Recently in Passages Category

We left Cartagena on Wednesday morning and had a very nice 24 hour sail to San Blas. Actually, at the start there was no wind, but I knew within a few hours we would catch up to some wind. We headed out through the Boca Grande passage (which is the one we passed up on our way into Cartagena due to the weather condidtions). Since there was no wind, the seas were flat this time, so we had no problem passing through the narrow port exit.

It seemed we were going slower than normal as we motored out, so we stopped when we got to some clearer waters about 2 miles from shore. I dove over to check the bottom - and, sure enough, we had some slime and a few barnacles and other growth. The port waters in Cartagena are a melting pot of growth. David jumped in with me and we spent about an hour cleaning off the growth. Once we resumed motion though, it appeared we only regained about .5 knots.

By 1:30, we had picked up some wind and started motor sailing. By 2PM we were under full sail and we sailed the rest of the way. David and Edel really enjoyed the sail and even took a night-time watch for a couple of hours. We had a few rain showers during the early morning hours the next day, but the wind stayed steady. We averaged 8-9 knots in the evening, and 9-10 knots during the morning hours. So, we completed the 200 nm run to San Blas in right at 24 hours. We first saw a couple of other boats headed in as well, and then spotted the coconut trees of these little tropical islands.

The San Blas islands are an archipelago of, supposedly, 365 islands (one for each day of the year). The islands are occupied by the Kuna Indians who still live a simple life with little influence from modern technologies. They trade in coconuts, fish the islands, and take care of their environment. As a result, these islands look much like they did hundreds of years ago when the Europeans first set sight of them.

We arrived at the East Holandes Cays and were stunned by the beauty. A thousand shades of blue and turquoise water colors. White sand, and coconut lined, beaches. A smattering of sailboats at anchor. We were in heaven!

We have been exploring the area, swimming in the super clear water, and walking the beaches. This is what cruising is all about! It's too bad that none of the online mapping sites have high resolution aerial photos of the San Blas islands. But, do a search on Panoramio, Flickr, or Google Images and you'll find many photos of these awesome islands.

We stayed in Cartagena a few days longer than originally planned because we were waiting for a part to be shipped to us. Our primary fresh water pump died an ignoble death on our passage down to Cartagena. It had been giving warning signs for some time, and I have no excuse for not having bought a spare earlier. We thought the original problem was simply a broken diaphragm, which was the subject of another parts shipment back in the Grenadines. We performed the diaphragm replacement and the pump stopped leaking, so we thought it was fixed. But, there was another problem.

Anyway, we identified a company which said they could get the part we ordered (two of them, one as a spare) in the US delivered to us in a week. But, they were not very good at "tracking" the package's progress. We essentially did not know if they actually had the product here in Colombia until Monday night. Then, we didn't hear from the until late last night - but, around 7 PM they finally delivered it to me at the marina. Whew! By 8 PM, I had removed the old pump and installed the new one. And, it works beautifully!

Now we'll be able to leave soon for the San Blas archipelago in Panama (click on thumbnail above to visit in Google Maps - Google doesn't have high-res aerial photos of the area - yet). These islands are some of the most beautiful tropical islands in the Caribbean. There are supposedly 365 islands there - one for each day of the year. The islands (and surrounding tropical forest-lined shore) are occupied by the Kuna Indians who believe in keeping their lives simple, live off the sea and the land, do not use modern technologies, and keep their culture separate from foreign influences. They are reportedly very friendly as long as you don't harm their environment or violate their rules. For example, each Kuna family owns specific coconut trees (they use coconuts as a form of trade, and a source of food and supplies). It is forbidden for visitors to pick up and use coconuts for this reason.

We are looking forward to being able to jump in the waters again. The port here at Cartagena does not have very appetizing water, so we haven't been swimming in nearly two weeks! We'll have a to wait a bit for a weather window and to get cleared out of customs.

As I've mentioned before, we will have VERY limited Internet connectivity while in San Blas during the next couple of weeks. I'll still hopefully squeeze out a few blog posts - but, you'll have to wait until we get to Colon, Panama for me to upload photos. We won't be able to reply to our E-mails during this time as well. It will be a vacation!

