Goodbye, Bonaire!

It's time for us to say goodbye to this beautiful little island that we've called home for the past two and a half months. We're heading north, baby! Onwards and upwards!

Our tourist visa for Bonaire originally was set to expire on October 31st, but we knew once mid-October came around that we should start to watch for weather windows heading north. There'd be nothing more stressful than being forced to leave Bonaire in crappy weather conditions. Well, with a lot of help from our friends, we found our weather window! We won't exactly be heading dead into wind to reach St. Maarten, but we will be sailing very close hauled. It'll be different from our sail south (St. Maarten to Curaçao), as we had the winds and waves pushing more or less on our stern previously. This time we'll be beating it into the wind and waves, so it may take us a bit longer. Our weather window begins tomorrow, in which there are some southerly components in the wind direction; this will hopefully help push us up north where we'd like to be.

We anticipate that the trip north will take us 4-5 days, but it may take longer. We won't be making any stops along the way, just straight for St. Maarten is the plan. We'll be leaving Bonaire tomorrow morning, around 6:30 - 7:00 AM. Wish us luck!

Remember you can track our vessel at www.marinetraffic.com and search "PANTA RHEI III"; or, click here on the following link for direct access: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:233142/mmsi:244620720/imo:0/vessel:PANTA_RHEI_III

Our time in Bonaire wouldn't have been the same without the incredible people we've met. Sending a big shout out to the crews of SV Otoka, SV Vesna, SV Dan Marco IV, and SV The Emerald Of Pleiades. We'll miss you all so much, but here's hoping we can all reunite in The Bahamas!

That's it for now! We'll reconnect once we've arrived to St. Maarten. Sending heaps of love your way!

Toni & Paul

P.S. We'll leave you here with a collage of our favorite sunsets in Bonaire... till next time.