World Aruba Oranjestad

JC and Penny's 2007 travels

Bon Aire and Aruba 30 Apr 2007

We are staying at Bon Aire for about 2 1/2days. It is a Dutch protectorate and has a mixed population of Negros, South Americans and Europeans . The Negros are descended from slaves who were transported to work in the salt mines and there are lots of young Dutch working in the bars on working holidays.

Yesterday we explored the town and found a great small bar for dinner where they have fantastic dinner specials for $6.00. John was very happy with the local beer and I was happy with cheap cocktails.

Today we hired a car and drove around the island to the lake where all the flamingos are. It is the first time I have seen flamingos in the wild and I had not expected them to be so vividly pink. The lake was very very salty but their legs are adapted to live in the salt. There were a huge number of all sorts of birds around the lake although unfortunately I didn't see the endangered local yellow winged parrot called a Lora parrot.

I had expected a lush tropical island but it is extremely arid and the main form of plant life is cactus, in fact some of the houses have used cactus to make fences. There are lots of goats and these fences are very effective in controlling the goats. In the afternoon we went snorkeling again just off the coast in a wonderful place where there were all sorts of fish and turtles. The shallow sandy bottom dropped off to about 40 ft only about 50 yes off shore so it was great to be able to see big fish too.

Tracey is leaving the boat at the next stop Aruba as she has been offered a consultancy job in South Africa for 2 months (she is taking it to pay for some of the boat bills !!!) I have decided not to sail onto Panama with the boat as we are behind schedule and I might miss my flight to LA and onto Vancouver so I am going to stay in Aruba for a week by myself and then fly from there to LA. I will find somewhere to stay when we arrive.

It is now Sunday morning and we have heard that Australia has won the cricket. Amazingly we had mobile phone coverage for quite a way out to sea so were getting text updates from a friend at the match.

We had another very very rough overnight passage the 100 miles from Bon Aire to Aruba. The wind was up and there was a very strong current running sideways into us which made for a huge swell. John's watch again was exciting as the GPS navigation system went down in the middle of an extra rough patch. He came rushing down to our bunk to search for his small hand held GPS. Anyway all was well as they soon found that it was just a cable that had come out. With all the rocking and rolling something on the dash had been rolling repetitively against the cable and knocked it out.

We arrived at the quay at about 9am and had to moore next to a huge cruise ship while immigration and customs made us fill out numerous forms in triplicate. It is now 12.30 and we are still next to the cruise ship waiting for another yacht to leave so we can get their spot in the marina.

12md we berthed at the marina. The marina is expensive but gives access to all the facilities at the big resort hotel so we have been lying by the pool drinking cocktails and making the most of it. There is also an island off shore owned by the resort and we have free shuttle boats to and froe. Today we went out there for a laze on the beach. There is a small flock of wild flamingos that you can hand feed and also lots of marine iguanas.

Yesterday was a public holiday for the queen's birthday (not Elizabeth but the Dutch queen.) Phil and went to watch the Dutch navy firing the cannon salute and there was also a parade and speeches by the govenor etc.

Wed

The boys are doing asll sorts of jobs on the boat so i am doing my bit by staying out of the way and spending the day out of their hair at the resort pool. (very hard)

My next update will be from Canada. So from next week you will be getting updates from my travels Canada, New York, Europe and Turkey, and you may get the occasional one from JC when he is in port or has time.

4pm 1st May Tracey has just left for South Africa so John is now in sole charge of the kitchen. The weather forcast is very windy and high waves until saturday so the boys will stay until at least Saturday. I am leaving Tuesday so may only need to pay for a couple of nights hotel. i am making myself known by the staff at the posh hotel so that when the boys leave and I am at a cheap hotel I can still access all the posh hotel facilities and they will know me and think I belong there !!