We started our expedition formally when we departed the US shores of North Carolina on November 14, 2009. Our first goal was to make it to the Caribbean island of St. Martin and begin adjusting to our new way of life as we re-visited many islands we had first seen in 2003 up until Grenada. We also needed to learn how to use new tools we brought with us like the VideoRay ROV for underwater video, 360 Panoramas, and our kite aerial photography equipment.

We began visiting new islands with the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao), and then continued west to Cartagena.

By the end of this month, we hope to be entering a whole new part of the world to us. We will be transiting the Panama Canal and sail in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Our first major destination will be the Galapagos Islands. After viewing (and sharing) the amazing variety of life that live on and around those mystical islands, we will depart for the longest single passage in our near-term voyage: 3000 nm from the Galapagos to the French Marquesas. It will take 2-3 weeks to complete the journey, without any land in sight, until we arrive (hopefully by early May). We are looking to have some additional crew on board to help with the passage.

We hope you are enjoying following our experiences so far. Since I'm a tech geek, we are making a lot of use of "new" technologies such as Google Earth and Maps (NOTE: our map has now changed to show a more accurate rendition of our recent path - in green), 360 panoramas, kite aerial photography, Twitter, and more. Hopefully, the resulting imagery and information enhance the experience for most of you. As we enter this new phase of our trip, we hope to begin sharing more observations of the life around us, environmental impacts of mankind on the ocean life and the land sharing the sea, and more of our experiences with the cultures we encounter. We hope you'll join us on our adventure!

We have some long passages coming on Tahina, and would like to have some additional crew to help us with the sailing. The need for a constant watch 24-hours-a-day is more challenging with only two people on board. When we left North Carolina in November, we had our friend Wilson join us for the 7 day passage to St. Martin.

We have two long passages to consider:

1. The passage from Panama to the Galapagos Islands - an approximately 7-10 day passage. This passage can have variable winds (mostly light, but also in direction). We would be leaving near the beginning of April for the Galapagos.
2. From the Galapagos to the French Marquesas - a two to three week passage. Two boats identical to ours completed this passage in 15 days in 2008. This passage can have some variable conditions at the beginning, but is typically a nice downwind (with following seas) ride for most of the days during the time of year we are going. We would be leaving the Galapogos about 10-14 days after we get there. So, approximate departure would be mid-April or closer to the end of April.

Our goal is to have crew who have experience with blue-water passages, and are not prone to sea-sickness. Prior experience crewing with similar passages is a big plus. If you have the time flexibility, and enjoy our company, you would be welcome to stay several days beyond the passage to see the sights at our destinations. These are long passages and everyone has to live together for many days and share responsibilities including sailing, cooking, and cleaning. Read our about page to learn about our backgrounds. Ideally two additional crew would be nice, but we will do fine with one extra crew.

You need some flexibility in your time commitment to crew with us on these passages. We don't have an exact date yet for departure, or especially arrival (which is somewhat dependent on weather). You will need to have a valid passport and possibly some vaccinations.

Tahina is a beautiful 50' catamaran with 4 queen-sized staterooms (see photo gallery). We have plenty of room for crew and many comforts including: watermaker, icemaker, fridge/freezer, generator, TV with DVDs, and have at least basic (text-only) E-mail access. We also have a satellite phone when calls or Internet connection needs to be made (costs are high though). Our boat is rigged very well with electric winches, and most lines led to the cockpit. Although, going on deck is rarely a problem since we have plenty of room. We also have a spinnaker to help with the downwind sailing.

You can read about us on our about page. If you are interested in making one of the passages, please contact us by E-mail as soon as possible.

For several weeks, we've been keeping an eye on the weather between Aruba and Cartagena. There's an area just north of Cartagena that is notorious for strong winds. A river comes out to sea near Barranquilla and the contrary currents and temperatures apparently churns up some wind. We've regularly seen gale-force (> 30 knot) winds appearing in this area in recent weeks. Our package finally cleared customs in Aruba on Tuesday afternoon (Monday was a holiday). We picked up our new anchor light, but it was too windy to go up the mast to install it. But, the weather forecast for Cartagena was looking pretty good for the next day. There were still some 20-25 knot winds in the forecast, and it was all following winds and seas. NOTE: this is a long post! We decided to stay well offshore to avoid risks of piracy sometimes reported out here, and to reduce the risk of weather effects closer to Cartagena. Check out the map of our GPS track below.

