Today was International Labor Day another holiday in Venezuela. We were up at 5AM for the trip to the airport. We left the boat at 6:15AM thinking we were arriving in lots of time. Her 8AM flight had been changed to 7:15AM so our arrival at a little after 6:30AM was perfect. It was hard saying goodbye because we had no idea how long until we would see her again. We left the airport and returned to what felt like a very empty boat. At 8AM we went for breakfast at the Ancla Restaurant and finished in time for the monthly swap meet. I sold our small underwater 35-millimetre camera and Rick sold his extra Spartite kit. The good news was that we walked away without buying anything this time.
When we returned to the boat Rick read for a while and I had a siesta. It was just after lunch when Rick decided to service the batteries. As he was checking them, he dropped a battery cap into the bilge. Since the cap isn’t metal it was almost impossible to retrieve it. He tried every long handled stick and every type of sticky tape he had on board. It became a job that consumed the rest of the day but finally he retrieved it.
When the boat was put back together we both showered and changed for dinner. Marla (Apsara) had invited us to join her at the Ancla for dinner. Ann (who took us to the Scout Rally last week) joined us as well. It was an enjoyable evening but by 7:45PM we all agreed that it was past our bedtime.
Things were back to normal today. Rick foraged for breakfast at the
mini mart and returned with our favourite yogurt. He had promised to go
over and help Rod (Windmiller) put the Spartite he bought from us on his mast
which judging by how long it took to do our mast, I knew I would have the boat
to myself for most of the day. I tidied, gathered laundry, caught up with
some email and organised pictures. It was a good day. When Rick
returned he washed some halyards he had put to soak earlier. We watched TV
and had dinner on board.
Today was a very frustrating but successful day. Loads and loads of dirty laundry went be cleaned. Additional loads that I wanted to wash by hand remained on the boat. I put the first load of hand laundry to soak and it remained there all day. I never got back to it. We forgot to pick up the rest from the laundry lady until it was too late. We did however install and finally get to work, a RF modulator. It took both of us (especially Rick who pulled in a new coax cable) the whole day. We now have our TV working through Cable or Antenna. It displays VHS video from the video player and DVDs using S-Video from our laptop. Believe it or not everything works great.
Today was laundry day so of course it rained. I had sheets and settee covers hanging all over the boat and I was down below having a shower when I heard a great roll of thunder and Rick yelled, Rain! By the time I was able to get out of the shower and dry sufficiently to make an entrance into the main salon, Rick had brought all of the partially dry laundry below. In fact as I opened the head door he started jabbering in Chinese because the interior of the boat definitely looked like a Chinese laundry with everything handing from handrails and hooks.
I put another load of laundry to soak and we went to the Ancla Restaurant for lunch. We joined Norma and Bob (Happy Hours) who had just returned from Peru. They told us all about their trip, which was wonderful, but almost everyone had a problem with altitude sickness and for some it was very severe. We want to take the same trip maybe next year and now at least we’ll be aware of how seriously the altitude can affect us and take along some medication.
When we returned to the boat I was able to finish the second load of laundry before a scheduled life raft demonstration at 4PM. The demonstration was interesting, the company here that services life rafts deployed two of them for us to inspect before servicing them. This same company sells flares and some how or other I am now gathering orders from all cruisers requiring new flares so that we can place one bulk order. We need some new parachute and handheld flares and for some reason they are cheaper here than at home.
We returned to the boat and had a quiet evening doing nothing.
The count down has begun. Today we went to a marine store a picked up some of our antifouling paint. The rest should be delivered to our boat within the next day or so. The plan is that we will haul out for one week beginning May 17th and have some antifouling paint applied. I have also started preparing a provisioning list. Other than fresh meat, fruit and vegetables I am going to start shopping so that once we’re back in the water we can take off almost immediately. That’s the plan but we’ll see how it unfolds.
We returned from the marine store and dumped our purchases on the boat. Then we walked out of the marina again and picked up some fresh vegetables and fruit from a small stand just a little way down the street. I made a beef stir-fry and we had dinner on board.
