Bonaire

25th Jan - 3rd Feb, 2022

We arrived in Bonaire after a three day passage from Trinidad. We flew the spinnacker more or less the whole time. Glad to be here and meet with fellow cruisers.

Now to the Nerdy stuff:

Passage from Trinidad to Bonaire. It took us 3.1 days. And we averaged 6.5 Knots. The shortest great circle distance is 402 Nautical Miles. However, we sailed 478 Nautical Miles to get here. We did that since we wanted to get as far from the pirates at the Venezuelan coast as possible. We ran the engine 6.2 Hours (8.3%) during the passage. The trade winds where great, and the engine was used mostly to motor whilst avoiding squalls and oil platforms.

Our wind and hydro generators are now up and running 100% again, so happy about that.

We got 150.8 Ah/day from Solar, 19.6 Ah/day from Wind (down wind sail), and 143.6 Ah/day from Hydro, a total of 314 Ah/day during the passage. Enough to not have to start the main engine. It should be noted that Hydro would have contributed even more if we had not experienced a big amount of Sargasso weed that forced us to take it out of the water every night.

First sunrise...

Dolphins were accompanying us a couple of times. Always cheers you up

First sunset

Preparing for the long distances in the Pacific... We've now successfully added a tiller autopilot to our Hydrovane rudder. So if we lose the main autopilot (or the main rudder), the Hydrovane can now steer via wind or tiller-pilot.

Just look at that beautifully constructed stainless steel arm that my genius husband designed. I love you, my nerd

Approaching Bonaire under a pretty spectacular stormy sky, flying the spinnaker

Sitting at the waterfront restaurant having dinner and watching Horizon at this beautiful mooring.

Our mooring right in the city next to the waterfront restaurant. We took the dinghy over and tied it up at the restaurant.. Crystal clear water, snorkeling is excellent right of your boat. Mooring is only $10 per day.

I tied up to this mooring. Still sitting here waiting for that something special

Bonaire National Marine Park encompassing the entire coast of Bonaire including Klein Bonaire. Anchorage is not allowed anywhere in the Bonaire waters. But they have lots of buoys to pick up. We took Horizon out and around Klein Bonaire, and enjoyed several stops at some beautiful snorkeling places tied up to a buoy.

Even though there were two big cruise ships in the harbor we had the area more or less to ourselves. The snorkeling was just stunning. Crystal clear water. The corals are the healthiest we have seen in the Caribbean, or elsewhere. That made us happy

We finished up with a dinner at a local fish restaurant.

Life is good

One of the many snorkeling spots around Klein Bonaire

Crystal clear water, and great snorkeling

Taking with the GoPro, snorkeling. Anette is on the beach

GoPro shots

Beautiful healthy corals

And another beautiful coral

Anders at the restaurant. You can spot Horizon on the mooring in front of the big cruise ship

Very Happy after an epic day

Cheers

Driving in Washington Slagbaai National Park, North west part of Bonaire

An old Lighthouse that was built here but was never operationell

This is the functional lighthouse on the north coast

Dramatic weather rolling in from the north

Such a cute and colorful gecko

On the west coast in the National Park. Wonderful snorkeling

A selfie at the Boca Slagbaii, in the National Park. This used to be the main harbor in Bonaire. Now it's a great place to snorkel, bird watching and cliff jumping