WHYYYYYYYYYYY US??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was putting groceries away when I saw a bee inside the boat, hmm weird --- the hatches are closed and the AC is running --- hmmm --- must have come in with Sid. Five minutes later I see one crawl up the mast --- hmmmm --- nobody left the boat: "hey Sid I think we may have bees in the mast again!" - "Nahhhh!" He goes out and checks, comes back: "nothing", sits down at the computer again and not two minutes later he sees one crawl up the mast: "I be damn!", so he goes out again this time with the binoculars sits in a chair on the dock and watches. Sure enough a couple of bees flew in and a few flew out. If this isn't called DEJAVU, yikes. Thought you might get a chuckle out of this, because we were not laughing arghhhhh.
What’s this thing about three time’s the charm; this is the 5th time for us. Why us???!!!!
Sid had it under control instantly when he pumped pesticides up the mast and the pro he is now with the help of a fan blowing under the floor boards and up to the top of the mast which turned into a smoking chimney. Sid had a sore neck from watching the mast head for an hour.
Here a few photos of our surrounding:
We now are on week 4 waiting for the refrigerator company to end their vacation; it’s getting a “little” old and frustrating. So what do you do when you’re stuck? Easy, rent a car! We are so good in choosing times for that, like last time it also rained buckets this time, but no problem the day was dedicated to shopping. We found a few new stores and a very nice wine store where you can taste any wine they sell, really any! I had a good time while Sid had fun watching me. Later in the afternoon the weather cleared and with the freedom of the car we started looking for an inviting patio restaurant to enjoy a cocktail after all it was 5pm. I think they all knew we were coming and changed the signs “Open at 6”. Finally on top of a hill overlooking part of Spanish Waters we found “El Gaucho” not open until 6 either but they welcomed us to the bar where we enjoyed not just the view but a couple of cocktails each. The manager let us know that they have a free Shuttle to run guests back and fourth, kewl, we’ll definitely come back.
Although Curacao is double the size of Bonaire it only takes one day to drive around the island and see everything. The island is a lot prettier and definitely greener than Bonaire result of more rainfall, although we really do miss the anchorage and clear water in Bonaire. Our first destination was Santa Marta a very hilly area which revealed an incredible view over the very protected but isolated bay surrounded by hills. As we came to what we expected to be a nice beach with a restaurant we found an abandoned resort that had been gutted to rubles. Amongst a few private homes nothing else was there and we had to turn around at a dead end. Next stop was Santa Cruz a small beautiful sandy beach with palm thatched roofs and the water’s edge lined with chunks of coral and broken shells.
Next stop was West Punt a very picturesque area with a very few small beaches surround by high cliffs with beautiful houses built on top. We were looking for Playa Piskado known for restaurants serving wonderful local dishes but our luck again the beach was under construction. We returned to the restaurant above the cliff in Playa Forti with the spectacular view over West Punt area and had lunch. Sid’s burger wasn’t so good, didn’t even look good but my fish platter was quite tasty, although for what I was told that all the seafood are caught here, so I was a bit surprised that they catch imitation crab in these waters. We watched some brave tourists jumping down the 50 foot high cliff into the crystal clear water. Seemed to be some kind of “Fetch your Flip-Flop” thing as every diver tossed their flip-flops down the cliff and then jumped after them. It was fun watching.
A short distance down the road around the north end of the island we found Sheta Boka National Park with Boca Pistol a blow hole. This side of the island is as rocky and hostile as the east side of Bonaire. Also pretty much everything that grows on the islands has thorns. It is a very beautiful island. The blow hole was pretty impressive.
With Sid’s lead foot it took only 20 minutes of driving to get back to Willemstad. Sid’s shoes are blown out so we tried to find replacements, yeah right! Shopping here is as tough as it is in Bonaire and the shoe store that sells Nike’s were all sold out, all they had left were the shoes on display. The sales girl helping Sid checked if they had one of the shoes in Sid’s size, unfortunately or fortunately not because just as we were ready to leave the store she brought up the fact that it was a lady’s shoe, silly girl!
The following day we drove around the southern part of Curaçao our neighborhood, and drove probably every road or dirt path there is. The southern part is not as hilly but still pretty remote and beautifully green. I have no idea how we missed the big sign into the Ostrich Farm but after a few u-turns we found it. Like any typical tourist we signed up for the tour on the safari bus around the farm. We had fun and the tour guide fluent in Dutch, English, Spanish and Papiamento explained interesting facts you would never guess. We noticed that many females had naked butts, so we figured it was kind of allergy or something. His explanation was that when they lay eggs they need more calcium and in order to get that they pull their own feathers out and eat them. Some are smarter than others and eat the feathers of their mates instead.
They lay about 40 to 80 eggs a year. Their brain is smaller then their eyes therefore a bit on the dumb side as they could just duck under the fence and escape, but… The farm has different sections, eggs hatchery, nursery, pen were the ostriches will eventually turn into ostrich burgers. An ostrich can easily reach 80 to 100 years of age so they keep the same ostriches for breeding. They also had some emus, which lay eggs about half the size that of an ostrich and in dark green. Their brains as well are a bit too small for them to realize how high they can jump and escape.
