Puerta La Cruz and the remote islands of Los Roques and Los Aves are now fond memories in our path. A special "thank you" to Jorge and Male for our final waterfall adventure the day before we left the mainland of VZ. What a way to wrap up our 10 days in Puerta La Cruz.

Now, we are currently moored 100 feet off the coastline of Bonaire. Roques and Aves were beautiful, as you'll see from the photos in our gallery, but we were sadly inundated with mosquitoes. Folks who have lived and cruised in this area for years, say it's the worst they've seen. This seriously hampered our activities, forced us to take cover behind screens/netting by 4:00p each day and kept us up at night swatting any skeeters that dared sneak into Zen's interior. Needless to day, we didn't stay as long as we'd have liked. The waters were beautiful shades of blue and green, so magnificent, they reflected off the clouds above, giving the islands a halo of color. Only time we've seen something like this was in the Bahamas.

During the hours of non-bugs, we had a great time fishing, snorkeling and exploring. Tom learned to bonefish with a fly rod from Shannon on Someday Came. And speaking of them, it's been a blast getting to know them. Both boats are on the same rhythm and we move from anchorage to anchorage with ease. As Halloween approached, our kids started to ponder what costumes to throw together and Kathy and Shannon discussed a party. Sure, party, we're in!

Sailing dead downwind, from Los Aves towards Bonaire, was a precursor to the thousands of downwind miles we'll sail in the Pacific. We took advantage of the opportunity to try new sail configurations. We were happy to discover Zen sails extremely well at 170 degrees off the wind, with the asymetrical spinnaker tacked to the windward bow. We had an exhilarating trip and arrived 3 hours before Tom's estimated time of arrival.

We landed in Bonaire during the afternoon of the 31st, with hopes of many cruisers and trick or treating opportunities. After a pizza and brownie party on Zen, we loaded into the dinghies, and went to the nearby marina to meet up with a few more kids that hailed us on the radio. The marina was quiet, but there was one boat, all lit up with carved pumpkins, painted coconuts and tons of decorations. That looked like a good spot for our first trick or treat. It ended up being the "kid boat" that hailed us and we were invited aboard to join their bash. I call it a bash because there were 2 very nice families living aboard a 100-foot yacht with multiple living levels. It included a swing, gymnastics area, music, toys, candy and a disco ball. Great way to celebrate the holiday...a spinnaker sail by day and trick or treating at night. Thanks, Kiki Kai for the hospitality!

On Saturday, as the older kids played games and decorated gingerbread cookies, thanks to Kathy who baked and rolled under sail during a day long trip from Aves to Bonaire, the 4 adults and Violet, my 3-year-old pal (she's a blast and makes me remember the days of Young Lolly), did a walking tour of Bonaire's town. It's so clean, locals helpful and friendly, check in was a cinch (so many cruisers said check-out of VZ would be sketchy and Bonaire officials would send us back to VZ if our papers weren't to their likings...poof...it was a breeze and free, to boot!) and the fresh market was stocked full! Dinner w/SDC was ashore at a tapas restaurant and we all had a relaxing time outside of our hot galleys.

Today, all day, the Zen kids studied for their PADI Dive Certification. It's so amazing, we are moored in about 30 feet of water, but a few feet off our sterns, it drops to over 200 feet of deep blue and tons of reef walls and fish abound. Couldn't be a better place to learn to dive. They'll swim from our boat to the dive school for the next 3 days and will be done on Wednesday. They'll probably do a dive w/the dads and Caroline in a few days. I am sure there will be loads of great photos and lots of underwater adventure stories. Until then, enjoy the photo updates.

COMMENTS:

Mary

The photos are great. Even the Dalmatian is smiling. Try to have fun now! Love, Auntie Mary

03 Nov 2008

Tonya

The pictures are amazing, as are the tales. Glad to hear and see that everyone is having a blast! Tonya

03 Nov 2008