We had a wonderful night sleep. After breakfast, Rick cleaned the fans while I washed the cockpit cushions. I put the cushions on the deck in the hot sun to dry and then cleaned hatches. I had nothing else to clean so I washed and sorted my new shells.
We had our main meal in the early afternoon (Pork Chops and Spanish rice) and
then went snorkeling with Blanca and Leo. The area we went to snorkel was
not as nice as right off of our boat. There had been a lot of coral but it
appeared to have been damaged in a storm and new growth hadn’t started. We
returned to our boats to shower and change for Happy Hour onboard KaraDream.
Allie Cat pulled in just in time for Happy Hour and we gave them a lift so they
could leave their dinghy on deck until morning.
It was almost standing room only onboard KaraDream. There were 12 people in the cockpit from KaraDream, Windmiller, Allie Cat, Figment, Promesa and us. It was an excellent evening with great conversations.
It was another perfect day. I baked bread and Rick took the barbecue ashore to give it a good cleaning. It is not getting hot enough again and he said it could not be the regulator. It’s too new and he has been carefully protecting it from the elements. By late afternoon, he determined it was the regulator! He was able to take the knob off so he could spray a little WD40 into it. We’ll let it sit overnight and give it another try tomorrow.
In the morning and the Coast guard finally came by to check everyone’s papers. There are about 12 boats in the anchorage so it took the three of them all day. In fact, it was after dark by the time they made it to KaraDream. It definitely was not their fault. Every boat they visited gave them something to eat and drink so each visit became quite lengthy. We were doing ok but Blanca had said that if we had any problems she would come over and translate. We didn’t really have a problem they were just confused why Promesa’s radio certificate was different from ours and yet we were both Canadian. We called her to sort things out and she came over. We learned that she couldn’t remember where they had put their certificates so they presented their card instead. Both were acceptable just different.
The Coast guard ran out of paper on their clipboard and rather than go all the way around the island to get more, Blanca gave them some. Later they returned with some nice fresh fish (a small barracuda). Of course, Blanca and Leo shared with us but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hopefully barbecue it.
The sky was quite overcast when we awoke this morning. In fact, we even had a few drops of rain. At about 9AM Celine (Allie Cat) made an announcement on the radio that since it was not a great snorkeling day she wondered if anyone wanted to play dominos in the afternoon. KaraDream offered their boat (it’s the largest) as the domino parlor and we all agreed to meet at 2PM. Rick and I relaxed and read in the morning. When it was time for dominos, three of the guys decided they wanted to go fishing so that left 8 of us to play. Karen (KaraDream) set up 4 of us in the cockpit and 4 inside. It was a fun afternoon that lasted until 5:30. Before we left to return to our boat Karen had promised she would teach me how to fold my garbage bags into cute little triangles. It was almost a bit of origami. We will soon have the neatest garbage bag collection (after KaraDream).
We barbecued the fresh fish for dinner and it was wonderful. The
barbecue is working a little better but not great. We’ll have to buy
another regulator when we return to Porlamar. The Magma barbecues are nice
but the regulators are definitely not built for the salt-water environment.
This was the second one and we were very protective of this one keeping it a
ziploc bag in a locker when not in use.
It was a lovely clear day. In the morning, I made bread while Rick cleaned the bottom of the dinghy. We both read for a while and then had a great swim just off the boat. At 6PM almost everyone in the anchorage went ashore for a (paper) garbage burning barbecue. There were KaraDream, Allie Cat, Windmiller, Windswept, Promesa and us. It was a great party but somehow we were back at our boats by 7:30PM.
I don’t remember whose idea it was but I am guilty of going along with it!
We were having a lady’s day hike to Americano Beach. This beach is a good
dinghy ride from where the boats are anchored on the west side of the island.
It’s around a few points to almost the north side of the island. It was
supposed to take us about 1 hour each way walking. The hiking group
included Karen (KaraDream), Marci (Windmiller), Cindy (Figment) and me.
Leo and Blanca were hiking today as well but they wanted to walk to the south
end of the island where the coast guard station is located. The plan was
that we women hikers would meet under the palm trees at 9AM wearing socks and
shoes.
