Time flies when you are having fun!

October 15,2020

It’s already been a month since we landed in Curacao.  We have been busy celebrating my birthday, repairing the things that broke during the Martinique-Curacao crossing, sharing time with some other sailors in the anchorage, a little bit of kitesurfing and the main activity of all diving, diving an more diving.

Making repairs on Happy Days

Remember we had some problems from Martinique to Curacao? Cedric always says if we take care of her, she will take care of us! Talking about Happy Days, don’t forget a boat is a girl!! And we need to get various repairs done before sailing again.

First thing was the hatch. There are 4 hatches of that size, two on the front cabin and two on the salon. The one that broke is the main one in the salon. Curacao is not that big and looking quickly through the internet we are not going to get a replacement anytime soon here. There is no availability and if we make the request it can take months. We don’t really know how long we are going to be here but hopefully not for months. We are hoping to go to Colombia soon. So the quick temporary solution is to swap it with the other hatch in the salon as that one is normally close. So we took both of them out, glued the broken one and swapped them. On the first check one of them leaked but after that we had few rainy days and they are both holding well. Will they hold for long, is another question.

The Boom vang connection to the boom riveted in place broke. It was the one that caused all the troubles (Hatch, Sail…). Once again, to repair this, the part is not available on the island. So we took it to the welder to put it back together. He did an excellent job. To the eyes it looks perfect but it won’t have the same strength. So we swapped the one fixed with another one that was used for the boom brake. They both work in different directions so the repair will be strong enough for the new use. Obviously as soon as you try to open something on a boat another problem appears. The main pin holding the boom vang below the broken part needed to be removed and passed back. It decided to get stuck changing a 3 to 4h repair into a 3 day job.

Continuing with the repairs, the main sail was next on the list. By chance we had a french neighbour in the anchorage. He, among other things, is a sailmaker. And not only that but he’s got a Sailrite (best sewing machine to have onboard) and lots of fabrics and threads for sails.  So one morning he came with all his materials and the machine and we fixed the main sail. We did the work together and I learned a lot of tricks for sail repairs. Also I got to operate the Sailrite, a fantastic piece of equipment. At least this repair was lots of fun!

Some other repairs range from the outside shower breaking again to replacement of the oil for the saildrive which is leaking. The sail drive can only be fixed once we pull the boat out of the water so in the meantime, we monitor the oil for salt water entry and when needed we make an oil change. With a bit of time on our hands, we could also install better the Raspberry Pi from Ricardo to have better movie access. And no tripping cables running thru the salon. That also included a new power plug.

The new water bladder for extra 100 to 150l of water in the bow decided to leak and that took quite some time to clean and work on… And this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of boat repairs.

Sailing JPK45

Makatea is a JPK 45  a fast cruising boat. Boat of the year in France in 2016, they are produced in small series and hardly known outside of France. A pity as they are very good boats, quite outside our price range.

Usually everyone is proud of their own boat. The stories behind how each boat ended up with its current owner are endless and always very interesting. People can take years to find the perfect boat. Some people take years and years to prepare it, to put in all the necessary and many more considerations.

Eric bought his JPK new, he saw the construction, which means he knows every single detail and he is a very passionate racing sailor. He chose quite special sails, remember he is also a sailmaker.

Well, we had heard so much about the boat and were curious about it so one day we asked him: We should take that boat for a sail one day to see it in action? He didn’t think twice and accepted. So we set a date and went on a sail with Makatea. The original plan was to go out the bay for a couple of hours, raise the sails and come back. But Pascal and Veronique from SV Felicity joined us. And with so many passionate sailors on board we ended up doing a longer sail. When they started talking to go all the way to Klein Curacao… I though, this is going to be longer than expected so I went for a nap. At the end we came back and anchored for a couple hours in Fuik Baai. Great boat, good food, nice swim and for sure great company.

Makatea has a crazy captain that decided to come inside the narrow pass of Spanish Waters with full sails, gennaker up. Except for an overridden winch, a nice manoeuvre closing a great sailing day. Eric mentioned that in 2.5 years, we were the only one that asked to go for a sail.

Here are some pictures of the day

Diving, diving and more diving !!!

Out of  ABC islands (Aruba Curacao and Bonaire) Bonaire has certainly the best reputation for a diver’s paradise. When we came to Curacao we had the intention to go to Bonaire as well, but because of COVID 19 restrictions it is very unlikely that we could go. However, we heard Curacao has also good diving. One dive master told us in Curacao we could find 95% of what we could see in Bonaire. So guess what? We decided to give a try. So far we have done around 35 dives. In different places from West to East. As you can see below, we really covered the south side of the island.

The variety of coral, fish and marine life in general is huge in Curacao. The water is 29 deg C and visibility is great. Most of the dives have easy access from the beach and then a short or longer swim before going down to a big nice wall of pristine coral. In the pictures above you can see the difference in colours of the sea, that is when the depth changes.

We even did 2 night dives. There is a calendar from the CARMABI Dutch Caribbean research centre that shows the dates the coral is spawning. It is supposed to be like fireworks underwater. We did two attempts in two different places but we couldn’t see it. However, we saw some “smoking” which is the spawning of the sponges. And of course, nothing like turning the torches off underwater and moving your hands plenty to see the bioluminescence. It is amazing!!!. Fully recommended if you do a night dive.

And finally to top it all off, we found a seahorse. These creatures are very mythical and special, they are also very territorial so normally they tend to stay in the same place. But if you don’t know exactly where they are, it is very difficult to spot them. Once because they are small  and second because they tend to blend very well by staying in places with colours alike. We have been back twice since we saw him the first time and he is still there in exactly the same branch. Unbelievable.

Our little underwater camera, is mostly for snorkeling so no many pictures from the dives. However, on one of the dives Brandon from sailing vessel Wilderness joined us. He used to work in a marine research centre in California and has a massive camera that weights a few kilos. So thanks to him here we have some great shoots from underwater Curacao!

Life on land in Curacao

Since we can’t really move with the boat around the island, we have a rental car. Having a car makes you feel like living on land a little bit. So we have been doing some land activities. Like going to the movies for example. On Monday they have a deal that makes it very cheap and there is hardly anybody.

We are getting closer to Colombia, it is so exciting and the proximity is so evident that we find fresh fruit juices and “arepas” on several places. But my favourite is this truck. Because the list on fruit juices is so variated and they taste like if you are in Colombia. There are normally 8 women working nonstop serving on both sides from breakfast to lunch and even a bit later. No matter what time you stop there is always people. They are that good! So good that it be came a great stopover between dives for us.

We were hoping to leave Curacao early October but we are not going anywhere yet. Colombia had announced they will open on October 1st, but they just extended it to November 1st. So we will wait and see how this progresses.