Sailing the Southern Caribbean

Today’s post is a little different. Instead of me droning on for an hour, for you slow readers, or twenty-eight seconds, for those realizing they got the wrong site, I would like to present you with a cinematic master piece. A MONTAGE!!!

But before you cringe let me also say that it has music, and dolphins jumping, and oceans, and an amazing car race with scantly clad women….OK the last part is a lie.

It’s a video re-cap of our sailing journey across the southern Caribbean from Grenada to Colombia, over 1000 nautical miles, 7 months, and 2 sailboats later.

So go pop some pop-corn, sit back and relax!

Sailing The Southern Caribbean from Hop & Jaunt on Vimeo.

It’s also on YouTube if you have a preference.

(more…)

Bon Bini Bonaire – Island Tour

Bon Bini Bonaire! Welcome to Bonaire!

The Coast of Bonaire

Diving mecca and overall adorable Bonaire was a breath of civilized air for us after traveling through barely inhabited tropical paradises for the past month. Kralendjiyk is a quaint and colorful little town that lines the turquoise waterfront. There are 30-40 mooring balls that are lined across the bay in front of the town where for $10 you can tie up your boat. As John mentions in his post, we spent the first week or so just enjoying the town and figuring out how to enjoy ourselves without breaking the piggy bank. One of the things that John and I wanted to learn while traveling was riding motorcycles. We have dreams of getting a cool old bike and traveling through Central or South America this way.

But back to the present. Being a 99% tourist oriented island, there are numerous rental agencies around town. You can rent anything from a little Suzuki SUV to weird go-cart like buggies. What we were eyeing was a moped! Though not as edgy as a bike, I had always wanted a little Vespa to put-put around town in. I had grand images of me on a little cute moped, with a long scarf, aviator goggles on my little helmet, and a loaf of French bread in the basket. But being that in America not only would I most likely get run over, but I had also not lived in a big city where it may even be remotely practical my images had remained a fantasy. Plus, how much French bread do I really need every time I go out? The island of Bonaire is very small, with only a few main roads connecting the island. Most people owned mopeds or very small cars as it only takes a few hours to cover the entire island. While on a walk about one day we ran across an advert for a rental moped that could be had for 24 hours for only $30. Well we jumped on it. Not only was it one of the best days we ended up having in Bonaire but we got to see the island three times in that 24 hours…including stopping a lot to take pictures, stopping to eat, sight see, and to sleep at night! So for you at home, I will try to recreate our island tour so that you can enjoy the sights as well.

We first headed South. Along the South Western seashore is where the Bonaire salt marshes are located. These large pools of water are filled with the ocean sea and left to dry out – leaving salt behind. Bonaire has been producing salt since the Dutch began colonizing the island. The mounds of salt rise up several stories and create sparkling white pyramids.

Salt Mound

Salt Fields

On our scooter riding through the salt marshes and ocean!

(more…)