Frenchies on board

When we left Germany, lots of people told us that they would be “popping out” to see us. Until now only Max had managed it but the last two weeks we enjoyed having Gertrud and Jon on board. They flew from Germany to Curacao and immediately began to melt in the heat. We collected them at the hotel pier, allowed them to move in to the “master suite” and then took them for a hike under the midday sun to do some shopping.

They told us that over half their luggage was made up of things that we had ordered in Europe and had sent to them. Luckily they managed to buy enough while they were here to ensure they had some luggage to take home.

We introduced them to the joys of clearing out with immigration and customs and then from Curacao we sailed three days against the wind to Bonaire. Gertrud is definitely not an upwind sailor so on the third day, after a stop over in Klein Curacao, we continued in the night so that she could sleep and wake up in the next port – just like a small cruise ship.

Bonaire calls itself “Divers Paradise” so Gertrud and Jon were in the water more than out of it. They scraped all the plant and animal life off our hull while diving and returned after each trip with a list of fish and corals they had seen.

Out of the water we visited the national park in the north of the island where Jon showed off his off-roading skills in a rental 4×4. We drove through a cactus forest, snorkeled among thousands of fish and enjoyed the unspoiled nature. It was a satisfying but tiring day and once again we ended up in the ice cream shop before we once again “forced them” to play cards and drink alcohol.

The Frenchies had sewed us a new wind catcher on which they painted our Yin-Yang logo. Jon gave the bikes a quick service and when we wanted to sail, they both had the boat prepared before we left. Probably they need a rest after this holiday – especially as everything happens in at least thirty degrees centigrade.

From Bonaire we sailed back to Curacao through the night and anchored in a lonely bay before berthing in a marina to clear in and then putting our two guests in an air conditioned taxi and sending them back to a cooler climate.

Jon was kind enough to write us a guest post.