Beautiful Bonaire!

We had decided that Bonaire was going to be down as our adventure island. Normally we take things pretty easy on the spending front and find more cheap or free things to do but we knew the diving there was meant to be amazing and so we decieded to have a full adventure week and ease out the belt on the budget.

So we hired an awesome shiney red scooter and zoomed (as best as the old girl could) around the island for 3 days exploring all of the national park, coastline and sights. What a change from the slow pace of yachting. It felt so freeing to go at high speed everywhere. Be able to see somewhere far in the distance and know we could actually be there in a few minutes not a few hours. 

Next came the big one,  Scuba diving.

Jarvis hadn't dived in 5 years and only ever in Oz and I myself had never done it before. I was really worried about being able to equalise and weather i would have any pain but I took to it like a fish to water - excuse the pun.
Jarvis went on a day long dive out on Bonaires little sister island, Klein Bonaire whilst I took a begginers course. I had a fantastic instructor and brilliant entertainment in the form of a young Venezuelan girl also learning to Scuba Dive. She wanted to do it without getting her hair wet, without having the "horribly heavy" tank on and without using a regulator. Needless to say she didn't last long and soon ducked out to pose on the sand instead. More fool her because the diving in Bonaire is incredible - some of the best I have heard (and confirmed by Jarvis).

Take a look at some of the beauties we saw under the sea....

I will leave you with what i think may become out little mascot for the trip. This funky piece of local Art that we spotted in a cafe in the south. Created by a local artist out of drift wood it may not look like much but it now sits proudly in our Saloon. Whale-Bob is born!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Hallo, Buenas Dias, Hello!

It has always amazed me how there are those people for whom speaking another language just seems to roll off the tongue so effortlessly. Where ever we have gone a large proportion of people have been bi-ligual and those here in Bonaire are no exception; well except that most are tri-lingual!

The strangers in bars, homeless in the street, shop attendants all have this ability. The waitresses at the bars casually flip between Dutch and English giving their formalities over the drinks specials or the food and then, mid-sentence, lean over their shoulder and rattle off another half a dozen sentences in Spanish! It's astounding; their fluidity, clarity of speech and absolute lack of hesitation.

I myself get knots in my stomach if I am called upon to speak French or Spanish on our travels – not because I am awful at it (rusty for sure and by no mean fluent, but not awful) but more for fear of making a mistake or of being confronted with something that I do not understand.

I always used to think I would end up working in languages in some form or another and studied Spanish as part of a degree at Uni. Yet somewhere down the line that ambition and ability slipped away and was replaced by fear and so it was left only for the elite that I knew to go on and speak with the world. I guess doing this trip has made me somewhat ashamed at not being able to communicate fully with the people I meet in their own language and needing them to make the effort for me – not good.

Back home I have found that speaking multiple languages is normally reserved for those in that type of work, those highly educated or those with a lot of free time – not your average Joe. Being here I realise that that is just an excuse – there is no 'class' of person whom multiple languages is reserved for and it's not seen as something amazing to be able to do, just the norm. Why?

Maybe it's culture. If everyone speaks 3 languages around you, I guess you soon learn.

Maybe it's attitude. When you have a desire to know people and connect with them – a common language is a good place to start.

Or maybe it's really just down to the person. Not thinking “I cant” or “I’ll fail” and worrying about mistakes – just going with the flow and enjoying life.

This gives me a solid lesson of the day – try hard, do not fear failure and definitely pick up my Spanish books again.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Paradise Roques

Although we were confined to only one island in the Roques Cays in our 2 day stay this did not stop us from maximising our time.

We spent hours walking through the tiny nooks of streets in bare feet just happy to feel the sand between our toes. We climbed to an old fort, tried local ice cream (YUM) and floated in the crystal water around the boat.

We watched the hundreds of Pelicans wheel and dive into the ocean catching fish and, let me say, grace is not one of their qualities. Looking as though they are splatting the water head first and then fitting whilst they, half spluttering, drag their drenched bodies around may be effective in catching fish but certainly isn't a sight of elegance.