Meanwhile, another boat in the anchorage, named m/v Antipodes, came over and invited us out for drinks. Jim and Lara's boat is a motor trawler live-aboard, and they have come from San Diego to Aruba in the past few months. They plan to attempt a circumnavigation as well. Only 18 motor trawlers have ever made it apparently. Their boat is registered in North Carolina, so naturally we had to meet them. They also have worked in the information technology business as well. And, the most amazing coincidence is that they know Pat and Ali from s/v Bumfuzzle (an amazing couple who I followed on their web site when they circumnavigated a few years ago). In fact, they met them in person a few times. I really enjoyed hearing their first-person accounts of what they are like.

I spent the rest of Tuesday preparing a route and planning our arrival in Cartagena. We got up Wednesday and first sent me up the mast to install the light. That went very smoothly and it worked perfectly. Next I drove Coconut down to Barcadera port and cleared out of customs. One more trip to town to take in trash and get some cash. Then we got the dinghy up and prepped for departure. We weighted anchor at about 10:30 and headed out. Shortly after we left, we had two dolphin swim over and join us at the bows a bit. I always consider it a good thing when they visit us on a passage.

As mentioned the other day, we had a nice sail to Aruba on Sunday (see GPS track in the link). After a good sleep in the marina, we got up and worked all day Monday, and Tuesday morning, getting the boat cleaned up and ready for our guests who arrived on Tuesday afternoon. We took advantage of the access to water at the marina to give Tahina a thorough washing. She was covered in dirt from the desert-like environment of Bonaire. And, lots of salt as we hadn't had rain since we left Grenada and had three salty passages to get to Aruba. She was gleaming like new by the afternoon.

In the afternoon on Monday, I climbed the mast to investigate putting a new anchor light on Tahina. But, after looking closer I decided we needed to order the same anchor light we had before and have it shipped here. It would be the easiest way to get it installed. While up the mast, I took some photos of the really nice little port with the marina. In the series of photos I took below you can see the hotel, mall, restaurants, bars, shops, and cruiseship dock (complete with just one cruise ship in port).

In the afternoon we took laundry downtown to be done for us. We discovered there was a movie theater, a Taco Bell, Subway, Haggendaaz, and other reminders of home here. Not only that, but Avatar was showing. So, Monday night we went to watch the movie at last! We loved the movie! We also treated ourselves to Taco Bell. And, you won't believe it, but it tasted really good here. They must have Aruba or Venezuela influences because it was really tasty with a much different spice compared to the US.

On Tuesday morning, we continued the cleaning on the boat. Karen went to the grocery stores to do a big provisioning project, and I went to get the laundry later. Karen had me a bit worried when she was nearly an hour late, but thankfully our neighbor in the marina (s/v Lucid - an American owner who's been down here for two years) offered to check on her and managed to pick her up and bring her to the marina with her huge load. We were ready to leave at noon and checked out of the marina. But, the marina dockmaster suggested we just stay until our guests arrived - no charge.

We took a bus to the airport and Andy and Aliza arrived pretty much on time with all their luggage - including a load of stuff we had ordered and a bunch of our mail. First thing after we got back, we left the dock and went to a nearby anchorage for the night (next to the airport). Andy, while wallowing in the wonderful warmth of Aruba, was kind enough to pull out our goodies from his luggage. It was like Christmas! New spare parts! Hardrives for backups! Engine filters! Wow!

More photos to share - here are photos from our excursions from Bonaire to Aruba. Including photos from our brief stop at Curacao. We traveled there on the same day as "A Small Nest" with the family from Belgium. We had their kids over cupcakes and ice cream and to play Wii on Saturday afternoon. You can also see some of the ships we had close encounters with during our passages. And, there's a shot of Captain Frank washing Tahina in there as well:

On Friday we left Bonaire to make our way west to Aruba. My friend Andy and his wife Aliza are flying down for a few days of warm weather and sailing on Tahina. We had made the arrangements weeks ago, and were slowed down for repairs and a new computer back in the Grenadines and Grenada This is why we had limited time to stay in Bonaire.

