Aruba
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During the last few days before our departure, certain cruisers in the marina lost no
opportunity letting us know what a miserable sail we were in for. The most vocal of these
Cassandras had been waiting in the marina for almost a week for an acceptable
“weather window” to open up for his planned voyage to Portabello, a whopping three hour
sail, 16 miles up the coast. He was going to leave the same day we did, but aborted
because the weather report was predicting 3 to 5 foot waves instead of the 2 to 4 foot
We left the Shelter Bay Marina, bound for Aruba, on Tuesday, November 6, at
1245.
HURRAH!!! We can stop taking those execrable Malaron anti-malaria pills. Steve, Judd
and Jay all suffered side effects within hours after taking the first pill, just before we left
Colon for the San Blas: dizziness, lightheadedness, and gastrointestinal (colonic?)
“distress.” While Jay and Judd acclimated within a few days, Steve’s stomach issues
continued right up through the final pill. Interestingly, Mike seems to have suffered no ill
effects; on the other hand, the rest of us are convinced that it’s within the realm of
believability that: (a) the pills did make Mike dizzy, but he just didn’t notice; or (b) he
secretly hasn’t been taking the Maleron pills, in favor of relying on the proven, placebo
health benefits of chewing raw cacao beans.
1245.
HURRAH!!! We can stop taking those execrable Malaron anti-malaria pills. Steve, Judd
and Jay all suffered side effects within hours after taking the first pill, just before we left
Colon for the San Blas: dizziness, lightheadedness, and gastrointestinal (colonic?)
“distress.” While Jay and Judd acclimated within a few days, Steve’s stomach issues
continued right up through the final pill. Interestingly, Mike seems to have suffered no ill
effects; on the other hand, the rest of us are convinced that it’s within the realm of
believability that: (a) the pills did make Mike dizzy, but he just didn’t notice; or (b) he
secretly hasn’t been taking the Maleron pills, in favor of relying on the proven, placebo
health benefits of chewing raw cacao beans.
We had a few great days of sailing a straight line to the northeast with mostly
northerly winds, staying far offshore Panama and then Colombia. On the third
day the wind shifted to the southeast in the morning which, though not at all
what the weather report had predicted, was great for us. The wind died that
afternoon, so we motored through flat seas, taking the opportunity to shut the
engine down and take turns going for quick swims, washing off. It’s a good
thing we did because we were able to spot and clear some fouling from the
prop that was robbing us of a knot under power. Even though we were 20+
miles from the coast, the SE wind blew a cloud of pesky mosquitoes to the
boat. The good news is that they were accompanied by a pair of little green
gnatcatcher birds who adopted the boat as their own island and spent the
afternoon flitting around eating mosquitoes, even perching on us to get at
them. Between the birds and bugs and geckos, we've been developing our
own offshore ecosystem.
northerly winds, staying far offshore Panama and then Colombia. On the third
day the wind shifted to the southeast in the morning which, though not at all
what the weather report had predicted, was great for us. The wind died that
afternoon, so we motored through flat seas, taking the opportunity to shut the
engine down and take turns going for quick swims, washing off. It’s a good
thing we did because we were able to spot and clear some fouling from the
prop that was robbing us of a knot under power. Even though we were 20+
miles from the coast, the SE wind blew a cloud of pesky mosquitoes to the
boat. The good news is that they were accompanied by a pair of little green
gnatcatcher birds who adopted the boat as their own island and spent the
afternoon flitting around eating mosquitoes, even perching on us to get at
them. Between the birds and bugs and geckos, we've been developing our
own offshore ecosystem.
OK, well, it's not a parrot, but Jay still
looks like a pirate!
looks like a pirate!
Making great time, it took us 4-1/2 days to reach our waypoint at Punta
Gallardo, Colombia. Rounding the point at about 0700, we turned due
east towards Aruba, directly into the 25+ knot trade winds and 8 to 10
foot, washing-machine seas. This was it – we had hit what is generally
conceded to be the worst sail of the Caribbean, and what everyone
back in Panama had been warning us about, quite possibly indulging in
a bit of anticipatory schadenfreude at our expense. Between the
constant tacking back and forth across the rhumb line, trying to take
advantage of each wind shift slightly north or south of due east, and the
constant pitching and pounding of the hull into the waves, our forward
progress was excruciatingly slow. It took us 30 exhausting hours to
make the last 90 miles to the Aruba, for a total passage time of six
days to cover the roughly 635 miles from Panama.