The ostrich eggs are so strong you can stand on them without breaking them, but drop it and it breaks, wow. By the way one ostrich egg is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs, that's a lot of omelettes. The farm has its own ecosystem. Since the grass growing on the island is too salty for the birds they have a great lawn mower team of black bellied sheep eating all the grass then are moved into the next pen to clear and so on. Not just that a three hundred pound ostrich can produce about 100 pounds of useful meat, what to do with the left over. Easy, build a pond and get three good sized crocks problem solved. They are quite fond of the delicious ostrich meat and bones. Neat little ecosystem wouldn’t you say?
After the very informative tour we sat at the restaurant and enjoyed the best burger ever an ostrich burger, yummy. Best yet they also have a free shuttle so I know we will come back for another burger or even a nice juicy ostrich steak.
Continuing our tour we took a bumpy road to Playa Kanoa the islands surfer’s beach. Neat area but oh boy in heavy surf I don’t think this place is very safe as the waves end on a shelf of stone, ouch. There also was a little lagoon were several fishermen keep their boats, looking at the entrance and the surfer dudes we wondered how they mastered to get into the lagoon with surf breaking heading between two reefs in a very, very narrow channel. Just as we discussed this one came back and showed us how it’s done. The main thing is timing and motor power. 
Earlier that day when we missed the ostrich farm we found a kewl looking restaurant with an aviary and believe it or not the sign said open from 11 till 11 and since it was already cocktail time again we decided to go there and check it out. Guess what??!!! They are closed on Thursdays, our luck again. We knew the Hyatt Hotel was open so we headed there instead. Wow, what a ritzy place, at the lobby bar we felt way under dressed and were intimidated to order a drink, instead we walked the beautiful hotel grounds to the beach restaurant. Beach restaurant sounds a bit more like shorts and T-shirts right? Wow we now were really under dressed. Nice though and the bartender didn’t mind our attire a bit and did talk our ears off.
We had a fun couple of days.
(We are in the red circle).
The weather has been a bit out of the ordinary with high temperatures, humidity, no wind and occasional squalls with rain and wind out of any direction. This weather was called Monsoon weather which was caused do to some weather system north of us sucking up all the wind. Then just a few days ago this huge system started building up to far south between Africa and turned into a Low.The system was 600 miles across we knew this was not a good sign. This Low turned into a tropical depression and is now hurricane Tomas beating up St. Vincent and St. Lucia as its eye is right over them as I’m writing this. As with every storm system you never know where they are headed until they become a hurricane. It was uncertain what kind of weather we would get we could be the target of a tropical storm. Luckily Tomas built into a hurricane rather fast which is helping us out. Tropical storms can head any which way but a hurricane normally heads in a northerly direction unless it looses strength back to a tropical storm, then any direction again. We still are monitoring the situation and know that with eventual strong squalls and higher gusts we will get a lot of rain and definitely wind out of the west but we are out of the cone of tropical force winds.
Sid got a crew position on a very fast boat, a Henderson 30 name “Team Ibis” which is feared by the other race boats here in Curacao. Their only competition is a Grand Soleil. Team Ibis needed an extra crew for the Heineken Regatta which is an annual event and held this year on the 13th of November. Sid’s really exited about it. Team Ibis is right across from our slip.
We very truly impressed with Martin the mechanic and knowing that he wants to go cruising himself we invited him and his wife and 6 year old daughter to come for a visit on Paradise. We had such a wonderful time and maybe we convinced his wife Norma that living on a boat is fun?! His daughter Isabelle had no problem with it at all. 
Fridge was fixed just in time for the Thanksgiving leftovers. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast on Fine Line. Judy on Clair de Lune cooked a juicy turkey and wonderful gravy with chunks of meat in it. I hate Brussels sprouts, but the way she cooked them (bacon, onions and sour cream sauce) wow, she disguised them really well LOL. Judy also made a pistachio marshmallow thing that was interesting. Anne on Fine Line made the thickest mashed potatoes I've ever had and yummy green beans with almonds. Christa from Germany, it was her very first Thanksgiving, made a wonderful bread with all kinds of nuts and seeds and a green salad with a delicious homemade honey balsamic dressing with dill. She truly enjoyed Thanksgiving and was amazed on all the different dishes. I made cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries, apple and orange and also tipsy sweet potatoes. For dessert Judy made to die for pumping and peach pie. Anne topped the feast off with home brewed coffee and a delicious dry port wine, which made us only want more to drink. We all were so full that we had a hard time getting off their boat and made it home just in time for another nasty squall erupted over us. It was a very very nice Thanksgiving, actually the best we've had while cruising. Steve was very thankful for his health (last June he fell on the boat and hit his head, a couple months later as they were in Peru he had signs of stroke and was flown home immediately and had surgery, a blood cloth was removed that was caused by his fall in June. He’s doing great and they finally were able to return home to Fine Line). We were all thankful that we have such good friends to share an important family day with each other. Ed was funny he was thankful for Skype so he can talk to his grand critters. 
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