On March 26 we set sail for the 440 nautical mile trip from Dominica to Bonaire. This isn't the normal route for cruising yachts but we are so far behind our timeline that we have cut a few corners. The trip started with a fiasco at the fuel dock. We tied up to the dock without any dramas but after 30 minutes of waiting for the guys to show up for work and 3 catamarans pulling in afterwards our brief stopped extended to nearly 2 hours. When it was time for us to leave the dock the winds had picked up to 21 knots. We had about 20 middle age French guys in their speedos from the catamarans trying to push us off the dock. If I hadn't of been so busy untying lines and moving fenders I would have certainly had the camera out with a zoom lens. Anyway luckily we got off the dock okay with cheers and claps from the guys. We will never see them again! Once we got the lines organised in the bay and pulled ourselves together we pointed Faraway towards Bonaire and set the sails. We were escorted out of the bay by a pod of dolphins which was relaxing to watch after the recent dramas. We sailed all day and into the night without seeing another ship visually or on the radar. Ian and I took 2 hour watches after sunset. This proved to be a bit of a killer so we changed the shifts to 3 hour watches which were a bit more manageable. Whatever way you did it the journey became very tiring. I was pretty nauseous for the first 3 days then seemed to settle into the motion. We definitely didn't feel like drinking any alcohol as you had to stay alert. Ian had to do most of the cooking until day 3. I foolishly admitted that I was well enough to go below and cook a meat pie for dinner! I also gave Ian a half decent hair cut on the trip and managed to patch my shorts. During the night we were always checking the radar for other ships (mainly tankers) and avoiding them. It was strange that on this trip we didn't see one other cruising yacht. On day 3 it was calm enough for Ian to get out on deck with his life jacket and jack stay on to try out our new whisker pole with genoa. It was some feat to set it all up but we were really pleased with the downwind sailing speed that we got from the new rig. It would come in very handy for crossing the South Pacific. The middle photo shows Ian setting the pole and the sail shape at sunset. In the middle photo Ian (post haircut) is proudly showing the chart of our route to Bonaire and how close we were to Venezuela.
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