Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

30th January . 520'N:68 51.216'W, Spaanse harbour, Curacao
After finding a decent anchorage, a shower and breakfast it was time to catch up on some well deserved sleep after 3 days of 3 hour watches.

Clearing in day
31 January 2021 520'N:68 51.216'W, Spaanse harbour, Curacao
Weather; sunny.
After a relaxing breakfast, it was time to put the dinghy in the water ready for a
run ashore to clear Customs & Immigration.
This is when the exciting day started.

So we lowered the dinghy into the water and Gerry jumped into it to get ready to guide the outboard motor into place and secure it whilst I put the hoist in place and prepared to hoist the outboard down to him.

With both of us just about in place I began to move the outboard off the stand and lower it slowly towards the stern of the dinghy, then all hell broke loose, the outboard dropped rapidly about 3 feet. My first thought was that I had let it go too quickly but this was not the case, the strapping which encircles the outboard had given way, knocking the cover off of the top of the outboard into the water and leaving the outboard motor dangling at a precarious angle over the water.

Gerry yelled something - I'm sure his first thought was the same as mine - it was my fault! He tried to grab the outboard cover but it was drifting away from the dinghy just out of reach and was beginning to sink so he shouted for me to keep the outboard from dropping in the water and jumped into the water to chase down the cover before it disappeared for good, managing to retrieve it just before it sunk out of sight and handed it up to me, still hanging on for grim death to the hoist line. It was then a case of how was Gerry to get back on the boat - the stern ladder is at a height that is only really accessible from inside the dinghy but luckily the safety ropes that we have hanging to assist with getting out of the dinghy are long enough that Gerry could reach them and haul himself onto the bottom step of the ladder (brute strength and adrenaline playing their part), I couldn't help in any way as I was keeping the outboard from vanishing into the depths by hanging on to the hoist line and keeping the outboard from hitting against the side of the boat - thank goodness it was calm in the harbor with little swell and wind or we would have been in deeep guano.

Once back on board Gerry quickly made his way back into the dinghy by jumping over the side of the boat, then it was a case of straightening up the hanging outboard and gently lowering it into place without dislodging the bits of the cradle that it was handing by. We achieved this and breathed a collective sigh of relief, a total disaster had been avoided.

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So they manage to get ashore and tie up the dinghy, look for taxis and then find a bus stop. A passing couple noticed that puzzled look on their faces and asked if they were lost. After explaining their predicament , volunteered to take them into Willemstad which was 9.5 miles away. Its not often you come across Good Samaritans like that.

Seems the traffic was quite bad as it was voting day. Find the Customs office but not open untill 11 am until 1, pm and they were a bit early, so off to the shops and and an ATM for some Guilders (remember them, pre Euro), phone cards ect. Still no Customs and past opening time. All they could do was wait as they were only allowed 24 hours grace for clearing in. Eventually two Customs cars appeared and they were able to complete the requirements, so then it was off to Immigration, at this point they were able to find a taxi to take them there. Fortunately a few doors along was the Harbour Master and they took care of the free mooring permit.
After that it was decided to call it a day as they had enough excitement to be going on with. Seems busses run when they like, taxis are expensive.
Back to Opal by taxi and a well earned sundowner.
Let us see what adventure February brings to our intrepid explorers.

Just found this image of Opal, to remind you she only about 60 feet long, taken a year ago.

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[David Fox]

02 February 2021 Spaanse Harbour.
Weather; sunny, wind blowing a gale up to 25 knots, wave chop on the water.

Not a lot doing but some bread making by Nicky and Ice Making by Gerry.

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They look good enough to eat, well Gerry couldn't resist as you can see. Nicky didn't want to chance indigestion caused by eating hot bread.
Reminds me of the rolls supplied for Engineers lunches in port before pub lunches, in fact better than those as these are herby ones.

Covid rules, on wall grenada 2.jpeg (63.18 KiB) Viewed 24557 times

As this sign was on a wall, Nicky thought it would have been difficult to comply.
An odd images Nicky found from Granada.

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On passage G-C.jpeg (6.27 KiB) Viewed 24557 times

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Not a lot happeng, but Gerry has been busy with repairs to:
Portable GPS
Nav staion chair
The main sail cover
Changed Turning Block for spinnaker downhaul at the bow

Excitement - windsurfer collided with the hull, but no damage to either party.

[David Fox]

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[David Fox]

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Nicky has been in baking mode and Gerry the tester as soon as they came out of the oven.
There has been a few runs ashore to sample the Caribean Dutch cuisine but no reports of how good or different, but will enquire.

