We pulled out of Bonaire mooring field, waving goodbye to friends in the warm morning sunlight. Zen Again had left already and we could see the fading triangle of their sail as they headed towards a large bank of cloud on the horizon. After a year of island hopping on both sides of the Atlantic, we were now heading to explore our final island nation in the Caribbean.
We quickly set our sails and turned off the engine as we picked up speed on a nice reach, heading south west as we edged passed Klein Bonaire and gave a mental wave goodbye to the fabulous snorkelling and underwater paradise that is hidden below the shallow blue waters. To avoid using the steering as much as possible, due to our failing bearing which had caused our wheel to jam a day earlier, we set up Hilda the Hydrovane so we could lock off the wheel.
We were only about five miles out when lightning and thunder started crashing in front of us and, on looking at the radar, it was clear we were not going to avoid it if we continued on the same course. Zen Again had already gybed to avoid the heavy black cloud that loomed ahead and we followed suit, heading north west to try and get infront of the storm clouds and avoid the bolts of lightning that lit up the mid-morning darkness. When we were about halfway between Bonaire and Curacao on our 40NM journey, we gybed again as the clouds disappeared and we made good speed to our destination on the south west coast of the island. Zen Again were not far behind us as we turned into the narrow entrance leading to Spanish Waters, a protected area of bays offering excellent shelter in several different bays in a relatively quiet setting.
We anchored in the western most area and shared a celebratory sundowner with Zen Again who anchored next to us. We had arrived on Independence Day – 10/ 10 (10 October) the day that Curacao became a nation inside the Dutch Kingdom in 2010 when the Dutch Antilles were dissolved after a referendum. Everything was shut so we didn’t attempt to navigate the 7kms into the capital, Willemstad, to check in, but decided to wait until the next day.
Early the next morning we set out to start the process of checking in by first finding the immigration office which was well tucked away in a small non-descript building with a temporary looking sign on the door giving the only clue what was inside. We were processed quite quickly and then walked into the town of Willemstad to complete the customs clearance, crossing the long floating swingbridge that opens on request for all traffic going up the river towards the port and marina. As we walked across the bridge, the colourful, historic waterfront buildings on the eastern side of the river reminded us of a child’s drawing of houses as the picturesque tall, coloured rectangular buildings dominated the waterfront. Once cleared in with customs the check-in procedure was complete and we enjoyed a coffee and cake at a waterside café before wandering through the narrow streets and exploring the town. There are two things that immediately stand out in Willemstad, the colourful houses on the waterfront and the beautiful street art that adorns alot of the walls and shops in the town.
Curacao has a population of approx. 150,000 and Willemstad is the capital with the majority of the population living within the confines of the city. It is the largest of the ABC islands and has a very different feel to Bonaire, not only because of the colour of the water in the anchorage, but the size of the town and general Hussle and Bussell of being in a larger community. The history of Curacao is interesting with the original inhabitants coming from South America hundreds of years before the first Europeans arrived. The Spanish arrived in Curacao in 1499 and enslaved most of the natives, transporting them to other Spanish colonies for forced labour. The Spanish used Curacao as a bridge for exploring northern South America and eventually built a settlement in 1527 which was then governed by Venezuela as the Spanish continued to colonise South America, eventually abandoning the island in favour of building communities on the mainland. The Dutch took over the island in 1634 following the Eighty Years’ War of independence between The Netherlands and Spain. They used the island as the main centre for slaves, transporting them to Curacao before selling them elsewhere in the Caribbean and South America. Many Dutch colonists prospered from the slave trade and built the colourful houses on the waterfront in Willemstad.
We decided to rent a car for a couple of days and explore the northern parts of the island that are hard to get to by bus. After attempting, and failing, to find a place to purchase our required bearing, we headed north, first to Santa Cruz and then on to Playa Lagun. The small beach was quite busy with restaurants accessed by steep steps on the northern side of the bay. It was a hot day, so we all went for a snorkel before lunch. There were lots of turtles feeding, surprisingly on fish, which I’d never seen before, and as I swam into the rocky shallows, more turtles were lazily scavenging in the rocks, not bothered by my presence as they occasionally pushed themselves up to the surface and took two breaths before continuing their leisurely swim.
We walked along the coastal path in the National Park and watched the waves break on the rugged coastline, sending water high above our heads from the viewing platform. Lizards scurried for shelter as we continued our walk to a small beach which, in season is a turtle laying reserve. It saddened me hugely to see the beach covered in rubbish. I’m not sure whether it had been washed up there or whether visitors had dropped it but it certainly looked as if it had come from the sea. What frustrated me further was that we had paid an entrance fee into the park and rangers were parked at most of the areas identified as “of interest” yet they did nothing except sit in their cars playing music and giving visitors a cursory nod. Why could they not start picking up the rubbish???
Back at the boat we ordered our new bearing and casing from the UK and, after a false start where the bearing ended up in Exeter and then didn’t move for a week, we waited expectantly for our parcel to arrive. While we waited we visited a slave museum in Willemstad and the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas which was in an inconspicuous looking building but hidden behind the walls was the lovely Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue which was built in 1732. The most noticeable feature was sand on the floor which depicts the Sinai Desert. It also remembers those who put sand on the floor of secret rooms so early Jews in Curacao could continue to worship and the sand helped muffle the sound of their service.
With our parcel still days away we explored a few dive spots close to our anchorage and snorkelled over a wreck of a tug boat which was now home to new coral and lots of colourful fish and conga eels. One evening we tried our hand at dance lessons, attempting to learn one of the many beautiful (when done properly!) South American dance styles.
Eventually our courier parcel arrived and Steve immediately set to work installing the new bearing – it was a huge relief when it slid into place relatively easily – well, nothing a bit of banging wouldn’t fix – and we took the boat on a test drive around the crowded anchorage to make sure the steering felt good and everything worked as it should! Fortunately all went well, which was just as well, as we planned to leave the next day. There had been very few weather windows for our passage to Colombia while we had been waiting for our parcel, so we wanted to take the first opportunity as we knew bad weather was coming and there would not be another window for at least a week.
On a very wet morning we set off to complete the check out procedures with our planned sailing passage posse of ZenAgain and Seraphina. By the time we reached immigration we were all soaked through and crammed into the small busy office to await our turn. The people infront of us were asking if they could check out on behalf of a captain who had broken both his ankles attempting to perform a backflip on land – it hadn’t ended well! Friends had met him a few days earlier when he was literally crawling back to his dinghy to return to his boat. Immigration would not concede and instructed the two attempting to check out, that they needed to bring him in a car to the office and then the officers would kindly allow him to stay in the car while they completed the paperwork! We had been told of a number of boats that had been turned away by immigration when they had attempted to check in. Two boats had visited Venezuela prior to arriving in Curacao and one South African boat who did not have the appropriate visa. Fortunately Bonaire are much more accommodating! Our check out went smoothly for the three boats, and we were soon back in the rain heading to customs to complete the procedure. Now we were checked out and soaking wet, we all contemplated whether it was a good idea to leave that afternoon, as planned, or wait until the morning. Fred, an 81 year old solo sailor who was on his 3rd circumnavigation, announced he was going to wait until the morning while ZenAgain and we continued to discuss the merits of the best time to leave. Steve and I were still trying to decide when ZenAgain pulled up their anchor and motored over to say goodbye. We decided to wait an hour and follow them out, letting Fred know so he could follow behind us. We were expecting rain and wind for the whole passage and when we heard Fred on the radio about 3hrs later stating he was considering stopping in Aruba as there wasn’t enough wind, we started to question whether the forecast was going to be accurate after-all.
