On October 14, 2001 we left Curacao and finally started cruising with just the 2 of us, plus 6 pets, on board. First stop was Klein Curacao, a tiny island 15 miles off the southeast point of Curacao, where I had a hard lesson in how to pick up a mooring ball. We had to make several approaches before I finally got it, but at least I did get it. We've since revised this procedure so that I'm driving the boat while Charlie picks up the mooring ball - works like a charm even in the most crowded bays. There's very little on Klein Curacao except a nice beach. It's mainly used as a swimming and snorkeling destination for boats making day trips out of Curacao.

The next morning we continued on to Bonaire where we again had to pick up a mooring as there's no anchoring there because the island is in a marine park. This time, however, we had help from the husband of a couple we met in Curacao who came over in his dinghy and handed me the line from the mooring ball so I could secure it onto our boat.

We moved into the marina the following day because the mosquitoes feasted on us during the night despite our best attempts to screen them out, with screens on every hatch and porthole as well as one on the entry door. We have since added another screen across the end of our berth and supplement that with mosquito coils.

Traveling with pets can get really adventurous at times. Once we were docked in the marina, we went ashore to tour the immediate area, leaving the salon door open and Star in charge of the cats. We returned to discover that Star had taken himself for a walk and was nowhere to be found. The boldest of the cats, Sadie (short for Mercedes) was lying on a mat outside the cabin. We finally found Star quite a distance from the boat and ushered him home.

Since Sadie was the only cat who might wander around the boat and possibly take herself ashore, I decided to introduce her to salt water. Now we had life preservers for each of the pets aboard so I put Sadie's on her and took her down the steps off one side of the back of the boat and sprinkled some salt water on her. The next thing I knew I was holding an empty life preserver and Sadie had zoomed all the way into the salon. She never got curious about salt water after that.

To be continued.