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They attended a Sailors Dinner at the Pier Restaurant , but left after eating as it seemed to be populated by Who Har Henry's, who had been everywhere and done everything.

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They were hoping to meet some kindred spririts but no such luck.

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Pirate ship Curacao.jpeg (6.71 KiB) Viewed 24554 times

Apologies for the blurry image, I will see if Nicky has a sharper one.

Gerry was up the mast twice in two days, to sort out one of the spreaders with the use of a hammer, 2nd time lucky. It was after this that Nicky made more bread.

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Mary Berry eat your heart out. Made in the traditional way, no food mixer or Bread Maker ( plus you cannot make shapes like that in a bread maker or as large). IM me if you or your spouse want's the recipe.
As you can see from the photo it turned out pretty darned good and tasted even better though it did get a bit of finger blight as soon as it was out of the oven - Gerry just couldn't help himself!

[David Fox]

9th February - Hire car day out and Birthday Lunch for Nicky.

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After a bit of Man Shopping for an air filter for the DG which they didn't have and a call at the harbourmasters office for an anchor permit for the 3rd time of asking the free one set them back $25 for 3 months they set off on their sightseeing.
Obviously by this time the stomach was calling so they went up to the fort that had been turned into a restaurant.
The history of it was that it was built in 1797 and originally named Fort Republic. The name changed to Fort George when the British invaded in 1807, then when the Island was handed back to the Dutch in 1816 it took on the name Fort Oranje Nassau.

It is still used by the harbor master to signal to incoming and outgoing ships. The original cannons, the former fort prison and a primitive toilet used by the soldiers are still in evidence along with the walls and parts of the walkways.
The view from the restaurant would take a lot of beating, there are glorious 360 degree views of the island, it was obviously a good place to have a fort.
I digress, we had a spectacular lunch and enjoyed the views, one side looked out directly over the oil refinery which Curacao has been well known for, we only spotted 5 of the chimneys alight (out of about 20) and not very many vehicles on the site, we assume this is because the refinery is currently undergoing a change of ownership, or so we have been told. Whilst you might consider it an eyesore it was fascinating to see a large refinery from such a vantage point.

We could also see Willemstad and the very tall bridge (Julianna Bridge) that crosses the water to get into the heart of the city, again it was an awesome view and I was so glad that we had stumbled across it as we hadn't seen it mentioned in any of the tourist books we have. I'm sure the views would be quite spectacular up there at night time with the place lit up.

There will be images to follow these may be displayed out of date, maybe on one of their sea days in the future.

10th February
Weather; overcast,
Another day playing tourist.

Queen Emma bridge opening.jpeg (112.26 KiB) Viewed 24488 times

More bridges later.
For anybody just joining the post, any paragraphs in pinkish girly colours are direct from Nicky and her Sailblog comments and anything in bold blue are from Gerry. Nicky takes care of Sailblog updates, photography, catering, domestic engineering and various gophering when Gerry is on an involved job.

From our boat we had noticed what looks like a tower belonging to a fort but hadn't seen anything advertising it as a place of interest for tourists, we thought that we would try and find out what it was while we have a car as it seemed to be quite a distance around the bay from where we are.

Gerry had noticed a car disappearing down another goat track road and thought we would see where it took us. As it happened it skirted around the back of the tower where we saw a flight of steps, there was no information board and just a hand written notice that I'm sure says something on the lines of "at your own risk" but the steps led up to a door which was standing open.

We climbed the steps and found ourselves at what appeared to be the inner grounds of a fort, it was very overgrown but there was a distinct pathway leading to the fort and on the way there were picnic tables and a children's' playground - none of which appeared to have been used for a while. We followed the path all the way up to the tower that we had seen, noting a guard post and some cannons on the way. When we got to the tower there were more steps leading upwards, so we climbed to the ramparts where there were more cannons and then we saw a small entryway leading into the tower, Gerry at 5'10" could just clear the entryway without bumping his head. I needed a hand to get up to the entrance as it was a bit high for my little legs but once up we followed the tunnel inside until we reached a vertical wooden ladder going skywards.

Gerry went first - in case it gave way, but got to the top without issue and called for me to follow. I hate ladders at the best of times but I made it to the top and it was worth the palpitations and worry. We were at the highest level of the tower - the same place that I had taken photos of from the road. The view was quite spectacular over the harbor and the ocean and had obviously been a lookout in days gone by. From the top we could also see the remains of a building fairly nearby which had entry steps going up to the second floor but no roof and obviously in great disrepair. After taking the obligatory photos all round it was time to reverse the climbing, I was more than happy to be back down to ground level. Interestingly there were a couple of council type of trash bins strategically placed, but the general upkeep of the place had been ignored for a long while by the look of the place, all a bit sad really as it was obviously part of the country's history.