We did manage to stop in Curacao for a quick look. Curacao is much more developed than Bonaire and has a sizable, and growing, population. You could see construction trucks and cranes all over the island. There are many more cars than buses on the roads. They have a huge bridge over the main port entry - big enough for ships to go under. We were enjoying looking, and taking pictures, of the island so much, that we passed the entry to the anchorage called Spanish Water. We ended up having to turn around and motor against wind and waves to get back to it. In our defense, the entry is almost impossible to spot from offshore.

We stopped in Curacao partly because there was a chance to get a new anchor light at the Budget Marine chandlery. I tried to catch a bus to the store, but it didn't show up when expected. I was told it was only 2-3 miles, so I started walking, but fortunately a boater drove up and offered me a ride. It was at least 5 miles.

Earlier in the morning, I went to take a shower in our guest bathroom (so I wouldn't wake Karen). The shower drain pump stopped working. Uh oh! So, I checked out the wiring and found there was 12V going to the pump. So, I removed the pump assuming the pump was bad. While at the Budget Marine, I managed to get a suitable pump replacement (it turns out two spares I had bought back in the US were not the right size). Back at the boat, I spent a few minutes setting up the wiring, and then put in the new pump. Nothing happened - but, I noticed when I pushed on the wiring it would sometimes make a slight noise. Our friends on A Small Nest also came to Curacao on the same day. We invited their kids to come over for Wii and ice cream we had bought. When their father Willem brought them over, he offered to help diagnose the pump problem. We did some testing and found both of the new pumps worked. The problem seemed to be the 12V power wire. It had slightly less voltage than the other wires. I went to pull on the wire to get a closer look, and a 6 inch piece of the wire came right out. On the end was green gunk - the wire was corroded! We had found the problem. We soon had a new power wire in place, and the pump worked perfectly. I'm a bit perturbed about the corrosion though. Good marine wire shouldn't do that, and this wire was put in by the boat builder.

Yesterday, Sunday, we left before dawn and made our way slowly out the Spanish Water entry in the dark. We soon were having a nice downwind sail to the NW along the Curacao coast towards Aruba. It was about 80 miles to the main port of Aruba and we wanted to arrive well before dark. We had a great sail and made good time. There was only a brief period where the winds died down and we ran a motor to keep our speed up. Once we got to Aruba we had a great run in the lee up the coast making 11-12 knots on a beam reach!

We called Aruba Port Control on the radio several minutes before getting to the port. But, they didn't answer until we were entering the harbor. They told us we had to go back to the Barcadera commercial port to clear into customs. So, we turned around and sailed 4 or so miles back. Once there, we found a small ship dock with 5 boats already parked - and no room for Tahina. There was more dock space to the west, but it was behind a fence and the water was shallow. A coast guard boat came by and said we should wait for a boat to leave. We waited for over 30 minutes trying to hold position with the wind. Finally I called the port again. Fortunately, the local marina listened in and told us that although the water was shallow, if we would move in close to the dock on the closer end it would be deep enough. He was right, and we were soon docked. Customs and immigration were speedy and I was in and out almost as fast as I could fill in the forms. That was nice!

We motor-sailed back up to the main port and called the marina. They told us where to dock, but explained they were leaving for the day. So, we tied up ourselves. The ironic part is that the water was even shallower at the dock, and I'm sure we touched sand in the process. As we were arriving, the sound was incredible. It turns out the first Carnival parade was going on at the street next to the marina. But, as we were finishing tying the end of the parade went by and was followed by a series of trucks that picked up all the pedestrian barriers and the parade was gone.

As we were cleaning up and having a late dinner, the Superbowl had started. They had it projected on the side of a nearby hotel, and loud enough we could hear the commentary. But, we enjoyed seeing a taste of good ole US of A. We're glad to be in Aruba with a couple of days to clean up the boat. And, we've now completed a brief visit of the ABCs. I would definitely enjoy being able to spend more time at the other two islands. But, hopefully we'll have a chance to see a lot of Aruba during the next week.