Once in Aruba, we checked into the Renaissance Resort Marina, right
on the downtown waterfront, with access to all of the resort facilities.
We had four days to spend in Aruba before we needed to depart for
Bonaire, to connect up with our families, who were flying in to spend
Thanksgiving week in the tropics with us.
Gallardo, Colombia. Rounding the point at about 0700, we turned due
east towards Aruba, directly into the 25+ knot trade winds and 8 to 10
foot, washing-machine seas. This was it – we had hit what is generally
conceded to be the worst sail of the Caribbean, and what everyone
back in Panama had been warning us about, quite possibly indulging in
a bit of anticipatory schadenfreude at our expense. Between the
constant tacking back and forth across the rhumb line, trying to take
advantage of each wind shift slightly north or south of due east, and the
constant pitching and pounding of the hull into the waves, our forward
progress was excruciatingly slow. It took us 30 exhausting hours to
make the last 90 miles to the Aruba, for a total passage time of six
days to cover the roughly 635 miles from Panama.
Once in Aruba, we checked into the Renaissance Resort Marina, right
on the downtown waterfront, with access to all of the resort facilities.
We had four days to spend in Aruba before we needed to depart for
Bonaire, to connect up with our families, who were flying in to spend
Thanksgiving week in the tropics with us.
| The Renaissance Resort has its own private island, with shuttle launch service leaving every 15 minutes from a lagoon right in the lobby of the hotel. |
| On our second day in Aruba we rented a jeep and toured the island, particularly the undeveloped, raw northeasterly coast, exposed to the constant trade winds and pounding surf |
| The California Lighthouse on the northwest tip of the island |
Not just any old party cruiser ... this is the EXTREME
party cruiser ... stuffed with a bevy of extreme partyers
from the cruise ships in port!
party cruiser ... stuffed with a bevy of extreme partyers
from the cruise ships in port!
The wind-blasted northeastern coast
| These stone cairns stretch for miles along the coastline, built in memory of (presumably) loved ones |
| We're not sure who this is in memory of, but he must have had big feet! |
| The boys had to contribute ... Jay's (below) and Mike's (above) |
Nicer asses than we saw at the
beach on Renaissance Island
beach on Renaissance Island
The ruins of an old gold
mining/smelting operation
mining/smelting operation
Mike was amazed that billy-goats actually do
have beards, just like in the Beasty Boys rap!
have beards, just like in the Beasty Boys rap!
| Cave Exploration |
Indian petroglyphs (overexposed)
from the time of the Pharoahs ("Sam
the Sham and ...")
from the time of the Pharoahs ("Sam
the Sham and ...")
We each have our own ways of
communing with the ancient ones
communing with the ancient ones
Trailing from a line, 20 miles out to
sea, gives us a chance to rinse
ourselves after a few days of sailing
sea, gives us a chance to rinse
ourselves after a few days of sailing
waves he’d been hoping for. We felt that he was a bit too timid to worry much about his predictions. The most curious advice was given to us by
the marina manager: “Pray for a hurricane in the northern Caribbean.” While such a meteorological phenomenon would have been tremendously
helpful to us, giving us up to a week of favorable, westerly winds, we discounted his suggestion on two counts: (1) innate skepticism about the
effectiveness of prayer in this situation; and (2) surely it would be bad karma to call down a meteorological disaster on Haiti just to make our sail
to Aruba a bit more comfortable!
the marina manager: “Pray for a hurricane in the northern Caribbean.” While such a meteorological phenomenon would have been tremendously
helpful to us, giving us up to a week of favorable, westerly winds, we discounted his suggestion on two counts: (1) innate skepticism about the
effectiveness of prayer in this situation; and (2) surely it would be bad karma to call down a meteorological disaster on Haiti just to make our sail
to Aruba a bit more comfortable!