Having almost satisfied our curiosity about the tower which we now thought of as a fort ( we would look into it a bit more tonight) it was time to head to our next destination - into Willemstad city center as I wanted to get some photos of the art work around the place.

I took photos as I went until the point when Gerry was fading away with hunger
(must be that recurring cadet malady of always feeling hungry) and we had to find some place for lunch. I had mentioned to him that one of the things that I wanted photos of was the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, a foot bridge which connects the Punda and Otrobanda quarters of Willemstad, across the St Anna bay. This Circa 1888 bridge is hinged which allows it to swing open parallel to the shore line, with 2 engines to drive the bridge across and back. The original wooden boards of the bridge are supported by a series of 16 pontoon boats. As the bridge was just around the corner from where we were standing at the time we made our way around the corner and discovered a cafe on the water's edge right near the bridge, killing two birds with one stone - Gerry got his lunch and I got my photos.

The house that could be seen from the tower was a 19th century Quarantine Hospital, perhaps for Yellow Fever (yellow jack as it was called by the seamen of the day). Perhaps a few of these Quarantine/Isolation hospitals would be handy now. If you look on old maps of your area you may see hospitals of similar names mentioned, which would have been outside the towns borders at the time, but not now.
By author

Curacao Liqueur.jpeg (21.65 KiB) Viewed 24519 times

Shortly after their discovery of the island in 1499 the Spaniards planted their so-called "Valencia" orange. Due to the special climate and soil conditions however, the fruit changed into a kind of almost inedible product. It was not until decades later that it was discovered that the sun dried peels of the orange contained an etheric oil with an extraordinary pleasing fragrance."
These orange (known locally as Laraha, meaning golden Orange of Curacao) peels are still the basis for the liqueur which comes in 5 colours, Clear, Blue, Green, Red and Orange (all the same flavor) and also Rum and Raisin, coffee and chocolate flavor. I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed to discover that the 5 different colours all have exactly the same flavor and that the colour is derived from adding dye to the clear liqueur. Whilst they might add an interesting look to a bar and the cocktails it is really a waste of money buying them all for their colour alone, I'm pretty sure I could add dye to a clear alcohol and add interest to a cocktail without paying a fortune for it but I am tempted to buy the original Blue Liqueur just to have some.

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Gerry has done a few jobs here, just to keep his hand in. Gave the inevitable toilets their dose of salts in way of some muriatic acid, repairs to running rigging and a new bridle for the anchor chain.
Chemically cleaned the RO unit, ( reminds me of the vaps on the 'A' boats, the heat exchangers on those were forever being descaled but never made a lot of difference to the minimal output, yet the Nirex/Laval's on the Tuscan/Trojan were forever overflowing the FW tanks with little maintenance).
Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras.

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Gerry had a bit of a faux pas when taking the hire car back, not so much the hire car, but spilt Diesel in the dinghy and bruised his small toe.
Everybody say"Ahh!" Slow down Gerry, there is no rush.
I am sure he will live, Nicky is a nurse remember, she'll keep him in stitches and splints.
There might be another culinary image as Nicky was making a Ginger cake, that is if Gerry doesn't cut a trier slice before its photographed.

They are waiting for a weather envelope to set off for Cartagena and then Colon with a 14 day quarantine anchorage. At least there will be plenty activity on the water,all these huge container ships and bulk carriers transiting but no cruise ships. Only a 3 day wait for the canal transit afterwards.

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[David Fox]

Bridges of Willemstad.

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Bridge view from Fort Nassau.jpeg (87.01 KiB) Viewed 24515 times

The well known Curacao Oil Refinery can be seen to the right of the image.

Street Art of Willemstad and Castles & Forts of Curacao to follow.

