The A of the ABCs

Aruba, Jamaica, oooh I’m gonna take her…

​Oh who sings that song and why can’t I get it out of my head?! Well (spoiler alert) he didn't take me to Jamaica but we did travel the 106nm from Bonaire to Aruba. We also decided to skip the “C” of the ABCs (Curacao) as it didn’t read well and we are keen to get on to C for Columbia. It’s an awkward distance, a bit too long for a daytime sail if you want to be sure to arrive before dusk. Aruba's Embarcadero is a tricky port with reefs and shallows and a dodgy customs dock. We opt to do it overnight and arrive in the early morning with good light. Checked out of Bonaire in the morning and said our farewells to fellow cruisers, some of whom we will see again soon! It's been raining on and off all day and it is sad to leave when the weather is grey. We start off with the gennaker and main (1 reef) goose-winged, at times it is light and so choppy that we have the main flogging a bit. Whilst it would have been perfect for the kite, we had to weigh up the effort of taking it down and switching to a 2-sail combination at night as we shifted course around the southern end of Curacao. The breeze was slowly taking us south with this configuration though and at about 11pm, I woke Keith to gybe the headsail, turn away from the fast approaching Venezuelan coast, and come up towards Aruba.

Sail is unscathed but no halyard!

We were trucking at first doing 9-10s then the wind backed off and was up and down and shifting direction. We also had a few squalls bringing some rain and a little extra squirt of wind. Keith was on watch around 2am when the gennaker halyard blew with a bang! I had just gotten up and was stuffing my face, so I had to quickly put on my life-vest and spring into action. As had happened before the casing on the halyard shredded in the clutch and so we could not drop the halyard. There was nothing we could do but cut it. It was raining, gusty and dark (these things rarely happen during the daytime!) and there were cruise ships either side of us. We quickly put motors on, came up head to wind to at least try slow down, and blow the sail back onto the boat rather than risk it going under the hull again (it still bears the scars of anti-foul from previous halyard failure). It was easy to cut the halyard with a knife and Keith was able to secure the sail, but we were heading towards a cruise ship. A quick 180 turn to get back on course and then out comes the trusty and bullet proof genoa to first reef. We continued that way through the rest of the night with wind speed up and down and shifting through 30-40o. That was the kind of night time excitement we just don't need! Plus we are now down another expensive halyard!!

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Fortunately the rest of the trip was uneventful. Got to the Embarcadera entrance around 7:30am on Sunday morning and dropped sails before heading in and tying up to the customs dock. Check in was easy and the immigration guy came and took a look at the boat and took a picture – no boarding or searching our cupboards though! Customs was similar, we had done our SailClear online before arriving. A guy came on board and took a look in one lazarette, asked about spear guns and then got off. From there we motored along the narrow channel, past the burning garbage dump (not mentioned in the song), the small marina and the airport runway and anchored at Surfside Beach. We have a cuppa and then crash, but not in our bed because the back window was left open and and the mattress and underneath was wet from a rain-squall!

Check in dock

The next day we went into town to have a look around. It’s a bit of an odd place and even with a huge cruise ship in town it’s not that busy. There are lots of designer shops and fake-ish looking colourful houses. It’s a bit of a Legoland! We go to the chandlery (of course) and also buy some shoes. We wander around for a bit, following the tram track through town, (no sign of any tram though) then it starts to rain so we stop for a drink at a bar and watch a bit of football. Back at the ITIKI the crew of OZZ come by. Erika, Kevin and one of their 6 (!) daughters, Mary. Aussies who have been cruising for 40 years with several different boats and have no end of stories! Keith’s shoulder surgeon phoned for a follow up whilst we were chatting. I suspect it was the first time he had a follow up call with a patient sitting on a boat in Aruba!

Legoland

We have decided to depart tomorrow so a few small jobs to do in the morning and then we head ashore for lunch. We were both craving steak and the meal did not disappoint! We had to come back to the boat totally stuffed and ready for a nap! Popped over to OZZ for drinks, but did not stay too long as we were too full and still have some prep to do for tomorrow’s departure.

Aruba to Santa Marta, Columbia; 303nm

The next leg of our journey, from Aruba to Santa Marta, Columbia, has a reputation for being a treacherous one. Very tricky with nasty and often very strong katabatic winds off the Sierra Nevadas, as well as big swell and strong currents running around the coastline. Pirate attacks are not unknown in this area, especially closer to the Venezuelan coast. I seem to have gotten myself caught up in all the hype about this leg and am really dreading this one. I file the float plan with some trepidation…

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