Louise and her husband Graeme had a little girl, Clarissa, in April, and our son James and his wife Zoe gave birth to Rupert in August!

The next morning we took india the few hundred yards round to the haul-out slip and spent the next three hours watching the marina crew skilfully load her onto a trailer in the water, and pull her up onto the hard. They sat the keels gently on blocks a foot or so off the ground and installed angled stands to provide hull support all round before removing the trailer. After almost a year sailing throughout the Caribbean, a well known high-growth area for foul on the bottom of boats, india’s bottom didn’t look so bad at all! A quick pressure wash and she would be ready for a light sanding and a fresh coat of paint or two! The rest of the day was spent packing for our trip and closing the boat down ready for a three week rest. The Varadero boatyard is right next to the airport perimeter fence so we were able to watch the planes coming and going, bringing their cargo of tourists to this extremely popular vacation destination, also at the peak of high season.

India in the haul-out slip waiting for the arrival of the trailer

Trailer's here!

Loaded and being pulled out

Close to the airport perimeter. I guess this drug smuggling place didn't quite make it...

India at her resting spot

And so the next day we jumped into a taxi and we were off! We flew to New York for a short layover, then onto London, arriving early on Sunday morning. First stop was with our son James and Zoe, in South London, where we met little Rupert for the first time. What a happy little baby Rupert is!! As you would expect, extremely cute, and as first time parents, James and Zoe were doing a fantastic job, super sensitive to every little noise and grimace, but already getting back into normal life by walking to the local pubs, enjoying a lunchtime cider or beer, and even let us babysit one evening while they went out for a special Christmas date night. James took some time off work and we enjoyed real quality time with them and Rupert, hoping we would imprint our faces into his brain, and we wouldn’t be complete strangers the next time we see him.

Content Granpa

What a happy chappie!

Proud Dad, and Ru wrapped up for the English winter weather

Enjoying a cheeky lunchtime pint

Zoe getting back into normality

Next stop, after a few days with Rupert, was to our daughter Louise and Graeme who live north of London to see our first grandchild Jasper again and meet little Clarissa! As expected, Clarissa is the most beautiful little girl, at almost eight months old she is sitting up, about to crawl, having her first teeth, smiling and generally being gorgeous. Jasper seems to have adjusted quite well and looked like he genuinely loved his little sister. We stayed at a little village pub close by for five days and enjoyed full English breakfasts each day before spending the days with the family. These days were devoted to our grandchildren, and spending time with family. Apart from the fact we were ready for a vacation away from india, this time really enabled us to recharge our batteries - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Nana Dara and Clarissa

Nana Dara and Jasper Jay

OMG whats that!!!!

Those eyes...

Louise is doing a fantastic job with this bunch!

One small distraction for me while in London was spending a day with an old friend from Australia, Steve, whom I had not seen for almost 40 years. He had rented a penthouse apartment in town with his family and together with two other close friends, the four of us caught up those 40 years in spectacular fashion, drinking Champagne and messing around like we were still kids. I can't show any other photos of what we got up to...

Our time in the UK passed oh so quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to leave. Just that short few days each with Rupert, and Clarissa and Jasper had imprinted them into our hearts and we felt it was worth everything to have finally spent this time with them all.

The route back to Aruba was via Charleston, since we needed to pick up quite a few items from Judy and Don that had been collecting there this last few months. These were things for the boat, for preventative maintenance and minor repairs, personal items and lots of SCUBA gear, since we want to be self-sufficient diving wherever and whenever we want. Whilst there we celebrated Dara’s birthday with a special meal at Hall’s Chophouse - one of our favourite restaurants - with Judy and Don - a big thank you for being our land-based support network and also for collecting all those Amazon parcels!! After that we were privileged and honoured to be guests at Charlotte and Jay’s house for two nights, where they treated us like royalty. Jay cooked surf and turf, and we were woken to the smell of bacon cooking each morning - what fabulous hosts, and great friends, they are.

A few parcels arrived for us...

With Charlotte and Jay

We arrived in the UK with two bags, and set off back to Aruba from Charleston with four, courtesy of Amazon. Customs in Aruba is fairly relaxed so we had no problems bringing back all the boat parts and SCUBA gear. After touchdown in Queen Beatrix International Airport in Aruba, we were back in the boatyard within an hour, unpacking and firing up the systems in India in readiness for our week of work, and preparations for leaving for Cartagena, Colombia.