I can’t remember the last time I wore socks and shoes. In
fact, I had to pull my whole clothes closet apart to find my one pair of white
socks. I pulled out my walking shoes and had to clean them before I could
wear them as the inside (leather) was covered in mildew. I took a bottle
of water and discussed taking 2 bottles but Rick assured me that I had enough
for a one hour walk each way. We started following a jeep trail that used
to be a donkey trail. We could tell that the donkey was still using it as
he left telltale signs. The trail came to a fork and we took the wrong
one. This wasn’t immediately obvious, in fact we walked quite a while
before we admitted that the trail was taking us across land to the south side of
the island (Leo and Blanca’s route). We eventually made our way back to
the fork in the
road that soon became only a donkey trail. The trail was
very difficult to follow at times but we kept watching for what we started to
refer to as the cookie crumbs left by the donkey. We were crossing true
desert. The huge cacti trees were beautiful but the small scrubby cacti
that was everywhere were attacking us from all directions. Sometimes the
barbs would go right through the leather of my shoes other times it would just
bite my leg. While trying to remove some of the leg biters, they would
pierce my hand. This was definitely a hike not a walk. We saw a
beautiful green and red parrot flying around and yelling at us. He was
probably saying, “go back!” in Spanish and we didn’t understand him.
We gradually made our way to some cliffs where we had to climb over what
appeared to be either dead coral or lava rock but there was
no cactus there.
We were all getting very red in the face although we were all wearing big straw
hats. My water was disappearing quickly and we hadn’t made it to our
destination yet. We could see the beach in the distance but we were all
dragging our feet by this time. Marci was the only one who thought to
bring something to eat (an apple) and we needed something. She offered to
share but we declined (we’re tough). Just before walking down the hill to
the beach, Karen called on the VHF radio to the guys to ask them to bring water,
apples and their snorkel gear to Americano Beach by dinghy. The only one
she could reach was Rick. He said he would call the other guys and come
for us.
Meanwhile we found our coast guard and his friends swimming at the beach as
well and he had his great big fiberglass pirogue (most are wooden). He
offered us a ride
back to our boats and we decided that if the guys weren’t in
sight when they were ready to leave we would take them up on their offer.
They weren’t and we did. We passed a couple of the guys almost immediately
after pulling out of the bay but they were fishing rather than coming to rescue
us. When we got back to our bay (after 12 PM) Rick was just about to leave
on his own to come and get us because he couldn’t find any of the others.
Meanwhile I had him pass a few bottles of rum to our rescuers as we all climbed
aboard Wind-Borne III. Rick delivered the other hikers to their boats and
then returned to help me with tweezers, needles and magnifying glass remove the
remnants of my attackers from hands, feet and legs.
After a little rest and fluids, we made lunch of lomito (fillet of beef),
with onions and mushrooms, fresh mashed potatoes and canned cream corn. We
were sitting in the cockpit eating when the fishermen came by selling lobster
again. We didn’t buy any but Rod and Marci did. The timing was
perfect, we had just finished eating and Marci called to ask how to cook it.
When I asked if they knew how to clean it first and they answer no, it was a
perfect getaway for Rick to miss helping with dishes. She even offered him
cold beer.
Happy Hour was on the beach at 5PM. We all went ashore with drinks and appetizers hoping for a green flash. There wasn’t one. After dark, Rick caused a lot of oohs and aahs when he put a couple of our special plastic ice cubes that light up in his and my drink. The finale of the evening however, was Karen missing the dive into her dinghy as Ralph gunned the engine. Since they were the first to leave there was a full audience on shore cheering.
It was a beautiful calm night but the morning sun brought strong winds. After breakfast we watched David (Windswept) go by in his dinghy towards shore. A while later we noticed the same dinghy drifting out to sea and David in the water swimming. Everyone jumped into their dinghies to rescue David and his dinghy. That got our adrenaline going early in the day. He had not pulled it far enough onto the beach and a wave took it away on him before he could catch it. He tried to swim after it but the strong gusts were sending the dinghy out to sea. The winds were south of east in the morning, which was creating a good rocking and rolling motion on the boat. The dirty laundry went into the tub and I let the natural agitator take over. Rick went to show Blanca and Leo how to clean a spiny lobster and while he was gone, I made some bread. I made one regular loaf and one with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisons. Later while I was hanging the clean laundry to dry, Rick prepared a nice chicken stir fry for lunch/dinner. When we had finished eating Karen and Ralph (KaraDream) came for a visit and tour of the boat. The sun had set when they left to prepare their dinner. I called Blanca and Leo to come for a visit. Blanca brought a sweet plantain desert she had prepared and I served my cinnamon loaf. The wind was still strong when we went to bed but the direction had changed so there was no roll.
The strong winds were still with us so no one was snorkeling today. Rick went ashore to sharpen his machete. While he was gone I made water and more bread while I ran the engine to boost the batteries. When he returned we had lunch and a siesta before going ashore. Today we had a bocce ball tournament on the beach. My team made it to the semi finals but we didn’t win the tournament. It was a fun day and we were back onboard before dark.
