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Welcome to Bonaire. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
The reason to go directly to ABC islands from Grenada was to avoid pirates. I had spoken to enough people who had experienced first-hand pirate attacks in these waters. I will spare you the details, long story short the route from Trinidad and Tobago was too close to Venezuela and the risk was just too high. That meant a sail directly towards Bonaire.
That meant I arrived to Bonaire after three days at sea. There was no wind, but I had to get to the island to meet my friends, so I motored - sometimes at 9 knots or more, because of the strong current. On the second night, during my watch, at 04:47 in the morning, the engine died. There was no wind, so I had a tricky day. The boat was rocking, and I was down below trying to fix the engine, with oil and dirt up to my elbows (and later the rest of me). The batteries did not hold for the use of the autopilot more than just a few hours at night, so I had to take turns with the crew to hand-steer. We were only 2 persons on board, so we got very little sleep, but we made it to the destination in time. I even managed to fix the engine enough to enter the harbor and pick up a mooring.
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| The mooring place. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
Bonaire welcomed me with dolphins, happily swimming around the boat as the boat made entrance. Also, I saw a very big whale during the passage, just meters from the boat - it dived up and down, magnificent and brutally large, making sure it was seen. Taking the dinghy into town, I almost collided with a huge rayfish, with a wingspan of maybe a meter or so. A giant iguana scared the crap out of me when I was taking a walk on the dock, and several other iguanas were crawling around in the restaurant near the marina - the waiter had to pour a bucket of ice water on them to make sure they stayed off from the tables (poor iguanas).
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| The restaurant iguana. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
The birds here are brightly colored, there are cacti forests, and even on the moorings there are a lot of corals, and colorful fishes in all sizes. Wild donkeys and goats wander around, one does not really know what's coming next. There should be flamingos around the island - I'll go and look for them in a day or two!
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| Wild cacti of Bonaire. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
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| Roads of Bonaire. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
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| Roads of Bonaire. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
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| Cacti forest. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
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| Shores of Bonaire. Photo: Sergej Gratchev |