[David Fox]

18th -20th February
The weather window looked god for leaving port on Sunday.
Gerry checked to see if he could hire a car for a day to do all the checking out and final provisioning. No such luck, 3 day minimum.
So he bit the bullet and hired it for three days. This meant they could do the laundry, go to a couple of supermarkets also a bit more touring of the area.
During signing the papers for the car this incident happened.
When the delivery guys arrived they made a fatal mistake of parking the car along the line of parked cars and as Gerry was completing the paperwork for the car a couple turned up whose car was temporarily blocked in by the hire car. The man got into the driver's seat and was patiently waiting but the woman began telling the world in a very loud and obnoxious way that we had blocked their car in and they needed to get out of the car park, Gerry explained that he was just completing the paperwork for the hire car and would only be a couple of minutes as it was almost done but that didn't stop her from carrying on like an idiot, she truely was something to behold and had apparently gotten out of her bed on the wrong side today! Meanwhile the man had started up the car and, with room to spare, managed to reverse out and around the hire car. The woman got into the car and slammed the door so hard that I'm sure it must have broken the hinges although it would be hard to tell as the car was a rust bomb to begin with. I hate to say it but they are yachties of the very worst sort, privileged, white and of North American origin - we felt so bad that we apologized to the hire car delivery guy for her behavior!
Yes you always get the impatient ones.
After that episode they decided to try the Mambo beach again.

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Reminds me of those adverts for Bounty, before package holidays started.
The beach itself was like a private resort with umbrellas, loungers, tikki huts, chairs and tables set up for anyone to use. Lovely white sand bordered a man made breakwater lagoon which was on the edge of the ocean, palm trees were all over the place providing some shade and that "tropical Island" feel. We found a cafŽe which was right on the sand and sat down to have a coffee, it wasn't quite lunch time but we thought we might as well have an early lunch here in the peace and quiet. When it arrived the sandwiches were so huge that we both left half of our sandwich and took it home for later in the day.
The only thing missing were the topless sunbathers - not that I cared but I suspect that Gerry might have secretly been disappointed!
Though there was one topless bird they managed to snap.

Local bird at the topless beach.jpeg (15.79 KiB) Viewed 24489 times

The following day they managed to slip into the last tour of the Curacao Distillery.

It was an interesting history lesson about the origin of the liqueur making business and we got to see the important bits but a bit like KFC there is a secret recipe which no one is told. The original still from around 122 years ago is apparently still in use though I'm sure that to be commercial there are more modern stills hidden from the public eye. At the end of the tour we got to try samples of the blue liqueur they are famous for along with a chocolate liqueur and their newest product a tamarin liqueur, all were very nice. We then had our choice of a "free" cocktail as part of the tour cost and although it was a little early for cocktail hour we didn't complain. The compulsory shop was our last stop in case we wanted to buy any of the product, who wouldn't as we got a 10% discount on our purchase.


The last day would have been doing the legals, hoisting the Blue Peter and checking out the yatch to make sure everything was lashed down etc. An early night no doubt Saturday, get a few zeds in for chinese watches.

It will be Cartergina for orders.

Seems Curacao was a bit more civilised with a few things to see and decent restaurants. A break in the monotony of the last 9 months and got them prepared for the voyage ahead.
Could be a day or two before Nicky strikes up again so I will add a few images as promised manana.

[David Fox]

As there wasn't an entry to the Sailblog then I assume Gerry & Nicky got off to a good start.

Castles & Forts

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[David Fox]

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12 26.022 N 70 19.904 W

Weather; raining, wind 10 - 20 knots ESE, waves 4-5feet


Gerry & Nicky set sail about noon, it was a bit of a wet sail with wind dead astern and swell on the beam (if that was at cross purposes to the wind). They managed to get the mainsail up with a couple of reefs and the preventer on the boom to prevent too much movement making 6-7 knots. At one point they were motor sailing ie running the engine as well.

An hour after Nicky went for her watch below she was called due to problems.

He thought he needed to go out on deck as he had tried to let the boom out a little further and in the process had managed one of those fluke accidents the top batten on our sail had gotten caught between the two shrouds on the starboard side which hold the mast in place. If we couldn't get the batten out from between the small gap we could possibly brake the batten, rip the sail or at worst, both. The question was how to get it out without damaging anything.

Gerry had a cunning plan which might or might not work, we would put the wind on to the back side of the sail and let the wind push the sail over to the other side in other words gybe it. We had no idea if it would work or not but we couldn't think of a better idea at the time. We tried to do the gybe as slowly as we possibly could so that the boom wouldn't swing across wildly but of course we needed the pressure on to get the sail out from between the shrouds so it was a little messy, not helped by the fact that neither of us remembered to take the running backstay off resulting in the boom hitting the still tensioned backstay.

The sailor speak came to the fore at its very best as we checked the sail had managed to release the batten from between the shrouds with no apparent damage to batten or sail and the backstay was quickly released and moved forward also with no apparent damage, phew lucky escape all round, time to buy that Lotto ticket!

