With The Flying Dutch

Full moon over the anchorage in Spanish Waters on Curaçao

We reach Bonaire. At night, whenever else. We quickly let the dinghy into the water to buy six beers and a packet of cigarettes for the skipper at "Karels", the trendy village bar Kralendijks.

It's not the first time, a tenth of a century ago we moored with our "Iron Lady" at the Murings off Holland in the Caribbean. Anchoring is prohibited here because 80,000 divers visit Bonaire every year to dive around the island.

"Bon" stands for good, "Aire" stands for air. Climatic health resort, my father Ortwin would translate it casually. But the island could also be called "Happy Colors" because it is so much fun to hold the camera lens up to the sky.

We have visitors, otherwise we would not have arrived here on time. Maya's best friend from Germany is visiting us, and so the day consists of traveling, a tourist program and snorkeling. I find the last necessary hoses, grommets and cables at the local Ship Chandler in order to be able to operate our watermaker from Trinidad. A complete success that pays off immediately. Guests like to shower a lot, only to be sweaty again after ten minutes. We no longer have to maneuver excitedly through narrow docks without a bow thruster to refuel. Fed up with water. A new era on the "Marlin" begins.

Thanks to our guests, after many years of abstinence, the Capitan and I can finally go diving again with a compressed air cylinder. It's like the first kiss or holding hands, so beautiful and calm we glide past Bonaire's underwater world. Soothing silence that is rarely found on family boats.

The blow to Curaçao to take the guests to the airport suddenly interrupts the Bonaire mood, which has been enriched by the deep intoxication.

The Dutch Antilles are also called ABC Islands for short. The Flying Dutch have torn Arub in the west, Curaçao in the middle and Bonaire in the east under the colonial nail. I don't know whether they have found anything here besides lizards, thorny bushes and good air that they could turn into gold and ducats.

Photo gallery: "Marlin" on the ABC islands

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Today these three islands are independent, but receive financial support from the Dutch government and are to the Dutch what Mallorc is to the Germans. Economically, Curaçao stands out, where a huge refinery distills Venezuelan crude oil into its components that are important for Holland. Otherwise: tourists.

At a top speed of 9.6 knots, the "Marlin" runs into the pass of Spanish Waters, Curaçao. A well-kept golf course on the starboard side welcomes us. "But she wasn't here before!", Marvels Nathalie.

It quickly goes from a few hundred meters of water to six meters. And "slurp" the incoming water pulls us into the lagoon, which is now home to several marinas, hundreds of cruising sailors and a number of fishermen. Our home for the next four weeks. Our guest only says: "It's like a camping site for floating caravans!"

After our guests have said goodbye, we find it difficult to make contact with the sworn Dutch cruising community - we just don't speak the local language. And if 20 Dutch people are in "their" pub at a sundowner, they will not switch to English completely because of two Germans. But they make an effort!

The choice of anchorages has just changed. In the past it should be as inexpensive and protected as possible, today it is important to have WiFi and good supermarket connections. In Spanish Waters there is exactly that. A couple of sailors, whose anchor chains have been lying in the lagoon for longer than long, have set up a WiFi network. The local supermarket sends a bus every morning at ten o'clock to pick up the sailors for a shopping spree. We are waiting, like the many other boats, for the end of the hurricane season to sail further north.

With May we drive through the Anchorage Spanish Waters and get to know the nice young trainers of the sailing school YSCO. Dan takes care of our daughter and teaches her Opti-sailing. Capsizing and straightening are first practiced. After two hours he means to me. "That must be because May lives on the boat. She really has it in her blood. What other children need two years for, Mayin creates four hours."

Just a week later, our little May is sailing her first regatt and finishing sixth. She still has to learn about pushing away. Otherwise she sails up and down, across the Anchorage and learns what I could never have taught her so quickly.

But Lenganz is the fish in the water. With the world champion in apnea diving Carlos Cost, Len and I take a trial lesson. We cannot and do not want to afford more. Carlos shows Lena how to dive properly, how to hold your breath longer. Me too, of course, and success is immediate. Suddenly, 15 meters deep water is no longer a problem. Len gets it to four or five. Great. I also do an introductory dive with a children's compressed air bottle with Mayund Lena.

Again we take course to Bonaire. There are friends of ours lying there. An American family with three daughters of almost the same age sails around the world on their catamaran. Reason enough to show up against the Passat, which is now normal.

The other sailors hold their heads: "But that's against the wind!" Exactly the course that we now like. We are lying next to each other with our American friends on two murings, and a lively swarm of children between the boats that are 20 meters apart develops. We can hold out on Bonaire for a week, then it gets too colorful for us. As good as life and diving is, we know where we like it better. We look longingly back to the east. Lonely beaches beckon. It's still hurricane season, at least six weeks ahead of us in which we have to stay out of the belt.

To the east are the Islas Aves and Roques, which belong to Venezuel. Too often we have passed it for lack of time. Venezuel is currently not particularly recommended, especially not the island of Margaritha. However, the islands of Islas Aves and Roques are considered harmless and are strictly guarded by the Venezuelan GuardCost. We set sail in the afternoon. 23 knots plus are announced for the night. On the nose. It won't be pleasant, but a new adventure is waiting for you.