Commodore
April 9, 2022

Good Friday Bonaire Celebrations

We got off our mooring ball as soon as we had glugged down our first cup of tea and headed to the marina where we were booked. First we had to fill the fuel tanks which was quite a manoeuvre onto the fuel dock that Rowan nailed! The marina lady worried us for a moment when she said we would not be able to get medical clearance as it was good Friday and the staff were not around. Luckily after some persuasion an email address was found and we got our clearance. Phew the thought of spending the whole of Easter Week end in quarantine was alarming. We then went into our berth which was trickier in the wind, but we finally got there. We had a quick wash down of the boat and did some laundry before heading into town in JeldiJeldi, to get the boat through customs. Thank goodness loads of staff there and we were in.

The rest of the day was spent getting the boat cleaned and ready for our friends the Kirbys arrival. They arrived in the evening but have opted to stay in an Airbnb for the first night to recover from their journey, they left London yesterday and had a night in Amsterdam.

We met up with Pete and Libby for dinner. As we walked to the restaurant we discovered that Pete had just proposed to Libby a few hours earlier! They had a NZ friend Kylie with them, she is sailing on her own which seems incredibly brave. Our friends Greg and Jan had introduced her to Pete and Libby. Jan had spent 3 weeks next to her in a marina in Martinique while Greg went back to England. Kylie got here from Dominica last week and did the 3 day passage on her own, which is seriously impressive. We had not been seated long when the Kirbys arrived, much earlier than expected, their flight got in over an hour early, which seems amazing considering all the current mayhem in the European airports. We had a very good dinner washed down with a couple of bottles of bubbly to celebrate the engagement and Kirbys arrival.