It was still too windy to snorkel so Blanca and I decided to go fishing
today. The four guys (I won’t mention names) had gone out for the last
three days and caught nothing. Rick checked our little handheld Garmin GPS
which provides a “best time to fish” feature. It said the fish would start
biting at 10:30AM. We watched the guys all leave again at 8AM but we
relaxed and read until 10AM. We then got our gear together and headed out.
The four guys were on their way back and one had caught a small tuna today.
Rick and I went in our dinghy, Leo and Blanca in theirs. Rick wanted us to
go straight out to get away from the reefs. We were still heading out and
it dawned on us that we had forgotten our bag with water and snacks. We
turned around to go back to the boat and caught our first fish. It was a
mackerel and a little small so we let it go. We were on our way back out
to sea trying to catch up with Blanca and Leo and I caught a good size
barracuda. The seas were very rough (strong winds for three days now) and
both dinghies were taking waves over the bow so we decided to return. We
hadn’t really been out for much more than a half hour but we already had more
fish than the four of us could eat. Blanca offered their deck for us to
clean the fish. So Rick and Leo under close scrutiny of Blanca and I
prepared a bunch of fish steaks for us.
We returned to our boat and cooked a nice fish lunch/dinner. After our
siesta we read until the sun went down. I made a large pot of popcorn so
we could snack and watch the lunar eclipse. The winds had died for the
evening and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect viewing
night.
We began our day with a rescue at sea. Rod and Marci (Windmiller) were drifting away in their dinghy. We could see Rod pulling the start cord again and again but the engine didn’t even sputter. Rick towed them back to their boat and offered to help Rod pull the engine apart and clean the carburetor. While the guys were doing that, Marci and I decided to go for a snorkel. Blanca and Leo were in their dinghy headed down the beach a way to snorkel as well so we joined them. We had a great swim but the water was very stirred up. The strong current and waves were too much for a good snorkel. I returned to our boat but Rick was still helping Rod on Windmiller. I ran the engine, made some water and read. I was sitting in the cockpit and saw Rick leave Windmiller and go to Promesa so I knew he was gone for the afternoon. Sure enough, he returned in time to change for Happy Hour on the beach. We were also burning paper garbage again. Unbeknownst to Rick, I slipped his work T-shirt in with the “to be burnt” garbage. It was a gray T-shirt with stains and holes. He had asked me to stop washing it because it would fall apart if I washed it again. It was ugly. When he saw it go into the fire he just smiled.
We had been invited to Windmiller for dinner and I stopped back at our boat to put together an antipasto dish. Marci was making spaghetti. Cindy and Bob (Figment) were there as well. The first part of the evening we had a spilling problem due to the roll that had developed but the waves eventually settled down and we had a lovely evening.
A very strong fast moving Tropical Wave went through last night. It was travelling about 20 MPH. The cloud and winds behind the wave covered the whole island chain. Our winds averaged 25 knots all day with gusts to 30 and 35 knots. The direction of the wind was south of east, which seems to cause a roll in this anchorage. The roll all day long was so severe that it was difficult to stand and walk around the boat. So we read and watched a video.
During the past week, there were 5 Canadian Boats, 3 American 1 British, 1 New Zealander and 2 French. Today the German Boats invaded us, 2 arrived late in the afternoon. Although it’s a small anchorage, it’s definitely international.
The boat rolled all night. It was so bad that we heard a few of the cruisers slept on the floor and in their cockpit in an attempt to sleep last night. Rick moved into the main salon as he said he was getting seasick in the bow. It was suppose to ease up today and it did a little. I was able to work in the galley without everything flying at me. I made some bread and apple crisp in the morning while Rick wedged himself on deck and cleaned some stainless steel. In the afternoon, Leo and Blanca came for dinner and we were very grateful for our non-skid place mats on the cockpit table. The roll did settle down after dark and we had a lovely evening.
We were still rolling all last night. The wind seems to be easing a little but it will take some time for the swell to flatten.
I baked bread again in the morning. No we’re not eating all this bread
ourselves. I gave a loaf to Blanca yesterday and today I’m making chili
and bread for a pot luck dinner. Everything was cooking nicely when some
fishermen came by to see if we’d like some tuna. They traded me 3 good
size tuna for 2 small bottles of rum. They were half bottles of rum that I
carry specifically for trading. They cost about 70 cents each and it’s
good rum. I finished the trade and Karen (KaraDream) called. Some
fishermen had stopped by her boat and they needed some help but she couldn’t
understand what they were asking for and had tried to send them to Promesa but
they were headed in the wrong direction. We couldn’t raise Promesa on the
radio so I got the fishermen’s attention with our horn and pointed to Promesa.
They needed some metal glue (JB Weld). We all carry some on board.