We have been having a wonderful time in Bonaire. This has in-part been due to our having met some nice cruising families on nearby boats. But, the larger factor has been the wonderful island, people, culture, and amenities of Bonaire. Today I'd like to share some of what Karen I have enjoyed here.

Bonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles. As with many Caribbean islands, the people here have organized and asked their government to allow them to separate politically and form their own self-governance. The Netherlands have come close to agreeing to this, but the approval has been postponed for many months now.

The main languages here are Dutch and English (as they mostly are in the Netherlands). Although, given the close proximity to Venezuela, there are also many who speak Spanish as well. Official currency is either Dutch Gilder or US Dollar. The culture here is very international, and you are likely to hear many other languages as well. Cruise ships also visit the main port every few days, and this of course can greatly impact the local culture (for a few hours). Yesterday the Caribbean Princess arrived and nearly doubled the local population since it carries as many as 3100 passengers!

Kralendijk is the main city, and is the home to the main ship port. Here you will find numerous restaurants and shops that both cater to the cruise ships and many other tourists to Bonaire. The population seems to be increasing quickly now. We spoke to some regular tourists who say there are many signs of growth - new housing developments, condos, and hotels. We rented a car and drove around the island and saw much evidence to support this. Like we saw with French islands like Martinique, there is much evidence of modern regulations and infrastructure. Well-designated roads, trash is well maintained, water seems safe, no evidence of a sewage problem. The island seems to be safe - we felt secure everywhere we went.

The main draw in Bonaire for other tourists is the local diving conditions. The local Bonaire government was smart, and has treated their environment as a precious commodity. They have treated their coastline and off-shore marine environment as a national park. No anchoring is allowed except in very strict locations. All diving activity is monitored and fees are charged which go toward supporting the park service. The result is that even in the main port, the coral life is nearly pristine.

There is a large wind-generation project on the northern coastline under construction. It looks large enough to potentially supply much of the island with electricity. This is a big change from most of the islands of the Caribbean which mostly use diesel/oil to supply power.

We have been diving right off the moorings where Tahina is parked near the main city. Although there are signs of pre-park abuse (tires, bottles, cans, and other trash in the deeper water), the coral reef and marine life is recovering nicely. The water is beautifully caribbean-blue clean with fantastic seeing conditions. There are many other designated diving sites all around the islands here.

It's a shame we need to continue moving west. We would love spending more time in Bonaire. We hope Bonaire controls their growth and, if they are successful in their political changes, that they are able to maintain the infrastructure, environment, and culture they have developed thus far. We have noticed many of the west indies islands (which switched to self-governance many years ago) have experienced many challenges in maintaining the quality of their citizens lives, population control, their environment, and the necessary infrastructure to make self-governance a success.

We are having a great time in Bonaire so far! There is great diving conditions right off the back of our boat in front of town here. It goes from 30-250 feet deep within a couple dozen meters to the west of our mooring. Yesterday we drove the ROV and took some video, and we went on a dive as well. Fantastic conditions for diving! We also had some kids, off two other boats we've met (Sunboy from Australia, and A Small Nest from Belgium), come over to play on our Wii. And, we've even gone into town and done some shopping/eating.

Today, I wanted to share some pictures - so I spent the morning processing the last several days. And, here is the GPS track from our passage between Grenada and Bonaire. NOTE: if you visit the album you can see the locations in Google Maps. And, I always recommend viewing the full-sized slideshow for more detail.

First up, we have Google Picasa web album of our passage from Grenada to Bonaire. There was a sailing race regatta going on as we departed Saturday morning. Later you'll see some shots of us sailing under spinnaker, and how fast we were going. And, then what it was like as we arrived at Bonaire:

And, here is an album showing some shots of the underwater scenery behind our boat from our dive yesterday (and one photo of the kids playing Wii on board):

(Pictures will be added when I have a better connection)

This is a long tale describing our two-day adventurous trip from Grenada to Bonaire. We left Grenada on Saturday morning. It was a shame we weren't able to stop in some of the islands of Venezuela like Los Roques. Especially unfortunate because we had hoped to link up with some American friends of ours (Sid and Manuela) who have been staying on their boat (called Paradise) in Venezuela for the past few years. Unfortunately, they were not ready to leave in time for us to link up.

