Hello Curacao

Well we finally cleared out of Bonaire and are now resting peacefully in Curacao. Bonaire was a great place to hang out and it gave us an opportunity to learn scuba and enjoy some very nice water.  If you ever get to Bonaire and want to learn scuba or need tanks, I would highly recommend Rob Vershoor at the Sun Rentals in front of the mooring field.   They are close to the boat and are part of the larger Buddy Dive business on the island.
  Aileen did fine on the crossing and was able to catch up one her beauty sleep.  We tried to make a run to Klein Curacao, which is a small island south of Curacao but the sea conditions were such that I felt Aileen would appreciate a calm anchorage and some civilization more than a remote anchorage that would likely be full of swell from the 6-8' seas in the area.  No need to create a problem.  We did get an escort to the southern tip of Curacao courtesy of about 50 spinner dolphins which I think she enjoyed. 
Curacao is proving to be a pretty fun island as well. The beaches are not nearly as clean as Bonaire and the water in our anchorage at Spaanse Water looks almost muck like compared to Bonaire but I don't think it looks much worse than the water in Grenada.  The reef looks amazing though and we plan to do some more exploring there.  The shopping bus picks us up everyday and the bus to the town of Punda is easy to catch.  The city part of Curacao is very touristy but in a good way.  The food is good and the weather is almost perfect.  We took a bus to the western tip of Curacao to a place aptly enough called Westpuunt.  There is a some great scenery on the way and the bus stops at a cliff overlooking an almost perfect location.  Back down the road a 1/4 mile or so is a famous restaurant called Jaanchie's ( Yanchees).  What the place lacks in cuisine it more than makes up for in ambiance.

  They have hundreds of birds along the side of the windows which are eating a steady supply of sugar supplied by the restaurant and make quite a show.  We saw Sugar thieves, Orioles and Turtle Doves.  I can't recommend the place for food or service but it's worth stopping in for a drink for sure. We did try Iguana for the first time and that was interesting as was the goat stew which I think was butchered with a hammer rather than a cleaver. 
Hopefully we will have the boat ready to go the distance to Panama soon and Aileen is scheduled to fly home from here at the end of the month.  In the meantime we just hang out and enjoy.