bonaire

bonaire was fantastic. we moored in the lee of the island between the main island bonaire and a little island across. the little island across had no buildings at all. it was a park with plenty of diving and snorkeling spots. the water was great and we did get to see a little of the underwater sights. on the main island, there were many pretty buildings and most of them looked like the typical dutch architecture.

the island is very dry and we enjoyed the scene with cactus and lots of pink flamingos.

we were also very pleased to do a one stop only immigration and customs, with no lines and absolutely free. definitely a sailor friendly place. not to mention there were plenty of moorings for us to choose from and grab, as anchoring is strictly forbidden in the entire island, to preserve the coral of course.

diving here is a main attraction and people do so from the beach. it is a unique spot for that. we also felt very comfortable as we heard a lot of spanish. being so close to venezuela, seemed to us that spanish was the common language, but of course is papiamento, which if we concentrated a bit we could understand. in fact we even laughed because it sounded to us like a funny spanish but with a slight variation, but still easy to understand.

we enjoyed going around some canals in our dinghy and a beautiful marina complex with incredibly pristine beaches and water.

sailing towards the abc's

we left grenada towards the abc’s, specifically bonaire. as every other leg in the caribbean, we had constant 20 knots of wind from the east. we set the sails wing on wing and went on a run for 3 days. this was our fastest leg ever. our average speed was over 6 knots and the boat was sailing great. we almost did not feel the wind or the swell. it was beautiful, except for the last day when he had torrential rains and some nasty weather in the horizon, but at the end, it did not affect us much.

we were expecting to catch lots of fish but we had actually zero bites. so soup and pasta had to do. it was ok. at least 3 days is not that long.

driving around the island

we rented a convertible jeep and went around the entire island; from sand beaches to jungle through rocky rivers and everything in between. of course we got lost in our tour but that made it even better as we saw almost every single parish and road of grenada.

grenada

this island of just over 100,000 inhabitants used to be a british outpost but after WWII when britain started to let go of all of its colonies, grenada did not want independence. over 51% of its population voted against but nevertheless england gave it up and ever since, they have been a sovereign country. now all the colonial buildings are dilapidated. most houses are very small and poor but look picturesque nevertheless.

the sailing industry is very developed here. there are over 10 fully equipped marinas with yards to haul out boats and stores of the size seen in the us. boaters can find everything they need here. it is probably used as a base point and hurricane shelter and from here they go up to sail the caribbean and down again at the beginning of the hurricane season.

there is also a lot of evidence of foreign investment with beautiful resorts, boutiques and top class restaurants. an example of this is the true blue marina and hotel complex where we stayed. we really enjoyed our stay in this wonderful paradise. on our last night we had a marvelous dinner on the beach and then, in the mooring we had a superb steel band playing in the background.