The winds were going to be a bit strong at the start of our passage, but it was all going to be down wind with a following sea as well. We planned to leave after 10 AM so we wouldn't arrive too early in Bonaire. When we left Prickly Bay, a regatta race was under way so we went around the race area. The winds were especially strong (near 30 knots) near the island. It's common for the winds to be accelerated around the ends of the islands. But, once we were a few miles away, they calmed down to around 20.

We had been flying the mainsail only with the stronger winds, but they started slowing down to less than 15 knots by lunch. So, after lunch we raised the spinnaker. Karen and I have only raised this one a few times. It can be challenging at times to manage this sail. But, we raised it without too much difficulty. Because the winds were not real strong, we went ahead and lowered the main. We were soon going 8-9 knots. The winds picked back up and soon we were doing 10-11 knots and surfing on waves up to 15 knots!

We had a nice afternoon sail, but as evening approached we decided to drop the spinnaker in case the winds picked up at night. So, we first had to raise the main going downwind - which we haven't done before. By using the reefing lines, I was able to get the sail between the jacklines and we got it up. We then used that to block the spinnaker's wind. The chute came down ok, but we forgot for a few moments it was best to tied down the chute line and had some difficulty holding on. Then lowering the sail without the bottom portion fly out was a challenge.

Since we were pretty much directly downwind, we had to keep an eye on the wind to make sure we didn't jibe. We had one accidental jibe which makes a huge racket and really shakes the mast.

I turned on the tricolor (with our new LED light bulb) before dark. Karen cooked up a nice meal, and we had dinner. We were still making 8-9+ knots with just the main. I looked up to check on the new light, and it wasn't on! So, I tried turning on and off the switch. No luck. At first I guessed maybe the bulb (which was a bit wobbly when I installed it) was loose. So, I turned on the anchor light to make sure it was still working. Uh oh, it wasn't on either! Now I was really worried. I remember when I went up to install the light module that the locking ring was hard to get to lock while at the top of the mast. But, it seemed pretty firm when I pushed on the module. But, I remembered that jibe and how hard the mast shook... So, I got out a spotlight and the binoculars and looked up at the top of the mast. My worst fears were realized - our entire light was gone off the mast. A quick look around the boat (including the sail cover) showed there was no sign of the light. I imagine that hard jibe slingshotted our light right off the boat. Our light was in Davy Jones' locker. Argh!

To some, this might be funny. But, after I spent weeks looking for those new bulbs, and hours climbing up the mast and custom installing the bulbs (and lets not forget lots of money), the loss of the light was particularly painful. And, now we'll have to buy and install another one! Captain Frank is not a happy camper.

We had a full moon during the night, so the seeing conditions were great. And under mainsail alone we made good speed and a comfortable ride. We did have to jibe a few times to make the direction we wanted. There were several ships in the area, which we had on our AIS and radar.

Sunday morning the weather was great, and I was anxious to get the spinnaker back up. I knew we would go 1.5 knots or more faster. We made another mistake with the spinnaker though. I decided it would be nice to have the spinnaker all rigged up before we dropped the mainsail. So, we got it all ready on the trampoline. We were very careful to get it set up right. Then we thought we'd quickly tack into the wind and drop the mainsail the easy way. The winds were so light going downwind, I forgot they were pretty strong. As I was making the turn into the wind, the spinnaker started to fly off the deck! I immediately turned on the autopilot and grabbed the sail. Some of it had already gone off the side. Karen helped get the sheet out of the water, but the sail was all jumbled up again. We eventually got it back in place and dropped the mainsail while Karen was lying on it. We just learned another obvious lesson about the spinnaker. This time the spinnaker went up very smoothly without incident.

We were so busy with the spinnaker that I completely forgot to call on the SSB to Grace at the time we had picked. So, I got on the SSB and sent them E-mails. We had a wonderful day of weather and sailing. We were making very good speed all day with the true winds 18-22 knots steady. And all afternoon there was not a cloud in the sky. In fact, it was so good we decided to continue with the spinnaker into the night. We were passing Los Roques by dinner time.