We left the marina about 10:30AM to go downtown for a few things. We
always enjoy walking around downtown but never seem to accomplish everything we
set out to do. That’s exactly what happened this time. We picked up
a few things on our list and before we knew it the stores were all closed for
siesta. We had lunch, walked around, and killed time until 2PM waiting for
one store in particular to open. It was about 2:15PM when we finally
learned that this store didn’t open again until 3PM. It was time to forget
it and return to the marina. Back at the boat we had our own little siesta
and then got ready to go out for dinner. We met Marci, Rod, Stephanie (Windmiller),
Frankie, Roger (Infinity) and Don (Odetta) at
the marina gate. Two taxies
were needed to take all of us to Paseo Colon. We had planned to have
dinner at a restaurant called Neptune’s but after quite a while waiting and
still no service we gave up and went to an Italian restaurant nearby. We
were greeted like regulars and served free antipasto while we waited for our
meals. After a nice evening we returned to the marina and had café con
leché at the Ancla Restaurant.
Rick helped our neighbour Tim (Nanou) sort out some wiring problems with his
solar panels and when that was finished we had Potter take us to a computer
store in Barcelona. It was a great store and one of the first computer
stores with some
things actually in stock. We picked up a new USB hub as
our existing one died. Since they had some USB to serial port adapters
(the first time we’ve found them in Venezuela), we bought a couple of spares.
We made it back to the boat in time to put the things away and walk out to a
small ferry that transports people across the canal. We took the ferry as
a short cut to the Caribbean Mall where we met a group of cruisers for lunch.
It was a fun lunch in the casino. After a great meal we sat at our tables
and played a couple of games of Bingo. It was tough, The numbers are
displayed and called quickly in Spanish which is a great way to learn our
numbers. We roamed the mall after lunch, I bought a tower of blank CDs and
Rick bought a new headset to use with the SSB. It was late afternoon when
we returned to the boat and hooked up all of our new equipment. Neither of
us was hungry so we skipped dinner and watched TV instead.
Rick was working like a maniac. I had to call him inside before 7:30AM. He was washing another halyard and cleaning some stainless. As soon as he finished eating his breakfast he was on the run again. Karen in the mini mart offered to let us put our frozen food in her freezer while we equalised the batteries today. It takes exactly 8 hours for our batteries to complete the equalisation cycle and during that time we had no DC power at all. The water pressure system, fans, refrigeration, lights, TV etc. were all disconnected so the boat seemed a little warmer than usual. The AC power was not an issue so I used this opportunity to organise our pictures and back up the computer files. We had lunch at the Ancla Restaurant and a siesta in the afternoon. When the batteries were finished I emptied and washed the refrigerator before turning it back on.
We had a snack and spent the evening reading.
Happy Mothers Day, We both wanted something different for breakfast today so
I baked some scones. We had them with some nice French jam and butter for
our Mother’s Day breakfast. Baking at 7:30AM was not too bad, the boat had
just begun to heat up but wasn’t unbearable yet.
Arnaldo, the dockmaster came by and gave each of the ladies a rose for Mother’s Day.
Five boats, Don, Judy (Thalia), Tony, Benta (Side by Side), Joan, Dan
(Mainly), Fankie, Roger (Infinity) and us, went to Mare Mares for a special
Mother’s Day Brunch. It was a wonderful buffet with much too much food.
We tried but couldn’t sample a little bit of each dish and still we ate way more
than we should have. There
was a live band to entertain us and they gave
each of the ladies a lovely pink carnation corsage and served us a special fruit
punch. I thought that Rick should receive at least 10 points for making my
Mother’s Day very special but he wasn’t finished. We returned to the boat
and had a short siesta and then we were up and ready to go again by 5PM.
Tony and Benta joined us and we went to the circus. Now this was a
one-ring circus like we use to see when we were young. There were seven
tigers, 3 of them were white tigers, elephants, monkeys, camels, zebras and
small ponies. All the animals were extremely well trained and seemed to be
having as much fun as their trainer. There were of course many clowns,
trapeze acts, high wire and acrobatic acts. Although we had no idea what
the announcer was saying, there was so much audience participation
that we
couldn’t help but laugh and clap along with everyone else.
When we left the circus, we roamed through the amusement park area and Plaza Mayor for a while. The plaza was busier than I’ve ever seen it. I think however that this was the first time we had been there in the evening. We eventually returned to the boat and went to bed.
This was a follow-up day. I called to see if some shirts we had ordered were ready. They were, and can be picked up anytime. Rick called to find out where our antifouling paint was. It was on the truck and should be delivered tomorrow.
In the afternoon, Rick emptied the jerry cans of diesel into the tank then we took a dinghy ride to Plaza Mayor. I picked up a few groceries for the Monday night pot luck dinner. When we returned, I started preparing food while Rick took the empty jerry cans to be filled. He bought 15 gallons at 2 cents a litre.
Dinner was fun, we shared a table with Joan, Dan (Mainly), Ray and Kayla (Kismet).
