Positive chain in Curaçao…

 

Dear Friends,

We cant believe it either, but we are already over a week in Curaçao, anchored in Spanish Water, where most cruisers drop the hook (mind you, in designated areas, properly organized, the dutch way, only 4 regions inside the bay…)… But, we cant realy say we have seen the island… Reasons? Various… firstly two projects to complete( first thought i needed to change my 4 house batteries, but reading carefully true Nigel Calders Bible on Boat electronics,  remembered that it was indeed a long time since i had hooked them up to shore power, and so maybe  should do that first).. So, we learned that the Curaçao Yacht Club (near by) had a pier available and so spent there a couple of days…. filled up the fresh water tank (as we cant make water in the bay..very doubtful quality), and had for almost 48 hrs the battery charger doing its work. And .. we downloaded an almost obscene number of tv series and movies via their wifi connection….

 

So, at the moment  we are good for maybe another 6 months or so, battery wise. Then, the genoa had a rather nasty rip that needed fixing. And talking with Frits and Reinhilde on Bella Ciao (http://www.bellaciao.nl/), they offered to help out, as they are the proud owners of a real sail sowing machine.

We had to postpone this project a couple of days , due to adverse weather conditions. Believe it or not, but this last week, we experienced near wind less days, and torrential rains… We are not overly impressed with Curacao (yet?)… the issue is that to get things done needs planning and organizing…. dinghy ride on time to dinghy dock, to catch a ride with the courtesy van to the major supermarket (that is great by the way), but if you need to go somewhere else, need to go by public transport bus (or maxi taxi type van set up). The bus has only an hourly service back to down town… Laundry, equaly time consuming task (dinghy, bus, walking etc).  Spanish Water is just ways a way from practical land things….

Despite this, we didnt fail to explore some snorkel sites just outside the entrance channel of Spanish Water..

We are ofcourse kind of spoiled by Bonaire, but also doing some scuba dives seems all just so much more complicated and kind of cumbersome..

Anyway, back to the title of this post…. This morning (monday) I went over with the genoa sail to Bella Ciao, and in no time, Frits got the genoa profesionaly fixed.

And so I asked him, how i could settle the time and effort with him… He looked at me and told me something that i hadnt heard for a long time….No, dont worry, somebody will help me out when I need assistance, it may be you, may be not, but that doesnt matter, somebody will …

And so it is my friends, think about  it as a positive chain reaction: you help somebody, and that positive energy comes back to you when you need help. It goes without saying, that I offer help or assistance when needed, without a problem, kind of setteling my “bill” with Frits.

A good week to all of you…

Pieter