We were going to run the generator to recharge the batteries, so after dinner we decided to watch a movie. I had to pause every 10 minutes to check for other boats, and the winds. Things were mostly good except that the wind was starting to come a bit from the ENE instead of due east. This was making it hard to maintain our course due west which we needed to get around another set of islands. After the movie, I realized the winds were picking up a bit too. We were debating taking the spinnaker down and either tacking, or just going to main. But, I was focused on missing those islands. I found if I hand steered I could maintain the west course. So, we pressed on. But, after an hour or so, the winds started picking up more. It got to 25-30 knots true. The boat was flying at about 12-15 knots (sometimes faster).

Now we really needed to get the spinnaker down. And, we knew from past experience this would be challenging with these winds. Not only that, but the autopilot was having a hard time maintaining course on its own. I changed the rudder settings, and the winds eased just a bit. So, I got the autopilot going. First, we needed to get the mainsail up to block the wind. We turned on our bright decklights to help. In these winds, it was challenging, but we eventually got the mainsail up. I had to watch out that I didn't get thrown off while trying to coerce the mainsail up the jacklines.

Next, we got the spinnaker chute lines ready. Karen was on the deck with the lines, and I got ready to release the sheet. I got the mainsail fully out to block the wind. The spinnaker started flopping. I released the sheet, and Karen started pulling the chute down. I ran up to help. We got it down most of the way. But, the bottom portion of the sail was still blowing hard. We quickly got the bottom of the chute tied to the mast (although, my hand almost got caught in the line). Then we attempted to start lowering the spinnaker. For some reason, as we lowered, the winds grabbed the sail and started pulling it out of the chute! Now we had a big part of the sail flying in the wind and trying to go into the water! I quickly re-raised the sail. We were trying to gather the bottom portion to collapse it. It took us many minutes and a LOT of effort. I grabbed the tack and pulled it to the mast and tied it off to help block it. Then we were both lying on the tramp on top of the sail. Somehow, I managed to get back up to the mast (while holding to sail) and quickly dropped the entire chute. With the weight of the chute on top of the sail, it was finally under control! We got the sail into the bag and stowed. This entire operation must have taken well over 90 minutes as it was now 2 AM. We were really tired and a bit bruised. Thank goodness the autopilot did its job! We were still going 10-12 knots with just the mainsail up with these winds. And, during this time we were headed right for those islands (but, they were still 40 miles or so away, so I wasn't worried).

We decided to lower the mainsail and just motor a while until we got around the islands. Karen took the watch while I slept a while. Around 5 AM, I woke up and we raised the jib with a reef, and turned off the motor. Karen went to sleep. The winds eased just a touch to just 20-25 knots. This is still quite strong, and the seas were pretty strong about about 3 meters. But, it was a relatively smooth ride since we were downwind with following seas. We were still making 8+ knots with just the reefed jib. We were soon approaching Bonaire on its southern tip. I saw the lighthouse first, and at dawn I saw land. "Land Ho!" I said to myself quietly (since Karen was sleeping). We were almost to the southern tip when I called Grace and Ascension and told them our position. Grace told us some friends of theirs should be in Bonaire on a boat called Sunboy.

Once around the southern tip, the seas gradually smoothed since we were in the lee of the island. When you've been at sea for several days, you get used to pure clean air. When you approach land, you always notice how much the land (and what people do on it) smell. Yuck! But, soon your mind filters the smell of garbage and other things out - thankfully. We had a nice early morning sail up to the port. By 9:30 we had picked up a mooring and were at rest. We were just tidying up the boat, when a dive boat pulled up right behind us. A couple of scientists told us they had some instruments behind our boat and needed to collect measurements. Wow! I'll have something for the ROV to go look at! We were very tired at this point, so we decided to go catch up on sleep.

So, thus ended our adventurous sailing trip from Grenada to Bonaire. Although we had a few bad things happen (the light, and challenges with the sails), we had a successful passage of nearly 400 nm in less than 48 hours. We're really looking forward to being in one of the most-famed diving sites of the Caribbean - Bonaire!