Things are coming together nicely. In the morning we did some major shopping at Makro (which is similar to Costco). It was noon when we returned to the boat and a little too hot to do much so we had a short siesta and then stowed everything away properly. Later in the afternoon, the paint finally arrived and Karen in the Mini Mart called to let me know the Flares I had ordered were delivered as well.
This was a busy day! When the morning Net was over, I set myself up at a table outside the Mini Mart to distribute flares to the boats that had ordered them. Some showed up but the other’s I will chase down tomorrow.
When I finished with flares, Rick and I took a taxi to EPA (like Home Depot) and picked up a few supplies. We left there and went to the shirt place in Lecheria where our monogrammed shirts were ready. Really they were almost ready. One of the colours I had ordered was not available and they wanted my approval before substituting a colour. We took the shirts that were ready but had to return later for the last couple to be monogrammed. After stopping in a local restaurant for some lunch we returned to the boat for a siesta. By 4PM we went back and picked up the remaining shirts. We then went to the large pharmacy near Plaza Mayor and pick up some prescriptions before going to Unicasa for the last of our non-perishable provisioning. It was dark when we returned to the boat. I got most things ready to put away but we went for dinner before finishing. Stowing things takes time. First we get rid of all cardboard and excess packaging. Then we inventory everything as it is put away. It was 10:30PM by the time we finished.
We awoke to a nice overcast sky today. I say nice because Rick had wanted to go up the mast and wash the rigging. He would only last a short while if the sun was blazing as it normally does. He climbed up with the hose and a scrubber first thing in the morning and didn’t come down until almost 2PM. I sent a beer up just before noon using a halyard but he worked non stop other than the one break. While he was up there I was on watch and socialising with people as they walked by. It was my job to lower his safety line by a few inches as he scrubbed the mast and standing rigging from top to bottom. The most fun was the backstay. In the midst of his scrubbing a TV crew was here shooting some footage for something. They used quite a bit of it on Rick and our boat. We have no idea what program it was for but they also spent time interviewing Roger (Infinity), all in Spanish of course.
We joined a gang for dinner and the Thursday night movie at the Ancla Restaurant.
Our passports expired today so I had them renewed first thing in the morning. We took our laundry in and made some phone calls. Rick shared a taxi with Judy and Bud (Gonzo II) to do a little shopping. He went to pick up spare fan belts and a new boat hook. I stayed behind to tidy and clean. In the afternoon we lounged and read until dinner, which we had on board.
I did some hand laundry while Rick went into town to exchange a thru hull and
seacock we had purchased for a spare macerator pump. When he returned we
met Celine (Allie Cat) and took a taxi to a “Christmas in June, May Bazaar.”
It was good but we had expected there to be more artisans than there were.
We returned to the marina and had a light lunch before a siesta.
In the evening I had to dig out and iron long pants for Rick and an outfit for myself. We had dinner reservations with Side by Side, Happy Ours, Infinity, and Texas Reb at a lovely French Restaurant called Babyloni. The dinner and evening were both wonderful.
I slept a little late in the morning but Rick was up at his normal time.
Since it was Sunday I went into my “let’s have something different for
breakfast” routine. I thought we should have some Irish soda bread.
The fact that I didn’t have all the ingredients on board didn’t seem to be an
issue. I used normal milk instead of buttermilk so they weren’t perfect
but I didn’t hear any complaints. We both had a few last things we needed
to do before hauling out tomorrow. Rick’s biggest job was to reroute some
of the thru hull bonding. He had metered the wires a while ago and the
reading indicated overprotection. We think this might be the cause of the
antifouling peeling away
from around a couple of the thru hulls. We both
finished everything that we could by 3PM. This left us just enough time
for a quick shower before meeting Roberto at 4PM by the restaurant. Marie
Elena and Roberto had invited us, Norma, Bob (Happy Ours), Don (Odetta) and Reid
(Lorelei) to their house for dinner. They also invited Arnaldo the
dockmaster. Poor Arnaldo however was recruited as the barbecue chef.
He was a very good chef but Roberto sure had a lot of meat for him to cook.
Mary Elena as usual made some wonderful side dishes. We had baked onions
stuffed with mashed potatoes, three cheeses, ham and bacon. She also made
a wonderful Cauliflower casserole. We had a very special afternoon and
evening at their house, which they
built themselves on the canal system.
The house was beautiful and the view spectacular.
Arnaldo gave us a ride back to the marina where we checked for last minute things again but found nothing left to do. Although the lines have been tied to the dock for almost six months, it appears that we’re ready to let them go early tomorrow morning.
