Charter in Cuba

 

We now had to prepare ourselves for a charter we had sold. Casper from Holland decided to sail for a week with us in Cuba. To get all the ingredients and try to stock up for this charter was not an easy task, and involved numerous trips to the farmers market, a visit to a clandestine shrimp and lobster outlet and roaming the streets looking for items in different sized shops/(super)markets. We managed and were able to welcome Casper on board with our signature Onda Boa style reception.

The next days we sailed (not a lot of wind) to various towns and locations. Including Trinidad, one of Cubas oldest cities. The marina in Cacilda was great… brand new piers and slips. The entrance is very shallow so for boats with 2 m draft or more, I guess it wont be possible to reach. Some fantastic little islands were explored, some great snorkeling on the reefs as well. Fresh fish and lobster were bartered on the open seas by a fisher boat… Tshirt from Brazil, a bottle of rum, some toothpaste (!!!!), soap and laundry detergent. Wonderful. The week flew by and we got Casper back on time in Cacilda for his taxi ride back to the Varadeiro Airport.

And we…. on our way back east… to Cayo Anclitas…Jardines de La Reina, Cuba.

And a big thanks to Casper, who was a wonderful guest and… chef de cuisine as it turned out….

Take care

Pieter

Los Aves Sotavento, Venezuela

 

Dear Friends,

Just island hopping, on our way to Bonaire, we also visited this last island archipel. On  approach the Coast Guard called in and we were cleared to anchor of Isla das Palmas.

Windy, but kind of protected.  We saw heaps, i mean literaly mountains of conch shells... somebody had themselves a great conch meat party... and of course the windward side of

the island full of debris and PET bottles.

 

Some fishermen came by and we swapped a bottle of Grenada rum for two Dog snappers.

The next day, for security reasons (as the wind was blowing hard and we were kind of anchored wedged in between two coral shoals), i decided to re-anchor to a somewhat more protected spot.

During a snorkel  i spotted a gigantic lobster, took some pics to show to Dora (who had stayed on board), and bravely  she geared up to catch the animal (bare handed??). By the time we got back, the monster was gone.

The winds picked up but we were in a good place.

 

Early the next morning, at Sunrise, we set sail to Bonaire...

Do well…

Best regards

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.