11 November 1995 Ave de Barlovento, Los Aves
Glenys did schoolwork while I did some jobs. I finally got around to fitting the bilge pump that I bought in Bequia about 4 weeks ago. I also fixed a slight leak in the toilet pump – one of my favourite jobs! After lunch, we went out in the dinghy to the furthest point of the island where we picked up some nice shells off the beach. It’s addictive collecting shells; once I start I can’t stop. There might be a perfect nautilus shell on the next bit of beach...
12 November 1995 Ave de Barlovento to Aves Sotavento, Los Aves
I got up at half past six and just HAD to do our 94/95 Tax Return. It took me 4 hours to find the information and write a letter to Touche Ross. As soon as I had finished, we upped anchor and motored over to Aves Sotavento which was about 15 miles of rocking and rolling.
We had a big pod of bottled nosed dolphins join us. They came and played around the bow so we all gathered on the foredeck. The dolphins were obviously very pleased to see us and started to show off by doing tricks like swimming upside down and slapping their tails on the surface of the water. None jumped near the boat, but occasionally an exuberant dolphin would leap clear of the water about 100 metres away. The pod had babies and youngsters who came to see us with their parents.
We anchored off Long Island and immediately went snorkelling. The place looks good for diving with a drop-off about 100 metres behind Glencora. I speared 5 Grouper, so we had fish for dinner again. Glenys is sick of fish and I’m starting to fantasize about chicken! I filled 3 tanks.
13 November 1995 Aves Sotavento, Los Aves
Glenys and I went for a dive straight off the back of Glencora. Good dive until the end when we were harassed by a huge Barracuda. No lobster though. When we got back, we gave Brett and Craig a go with the scuba tanks. I want to get Craig used to clearing his ears. Craig came down with me for a couple of minutes, but his mask wasn’t on properly and we had to come up. Brett went down and was a natural at diving. He swam around by himself for five minutes and coped with the oversized gear really well.
We then motored through the reefs to the outer reef where we anchored, hanging off a sandy drop off. The anchor was in 2.5 metres and the boat was in 6.5 metres. After lunch we went snorkelling to look for lobster – we’re suffering from withdrawal symptoms! We saw not a whisker. We decided to up anchor and go somewhere else.
We motored our way through the reefs with me up the mizzen mast again and found a wonderful 4-5 metre deep sand shelf in the middle of nowhere. Just behind Glencora the reef drops away. Beautiful spot. We instantly went snorkelling for the elusive lobster. Eventually Glenys spotted one at about 5 metres and after a titanic struggle I wrenched the beautiful 3lb lobster out of its cave. Unfortunately, it was a female with eggs, so I had to let it go – fish for dinner again!
14 November 1995 Aves Sotavento, Los Aves
School work in the morning and then Glenys and I went for a dive before lunch. We saw 1 lobster in a 60 minute dive – we got it of course, 3½ lb. After lunch, we went for another dive at Glenys’ insistence. We saw 3 lobsters and took a huge 6lb one.
I wasn’t feeling too good on the second dive. I tried playing the clarinet when I got back, but gave up and rested in the cockpit. Glenys, bless her little cotton socks, made me a cup of tea which perked me up a bit. I must admit to feeling a bit guilty lounging about while Glenys cooked and dismembered the 2 lobsters. I filled 5 tanks. Lobster for dinner – yum, yum!
15 November 1995 Aves Sotavento, Los Aves
It was blowing 20-25 knots from about midnight, so we had a bit of a chop around the boat. We did half a lesson of school work until the sun was high enough to navigate around the reefs. It was with great sorrow that we left such a beautiful spot, but we must get to Bonaire. We went and anchored off Long Island and finished the school work.
After lunch, Glenys sorted through her tinned food, decided what to keep, what to bin and what she needs to buy. I worked out how much money we have left - it’s a bit depressing. We only have £18K in banks and investments and £15K in the Trust. I put £10K into an equity fund in April 1994 and over the past 18 months it has lost £1,500! All I can do is leave it in place and hope it grows again. Of our present total of £33K, we will only have £22K when we get back to Portugal – I’m depressed!
