ende

2012
31
May

Diving again!

I wasn’t really in the mood for writing any posts last week, because I damaged my ears on our second dive, got a “don’t stick your head under the water for 1 week” from the doctor and had to watch from the surface while everybody else had a good time in Bonaire’s underwater wonderland… Yesterday I tried going down for the first time again and… Continue reading »

2012
28
May

Bonaire photos!

The promised pics are online now:

2012
26
May

Land of the cactus

We hired a car (or rather something in-between an SUV and a truck) yesterday and visited the Washington-Slagbaai National Park in the Northwest of Bonaire. We didn’t expect too much at first since the island is rather dry and barren. Then we were surprised how stunning, bizarre, almost overwhelming the landscape of this island can be. Pics will come soon so you can see for… Continue reading »

2012
19
May

Crystal-clear water

Crystal-clear water, healthy corals, and plenty of reef fish make Bonaire a diver’s paradise. We went diving yesterday and again today; had quite splashy dinghy rides to get there and back

2012
17
May

Bonaire ahead

It’s always magic when an island appears on the horizon after a few days on the blue disc. It seems we’ll make landfall before sunset.

2012
16
May

160 nm to Bonaire

We’re sailing along with 6 knots on now rather calm seas, staying about 25 nm north of the Venezuelan Antilles. Initially we wanted to spend a while exploring these islands, but unfortunately we’ve heard plenty of piracy reports + rumours around them recently and decided not to take any risks. As only 160 nm of 400 nm remain, we hope to reach Bonaire tomorrow before… Continue reading »

2012
15
May

Sailing westwards again

We left Grenada yesterday in the evening for Bonaire. First few miles not much wind, but then it freshened up and we are making about 6 knots. It’s a quite rolly passage with the seas from abeam/astern.

2012
10
May

Our boatyard experience

After a year in the water Pitufa was in desperate need of a new antifouling, the Hempel Alusafe we had put on in Croatia just wasn’t up to the critters that populate Caribbean waters (even though we had scraped off barnacles and algae weekly). Additionally we wanted to check why our steering was getting stiffer and stiffer. On the Atlantic crossing it had started squeaking… Continue reading »

2012
08
May

Splash!

We’ve made it—Pitufa is in the water again!

2012
04
May

Still working

We’re still in Grenada Marine working on Pitufa–the ten days we expected have turned into 3 weeks, but on Tuesday we’ll (hopefully) get back into the water. The mast has been repaired, we’ve finished sanding it this afternoon and now we’ve got the weekend to mount the hydrovane, put on a last layer of antifouling and finish a dozen other little jobs. We’re really ready… Continue reading »

2012
01
May

Pitufa without a mast

The mast was pulled without further problems this morning, but our poor boat now looks like a wreck… The welder thinks repairing the crack won’t be a big problem, but unfortunately the welding machine broke this morning and we’ll have to wait until Wednesday to have it done. We’ll use the opportunity to sand the mast (we’ve been talking about doing this for ages) and… Continue reading »