Arnaldo came to the marina early and it was a good thing because Marcel and
Celine (Allie Cat) who we had recruited to help us away from the dock, forgot.
Arnaldo released our mooring lines and Marla
(Apsara) who happened to be walking
by released our dock lines. We headed out of the marina and into the canal
towards the Aqua-Vi Marina. Arnaldo meanwhile, went whizzing by us in his
dinghy. Since we were arriving early he made sure that there were
dockhands ready to help us into the haulout at Aqua-Vi. Considering it’s
been awhile since I’ve been at the helm, I was reasonably pleased (after the
fact) with our backing into the haulout slip. It took quite a few tries
due to the cross current in the canal but I eventually was able to get the stern
close enough that Rick could throw a line and they could pull us in while I
powered in reverse. It didn’t take long and the yard hands had us in a
nice spot bow facing the water and breeze. Marcel called and was
very
apologetic about forgetting us. I assured him that everything had gone
well and it wasn’t a problem. We took a taxi back to Bahia Redonda and
found that another boat was already in our slip. We had lunch at the Ancla
before returning to Aqua-Vi in our dinghy that we had left at the dinghy dock.
We both needed a little siesta, which worked out perfectly. At 2PM I was applying the masking tape so that I could begin sanding our upper (waterline) antifouling before the yard hands wanted to start on the lower antifouling. They can’t be done at the same time because we have hard paint at the waterline and ablative paint below the waterline. Well as soon as I put the first inch of tape on, a yard hand (whose name I don’t know yet) said he would sand everything for us. I think this is going to be the easiest haulout we’ve ever had.
Rick began preparing the rub rail for a light coat of Cetol gloss. The
yard hands finished at 4:30PM, Rick called it a day by 5:30PM. After a
quick shower and change of clothes we thought we’d try the Aqua-Vi Restaurant
for dinner. It was wonderful but a little more expensive than our usual
hangouts. We had a perfect Caesar salad prepared at our table and then a
fish meal that could have been easily confused for chicken. The fish was
similar to Dorado but milder. It was deboned, lightly breaded and stuffed
with ham and cheese. (I called it Fish Cordon Bleu.) It was served
in sautéed tomatoes with fresh basil. Neither of us could finish
everything on our plate. We waddled back to the boat and went to bed.
Today, Rick taped and lightly sanded the rub rails. I finished taping and got the first two coats of paint on the waterline. Rick did the last coat for me because he was already super filthy. It took me longer after each coat of paint to clean the paint off myself, than it took for me to apply it to the boat. It was a little after 5PM when we stopped to have a shower. We considered taking the dinghy over to Bahia Redonda but Rick was a little tired so we took a taxi both ways. While at the marina we stopped to visit with Leo and Blanca (Promesa) and then Tim and Pauline (Nanou) before going for dinner at the Ancla Restaurant.
It was obvious in the morning that we were going to have rain. Our timing was good. Our yard hand was able to get the first coat of antifouling on the hull. Rick applied the Cetol to the rub rails and we left to go to Plaza Mayor with Joan (Mainly). On our way back to the marina in a taxi, the heavens opened up and we received enough rain to last us for quite a while. What was unusual, was that the skies eventually cleared for a while but then the rain started again, this time in an all day type of drizzle which we don’t normally get.
We met with the other “on the hard” cruisers at 5PM for a potluck Happy Hour. Our tables and chairs were well protected from the rain by the large overhang of the building. Natalie and Ed (Safari) came by walking Bambi the dog and Bob the Cockatoo. Bob loves people and sat on everyone’s arm or shoulder. He gave kisses and did tricks with everyone and made it very clear that he didn’t want to leave when Ed wanted him to return to the boat. It was an enjoyable evening especially since it was raining. We would have all been closed up in our boats.
Another rainy day. There was enough time between downpours for the second coat of antifouling paint to be applied. Rick painted the prop and removed the masking tape from the rub rails. The yard hands even got the hull washed. Potter picked us up at 10AM and took us on a rum run. We bought enough rum, wine and cigarettes to last us until next December. It isn’t necessarily all for us, especially the cigarettes. The rum and cigarettes are what we need to trade with the fishermen for fish and lobster at the out islands. We had lunch at the Aqua-Vi Restaurant and then had a siesta. I awoke before Rick and found it had just finished raining again. I left him a note and went to the pool for a swim. Neither of us was very hungry so we had a snack and watched a movie while it continued to rain all evening.
