After 17 days at sea, Frans calls out with infectious enthusiasm: "Land in sight! Look!" Union island is a fantastic island to arrive on, so relaxed, so beautiful, so Caribbean-style "Take it eeeeaaaasy man".
I am writing this story while we sail from Martinique. Martinique, where we have been for 12 days. Wait 12 days, arrange, find out. 12 days in the humid heat, mostly windless without being able to swim or do other fun things, 12 days in a busy harbor. 12 days of deliberation. Spending a lot of money for 12 days.
In the end, it will take about a month before this story is online, mainly because we find it an uninteresting nagging story that reminds us of a less pleasant period. You might as well skip this story, the sequel is much more fun!
Dominica. Green. Opulence. Edible. Pristine, pure, healthy. Beautiful. Rivers, waterfalls. Poor in money and rich in nature. But also: cozy parties, nice people, a lot of atmosphere and a lot of weed.
Sint Maarten is a part of the Netherlands, we have always been taught that at school. We expected to come back a little "home", but nothing could be further from the truth! Sint Maarten has hardly anything to do with the Netherlands: the official language is American, the currency used is the American dollar, the cars are American, and the entire street scene also feels very American.
Saba ??? Never heard of it! At least we didn't know it, but Saba really is a Dutch island! A volcano peak rising from the ocean. It is the highest point in the Netherlands and here is really the famous Dutch tropical rainforest. Saba is beautiful and unique!
We really have to go to Panama Canal now. But we make a long detour and pass Bonaire, which is too good to pass up. Until now we have mainly snorkelled, but Bonaire is really a diving paradise, they say, we are curious if this is the case and what the island is like further.
Besides enjoying the incredibly beautiful uninhabited islands, we also enjoy the completely different culture here, we look out our eyes, spend an evening in a Kuna village and even eat at a Kuna family at home. And we also meet some very nice sailors ... Just under two weeks of Kuna Yala leaves an indelible impression on us!
This time, Omweg did not opt for a detour, the detour around the South American continent, but for the shortest route to the Pacific. Six locks, each three hundred meters long, a canal, a lake and a river, connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific. Built more than a hundred years ago, a height difference of 27 meters, also known as one of the seven 'manmade' wonders of the world.