Leo not only gave them some he went to the fishing boat to help them. Oh
Oh, I knew this meant more fish and I had already planned to share the tuna with
Promesa and Allie Cat. Sure enough, Leo returned with a good size mahi
mahi. We were already making a mess in our cockpit so we told Leo to come
aboard Wind-Borne to clean it. The guys are getting better and faster at
this fish cleaning business. They filleted the tuna and cut the mahi mahi
into steaks. There were enough steaks to provide good size servings for
six boats.
When that was done Rick wanted to replace a broken rivet on the dinghy drain. He emptied the dinghy and we hoisted it straight up using a halyard. Oops, he forgot to remove a small rubber mat that we keep in the bow of the dinghy for the anchor to sit on. We’re anchored in 25 feet of water and he put on his diving weights but just couldn’t get down far enough. Next, we took one of our large three prong fishing hook spoon type lures and tied a string to it and a single diving weight. Rick got back in the water and used it as a grappling hook. Success, the little rubber mat is back in the dinghy.
Pot luck dinner was at 4PM on the beach. It was great. I had announced it on the radio yesterday and absolutely every boat in the anchorage participated. There are 11 boats here now so we had 22 people and the dishes were all very different and tasty. I’m hoping to pick up a few new recipes.
The wind was still blowing and we were still rocking so I made this another laundry day. While I was actually scrubbing a few items, I was taking note of the injuries I had sustained since coming to this island. I have burns on my left hand and right arm that are almost healed. I hadn’t used the oven for so long before coming here I had forgotten how hot it gets. My next injuries are my blisters on three toes. I’ve been soaking my feet in fresh water regularly and they seem to be healing nicely. Next, I still have 2 little cacti barbs left in 2 of my fingers. They are gradually working their way out. Last but not least, I have a cut on the bottom of my foot from stepping on a palm frond that was lying in the sand on the beach. The stupid frond had thorns in it. So, it’s a tough life here. I think it’s a wonderful island with beautiful beaches, lovely coral and multitudes of fish for snorkeling but the land is harsh. The only in habitants are the coast guard, a couple of fishing huts, lots of donkeys and flocks of parrots. The cacti rules here.
Some of the laundry I hung in the cockpit but it all wouldn’t fit so large items like sheets and towels I hung on the fairleads, which were tied to the shrouds, like a clothesline. I had to keep an eye on those items because the wind was whipping them around and I thought I might lose the odd item. Rick work on his stainless steel again today.
In the afternoon, the waves were down a little so we went for a swim. The current was strong but the water was still crystal clear.
It was another windy day and the wind cools the cabin down quickly after if I’ve used the oven. So today, I baked bread and oatmeal cookies for Promesa and us.
We ate our mahi mahi for lunch/dinner and we were having our sundowners when Blanca called to invite us for Happy Hour aboard their boat. It was after 9PM (way past our bedtime) when we returned to our boat after a fun evening.
Rod and Marci (Windmiller) came over for breakfast on Wind-Borne this morning. Rod had been drooling since he heard we had bacon onboard so I made pancakes with Canadian maple syrup and bacon for him.
In the afternoon we all (Promesa, KaraDream, Allie Cat and Wind-Borne III) played farkle onboard Windmiller. It was a fun afternoon, Leo and Marcel won. We waited to see if the sun would give us a green flash (but no such luck) before heading back to our own boats. KaraDream and Windmiller are leaving at 5.30AM tomorrow to head back to Porlamar.
I am so glad we didn’t leave with Windmiller and KaraDream this morning.
We called them on the radio and they were having a lovely sail but they missed
one of our best days at Blanquilla. The seas were calm and the wind was
light. As soon as we finished breakfast, Rick and I put the windvane back
together. Jane the Vane had been disassembled since before we left
Porlamar. Rick had been waiting for a calm day when he could reassemble it
without losing all of the little plastic ball bearings. I helped and
putting it back together was quite easy and didn’t take us long. When we
were finished I packed a light lunch and we joined Promesa and Allie Cat for a
dinghy ride
to Americano Bay. We had perfect snorkeling weather. I
was sorry I hadn’t taken our underwater camera because the underwater scenery
was beautiful. I think we saw every single fish that is identified in our
Field Guide of Tropical Marine Fish. The variety of coral and fans was
excellent. It was one of the best snorkeling locations we’ve found in the
Caribbean. We had lunch in the shade of a deserted house on the hill and
fed crackers and carrots to an increasing number of geckos. There were
only 2 of them when we first started feeding them but there were many more when
we finished.
When we were leaving another cruiser who had been fishing nearby gave Blanca
4 nice red snappers he had caught. He was busy cleaning a 4 foot
moray eel
and felt he and more than they could eat. We returned to the boat and had
a swim and shower before making dinner. The fish was wonderful. It
seems that we’re finally starting to eat more fish than meat.
