Sunday we finally finished the boat jobs…… and had a takeout for tea! We were too exhausted to cook and the marina dogs certainly enjoyed the left overs…. Followed by an early night on board.
Monday and we were up early…. I cleaned down below and Richard did a final engine check and other useful stuff. Come lunchtime we were done – showered up – and headed off to the airport to pick up Blaine. His flight came in at 2.55 pm so we had some lunch while we waited. It was really hot and humid and we stood at the arrivals rail – we knew the flight had landed and people were trickling through… but still no sign of Blaine. Finally after a very hot hour he came through frustrated by the length of the customs queue.
Back to the boat with Richard showing off his Formula 1 driving skills in our rent a wreck – avoiding pot holes and giving Blaine a bit of a scare! After a quick visit to Morphie we went out to Pietermaai to take him to our favourite restaurant and show him around a little. Visited Mundo Bizzaro first – and we had a couple beers – followed by a fantastic meal at Ginger with lots of chatting and catching up going on. Back on board completely full up and a pretty early night!
Tuesday and we took the day off! Hurrah! So headed over to Jan Thiel beach and had a great time playing in the water, bobbing, and generally just chilling. It was really hot and we couldn’t get enough shade – so we ended up in the bar. And honestly we were rehydrating with soft drinks – there was no rum involved at all! Blaine and Richard enjoyed posing by our old car as we left.
We had a great time chilling and once we’d got ourselves cleaned up we headed over to Pirates Rest where Happy Arghhhhh had just started. We had a nice BBQ supper – followed by the bill served in a pirates chest! – and then ended up back on board for pontoonies and so to bed.
This morning – Wednesday – and we headed into Willemstad. Primary purpose was to visit customs and immigration to check out as we are leaving tomorrow morning. But while we were there we enjoyed the sights of the pontoon bridge opening to let a yacht come in; the Venezuelan fruit and veg market; the cruise ships towering over the city and the spectacular renovated buildings in Otrabanda. Richard found a nice new car to lust after – and some huge new fenders!
We topped off the city day out by mucking around with some tourist things and having a leisurely lunch…. Whilst people watching all the cruise ship passengers….
Eventually back to the marina – returned the hire car – and paid our marina bills…. All done – so now having a quiet night on board in preparation for our trip tomorrow. We plan to set sail early morning and will first have to navigate our way out to the sea and will be greeted by wind and current straight on the nose. So expecting a lumpy old time out there for a while – and in fact all of the 450+ miles will be beating into the wind and current…. Will take us approximately five days for this trip and, as we have Blaine the gadget man on board, you can actually follow our progress via his Facebook page – CapnBlaine (which is publicly available) – as he’ll be putting Spot Satellite updates there morning and evening…..
See you soon from the US Virgin Islands! Bye for now
Jan