The preventer got moved to the port side as we were now on a starboard tack - it really made no odds which side the boom was out to as the wind was pretty much directly behind us still. That was enough excitement for one day and not something we need to repeat ever!
I was well and truly over the need for a sleep and stayed up waiting for the sun to set and the green flash to appear. Gerry went below for a snooze as I think he needed to recover from the almost disaster, he reappeared just as the sun was dipping and
he claims he saw the green flash, I think he was just hallucinating! I was out on the rail waiting to take photos of the sunset when suddenly I spotted the first and only pod of dolphins that we had seen today playing at diving beneath our bow wave, they didn't stay very long and were gone by the time the sun finally dipped below the horizon (without a green flash!).

We ate the beef in red wine that I had cooked this morning before settling into our night watches of 3 hours on and 3 hours off. The rain had by now gone so that was a good thing, the moon was at ? full another good thing, and that's where the good stuff ends, the swell has been horrendous all day long and continues to be so.

[David Fox]

Day2@ C to Columbia.jpeg (14.65 KiB) Viewed 24471 times

12 20.253 N 72 22.740 W
Weather; sunny, wind 15 knots ESE, waves 5-6 feet

As the night wore on things began to calm down a little, not much, just a little. The lights of Aruba appeared, along with a string of red flashing lights you couldn't fool us, we knew those were the lights that are on the wind turbines, the same as we came across on our way to Luperon. Next thing I spotted was a flashing light out to the Venezuelan side, the chart showed a couple of rocks and I thought it was probably the beacon for those we were well clear of it anyway so I ignored it. When it was Gerry's turn to do the watch he seemed to attract a whole load of ships, the closest one was a good mile away from us but at night it's not always comfortable knowing that they are nearby and moving faster than you are capable of. We continued to sail with just the reefed main flying, having tried a couple of times to add a bit more sail power by letting out the Genoa and after a short period of it flapping about uselessly we furled it back away again.

The wind continued to stay behind us with short swings to either side, making the decision of which side to have the main on a little difficult. We did one gybe when the wind looked to be staying on the port side but as soon as we got the main across to the starboard side and secure the wind changed its mind and went back to being behind us with small swings in either direction, we weren't playing that game and left the main out to the starboard side with the preventer in place to stop any wild swinging of the boom. At one point we even put the staysail up to see if it would do anything to stop the dreadful rocking from side to side, all it did was flap around even though it was tightly cleated off so that went away too. Although we were taking it in turns to try and get some sleep it wasn't a good night for either of us, if we managed to drop off to sleep I could guarantee that something would bang or drop and wake up whichever of us was sleeping.
We had things bang that have never done so before, like the door between the salon and the companionway which is always fastened open somehow the catch managed to come loose and there was an almighty bang as it slammed closed. Then there were the things that we hadn't thought needed stowing away like a block which managed to throw itself across the cockpit all sent to try us I'm sure. The wind was pretty constant and it was only the swell that was really the problem. We were managing a pretty good 6.6 knots for most of the time. Once we reached the waypoint where we deviated slightly to starboard and where we changed the side that the main was on we also now had a small advantage as the swell was now also coming from behind us rather than from the side where it was competing against the wind to put us in the wrong direction. The effect was immediate, our speed picked up and we were no longer being thrown from side to side.

I saw 8.3 knots for a fair while which was pretty good going considering the wind speed hadn't changed and Gerry later told me that he saw over 9 knots roaring along! of course it didn't last and somewhere around 4am Gerry started up the motor as our speed had dropped below the 6 knots that he wanted to maintain. We then motor sailed for a decent part of the day as the wind didn't pick up, we weren't complaining too much though as the swell was more bearable. Once it was light enough Gerry went out on deck and tightened up the preventer, at the same time he did the deck patrol and found we had managed to "catch" 4 small flying fish overnight which he returned to the deep. The day passed uneventfully with both of us snatching a bit of sleep when we could manage it. We even managed to finally have a shower once the swell had come around behind us, up until that point it was far too dangerous for life and limb to even attempt it, the bruise collection is growing by the day!

Sunset was a little later today, we even had our dinner and cleared up afterwards before the sun dipped below the horizon. Again I watched for the green flash, I did see a greenish haze around the sun but it wasn't just as the sun was setting and it certainly wasn't a flash so I don't think that counts the quest continues. Once more we started the night watch routine, with Gerry going below for the first sleep for a change.
Not much happened for most of the night, I did see a couple of dolphins racing alongside us at one point, they certainly can move and they definitely won the race! Gerry had to start the generator a couple of times during the night just to top up our battery bank, he is suspicious that we are going to need to change out our big batteries soon a job for him to check once we make it to Colombia. So day 2 at sea was over and done with, we are making pretty good time and progress despite the wind not quite being what we would like.

