Day 101, Year 1: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Date: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Air Temperature: 82 degrees F
Water Temperature: 80 degrees F
Latitude: N 12 degrees 04.78 minutes
Longitude: W 68 degrees 51.74 minutes
Location: Spanish Waters, Curacao

We left Bonaire at 0830 this morning. Parting was difficult, but the time to move on had come. Last night was the first night since we had been there that we did not have rain, so we took that as the omen that it was a good time to move west. We had an uneventful trip to Curacao with 25 knot winds coming from the east as we headed west. We rolled out the head sail and used that as our only sail. Without the main sail up, it was a little rolly, but we made great time. We arrived here in Spanish Waters at 1430. It is windier here in the anchorage than it was in Bonaire, but that will help to cool us down. The average temperature inside the boat in Bonaire was about 85 degrees F and that is the case here, so any wind is welcome. The outside temperature here is still 82 degrees but the water temperature in this protected bay is only 80 degrees. . We are now only 80 miles from the Venezuelan coast and I think as we travel further west to Panama, the temperature will begin to climb.

It was too late when we arrived to catch the bus into Willemstad to check in with Customs and Immigration, so we will do that early tomorrow morning. Willemstad will be the first city that we have been in since leaving the US, so that might take a little adjustment. The terrain here looks similar to Bonaire, but I can tell already that the culture here is very different. The bay where we are anchored certainly doesn’t have the character that the waterfront in Bonaire had. Willemstad is supposed to be a tropical Amsterdam, so I think it will be beautiful but will feel a little too big for me. I miss Bonaire already.

Today’s sail took us above 3,500 miles traveled since we left Boston. Those are miles traveled over water, so during our passage to St. Martin from Hampton, Virginia, we traveled more than 1200 miles when the true mileage as the bird flies is only about 800. I guess we traveled 400 miles up and down those huge waves!

We went to shore to Sarifundy Marina for Happy Hour and met lots of boaters from here. Many here are from the Netherlands and from South Africa via the Netherlands. Tomorrow, we will meet more folks and report in on our impressions of Curacao.

060126 Day 101 Caribbean, Curacao–Kura Hulanda Museum