Back Aboard the Debonair in Curacao!

It's back to the tropics for the crew of the Debonair! 85 degrees every day here, still warmer than Minnesota in the warmest fall many remember.

We stayed for three days at a wonderful funky hotel to ease our transition back to a non-functioning boat, before we got all systems back up and running. It's called The Ritz, which was a little pretentious. Clean, affordable, with a fridge, stove, and microwave, it also has an adjoining hostel (one of the few in the Caribbean).

All of the furniture was from Ikea. 

A pathetic Charlie Brown Christmas tree on our coffee table - along with the major defenses we will need here - sunblock, for the strong tropical sun, and bug spray with DEET to deter the mosquitoes which carry chikungunya, a disease most islanders have had. We hope to leave the islands without having contracted it, and the only way to do that is to use bug spray.

A lovely little pool creates a resort-like feel - we would have spent more time pool-side if we hadn't had so much work on the boat!

We rented a cute little Kia Picanto for a week, so we could easily restock the boat. It's a model not sold in the U.S., but we loved the little car - 3 cylinders, 1 liter engine, very high mileage, and all the room we needed. There are so many Picantos on the road here, they must have delivered a container-ship-load to the island.

So far so good with bringing systems on-line with the boat, but I am sure some surprises will await us. We don't mind taking our time with boat work, as the wind is much too strong for us to leave comfortably right now.