Despite a short sleep pattern, Nicky really got her eye in on that days sailing so it was a shame not to copy the whole blog. Sounds like this next passage will be a better one with the swell with them and making good speed. Prior to Granada they only sailed on the two small fwd sails, not the mainsail, plus they had the Genoa rigged this time, bit like a 'big girls blouse' that would catch anything. I believe there are still two reefs in the mainsail so room for more speed.
Sounds like a " BOAT" ( Bung Over Another Thousand) coming up, with new batteries.

At sea to Colombia, day 3.
23rd February
11 17.090 N 74 47.070 W

Weather; sunny, wind 15 - 20 ESE, waves 6 Feet

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We managed to sail for most of the day which was a feat in its self as the wind was coming from almost directly behind us for the better part of the day with occasional swings slightly to port and almost as quickly changing to slightly starboard making it difficult to know which side to have the main sail out to. We did gybe a couple of times to see if it had any effect on our sailing ability but as soon as we did the gybe we could lay bets that the wind direction would change once again.

At various points in time we put out the Genoa to see if it would help us move along a bit faster but it had no great effect as the swell was hitting us from the side and slowing down whatever progress we were making by rolling us horribly from side to side. There really was nothing we could do but keep going and hope that it would change when we altered our direction a little later in the trip. A couple of times we started the engine up and motor sailed as our speed dropped below the magic 6 knots that would see us arriving in 4 days but as soon as the wind increased again we turned the motor off - it is a fine balance of wind versus motor power at times!

We were making good time despite the constant rolling, averaging 6.5 knots with the occasional high of 8 knots. A couple of ships passed within 2 miles of us, but nothing for us to worry about.

We both saw a heap of flying fish today - just after we had commented about how little sea life we had been seeing to this point! Gerry even put out the fishing line, of course we caught nothing! We have the fishing down to a fine art but we really need to get the catching stuff worked out now! It's a good job that I had prepared a few meals before setting off as we could just pull one out of the freezer each night and Zap it in the microwave and have a hot dinner, with the amount of rolling we were doing this was down to Gerry to cook up.

Gerry was taking the first 3 hour watch. I was down for less than an hour when he yelled for me to come up as he needed to go out on deck, the wind had swung around and we needed to put the main across to the other side.

Luckily it was still fairly light even though the sun had set, after adjusting the running backstays - which we can do from the cockpit, he donned the harness and crawled out to the bow to change the preventer over, as he did this and the main sheet became slack my job was to winch the main sheet as hard and fast as possible to move the boom across to the other side without letting it crash across - easier said than done! Gerry then moved the preventer across to the new side (I can't recall which side as we did this several times today) and fastened it off.

Everything was then tightened down, Gerry returned to the cockpit and suggested I go back to bed - not a chance that I was going to get back to sleep so I stayed up and sent him below for an early watch change.

Nothing of any importance happened for the rest of the evening / night up until midnight except that we altered course slightly and the wind began to pick up. Gerry had said at the start of this trip that the latter part of the trip would be ugly as there was quite a wind change forecast - we were starting to see this change as we approached midnight but we had also had the bonus of the swell now coming from behind us rather than from our side which was pushing us along a lot quicker. With luck we will only have one more day before we reach our destination of Cartagena, in Colombia.

Before we arrive at the next day, I will give you all a half day doing the tourist thing on dry land, but no going on the Mozart & Liszt you have a heavy day tomorrow.

A few more Forts from Curacao.

Rif Fort courtyard Otrobunda.jpeg (161.49 KiB) Viewed 24450 times

You might get a quick beer here to slack t' dust, but don't make a session of it.

Rif fort Otrobanda.jpeg (137.32 KiB) Viewed 24450 times

Rif Fort walls Otrobanda.jpeg (142.49 KiB) Viewed 24450 times

A bit of Culture for you.

Statue of Dr Efrain Jonckheer former prime minister. at Rif fortJPG.jpeg (135.86 KiB) Viewed 24450 times

Right back to the boat, early night and make sure everything is lashed down tight.
Rig of the Day tomorrow is brown trows and BOT waistcoat, you have been warned, the cadet has been round with the book.
I am off for an early night as well. So its goodnight from her and goodnight from me.