Go West.........

Dear friends,

And that is exactly what we are going to do, starting tomorrow. We will be sailing westwards, from Grenada to Isla Blanquilla, on to Los Roques, Los Aves, and then to Bonaire. Obviously no internet connection untill Bonaire ( omg, will this even be possible?)
It will be an awesome trip, picture deserted snowwhite beaches, turquios pristine waters..... ( Google earth).
The preparations on board are still in full swing ( Lucky got vaccinated, and a health cerificate), laundry (still need to do), stocking up on food, checking out at customs and another 1001 things. Onda Boa is ready as she can be and so is the crew.

We expect to arrive in Bonaire in abt 15 - 20 days.

Grenada is a great place to stay, and our favorite anchorage by far is St Georges (crystal clear water, good internet connection from the boat, hardly any waves so very comfortable, and near by shops etc). We have anchored at other popular locations (Prickly Bay, Hartmann Bay, Hog Island...but all of them suffer from the waves that enter side ways in the bays, which makes it a very rolly place to be...

 Contemplating.... Grand Anse beach

Shopping....

Down town St Georges - Grenada

Our busy dinghy parking lot (in the back ground the St Georges Anchorage)

Shopping near the dinghy dock... very convenient

...heading back and heading out...

Anyhow, we are  of sailing....

Take care and enjoy

Pieter

Still here....

Dear friends,

Yep, still here.... Here being Grenada, at anchor in St Georges. Wow, a lot of good things have happened since my last publication. Some highlights: Dora arrived from Brazil, because after our trip from Trinidad to St Maarten last March, it was clear to both of us...we want to sail together. 

Dora

We went to see my family in Holland and celebrated my dad's 83rd birthday.

The family

Included a short trip to Paris... Tres bien..

Paris, Paris....

And all this time Onda Boa waited patiently on a mooring in Chaguaramas. Now with a new bimini, interior totally redesigned (thanks to Dora).

 Herewith I want to thank my friends Rodrigo, Rico, Beto, Carlos and Alastair for taking care of the boat, and getting us at warp speed to the airport in Port of Spain, as yourstruly suffered from a senior moment and got the dates mixed up, but that is another story.

We are now here in Grenada, prepping for our journey westwards. As usual some boat things need to be taken care of...in this particular case the wiring of the windlass, and wiring of a washdown pump through the 12 v switchboard ( no I am not a an electrician). We hope to get this done asap (Thursday). Then we will pick the right weather window, and on our way to Isla Blanquilla, Los Roques, Los Aves, and then Bonaire.

To us Grenada has a much friendlier feel to it, than Chaguaramas, the water is clean (daily water work outs around the boat, something   you wouldnt do in Chaguaramas). We even went lobster fishing...

We did anchor in Prickly Bay, Hog Island, Secret Harbour/ Mt Hartmann Bay, but we still like the open ocean anchorage of St Georges the best. Using the BadBoy Bitstorm WiFi antena, even the internet connection issues are kind of solved. 

Somebody told me that there are 2000 sailboats, scattered around in the bays of Grenada. An interesting comunity. Every morning at 07:30 on Vhf channel 66 and 68 the cruisers net is formed. A very productive daily routine of welcoming new boats, security issues, weather forecast, social activities, and even local business is granted airtime to talk about their businesses. Very good indeed.

Lucky is doing great...she spent her holidays ( when we were in Europe) on board SV Sotalia (Rodrigo) and during this stay she did learn a lot...

Did I mention that my good old laptop died on me, and so I bought a Tablet (Sony experia).... You can call me old fashioned, but frankly, I dont like it. Cant have all the stuff that I want, and typing on a touch screen.... Nah... Not good... Anyhow..we keep on going...

All the best, have fun and till the next post..

Pieter.

A swim in the park

 

Yes my dear Friends,

Not a typing error, indeed a swim in the park… In Moliniere Point, (Grenada) is an underwater sculpture park, created by Jason Decaires Taylor.(http://www.underwatersculpture.com/)

Most pieces are at between 4-5 meters depth placed on open sand patches in between the corrals.

It is fun to discover, whilst snorkelling,  the various locations, and the first was the full circle of women and men (true scale), hand in hand looking outward…. , mysterious, powerful in a certain way.

Different emotions, and shocking even, at the site with naked corpses spread out over the clear sand patch… first I thought it was something else…

Schools of fish swimming around the sculptures, and then the mandatory mermaid (of course), then a bench, and another circle of smaller men like figures, also hand in hand facing out, but this one was deeper, older and already kind of damaged, but still awesome to look at.

It was a great weekend in Grenada.

Have a great week!

Pieter

Just Relax, Chill out… Cool…Grenada impressions

Dear friends,
A wonderful journey from Bequia to Grenada. Great relaxed sailing.. so, i managed to produce this chill out movie: http://youtu.be/Yt98v-Jjd3Y hope you like it…
Approaching this lovely island, the look and feel is different when compared to the dramatic hills and volcanoes on Montserrat, Dominica and St Vincent for instance..
Now, preparing for the journey to Trinidad, aprox 70 miles…


Have a great week everybody!!
All the best
Pieter

Grenada, Union Island and Tobago Cays, Martinique and St Maarten.(March 2013)

Dear friends,
Herewith a photo impression of a fantastic journey from Trinidad, visiting Grenada, Union Island and Tobago Cays, Martinique, to St Maarten. Roughly 450 nm.. My very special friend Dora from Brazil was brave enough to undertake this adventure on board the Onda Boa.


The sailing was great, most of the times… After all the work done

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