It was good that we went snorkeling yesterday because today the surf breaking over the reefs made snorkeling impossible. I made bread a couple of times today. The first time I set the bread maker on the wrong setting so the result was a brick that we fed to the fish. The second time, it was faster to just make the dough and bake it in the oven. Rick packed our chairs and snorkel gear away. I prepared our waypoints and routes. We went for one last swim and had a shower in the cockpit. We had our last Happy Hour and garbage burning evening ashore with Allie Cat and Promesa. There was a bit of a swell that was unnoticeable when we were on the boats however, it was very noticeable when we took the dinghies ashore. Leo got swamped and fell under his dinghy while trying to beach it. Leaving was trickier still but we were all very careful and timed our push-offs perfectly with the waves. Tomorrow morning we’re heading back to Margarita.
This was an unbelievable day. So much happened that I should have been taking notes throughout the day because I’m sure I’ve missed some of the happenings.
We lifted anchor at 5AM as planned. The sails were raised just before dawn. We literally raced away from the island. We were doing about 8 knots (6.5 over the ground) with a reefed main, stay sail, genoa and no engine. It was great. The winds were about 20 knots, the waves about 8 feet with a wind wave on top that would hit Rick in the face once in a while. There was a current of about 1 knot against us. Margarita was 53 miles away and by 10AM we were at the halfway mark. That’s when things began to happen. The bilge alarm (99 decibels) sounded. This was very strange because we know there is a leak in the watermaker pump that could cause the bilge alarm to sound but we weren’t making water! If we had been running the engine, I would have thought that the stuffing box may have caused enough water over time to set the alarm off but we weren’t running the engine! Then immediately after the alarm sounded it sounded again! I “quickly” ran below as fast as it was possible to run on a 15 degree heel with 8 foot waves bouncing me around. I checked the bilge near the mast, nothing! It was now Rick’s turn. But wait a minute, we were still racing along at 8 knots. He helped me furl the genoa and I then turned the boat down wind to settle things down a bit. He went below and started to pull the back berth apart to see if something was leaking there when all of a sudden he stopped and came out and pulled apart the cockpit locker. He knew immediately what had happened. The divider in the locker had shifted a little and pinched the hose to the refrigerator. So, the water was fresh water from our tanks that circulates through the refrigeration system. The pressure had caused the connection to leak at the pump. Everything was back under control but we were quite away down wind from our course by this time. We started to try to regain our position but we were having trouble sailing that close to the wind. All of a sudden, the dinghy shifted. It wasn’t going anywhere but it was tipped a bit. We had to slow again to fix the dinghy. By this time, we were doing about 6 to 61/2 knots (4 ½ to 5 over the ground) and it was very comfortable. I talked Rick into having a sleep for a while and I got to relax at the helm. The rest of the sail took us longer but was very comfortable. We had some lunch and snacks while Allie Cat and we thought Promesa sailed past us. We found out later that it was Allie Cat and another boat. Promesa was still behind us having a few problems as well. Allie Cat arrived at our planned anchorage first and announced that there were big waves breaking in there so we had to choose another spot. We all decided to go around the point to the south end of the island and anchor at a resort that we noticed a couple of weeks ago. We rounded the point and Rick turned on the engine just before dropping the sails. Something didn’t sound quite right so I asked if there was water coming out of the exhaust. “I’m sure” he said. These were famous last words. A few minutes later I noticed a strange smell. He ran below and checked the strainer, sure enough, no water. I quickly turned the engine off but we had just dropped the headsails. The staysail went back up again while he got rid of the air block by pouring some water in the strainer and I turned the engine over with the kill switch on. Well another little panic moment dealt with. When @%$#@^$, the bilge alarm went off again. I was in the process of asking if he spilt a bit of water while filling the strainer when the thing sounded again. He went a checked and I couldn’t believe it! The muffler hose clamps had come loose and we were taking on seawater. He ran to get his tools but I said wait!! I’m in the anchorage, I still have the mainsail up and no one to drop the anchor. We decided to anchor quickly since the pump wasn’t running continually it was obviously coping with the volume of water. The anchor went down in 10 feet of water. I backed down on it and watched the bow swing across before I cut the engine again. The flow of water stopped when the engine stopped so it was again time to relax (mentally not physically).
Just before dark, a family came by in a pirogue to trade. There were three small children and the parents. They asked for something different at each boat. They asked us for sugar, which I happen to have lots so I gave them some sugar and candies for the children. They gave us a nice shell from Tortuga. I like to trade with the locals because they are extremely poor and trading is not begging. The sun had set and dinner was served. After 55 miles of sailing, this was not a gourmet dinner. We had pork chops cooked in mushroom soup with rice and beans.
