61. I am Kurious Oranj

I took a bus into Oranjestad; amazing buildings, lots and lots of souvenir shops and casinos, and a beautiful marina. I went to Starbucks.

Oranjestad

Mainstreet

At last I bought a new outboard: a Yamaha 5HP 2 stroke, I’m guessing about 10 years old, but fairly well maintained (serviced about 6 months ago). Including a new propeller still in the box, impellers and spark plugs, it cost me $500 (actually $440, 30 Euros and 25 Curacao Florin). So happy to have an engine again, but it’s way more than I wanted to spend. It’s not as good as the Johnson I lost, and that only cost 2 crates of beer. This cost ten times that. But it’s the best I could do, and actually I’m quite lucky to have been able to do that good. It wasn’t even for sale; I noticed a Dutch sailor on a catamaran anchored next to me had an extra outboard on his rail, so I asked him if he would consider selling.

Look like cake

I bumped into S/V Cheers in Renaissance marina. I was anchored next to Keith and Ida in Bonaire. They have a lovely boat, smaller than Sonic Boom, but new – everything is immaculate. They’re on their way to Columbia, lots of people seem to be going there, I was too, but my plan now is to stay in Aruba for a while and then go to Jamaica. My sister arrives in ten days, so I’ll motor back over to Oranjestad, pick her up and then we’ll sail over to the beaches on the west coast.

60. Bucuti

High winds are forecast for another week, so today I decided to move to Bucuti; getting there is very tricky, along a very narrow unmarked channel by the side of the mangroves off Renaissance Island. Everyone says don’t go right in the middle ‘keep a third to starboard’… wait, what? And then there’s an even narrower one to go across to the anchorage next to the marina and yacht club. All made harder by the still massive winds (gusting to 30 knots), strong 2 knot current and little fluffy clouds, which when they passed made it impossible to see the bottom, and their shadows made dark spots on the water, like reef.

Touching Down (taken from Bucuti)

On the way I passed right by the airport runway lights (somewhere you’re not allowed to anchor because the airplanes passing over are just about to touch down and may clip your mast), just as a flippin’ big Boeing was coming in to land. It was amazingly close; I could smell the exhaust and feel the hot blast.

Anchored near Baucuti Yacht Club

I thought I could see where I was supposed to turn 90 degrees to port. I checked the coordinates on the GPS (which was showing the whole area as red and white lines, and a warning: unchartered waters, depths from 0 to 7 feet), and according to the guide I wasn’t there yet. But I saw markers, so I followed them anyway, in a big S and went up and dropped anchor near the other boats.

Arubaville bar and restaurant (lovely) in the background