Time passed in a lazy Sunday afternoon way and was reflected by the way the population go about their tasks. An island of mañana was proven when we saw half a dozen young guys spend an entire work day creating some outstanding graffiti on the main stage wall of the town plaza. Moving and laughing without a care in the world. This attitude suited us perfectly, a little too perfectly as we only had 2 days to explore.

It was with force that we made ourselves go out in our little dingy (that we have named Crocito, that's little croc) to a lone rock that jutted out slightly from the main land to snorkel. It didn't look like much at all and from the surface we could see no reefs but hey, we were there so we thought we'd give it a go. And boy are we glad we did it proved, to date, to be the best water-life either of us had ever seen and once again made us so thankfully to have our underwater camera! The abundance of fish seemed surreal and more like I was watching a David Attenborough show than living it in reality. Hundreds of luminous blue fish swam past in schools whilst barracudas wove their way in between giant 2 ft rainbow fish. Sting rays, coral reef, jellyfish and ones every shade of the rainbow danced around us it was, in a word, amazing.

We ending our stay at a little Pizza restaurant, eating at our table in the dark street after a power cut with a candle flickering in the slight breeze and listening to Spanish guitar music floating down the street. The class and purity of the night was almost too much for us boaty types so it was thankfully drawn back into a more manageable level when Jarvis got a local beer to finish his meal that displayed a skimpy bikini clad beauty on it. Ahhh nothing like a hottie on a beer to bring the night to a close.

As we sailed away the next morning to head for Bonaire we saw a local charter boat called 'Paradiso Roques' which I think pretty much sums up our time there... Paradise does indeed rock!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Sailing into the Venezuelan Sun-day

After the usual manic boat prep to clear out in Prickly Bay and a hilarious conversation with the Customs officer over becoming a patron for Grenada in the Chelsea Flower Show, we had our tanks full and were setting off into the afternoon sun saying farewell to our most favourite place to date with a lot of mixed feelings in our hearts. We had experienced so much fun, beauty and happiness there and it was honestly an effort to pack up, move on and get back out of our comfort zone.

The plan was to sail across to La Blanquilla, on to Los Roques and then hit Bonaire about 2 weeks later. We had heard a whole bunch of mixed stories about the safety of the waters between the islands and so made sure we had taken full precautions.

• Machete & Axe
• Air Horn
• Molotov Cocktail
• Flares
• Blinding spot light
• Radio silence & no nav lights
• .. oh and a Jarvis on constant red alert (this means very jumpy) - which I personally feel was the best precaution out of everything

We had fantastic winds and current pushing us along much faster than we had expected and reached La Blanquilla island incident free about 12 hours ahead of schedule. This unfortunately meant at night. We tried to find a place to anchor but the charts for the area were not even close (20m on the charts and 2m in reality) and on an island that has no lights or buoys this was nearing impossible. We thought about waiting around until first light but at 6 hours away we decided just to push on until we hit Los Roques.

It only took 3 days all up from Grenada and we sailed into the beautiful cays early on Sunday morning to be welcomed with a glorious sunrise glinting of the clear ocean – when you are very tired from a long night watch believe me this is even more a beautiful sight than normal.

Now for the challenge – clearing in.

Facts: My spanish is not the best. If you get the wrong kind of permit here it is VERY expensive. It's a sunday. There are 4 offices to go to, in a certain order.

Reality: Actually better than I had imagined. It took two attempts – round one we went to the wrong office twice and then found the person wasn't there that cleared in yachts and were told to come back that evening. The guy we ended up speaking with was friendly, funny and very understanding – we bagged a two day visa permit at NO COST and then just needed to toodle off to the other offices. We were met with a lot more hostility as we progressed but 2 hours later – cha ching – we are done.

Beautiful random Venezuelan islands for a few days?? Yes please!

Tia and Jarvis, over and out!

Carnival Time

Madness! That is all that can describe a carnival here in Grenada. It starts weeks in advance with parties roaring until the early morning, building up, learning all the songs and then it hits.