16 November 1995 Aves Sotavento to Bonaire
It blew 20-25 knots all night. I think that the bearing on the wind generator has gone because it seems to be making a lot of noise. We upped anchor, left the awning up, put up twin headsails and rocked & rolled downwind. The seas were quite high at about 3metres, winds 20-25 knots with the occasional squall. We dodged a huge squall and missed the rain, but still got 35 knots for about 10 minutes.
We were going along minding our own business when Glenys suddenly shouted “turn left, there’s a log ahead!” I grabbed the wheel and turned left and then saw a whale straight ahead. It was moving to the left, so I turned hard right and missed it by feet! As we went past, the whale turned on its side and looked at us with its huge eye. It then turned around and followed us for a minute before continuing on its way. We later identified it as 10 metre Sperm whale. Very exciting!
We arrived in Bonaire without further adventures and tied up on the north pier. I went and cleared in. I was extremely nervous because we hadn’t cleared out of Venezuela, but in the event, the customs didn’t want to see the clearance from the last port. It’s only countries that are small or Spanish speaking that seem to bother!
We left the dock and had problems anchoring. There is a very narrow shelf and then the bottom plunges off to 80+ metres. The holding on the shelf is awful – a thin layer of sand over broken coral. I eventually pushed the CQR into place and we then put out a second anchor. We then went for a beer. We were hoping to find a nice cheap “local” restaurant, but no chance - so, to the Boy’s delight, we ended up in the Kentucky Fried Chicken.
17 November 1995 Bonaire
We did some running about in the morning. It took Glenys an hour to get some money out of the bank. I went to the marina and found that we could get fuel and water. Our mail hasn’t arrived from Carol. On my way back from the marina, I spotted a vacant Marine Park mooring, so we rushed back to Glencora, pulled up the anchors and nabbed the free mooring. I feel a great deal more secure now.
Glenys went into town and bought some real food – steak and chips for dinner! I went to a dive shop and bought our diving permits ($10 US each). We went for a dive off the back of the yacht. The visibility is awesome! I filled 3 tanks.
18 November 1995 Bonaire
I woke up at half past six and just had to get up and write some faxes to our accountant, house rental agent and Carol to find out what is happening. I talked to Carol briefly on the phone and discovered that she hasn’t sent the mail again! God knows why – it’s so frustrating.
After lunch, Glenys and I went for a dive – very pretty but very similar to yesterday’s dive. My finger joints have been slightly painful for about a month now – I don’t know whether I’m straining them when I play the clarinet or whether it’s arthritis. Anyway, I got some anti-inflammatory tablets from the chemist today and some cod liver oil capsules! I filled 4 tanks and filled up with water and fuel.
19 November 1995 Bonaire
The mosquitoes are murder here, I had mosquito coils burning during the evening and just before we went to bed I put on the heater. I was still up at two o’clock, swatting mosquitoes, putting cream on bites and rubbing repellent on my body!
We did school work in the morning, (no weekends on Glencora). We had a quiet afternoon – I played the clarinet and finished Chapter 9 of my memoirs – we’ve finally left Falmouth!
20 November 1995 Bonaire
School work in the morning. Craig’s maths has suddenly become more difficult and he keeps bursting into tears when he can’t grasp a new concept. We did counting up in 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s which was hard and then they wanted him to fill in the sequence 29, 25, 21, --, --. This was too much for him. Sometimes the course requires inconsistent skill levels and he likes to do well at everything!
On the positive side, Craig has suddenly decided that reading is good and is actually reading comics and books by himself instead of just looking at the pictures. It’s a great breakthrough – he must have reached a critical level on the number of words that he knows.
Brett is doing well – his maths and reading are excellent but writing is still a problem – I think that it’s too slow for him! After crudités for lunch, (the boys love having “bits”), we went into the town, dropped off the laundry and did some shopping. The price of things here is extortionate. We had a few beers before we set off back and impetuously hired two scooters for tomorrow.
On the way back to the boat, we saw a pod of spinner dolphins in the channel between Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. We motored out to get close, but we only got within 50 yards and they went away.