We were still under very cloudy skies but the boat is finished and we’re ready to splash again. We will probably stay on the hard until Monday as the cost of haulout included 7 days on the hard. It will also give the paint a few more days to harden before going in the slings.
The yard hands finished painting and then cleaned and polished the hull for us to day. Wind-Borne now sparkles like a new boat again. I did some laundry in the morning, which involved putting the clothes into the washer and dryer by myself as well as having to fold them. Aqua-Vi doesn’t have a laundry lady but they do have machines. It wasn’t bad but I do miss the laundry lady’s touch.
In the afternoon we had a swim and then sat by the pool with a bottle of wine and our books. At times it looked as if it might rain but the dark clouds passed right by without a sprinkle. We had a nice dinner at the Ancla Restaurant.
The sun was shining again and the boat is basically finished and ready to go back in the water. After breakfast Rick began the day by washing all the grills and blades on our fans (7 of them). I started plotting routes and waypoints in anticipation of leaving next week. By 10AM we were both finished and Rick suggested that we go shopping. As we were leaving, we stopped by Mainly to see if Dan and Joan wanted to join us. It was a silly question, no one wants to stay aboard a boat that’s sitting on the hard. The four of us took a taxi to Exito where we bought a few more provisions (many pounds of Venezuelan coffee) as well as some new bathing suits/shorts for Rick and a pair of thongs for me. We returned to the marina and agreed to meet again for dinner at 6PM. Rick and I had a siesta while Joan and Dan went to Bahia Redonda to get a weekend newspaper. We all thought that dinner of Chateaubriand at El Morocco Restaurant sounded great since it was downtown. After dinner we found the downtown streets hopping with music and people but Paseo Colon was a little quieter than normal. It was after 9:30PM when we returned to the marina after a very enjoyable evening.
This location had been so quiet until last night. There must have been two different parties going on. One was on the opposite side of the canal from us and the other was in the community centre next door to the hotel. The bass throbbed all night long. It was around 6AM when it finally stopped. I slept a little later than normal so it wasn’t until 7:30 when I awoke and Rick asked if I slept well!!! He had already started applying a gloss coat of Cetol to the trail boards. He was finished by 8:30AM and we went to the hotel breakfast buffet since it was Sunday. Afterward we went by dinghy to Bahia Redonda to exchange some books. Karen��s Mini Mart has one of the best trading libraries in the Caribbean. I had a little siesta when we returned but Rick started polishing his stainless steel. We spent the afternoon aboard Blind Date with Ashley and Carol who gave us the locations of their favourite anchorages in the Los Roques and the Las Aves Islands.
We left Blind Date and I immediately entered all of the waypoints into our electronic charts. We went for dinner at the hotel restaurant craving a Caesar Salad. It was either too early or they were out of one of the ingredients but Caesar Salad was not available. We skipped the salad and had a pasta dinner. Afterwards we returned to the boat and called it a day.
After a week on the hard, climbing up and down the ladder with sandals caked with mud it felt great to get back into the water today. We weren’t supposed to be launched until 2:30PM so right after the net at 8:30AM we jumped into the dinghy and took bags of laundry over to Bahia Redonda. Rick also took our boom tent up to the North Sails Office to have a small rip patched. The canvas was fixed in 20 minutes. We had a light breakfast at the Ancla and returned to Aqua-Vi. As soon as we arrived the travel lift operator asked if he could put us in the water then. It was only about 10:30AM but we said sure. They lifted the boat and painted under the keel where we had been sitting on the blocks. By the time they waited for the paint to dry a bit, it was lunchtime when we splashed and moved over to our slip at Aqua-Vi. It was perfect timing. We closed up the ports and hatches because Rick wanted to wash the deck. He was about half-finished when we heard the thunder. So he just kept washing and the rain rinsed everything off for him.
We returned to Bahia Redonda to pick up the clean laundry but didn’t stay for
the Monday night potluck dinner. I had additional laundry soaking back at
the boat that
I wanted to finish tonight. While I sat by the washing
machines, Rick brought me a drink and prepared dinner. When I returned to
the boat and as I was putting the laundry away, he turned on the barbecue and we
had a nice steak dinner on board.
In preparation for some time offshore especially after time on the hard a
little pampering was called for. This morning a bunch of the ladies
(including me) left for a day at the spa. We were picked up a little after
8:30AM and driven up into the mountains to a natural spa called “Leche y Miel”
(Milk and Honey). After receiving a welcome drink of fresh mango juice we
split up into two groups. The group I was in
left the Spa and drove a
little further up the mountain to a natural hot spring. We could smell the sulphur before we actually reached the spring, which was down a little hill.