The overnight anchorage appeared very rolly when we first arrived but it soon settled down to a calm quiet spot. We fell asleep very quickly but somehow I awoke at 3:30AM on the dot. I wanted to see the meteor shower that started at this time. I had no idea of which direction in the sky I should look so for a half hour I looked in every direction. There was a large fishing boat anchored well to the east of us but it had huge spotlights on polluting the sky in that direction. To the north of us was a resort in the middle of nowhere but with large streetlights so I couldn’t see very much in that direction. By 4 AM I had seen only one meteor so I went back to bed for the last hour of sleep.
We raised the anchor at 6AM and began our 37 mile motor sail east (wind on
the nose) to Porlamar. The sea was flat and the wind was light. It
was a very uneventful trip for us. The only excitement was a light bulb to
the goose neck lamp on the nav station burned out.
Leo on Promesa however, had to dive on his prop part way through the trip. They had lost all forward motion and didn’t know what the problem was. When he reached the prop he found a large woven bag wrapped around it.
We arrived in Porlamar by 2 PM. A lot of friends had arrived from Trinidad and Grenada so it was a fun reunion at Jaks during Happy Hour.
We had a great night sleep and now that we’re back on an island with stores we had to go to town. At 9AM we picked up Blanca. Leo remained on the boat to work on patching some dinghy leaks. On our way to shore, we stopped by Allie Cat who weren’t answering the radio. We found they had major electrical problems and Marcel had the whole boat pulled apart. We rescue Celine who decided suddenly to join us for a trip to town. After our running around, we stopped for some Italian ice cream before picking up pizza to go. When we dropped Celine off at her boat, we learned that Marcel hadn’t been able to find the electrical problem. Rick offered to help as soon as he finished his pizza. When Rick left to go to help Marcel, I took a short siesta. Rick hadn’t returned when I awoke so I put on my bathing suit and washed the salt off the deck and off of all of the stainless that Rick had just cleaned again last week. The salt spray is worse than salt water on the decks. The spray crystallizes and sticks to everything. Rick returned just after I finished. They hadn’t resolved Marcel’s problem but they had a new plan of attack for tomorrow. We raised the dinghy during a gorgeous sunset and sat in the cockpit with our sundowner.
We started our day within minutes after the Cruiser’s Net finished on the VHF at about 8:10 AM. We took dirty laundry to Mary our laundry lady. We dinghied from there over to the dinghy dock and took a cab downtown again. We had errands to run and Rick wanted to stop at the Internet Café. When we finished there, we walked a few blocks to a private clinic where I went to see a doctor about the cactus barbs in my fingers. It didn’t take him long and since there was no infection and I was not having trouble moving my fingers, he gave me a prescription for some cream to try. He didn’t want to cut them out. We left the clinic and stopped at a farmacia to pick up the cream. From there, we walked over to Rattan. There are always venders on the corner selling many things there including sunglasses. I needed a new pair and Rick thought I might get the best deal with one of the venders. I bought a pair of Police glasses. We started at $40,000 Bs but finally agreed upon $20,000 Bs (less than $10). On the same corner, is the salon that I visited before. Rick and I both went in and had our haircut. Next we went into Rattan and picked up a few groceries. We took a taxi back to the anchorage and learned it was just after 1PM. We were making very good time today. We took a quick dinghy ride back to the boat and put the refrigerated items away. Back we went to the dinghy dock and walked a few blocks to Vemasca (the marine store). They had just received a new shipment and hadn’t even had time to open the boxes yet. We bought 2 new regulators for the barbecue as well as some other barbecue parts. The big surprise was that we were able to buy some acetone. Acetone is not normally available in Venezuela because of the close proximity to Columbia. Acetone is required for the manufacturing of drugs so it is outlawed here. I think Vemasca was able to purchase it with a large shipment of boat paint that came in. We returned to the anchorage and met Globitou and Promesa at Jak’s for Happy Hour and dinner. While we were there, Charlie from Vemasca called us on the radio, some battery terminals that we had purchased were left on the counter. He said he was coming to Jak’s tomorrow so he would deliver them there for us.
We made it back to the boat before dark but not in time to pick up the clean laundry which we will have to do tomorrow.
Rick had a few boat chores he wanted to do first thing in the morning after which we went to pick up the laundry. We dropped the laundry at the boat and went ashore. I wanted to do some Christmas shopping so we took a taxi to Sambil. Sambil is the large American style mall with all the American brand name stores. We didn’t find much in the way of Christmas gifts but I was able to buy some cute decorations. One was a snowman holding a sign that says “Think Snow”. When we finished shopping, it was 1PM so we went to see a movie. They have a great Cineplex with large screens and comfortable seats. We saw Matrix because it happened to be the matinee that started at 1PM.
