Showing posts with label CURACAO. Show all posts

Racing by

Sailing from Bonaire and arriving to Curacao a couple months ago, we coincidentally had to sail right through a race to get into the narrow channel of Spanish Waters. I think it was the Heineken regatta? Last image is from when we had finally entered through the narrow and shallow entrance. At this point, our (Raymarine) GPS indicated that we were right on land, not exactly as accurate as one would wish the navigation aid to be in sketchy places like that but with good sunlight and careful eyeball navigation we made it safely into harbor. Gonna show you more photos from the lovely Curacao shortly.

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Curaçao

Literally ran into a Miss Caribbean contest one night.
Ring from We Dream In Colour.
A busy city by night. So glad we had a car, almost a must to get to experience all what the island offers.
One of the many beach clubs.
Oil refineries in abundance.
Curacao Yacht Club where we stayed. Excellent place.
Miss Bolivia and Saint Lucia. Have more photos of them all if you wanna see?
I did it, sporting short shorts in public! Jeezus... someone stop me next time.
View of the colorful waterfront.
one of the many five star hotels.

I have so many photos from Curaçao that I have yet to show you, here's a few. Curaçao is a really interesting island with a wonderful mixture of people. Many sailors and other people had recommended for us to not go, because of security reasons and for the fact that it's "too rough", but it aroused in us a curiosity instead.

Curaçao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and thus part of, what was earlier called "the Netherlands Antilles", now Dutch Caribbean islands - just like Bonaire, Aruba, St Maarten, Saba and Statia. Curacao lies just 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela, which helps to add a dash of Latin spice to the island. The architecture of the capital city Willemstad is Dutch traditional in brilliant pastel hues which somewhat reminds about the waterfront of Amsterdam.

Curaçao has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean, ranking 46th in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita and 28th in the world in terms of nominal GDP per capita and this shows. The island has a very well-developed infrastructure that is centered around oil refining (see image #5), as well as tourism and financial services. You can feel how busy it is, naturally the many cruise ships helps the local economy to thrive but you can certainly feel that business is being made here. The restaurants, which are in abundance, are full every night, there's hundreds of fashion shops in different price categories and fast food chains scattering the streets and roads. A very non-Caribbean Caribbean island but a refreshing alternative indeed.

 More Curaçao stories coming up..

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Last night

Just a few images from last night. I missed to take a close up of my earrings, but they are » these stunning ones « from We Dream in Colour. Matched the skirt real good don't you think?

So Monday again, time to dig into the huge pile of emails that have been neglected for a while and soon after that we shall be sailing towards Aruba. Just the mainsail that shall be put back up again so cross your fingers that it doesn't rip apart already in that process. We're hoping to leave tomorrow or maybe Wednesday, 60 miles to go to our last and final stop before Cartagena, Colombia. 

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Curaçao update

Went out a bit on Friday night to scan off the nightlife on the island. Cabana, St Tropez, Papagayo etc. It's a very un-caribbean island this, which is refreshing and a bit odd at the same time. All what surprises you is good stimulation for the brain though so we're pleased with the change. 

On another note: We have just got back our torn mainsail and our blade from repair and got the confirmation we were afraid of, that our main is completely worn out (which we knew) but also that it almost wasn't possible to even repair the poor thing as it's falling apart as soon as they tried to stitch patches onto it. This old mainsail has been on Duende for the last five (?) years or so and it came with the package when we got the boat last year. As we had a few cuts in it before, and because we know how destructive the tropical sun is for a sail fabric, we knew we'd have to replace it soon, but had at least hoped we could sail with it all the way till Colombia, which is only a three day sail away now. A new North Sail sail is probably in place, let's just hope we can make it around the coast without having the whole (patched) thing ripped apart in the middle of that stormy passage. Even more important now that we await the calmer winds and not push a weather window.

What else, we have just filtered our fuel because the fuel isn't too clean around here in the Caribbean and it's been clogging up the injectors. I find it weird that the fuel is such bad quality here in these regions as it's being refined right here, in particular on this island of Curacao. Alex and Michael have also tightened the alternator belt because it was too loose. There seem to be more maintenance with the boat than what we had expected but we're in a good place for that. Though more expensive than in St Maarten for example, they got all the chandleries and most spare-parts we need here in Curacao. I'd say the prices are 15-20% higher here than in sxm so bare that in mind if you're ever going West.

Since we have a friend visiting this week, we do also spend a fair amount of time out in town, eating out, watching shows and regular sightseeing with the rental car we have this week and it seems as we will end up at a pool party later this afternoon with a few new friends from the island. Looking forward!

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Venezuelan avocados

Went into the capital Willemstad today to fetch some fresh fruits and veggies and that's where the floating market comes into the picture. Venezuelan fishing boats have traveled the thirty-fourty miles there is between their coast and the one of Curacaos'. Side by side they've tied up to the dock by the boardwalk and sell fruits, vegetables, juices and what else typical Venezuelan there is, right off the boat towards the street, hence the name "floating market". We got a couple of those enormous avocados (have you ever seen them that large before?), a water melon, bananas, dulce de leche as well as some guava jelly. Speaking of Venezuela, we did spend a night there on our way to the ABC islands a couple weeks ago. I have yet to tell you the whole story. Some weeks I have all the time in the world to ramble here on the blog several times a day about all kinds of nonsense, and some weeks, like now most recently, I have barely time to reply to emails. We still have a lot of sailing to do, and some island exploration of course. As well as the necessary boat work and other important job that keeps us busy, but all should slow down a bit very shortly. We love this island by the way, Curacao reminds of Europe in many aspects, mixed with latin and carib flair, and it's all very busy and bustling. Totally not what we had expected. Will show you more of it shortly.

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Hello Curaçao

We stayed another night in Bonaire and left towards Curaçao early this morning instead. Glad we did as we had the most perfect conditions, steady 18 knots of wind from the E and very comfortable seas. We are currently docked at Curaçao Yacht Club and shall be staying here a few days to have our sail repaired, engine checked into again and some other necessary maintenance before we can continue West. 

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