It was definitely natural with lots of mud and rocks. Initially it didn’t
really appeal to any of us to climb into this water but Gonzalo, the owner of
the spa assured us that it was not only good for us but that we would enjoy it.
We were surprised how extremely hot the water was in spots. Wherever we
could see bubbles it was much to hot for our skin. Gonzalo moved some
rocks and picked up some handfuls of what he called “Virgin Clay”. It
looked terrible but as he spread it on our skin we could feel what a wonderful
exfoliate it was. Once it dried we had to go back into the hot springs to
have the mud washed off. Although I was the first to have the mud applied
I was the last to have it washed off because my mud just wouldn’t dry.
Evidently that means I have healthy skin that hasn’t been dried out by the sun.
On our drive back to the Spa we stopped at a local’s house for some cane juice.
It was good but very sweet.
We arrived at the Spa and had a swim in one of the pools. The water was
fresh
water from the Neverie River so it was very cold in comparison to the hot
springs. Next we had a hydro massage. Gonzalo used a large hose of
at least 2 inches in diameter and actually massaged our body using the water.
We were all starving by this time and lunch was a real meal. We had salad,
wood oven roasted chicken, steamed potatoes, sweet plantains, cabbage and bread.
When lunch was finished our two groups split up again and this time we remained
at the Spa. Our first afternoon treat was a different type of mud bath.
Our bodies were rubbed with mixture of clay, honey, aloe vera, flower pollen,
essential oils and lavender. Once this dried and was washed off in the
pool we were coated with a mixture of mango, peaches, essence
of flowers and
oils from flowers. The small chunks of mango were dripping from our bodies
as we again went for a dip in the pool. We received another hydro massage,
this one was referred to as a pinpoint massage because a much smaller hose was
used. Last but not least, we finished with a facial of honey, milk and
almond oil. It was a near perfect day. The only disappointment was
that there was a heavy downpour of rain when the second group went to the hot
springs. They didn’t feel comfortable staying, as there appeared to be
some small mudslides forming and running into the hot springs. So they
left before having their mud bath.
We returned to the marina all looking at least 20 years younger. I
found that Rick had done his boat chores and mine. The floor was washed
and the brass taps polished. To top the day off we went for dinner with
Judy, Bud (Gonzo II) Joan and Dan (Mainly). The men continued to pamper
the three of us who had already had a day full of pampering.
We were up and running right after the net. We went by dinghy to Bahia Redonda, picked up cash, left our passports and boat papers to be checked out of Venezuela and left my meat order with Carlos (Charlie Alpha) who promised to call it in to La Cava the butcher shop. We then jumped back into the dinghy and went to Plaza Mayor. We were a little too early and had to wait a half-hour until the hair salon opened at 11AM. We needed a haircut before sailing off. We left the salon looking beautiful and went shopping for our perishable foods at Unicasa. We were able to pick up everything we went for. Our timing was good, we returned to the boat, climbed aboard and had almost everything cleaned and put away before it started to rain. I called Carlos to make sure that the meat order was called in before taking a taxi to pick it up. Carlos had been trying to reach us all day. There was a delay at the Port Captain’s Office and our papers would not be ready for tomorrow. No problem, we’ll take a day off and leave the next day. Our scheduled departure date is now Friday 28th. We don’t plan to go very far that day just move out to stage at one of the small islands.
Our goodbye dinner was already planned for this night with Blanca and Leo and we didn’t change it. They came over by dinghy to the French restaurant directly across the canal from our boat. It was a very enjoyable evening that lasted well past our bedtime.
Finally, this was really our last day. I think that every day we call our last day, we go out and buy more food. There are absolutely no storage areas left on the boat with an inch of space. We decided to not purchase any more paper charts. They’re much too expensive and we never seem to use them. Instead I started printing from our navigational software all of the charts especially the bays and harbours that we were missing for this leg of the trip. Wouldn’t you know it, in Grenada, the print head for the colour cartridges in our printer died so we could only print in black and white for a while. That worked out well because the colour cartridges are extremely expensive. This time I started printing the charts from here to Curaçao in black and white since I had lots of black ink cartridges on board. The print head for the black ink cartridges died! I wasn’t even going to attempt to find a new one in Venezuela today. So we have nice coloured charts for the areas we needed. We walked around down town for a while and stopped for rotisserie chicken and salad for lunch. When we returned to the boat after a little nap we called over to Bahia Redonda to see if our Zarpe (Exit) papers were ready. They were and would be delivered to our boat in a while but we decided to take a dinghy ride over and say good bye to everyone at Bahia Redonda so we picked them up while we there.