Sunday night the part starts at half past midnight and then at 5:30am it is the parade of the 10,000 Jab Jabs or what is called J'ouvert. What are Jab Jabs you ask? Good questions. Something that has evolved from the idea of a devil but what basically involves thousands of people smeared in engine oil and paint wearing horns, pulling chains and having fish in their mouths. The parade winds its way though town in an infusion of Soca music and Rum (even at 5:30am) and as the sun rises they just party harder.

Bring on the Oil!!!

Jarvis, Chris and Lynn

Chris and Sharron trying to avoid getting oily!

... and this is only half way through!

The mass amount of people partying

Horns, chains, buckets... you name it. anything goes!

It was so much fun and wonderful to see a carnival where people don't get stupidly drunk, fall around and destroy things. Just have fun, include each other and celebrate!

We partied until 11:00am, came home, slept and got geared up for the next round that evening which was the parade of the bands however very sadly our bus didn't turn up. No matter, we entered one final pool competition where Jarvis kicked butt and got through to the final, and talked and laughed with all of our friends at Clarkes Court Marina.

The next day it continued for us, however the locals hadn't even stopped - honestly, the most stamina i have ever seen from people partying. Anyways, Tuesday brought around the Pretty Mas, which is the parade of the pageant queens. The most beautiful costumes of colour and feathers representing everything that makes up Grenada. The parade moves through the centre of the capital, St George, and at the pre-set out 'Judging stops' each group dance in full Caribbean hip shaking fashion to the winning Soca and Calypso band music to show why they should be crowned best Pageant band.

Some of the beautiful costumes

So much variety in the parade

We stayed into the late evening bumping into friends, eating amazing bbq pork prepared on the roadside and of course drinking some local rum and had the most amazing night. The atmosphere of everyone on such a high, that feeling that today everything is perfect just spread throughout the city.

I know we have put our date for leaving Grenada back a little bit by staying for Carnival but it was so, so worth it.

Today we have been prepping the boat and doing the usual mad rush through town to provision, get boat bits and pieces and say goodbye to people. Tonight we are going to move around the corner to Prickly bay ready to re-fuel and get water in the morning before we clear out and head off.
We are going to hop along the Venezuelan islands before hitting Bonnaire in about 2 weeks time so until then....

Tia and Jarvis, over and out!

7 days...

Grenada is, in a word - amazing! I can completely see why people from all over the world choose to settle here and make a life for themselves and why cruisers in particular drop there anchor in the south of the island, blink and realise it's 6 months later and they are still here.

For us, we realised yesterday that we have been here for a month. One whole month out of our year long adventure in an island that is only 131 square miles large. The reason however is simple.

This island combines the most beautiful scenery and weather with a fantastic social scene. Wonderful anchorages and marinas and kind, generous people. Breathtaking hikes, activities galore, cheap food and beer and, most importantly - safe harbour (in most cases) from the hurricane season.

In the time we have been here we haven't even scratched the surface of this island and yet, sadly, we have now got to leave in (weather dependant) 7 days and head off towards the ABC islands. Don't get me wrong, we are SO excited to see our next place but it is at times like this when we yet again realise that 1 year is not enough.

We shall be staying with just enough time to experience carnival on Monday-Tuesday, stock up the boat, fix the last remaining niggles and then be on our way. But what an amazing time we have had being here.

Here are a few little notes on what we have been up to....

• Hash runs - our first try of these was brutal. Second one was brilliant and hopefully this Saturday we will get to do a fancy dress hash
• Hiking through the Grand Etang forest and to the waterfalls
• Numerous social activities with the outstanding cruising community here - can we include Pool tournaments, Volly ball, birthday parties, duck races
• Crab Racing - Sadly Jarvis crab was not on form
• Seeing the sites - chocolate factories, rum distillery's, old nutmeg plants, volcanic lake creators, museums. 
• Meeting some of the loveliest people who will be life long friends

 

 

Pool Tournament

Brilliant 2-4-1 Pizza night at Le Phare Bleu with THE BEST cocktails.. ummmm

Freshly stripped goat skin we saw mid-through a hash run.. humm?!

Jarvis jumping off the Seven Sisters falls

Now we have 7 days left. I guess at least when you know you only have a certain amount of time somewhere you will sure make the most of it!

Tia and Jarvis, over and out!