Very Late Entry

(Written sometime in November 2008)
I can’t believe where the past months have gone. It has been a long while since I updated our blog. My last entry had us in Venezuela. After our land tours to Merida and the Savanna, our daughter Erin continued travelling through parts of Venezuela and Columbia while Pat & I returned to Curaçao and Rhiannon the end of February. We spent time chilling out on the boat and got caught up on a lot of projects and general maintenance (like varnishing the exterior and interior teak). In April, our friends Brenda & Gerry joined us for 10 days. We met them in Bonaire, toured the island, did some diving, and then had great downwind sail to Curaçao, with a stop on Klein Curaçao. Klein Curaçao is a little island between Bonaire & Curaçao made from coral. It is only about 5 feet above sea level, the lee side of the island is a beautiful long sandy white beach while the windward side is black & rugged. There are 2 ship wrecks on the windward side, one a recent sailboat, no inhabitants, just an abandoned lighthouse in the middle of the island. It would not be a very good place to be in unsettled or rough weather. We spent 2 calm nights and a full day of enjoying the island. Fishermen frequent the area and we were able to buy some fresh fish the first night and then we were given a huge tuna the second night. If you ever taste fresh tuna, you will never eat it from a can again. It was marvelous!!
After arriving in Spanish Waters, Curacao we showed Brenda & Gerry how it can take all day to clear customs & immigration, but it is a nice way to tour the main city. We introduced them to Happy Hour at Sarifundy’s and rented a car for a quick tour of the island. As always, it was sad to say goodbye to our friends. One of the biggest downfall of cruising is having to always be saying goodbye to someone. The cruising community is very unique. You meet people from all over the world and you immediately have something in common. It seems that you become good friends very quickly. You may hangout for a while but then someone moves on, thus the saying goodbye. But you never know when you will meet again. Saying goodbye to Brenda & Gerry was a little easier because we knew we would see them in less than a month. We prepared Rhiannon to leave her in the boatyard at Curaçao Marine while we headed back to our land home in Quispamsis for the summer. Before leaving on May 7th (2008) I started to write an entry for the blog which never got published so I will enter some of it now as I remember having very strong feelings at the time I wrote it. Here goes.
Lately I’ve been thinking that life is just a series of short stories. What kind of book would you have if you combined them all together. As we approach the end of another short story, I am looking forward to starting the next chapter, returning to our land home, hugging family & renewing friendships. I can’t wait. We have had an incredible 16 months on the boat but it’s time to take a break from this amazing lifestyle. Pat & I have been fortunate to pick up some temporary work from our previous employment and are looking forward to pocketing some extra spending money and replenishing the cruising kitty. Afterall, the definition of a BOAT dollar is Break Out Another Thousand.
Till next time,
Fair Winds,
Miriam