I'm having a hard time starting out this blog as it is long overdue. I would love to share a grand story about our exciting adventures in the ABC Islands, but the truth is, it has been pretty bleak and I have felt very uninspired to share about this experience. But now, after a month and a half of sun, sea, and sand, my spirit has been revived and I'm able to relay to you a somewhat decent tale, bitterness mostly put aside.
Mike and I left the US for Bonaire back in January in pursuit of a new job opportunity to fix up the 45' Leopard Catamaran,
RumBoogie, with the hopes of doing high end charters.Our flights were seamless for a change, and we arrived feeling on top of the world as we peeled off our layers of clothing to let the sun warm our pastie white skin. We squealed with excitement the closer we got to the marina knowing we were just a few minutes short of embarking on a new journey that we hoped would turn into our 'dream job'. Our hopes were shattered instantly upon arrival to the boat. Trashed would be an understatement; mold covered the walls and cushions gave the normally white fiberglass a slimy green-black hue. Evidence of countless parties littered the floors as we tripped over bottles of booze and empty food containers. Hatches had been left open for the 3 months the boat was left unattended in the harbour, which in turn invited a fair amount of pesky rats inside to contaminate the boat with their droppings and urine. The smell alone made the idea of catching the next flight back to the states very appealing. Naturally, we weren't very pleased with the task that was in front of us, especially since we had been told the boat was in a completely different condition.
As I scanned the boat that was supposed to not only be our new employment project, but also our new home, panic set in. With a quavering voice, I bombarded Mike and Brian (the owner of the vessel) with questions about rats and the worst things they could do to humans. I've never been the best with creatures (namely rats, cockroaches, and spiders), even though I have gotten a bit better after numerous encounters in my travels. I quickly started thinking of other options for accommodation. Mike kept apologizing to me, and Brian sat there quietly not entirely sure what to make of everything. I finally snapped out of my shock as I saw the sun rapidly sinking and decided that I better get moving on cleaning out a bunk so we could at least have a place to sleep for the night. We left all our gear outside for the night so it wouldn't be contaminated, and were able to find some cleanish sheets that would suffice for the night. This was one of those nights when sleeping pills came in extremely handy!
We managed to make it through the night fighting off mosquitos (not rats, thankfully) and woke up hoping last night was just a bad dream. To our dismay, we were once again greeted with the stench and the mess of the boat, convinced we had already done damage to our health from just one night's sleep in such a toxic environment. This motivated us to get a move on and expidite the process of getting this boat up to a liveable state. Who knew that 'liveable' had such a broad meaning. We found out that our standards were a lot higher than we thought compared to our owner's, who had treated the boat as a bachelor pad and was not bothered by the idea of mold. We had a hard time believing him when he said, "living in mold only makes you stronger as you build up immunity to it" as his health was clearly deterioriating before our eyes.
We spent the next five days on a mission to clean the boat and get all of the parts running once again. Between trips to the professional cleaners to clean the moldy cushions, and trips to the grocery store for provisioning, I scrubbed the boat from top to bottom (aside from the owner's cabin which he insisted on cleaning himself) until blisters were forming on my fingertips while Mike wrenched on the inoperative engines and generator until they were finally running smoothly. Mike and I were both rewarded with a hundred dollar tip, which was honestly more of an insult than a tip. Apparently we were "too thorough". Who knew that would be such a bad thing? Our only break was a half day car tour getting lost on the way to what Brian remembered to be a great restaurant which only led us back to the harbour around the island with our empty tummies rumbling . Bonaire, as we had been told, was known as one of the top dive spots in the world where people can literally dive off beaches to some of the most amazing scenery and fish life. We were gutted that we didn't even have a chance to experience this and our attitudes immediately took a turn for the worse as our dream job started to look dismal.
