As probably most of you have experienced, when you live somewhere you rarely see the sights or do much of anything interesting close to home. Well, living on Bonaire is not much different in that respect. We rarely get out on a boat. But in the last couple weeks we got to experience two very different “boats”.

We sailed on the Oscarina with Karen while our friends Mark and family were down for vacation. They planned a sunset sushi cruise – so who could pass up an invitation for that. The Oscarina is a 42’ sailing yacht and you really sail. None of that motoring about with sails down for hours. As soon as you clear the mooring, the sails go up and the motor goes off. So we cruised up the coast and dined on sushi while watching the sunset. Very peaceful, lots of fun and the rum punch wasn’t bad either. There were nine of us including crew.

On New Years Eve, the owners of the Ocean Breeze (Bonaire Boating) asked our family out to join his to view the fireworks from the water. The Ocean Breeze is a 57’ motor yacht - the kind with multiple levels including a roomy flying bridge. It is really spacious and has that “Lives of the Rich and Famous” feeling. You can stretch out on the front deck, the back lower deck, mid deck, wherever. There is room for a party. We only have 11 on board so we were spread thin. The fireworks were fabulous. Seeing them by boat is definitely a great experience.

I found the boating experience very different between the sailboat and the motor yacht. The sailboat is quite quiet. You are reasonably low to water and somehow feel closer to the elements. The cockpit is cozy because the boat is much narrower. Well, the motor yacht has very powerful engines so it is noisy. But of course, you have a much larger space to hang out. You are very high off the water and can see quite far. So I’m not sure which I prefer – I think I’ll have to try them both a few more times ;-)

Linda,

If you need assistance making up your mind.....have luggage will travel! Glad you and your family got to experience that.

The Oscarina is certainly nice. Alan and I did a sushi sail with Karen, and it turned out we were the only passengers (and she still did it even though the normal minimum is 4). We really appreciated that as we'd been looking so forward to it. What a nice evening.

We also took a snorkeling trip with Karen, again just the two of us (plus a friend of Karen's who acted as "snorkel guide" for us). Once again, a very nice trip: Klein and Andrea I.

Definitely worth the time and money. Sailing isn't one of my biggies, but this was so enjoyable (I think it's because I don't have to do any of the work!)