We returned to the anchorage and met everyone at Jaks for drinks. Since we bought a new regulator for the barbecue yesterday, I wanted to cook dinner on board to make sure it was working ok.
It was Sunday and we had no plans to leave the boat today. Number 1 on the priority list was to find the source of a couple of leaks we discovered on our sail back from Blanquilla. Rick thought that one of the chain plates might be a culprit. When we checked a couple of them looked like they might have leaked a little so Rick decided to clean out all of the old caulking and reseal them today. The other little leak was quite a surprise. The Starboard side of the hull occasionally has a few water spots on the hull. There is never any water, just these little spots. We have reseated and sealed everything there is to seal on the starboard side of the boat. Rick said the only other area it could come from was the anchor locker. I thought he was totally out to lunch because the marks were coming from the top of the deck and the anchor lock is sealed (I thought). We both went up on deck and looked down into the anchor locker and felt all around the bulkhead. Finally, we decided to use the deckwash hose (fresh water) and spray up and around the top inside edge of the locker. Well blow me down! It’s a good thing I had removed our mattress before doing this because the water poured in. There is a cable run that goes through the bulkhead into the starboard side of the top of the anchor locker across and back through the bulkhead on the port side. I guess when we’re on a good heel and taking strong waves over the bow, little splashes get through this unsealed cable run and travel along the liner ending up as little spots on my hull. Rick decided to fix this properly he will have to apply some fiberglass in the anchor locker. This is not a one-day job so he wasn’t prepared to start today. We put it on the to-do list.
While he was working on the chain plates I washed the plastic windows in the dodger and then cleaned half the lifelines. The lifelines were terrible but the only thing that cleans them in the salt environment is acetone. When we thought we might run out of the stuff I was asked not to "waste it" on the lifelines. Since we now have a couple of gallons, I was allowed to use it./p>
TThere was a lovely sunset in the evening and since we didn’t go anywhere, the dinghy was still in the davits from last night. It was a treat not to have to lift it for a change.
We’ve been in Venezuela almost three months and we have to renew within the next few day. We left our passports with Juan who will take care of everything for us. Meanwhile we went shopping at Sigo in the morning.
We joined Promesa and Globitou at Jak’s for Happy Hour. It was our last evening with Globitou who are leaving to head west tomorrow morning. They want to spend Christmas in the San Blas Islands before going through the Panama to the Pacific.
In the evening our laptop died as I was trying to burn a disc for Globitou. It would not do anything. I tried all my little tricks to try and get it just to blink a little but it was totally gone.
I took our laptop into Sven who was recommended by Juan as a good computer repairman. While I was waiting for Sven to arrive, Rick went shopping in the pedestrian mall for some new shorts with Celine and Marcel (Allie Cat). He also stopped at customs to check out of Margarita. At 3PM when he returned Sven still hadn’t arrived. He eventually showed up at 4PM. After taking a quick look at the computer he announced that the problem was major. He would check it further and get back to me by 11:30 tomorrow.
The winds changed direction and the anchorage became quite rolly. Rick and I picked up Blanca (their dinghy still had a leak). She went to Sigo, Leo worked on the dinghy and we went to CM (another grocery store). We bought some staples as well as treats for the people living on Cubagua. When we had the groceries on board we picked up Leo and brought him ashore for lunch. Afterward, the guys walked to Vemasca while Blanca and I sat and drank Café con Leché at Jak’s waiting for Sven. Sven arrived (on time) and reported that I needed a new motherboard for the computer. He would have to order it and have it shipped to the island so the computer wouldn’t be ready until next Wednesday. I notified my web master (Kelly) that the journal would be delayed a while.
It was a very rolly night with some heavy rain for a few minutes.