We returned to Aqua-Vi and I did one last load of laundry using washing machines. As far as I can determine everything is ready to go. The waypoints are loaded, we’ve been tracking the weather, the water tank is full and the dinghy is ready to lift. It’s difficult to know for sure if that’s everything because it’s been so long that we almost forget what we need to go sailing.
We went out for a last dinner ashore for a while and it was excellent.
I didn’t get much sleep last night I was in the head every couple of hours. That was my own fault as I had been drinking massive amounts of fruit juice the last couple of days. I knew I would miss all of the wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice as well as all of the fresh tropical fruits once we left here so I over did it a bit. What wasn’t my fault was the disco across the canal had their music blaring until 5:30 AM. So needless to say I wasn’t moving very quickly in the morning. We had a planned departure for 10AM and that’s exactly when we left. First thing that happened was that for some reason, the GPS was bouncing all over the place. Rick calmly suggested that we connect our handheld GPS to the computer while we sorted out the problem with the other. We never did find the problem because it all of a sudden worked fine. We arrived at the anchorage in La Borracha at 12:10PM. There was a good size local powerboat there. The owner and his young daughter came by to ask if we would be spending the night. When we indicated we would be staying he said that he would keep an eye on us and asked if we would watch out for them as well. When we’re this close to the mainland even the locals are a little nervous of banditos and pirates so there is safety in numbers.
We had expected Tim and Pauline (Nanou) to arrive but they didn’t. We could tell it’s been way too long since we’ve been on the water. I set the anchor alarm but for got to use my little compass to keep an eye on our bearing. In fact I couldn’t even remember where we put it. Rick noticed that he had put the paddle on the windvane backwards when reassembling it way back at Blanquilla! It’s good we only went a short distance overnight to stage for the longer trip. It gave us time to sort things out and to remember how to sail.
Our initial plan was to leave for Tortuga today but I was pretty much incapacitated yesterday so we decided to stay another day. When we listened to the weather forecast it was for the better. There was a strong Tropical Wave coming through today so heavy rain in the afternoon was forecasted. It’s very unusual for a Tropical Wave to come this far south.
We were just finishing breakfast and we saw a sailboat arriving. It was Nanou. They had arrived yesterday and anchored at the island but never did find the right bay. They were on their way to Tortuga this morning but their self-furling mainsail was jammed. They decided to return and sort things out and this time they found the correct bay.
I still wasn’t feeling up to par so I didn’t do much other than get the watermaker back into service. It had been sitting in a pickling solution for the last 6 months. Rick cleaned the bottom of the dinghy and fixed the windvane before going for a quick swim.
By 3PM things were hopping in the bay. Our quiet secluded spot was a weekend haunt. The locals invaded the place. There were now 17 boats in total the majority of them were powerboats.
By 6PM most of the powerboats left but all of the sailboats remained. Three of the sailboats anchored close to us. When they all jumped into the water for a swim, one lady swam over to talk to us. She couldn’t believe that neither Rick nor I recognised her. It was the Mother of our laundry lady from Bahia Redonda. We told he we weren’t use to seeing her in a bathing suit. We spoke with her and her husband for quite a while. Rick had warmed up some chicken noodle soup for me at lunchtime and I think that gave me enough energy to make him a nice dinner in the evening. We did see the Tropical Wave go by but it certainly wasn’t strong enough to cause anyone (other than ourselves) to remain at anchor.