We made plans to leave Bonaire a week earlier than intended, but found out during our visit to the Customs Office that the boat had actually overstayed its legal amount of time in Bonaire by a week. Luckily, the Customs official was extremely nice and cleared us with no problems. Good thing we had rushed to get out early, it is just a pity we didn't get the week of free time that we had hoped for. Once we were all checked out, the plan was to sail to Curacao and anchor for a night and then head on to Aruba, where the boat could legally stay for another year since Aruba had gained independence from the Dutch Antilles. The owner wanted us to leave at 2 AM so we could arrive in bright daylight, but seeing as this was the first time Mike and I would be sailing the boat, Mike pushed for a later departure at first light in case there were any problems. It is a good thing we did as nothing went as smoothly as we were told it would. This is why Mike is a great Captain, and I am realizing his good judgement more and more each day which gives me hope for the future with this project. We set sail at 6 AM from Bonaire en route to Curacao and arrived at the anchorage at sunset. Unfortunately, we were unable to anchor due to the inablity of the anchor to hold on the bottom and had to carry on for another 10 hours to Aruba. The owner didn't have the first clue about sailing, as we suddenly realized when he backwinded the sails 4 times in 20 minutes during his nightwatch. We realized it would be up to Mike and I to take care of this boat and pull an all nighter (Mike was kind enough to let me get a little rest). Thank goodness for coffee! After a long night, we pulled into the anchorage in Aruba at 6 AM, exhausted after a long 24 hours of sailing and struggled once again with the faulty anchor. After 3 attempts we finally got it to hold and we wearily crashed into our bunk to the light of our first Aruban sunrise through our port holes. A few hours later, we began the hassel of checking in through the Barcadera port, in which we had to backtrack three miles and squeeze in (through gale force winds) behind all the Venezuelan fishing fleets that took a break from unloading their booty to help us secure our lines.
As we arrived in Aruba, things started to look hopeful in terms of getting the boat up to par. For starters, we had just sailed for 24 hours non stop and the boat made it without any major problems aside from anchoring. Furthermore, we realized that Aruba would be our last stop off before our journey to Cartagena, Colombia where would could finally get all the repairs done on the boat. But, just as quickly as things were looking up, they once again took a turn for the worse. The owner's health was looking grim as he had just had surgery before he left for this trip and was going to have to cut his trip short to go home. We took him to the airport with empty suitcases and a list of needed parts for the repairs as we, in turn, prepared to stay in Aruba for the next month before he would return and we could set sail again.
Mike and I left the US for Bonaire back in January in pursuit of a new job opportunity to fix up the 45' Leopard Catamaran, RumBoogie, with the hopes of doing high end charters.Our flights were seamless for a change, and we arrived feeling on top of the world as we peeled off our layers of clothing to let the sun warm our pastie white skin. We squealed with excitement the closer we got to the marina knowing we were just a few minutes short of embarking on a new journey that we hoped would turn into our 'dream job'. Our hopes were shattered instantly upon arrival to the boat. Trashed would be an understatement; mold covered the walls and cushions gave the normally white fiberglass a slimy green-black hue. Evidence of countless parties littered the floors as we tripped over bottles of booze and empty food containers. Hatches had been left open for the 3 months the boat was left unattended in the harbour, which in turn invited a fair amount of pesky rats inside to contaminate the boat with their droppings and urine. The smell alone made the idea of catching the next flight back to the states very appealing. Naturally, we weren't very pleased with the task that was in front of us, especially since we had been told the boat was in a completely different condition.
As I scanned the boat that was supposed to not only be our new employment project, but also our new home, panic set in. With a quavering voice, I bombarded Mike and Brian (the owner of the vessel) with questions about rats and the worst things they could do to humans. I've never been the best with creatures (namely rats, cockroaches, and spiders), even though I have gotten a bit better after numerous encounters in my travels. I quickly started thinking of other options for accommodation. Mike kept apologizing to me, and Brian sat there quietly not entirely sure what to make of everything. I finally snapped out of my shock as I saw the sun rapidly sinking and decided that I better get moving on cleaning out a bunk so we could at least have a place to sleep for the night. We left all our gear outside for the night so it wouldn't be contaminated, and were able to find some cleanish sheets that would suffice for the night. This was one of those nights when sleeping pills came in extremely handy!