The day started innocently enough. Rick took Blanca and me to the beach so we could drop off our laundry. We said goodbye to Allie Cat, Windmiller and KaraDream who left for Cubagua. Leo and Blanca went to town where they both had a haircut. I prepared a big pot of mashed potatoes for both Promesa’s and Wind-Borne’s contribution to a big potluck American Thanksgiving dinner at Jak’s. Leo and Blanca returned from town with replacement potatoes for both of us but they forgot to pick up the laundry. No Problem! Rick took us to shore again to pick up the laundry. Meanwhile Leo remained on Promesa and attempted to contact "Water Baby". This is the boat that delivers water to boats in the anchorage. In the dinghy, on our way back with the laundry, Blanca was talking. Blanca is Colombian/Canadian and very Latin. She therefore speaks using facial expressions and her hands a lot. So as she was speaking this time she whipped her brand new prescription glasses overboard. Rick tossed me his hearing aids and quickly slipped of the dinghy into the water. He didn’t have a snorkel mask but tried to find them. The bottom was very grassy and the sky was cloudy so he wasn’t very successful. We dropped an anchor and some fishermen in a pirogue stopped by to see if we had a problem. Blanca had them take her back to her boat to get snorkel gear and Leo. We stayed on the spot. They returned and Leo dove for well over an hour while we returned to our boat and I finished cooking the potatoes. Rick and I had a shower (Rick’s second shower in 60 minutes as he had one just before we went to get the laundry). It was time to leave for the potluck so Rick and I headed in and reserved seating for the four of us. Blanca and Leo arrived shortly after but in the middle of a major squall. They were totally drenched and Blanca still didn’t have her glasses. It was a wonderful dinner. Jackie of Jak’s Restaurant roasted the turkeys and the rest of the meal was potluck provided by the cruisers. The wind and the rain continued all evening. It seemed to have let up a bit so we left to return to the boat. As we were walking down the dock, all of the lights went out. Jak’s and many of the highrise apartments were in darkness. Lightening and thunder were all around us. We just made it back to the boat when the deluge began again. We lifted the outboard but left the dinghy in the water locked to the boat. It was too rough to try and raise the dinghy. We went right to bed but didn’t get a lot of sleep with all of the rocking and rolling.
The storm continued all night and eased up a little just before lunch. We were suppose to have left for Cubagua but with 30 knot winds gusting to 40 and 45 and rain so heavy we couldn’t see past our bow, we felt it was prudent to wait a while. Promesa came by around 2PM and suggested lunch at Jak’s.
We returned to the boat at 4:30PM, raised the dinghy for departure tomorrow. Leo wants one more chance to find Blanca’s glasses so we’ll leave late in the morning.
We took our time getting ready to leave in the morning and left about 10AM.
Blanca and Leo had tried snorkeling for Blanca’s glasses one last time but
eventually gave up.
We had an amazing downwind sail. The waves were much smaller than we
expected with all the wind we’ve had over the last few days. As we were
enjoying the sail and munching on mandarin oranges, I found myself humming
Christmas Carols. I’m not allowed to start playing the CD’s until December
1st. Rick and I commented that it really was starting to feel a lot like
Christmas albeit the temperature was in the mid 90’s. We had brought bags
of food, clothing
and treats to give to the few families that live on Cubagua.
We arrived just after 3PM and once the anchor was set Rick let me know that he
wasn’t feeling well. He stayed aboard while Leo and Blanca picked me up to
go ashore. The people were very poor but
the children appeared happy and well cared for. One lady thanked us for
the gifts with hugs and kisses. Another gave us gifts. She offered
us some fish and her husband gave Blanca and me a couple of pearls.
When we returned to the boat I gave Rick some chicken broth and he slept for
a while. I made some bread as he slept and when he awoke and asked for a
peanut
butter sandwich I knew he was feeling better.
Rick was up first and made the coffee before waking me. We were
underway by 6AM. This day he took a seasick pill before we left. It
was a great beamreach most of the way. We had just passed the half way
mark when a huge pod of dolphins arrived and danced all around the boat for at
least 20 minutes. While some where jumping at the bow others were swimming
along side and going side to side under the boat. It was wonderful to
watch but tricky to capture on a digital camera. One of these
times I want
to drop the sails and jump in and swim with them. The problem is we never
know how long they are going to stay.
We arrived at Chimana Segunda (which was our original destination) at 2 PM.
We had read in the guidebooks that the anchorage can be busy on weekends but
that was an understatement. There wasn’t enough room left to anchor a
surfboard. I thought we should just continue on to Puerto La Cruz but we
weren’t able to get a response on the radio from the marina. It was
Sunday. Blanca suggested that we try Chimana Grande where there were a few
deep anchorages. Most of the anchorages there require 2 anchors to be set
except Cienaga. We must have tried every square inch of the bay
and
couldn’t get an anchor to set. Poor Rick was huffing and puffing after our
5th try. Finally both Promesa and ourselves dropped our anchors near the
mangroves and just left them. We knew they weren’t set but the wind was
dying so we thought we’d take our chances. A few minutes later a small
gust had us almost kissing the mangroves. We decided to try a little
fisherman’s anchor that we purchased from Rasi last year. It of course,
was buried beneath everything in the back cockpit locker. Rick dug it out
and we backed the boat up enough to toss the anchor over the stern. We
should have used it as our primary anchor. The little thing dug in
perfectly.
Promesa, after kissing the mangroves and going aground a little decided just before dark to move to the other side of the bay where some locals had been anchored. All of the weekenders had left so it was just the two of us in the bay with a few pirogues belonging to some fishermen. We had dinner and went to bed early.