I set the alarm for 4:30AM but Rick was awake and making tea by 4:15. I was feeling much better today but not ready to drink coffee yet. The sky looked quite ominous but there wasn’t a lot of daylight to really observe the cloud formations. We started the engine at 5:15AM or I should say that we tried to start the engine. For the first time Wind-Borne hiccuped and didn’t really want to go. She was probably trying to tell us something. It sounded like a battery issue so we just combined the house battery bank with the starter batteries and she sprang to life. The starter battery came with the boat when we bought her in 1997 so it may need replacing. We raised the anchor and watched Nanou do the same. There was just enough light as we left the bay to see the rows and rows of black storm clouds. We could see clearing on the other side of them so we decided to continue on. We skirted around them for a while but eventually they caught us. We had great downpours of rain but no wind. The temperature however dropped to the point that the captain needed a jacket, hat and mittens. There are no mittens on board. We worked our way out of the black clouds and found the sky totally overcast. We saw a large school of dolphins but instead of dancing and playing at our bow they raced right by us going the opposite direction. I think this was indication that we were going the wrong way. It wasn’t long before rows of the puffy wind clouds were seen coming our way. They brought strong gusty winds that of course eventually caused the seas to build. We noticed Nanou appeared to be heading on a more southerly direction than we were so we called to check. Sure enough, he had a different anchorage in mind than us. They had been to this location before and said it was the best anchorage so we changed our waypoints and headed to the south side of Tortuga. It wasn’t long and Rick mentioned that the sea sickness pill he took didn’t seem to be working. He really only takes a quarter of a pill because they are very strong and would knock him out. So he took another quarter of a pill. Sure enough within the hour his eyelids were drooping. He was going to fall asleep sitting up or laying down so I thought it best he lay down. Eventually the rows of clouds moved past us and sure enough, it was the nasty Tropical Wave that had been forecasted for yesterday. With clearing skies, a large school of spotted dolphins arrived and stayed with us for a long time. There were some small very young dolphins that were showing off by jumping straight up out of the water and clearing it by at least a couple of feet. We turned around the Southwest corner of Tortuga headed for Cayo Herradura in the Northwest corner and sat in awe looking at the scenery. Miles of dazzling white sand beaches everywhere, turquoise water, blue sky, no charter boats, no villages just pretty well maintained fishing boats here and there along the shore. There were seagulls and terns that we hadn’t seen for a while. The underside of the terns appeared turquoise from the reflection as they flew over the water. Rick was on the bow when we pulled into the anchorage just keeping an eye on the bottom. We anchored near the shore in about 7 feet of water at 5PM. It was Nanou, us and a few fishing boats in the bay. Nanou said he had already been visited by some fishermen and had some fish coming for dinner tomorrow night. We were invited. It wasn’t long after we dropped the anchor that a pirogue from one of the fishing boats came to see if we wanted to trade. Silly question!! Jose promised to bring us lobster on Tuesday for 2 ‘D’ cell batteries. I haven’t had lobster for 6 months as all of the lobsters caught in the islands go directly to Caracas and it’s not available in any of the restaurants or stores in Puerto La Cruz. We went to bed right after dinner.
We awoke after an amazing night sleep. The cool breeze, lack of humidity, gentle swaying of the boat and sound of the waves on the far shore would put an insomniac to sleep. I awoke once at about 4PM and went out to the cockpit to check the sky. The Milky Way was directly above us and the stars were to numerous to attempt to find constellations (especially at 4AM). It was very clear but the sand under the turquoise water shone through and gave an eerie or foggy appearance when I looked around the bay. Maybe I wasn’t quite awake. I went back to bed. It was just before 6:30AM when I got up again. Today I had coffee (feeling better still), we listened to Eric on the SSB for weather and I made bacon and eggs for breakfast. Food always tastes better when you’re at anchor but especially the Venezuelan bacon, which is wonderful. It is lightly smoked and I bought it from the butcher in a 1 kilo chunk. I slice it nice and thick as we use it. If we were anchored closer to any of the fishing boats and they smelt it cooking I’m sure they would want to trade something for the bacon. We turned on the SSB again at 8AM and spoke with our friend Derek (Dream Weaver III). His boat is on the hard in Antigua and he is delivering a boat to Europe and he’s on his way to the Azores (Lat. 19 degrees 20 min., Long. 060 degrees 42 min.) with Windmiller’s son Rod, and his buddy from Kingston Ontario. We then called Windmiller to give them the location of their son. We also learned that our other friends Michael and Deirdre (Cheshire cat) put their boat on the hard and are also delivering a boat to Europe. They are a little ahead of Derek.
After breakfast, I tidied the inside of the boat while Rick tidied the
cockpit and lowered the dinghy into the water. We then just sat in the
cockpit with a tall glass of iced tea and read our books. Later Tim and
Pauline came by. When they left I made a nice salad for lunch which we had
just barely finished when the fishermen came by with two lobsters for us.
I told them that they goofed that this was Lunes not Martes (Monday not
Tuesday). I think he tried to tell me that they were leaving and wouldn’t
be here tomorrow (Martes). Anyway, they were beautiful looking lobsters.
He asked for 20,000Bs ($7) as well as the 2 batteries and I couldn’t say no.
While Rick was cleaning them I called Tim to tell him that we were contributing
the lobsters to the grill for tonight. He got 4 red snappers from them so
he said that we shouldn’t cook too many vegetables. In the end I decided
to make fresh veggies and dip. Tim cooked the fish, lobster and some
calamari. The meal was wonderful and the evening very enjoyable.
