Our journey, Chapter 15: Headwinds…
Life comes with headwinds, doesn’t it? Our ABC adventure wasn’t as “easy as 1, 2, 3 or simple as Do-Re-Mi”, but it was an adventure nonetheless. We had forty-plus mile an hour winds in our faces and eight to ten foot seas during the southbound segment of our trip, so we didn’t venture out above deck more than once. Fortunately, when we dropped anchor at Aruba, the winds calmed. Since we know Aruba well, having been there perhaps twenty times, we chose to stay aboard and soaked up the sun.
Aruba is clean, has fantastic beaches, wonderful people and incredible food, all of which keep me asking why we shouldn’t consider it for an island home. Whenever I do, Natalie reminds me that it is flat and arid once we venture away from the coast. I guess she would classify it as a great place to visit. I get it. Despite all of the wonderful things about Aruba, it doesn’t offer the romantic ambiance of the lush, volcanic islands of the Antilles.
We did venture out in both Curacao and Bonaire. Like Aruba, both were Dutch and share the same wonderful qualities of Aruba. In addition, their topographies are somewhat more interesting than Aruba since they do have some undulating hills and are less arid. We were also surprised to learn that Bonaire supplies what we were told is 18% of the world’s salt, which they draw from the sea, rather than mines. Makes me wonder if they actually produce 18% of the world’s sea salt, rather than salt in general, but still an impressive statistic.
The return trip had us again sail through high winds and heavy seas, so we decided to spend our leisure time in the casino. I’m pretty sure the wind and surf were manufactured by the casino as part of the strategy for separating passengers from any spare cash they may have. Ugh.
So, visiting the ABCs didn’t get us much closer to figuring out our aspirational island lifestyle. Oh well, there’s always next year. In the interim, I need to lose the fifteen or twenty pounds I put on over the last six months.
Our next stop is in February, when we again sail. This next trip will be on a jazz cruise with Chris Botti. We’re looking forward to it!
Until then, have a very merry and blessed Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!
Love to all.