We managed to make it through the night fighting off mosquitos (not rats, thankfully) and woke up hoping last night was just a bad dream. To our dismay, we were once again greeted with the stench and the mess of the boat, convinced we had already done damage to our health from just one night's sleep in such a toxic environment. This motivated us to get a move on and expidite the process of getting this boat up to a liveable state. Who knew that 'liveable' had such a broad meaning. We found out that our standards were a lot higher than we thought compared to our owner's, who had treated the boat as a bachelor pad and was not bothered by the idea of mold. We had a hard time believing him when he said, "living in mold only makes you stronger as you build up immunity to it" as his health was clearly deterioriating before our eyes.
We spent the next five days on a mission to clean the boat and get all of the parts running once again. Between trips to the professional cleaners to clean the moldy cushions, and trips to the grocery store for provisioning, I scrubbed the boat from top to bottom (aside from the owner's cabin which he insisted on cleaning himself) until blisters were forming on my fingertips while Mike wrenched on the inoperative engines and generator until they were finally running smoothly. Mike and I were both rewarded with a hundred dollar tip, which was honestly more of an insult than a tip. Apparently we were "too thorough". Who knew that would be such a bad thing? Our only break was a half day car tour getting lost on the way to what Brian remembered to be a great restaurant which only led us back to the harbour around the island with our empty tummies rumbling . Bonaire, as we had been told, was known as one of the top dive spots in the world where people can literally dive off beaches to some of the most amazing scenery and fish life. We were gutted that we didn't even have a chance to experience this and our attitudes immediately took a turn for the worse as our dream job started to look dismal.
We made plans to leave Bonaire a week earlier than intended, but found out during our visit to the Customs Office that the boat had actually overstayed its legal amount of time in Bonaire by a week. Luckily, the Customs official was extremely nice and cleared us with no problems. Good thing we had rushed to get out early, it is just a pity we didn't get the week of free time that we had hoped for. Once we were all checked out, the plan was to sail to Curacao and anchor for a night and then head on to Aruba, where the boat could legally stay for another year since Aruba had gained independence from the Dutch Antilles. The owner wanted us to leave at 2 AM so we could arrive in bright daylight, but seeing as this was the first time Mike and I would be sailing the boat, Mike pushed for a later departure at first light in case there were any problems. It is a good thing we did as nothing went as smoothly as we were told it would. This is why Mike is a great Captain, and I am realizing his good judgement more and more each day which gives me hope for the future with this project. We set sail at 6 AM from Bonaire en route to Curacao and arrived at the anchorage at sunset. Unfortunately, we were unable to anchor due to the inablity of the anchor to hold on the bottom and had to carry on for another 10 hours to Aruba. The owner didn't have the first clue about sailing, as we suddenly realized when he backwinded the sails 4 times in 20 minutes during his nightwatch. We realized it would be up to Mike and I to take care of this boat and pull an all nighter (Mike was kind enough to let me get a little rest). Thank goodness for coffee! After a long night, we pulled into the anchorage in Aruba at 6 AM, exhausted after a long 24 hours of sailing and struggled once again with the faulty anchor. After 3 attempts we finally got it to hold and we wearily crashed into our bunk to the light of our first Aruban sunrise through our port holes. A few hours later, we began the hassel of checking in through the Barcadera port, in which we had to backtrack three miles and squeeze in (through gale force winds) behind all the Venezuelan fishing fleets that took a break from unloading their booty to help us secure our lines. 
As we arrived in Aruba, things started to look hopeful in terms of getting the boat up to par. For starters, we had just sailed for 24 hours non stop and the boat made it without any major problems aside from anchoring. Furthermore, we realized that Aruba would be our last stop off before our journey to Cartagena, Colombia where would could finally get all the repairs done on the boat. But, just as quickly as things were looking up, they once again took a turn for the worse. The owner's health was looking grim as he had just had surgery before he left for this trip and was going to have to cut his trip short to go home. We took him to the airport with empty suitcases and a list of needed parts for the repairs as we, in turn, prepared to stay in Aruba for the next month before he would return and we could set sail again.
We finally found it! Well, it doesn't look like you keep up with this very often. We met you and Mike in early May. You two had just come from Columbia and were going to head to St. Louis and then to Vancouver. Was just looking to see what kind of adventures you two were having!
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