Strong Wind

The weather prediction had 30 plus knots of wind for the weekend and since John had a time schedule he decided to leave and sail straight to Curacao to miss the weather. It was great to catch up with him although only for a short time but we made the best out of it. He had up to 25 knots of wind but made it safe to Curacao, secured the boat there and is back in Florida on his tug boat working. We staid alone in this beautiful anchorage and the wind over the next 3 days kept getting stronger and blew 32 knots with gusts up to 37. We were nicely protected by the many reefs which break down the wind chop. Not much for snorkeling during the blows but we did venture ashore to explore the island and found the cruiser shrine, walked along the path which brought us to a window of an opening to the next anchorage ahead of us. The water was ankle deep for about 40 feet, then the shallow shelf dropped to an immediate 30/40 feet and the drastic color change of the water took our breath. Fairly close to the shelf was one of the four other anchored boats; a picture perfect scene. We then hiked back to the dinghy which by the way was tucked under the mangrove trees like in a cave open to both sides of the island. Above the mangrove boobies are taking care of their fluffy white babies. They are so cute especially when curiosity gets them to stand up on their wobbly and skinny legs and look at us with a goofy looking stare. The local fishermen came by offering two good size spotted grouper they revere as Mero and also to ask for some water. We couldn't say no to the nice grouper and also gave them several gallons of fresh water and put an order in for lobster, smaller lobster, the once they showed us were just way too big. Since we have some Bolivares left, one month worth of park fee for the Roques, we thought to support the local fishermen here and stock our freezer up with fish and lobster for rainy days.
The weekend was over, the wind still howling and the future prognoses didn't look much different and since it was too windy to even take the dinghy out Sid hid behind a good book or two while I battled some more mildew and got creative in the galley. Making fresh Yoghurt out of powder milk is easy and for the first time I placed the yoghurt in a cheese cloth and let it drain over night, result a very smooth and wonderful tasting cream cheese that was delicious with a few herbs, seasonings and garlic added, with the home baked Sourdough Rye bread. When the fridge gets empty and the fresh produce is disappearing I get really creative in the galley. With no cheese on board I was thinking about how to cook the cheese tortellini and going through my dry goods cabinet I found a package of blue cheese dressing, not seeing any vinegar in the ingredients I cooked up a Béchamel sauce and added the poweder of the Blue Cheese dressing and it made the most wonderful blue cheese sauce for the pasta. Next time I'll try it with potato Gnocchi.
Next to relaxing we've been watching the boobies playfully flying around Paradise, one especially kept picking up a floating mangrove seed and tossing and twirling it up into the air and trying to catch it at flight. When it would fall into the water he'd go back and pick it up again and kept practicing it over and over. To our dismay the much bigger frigate birds who by the way are thieves and bullies attack the poor boobies as soon as they catch a fish, the frigates then fly above them pick the booby behind the neck and toss them up into the air, trying to get them landing in the water on their backs. They do that over an over again until he Booby either looses it's pray, throws it back up or reaches the safety of the mangroves. I tell you they frigates are so mean.
Bill and Soon on Gaia found a little weather window to leave the Roques and rendezvous with us. We pulled anchor and joined them in the anchorage closest to the reef. To get there we had to maneuver Paradise through two narrow passages which wind around the two anchorages up from the one we were in. From here we could see the waves crashing on the other side of the island. Yet the same island yet again a total different and spectacular view. Together with Gaia we collected shells on the beach, did wonderful snorkeling on some of the abundant reefs, collected sea snails for dinners, burned trash on the beach, exchanged movies (we have so many we turned them into movie monsters as they watched about 3 to 4 per day), went through our book I keep with all the boat carts cruisers hand out and discovered how many they know as well and just had a wonderful time.
The wind finally died down a bit (17-20) for one day then it will be back to 25 plus so Gaia took the opportunity and got underway towards Bonaire. We love it so much here we decided to stay a bit longer and enjoy this Paradise some more with booby watching and snorkeling. The reefs are healthy looking, the fish plentiful, including some lonely turtles and the water is absolutely clear and the visibility amazing. Besides we still are looking for some lobsters. Other thing on the agenda is cleaning boat and hull including stainless steel and if we're lucky enough we should get some rain squalls the next couple days. Paradise is in desperate need of a good cleansing, even though we're in a clean environment you have no idea how much dust and salt gets stuck on everything.

The Remedy to cure Hiccups:
I know you probably think that this is just another one that will not work as I'm sure you've tried sipping water through a napkin or standing on your head while sipping water, holding your breath for several seconds and on and on to find out it does not work. Well, I tell you this one works, ready:

Eat 1 Teaspoon of Peanut Butter