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Diane's DiarySeptember 10 Wednesday We brought all our documents in to clear out even though we are not actually ready to leave yet. However, Larry's 3-month visa was up last Friday and if we wanted to extend it for another 3 months it would by $20US per passport. Since I had just come back from the US, my visa was already extended for 3 months but since Larry didn't go with me he was still on his original visa. We would have gladly paid the extra $20US if we were going to stay for another 3 months but since we were leaving within the week, I couldn't see paying the fee. You are technically supposed to leave within 24 hours of checking out, but the agent got the port papers to say we are leaving next Tuesday and there was no problem. We had to pay 108,000B or about $43 US to check out so Venezuela is definitely the most expensive country we have ever been to customs wise. We had paid about $46 to clear in also. But we really love it here of all the countries we have been to in the Eastern Caribbean. We couldn't find our boat documentation I just brought back from the US. I am pretty sure I gave it to Larry when I returned but we can't find it. So, I will have to call Washington and see if they can FAX us a copy. Hope this works as you are really supposed to have the original. Anyway, Larry went up the mast this morning all the way to the top to check everything out. Fortunately, we had Elias to help him get to the top, as it is extremely difficult for me to hoist him up that high. I can get him to the first spreader myself but it's very difficult after that so we were very happy to have Elias there. Of course we were still paying him his salary but that's OK, as I would have had to ask for someone else to help if we didn't have Elias. Anyway, since we are leaving soon, we have stopped doing varnish work. Instead, we had Elias wax all the topsides and Cetol the handrails and exterior companionway. I had not put a maintenance coat of Cetol on in over a year so it really needed to be done. The Cetol still looked OK but the manufacturer recommends putting on a coat every year as maintenance. Down here in the tropics with such a brutal sun, it's better to apply things twice as often as recommended since the sun is so intense and does a number on every boat item we have! Arnaldo took our propane tank to get filled. He is about $3 cheaper than having the mini-market do it. Except, when we got the tank back, they had not closed the valve completely so we were leaking propane! It is a good thing Larry discovered this or we could have had serious problems! Plus, we probably lost a lot of gas so we probably didn't save anything! Usually we get about 2.5 to 3 months on a tank but I don't know how long this one will last since some of the propane leaked out. Today was Elias last day working for us. We were extremely pleased with his work and will definitely have him complete the varnish work on Destiny when we come back to PLC in December. He has been an extremely pleasant worker and the quality of his work has been excellent. It was certainly worth the $2USD per hour! Just hope the political situation stays OK and we can come back to this wonderful country. September 11 Thursday Anniversary of WTC and Pentagon Attacks What a sad day for the US. Today was the second anniversary on the attacks on the US. I was thinking about all the families who have suffered losses. I hope we get Osama Bin Laden but doubt we ever will. The US will never be the same after these thoughtless terrorist attacks. I pray we can destroy those who could do this horrible unprovoked thing to the US! I hope we never have another terrorists attack in the US ever again! But in reality, I am sure there will be another - it's just a question of time. Larry started putting the cockpit table back together again as Elias had varnished it. He also put back the man overboard pole and everything else he had taken off the boat while we were in the marina. I waterproofed some more canvas and brought it all up by the pool to do. After lunch, Chris and I went to Makro food shopping. In the afternoon, we got an extremely bad storm from the west into the marina with wind gusting up to 33 knots! This is very unusual as the wind usually blows from the east and only in October- November do they usually get a wind reversal for a short time. However, when it occurs, it's very dangerous as there are not many places to go to for protection out in the islands as all the anchorages are on the east. I was glad we had not left yet. However, things were really rocking in the marina and we stayed close by Destiny to keep an eye on things. There is very little protection from a west wind in the marina. Larry had to put some extra fenders on the starboard side as the wind was now pushing us against the dock. Luckily, the storm and majority of the wind was over within an hour. We went to Tom and Steph's apartment for dinner and ordered Domino's pizza again. However, the price has gone up considerably from when we first came- from 26,000 to 36,000 or a price increase of $4. Plus, you used to buy one large pie, get 1 for free. But now they only give you a medium pie free. So, the whole thing is now $14 so it's almost cheaper to just go to the restaurant in the marina for dinner and that includes the drinks, as it was about $8 the last time! I don't think we'll be ordering Domino's in the future too much anymore! It's a shame too as it was a nice diversion and was relatively inexpensive. September 12 Friday The mini-mart finally got back their cheap Internet phone to call the US so Larry called Eric this morning as they are trying to settle their Mom's estate. I did some more money exchange. I also made another lomito marinade to bring with us. The marinade lasts forever and this way I can make it here while we are still at the dock where I have lots of water to get the pan cleaned. Anyway, I started washing the jib up on the foredeck as we had not washed our sails since we came down the Caribbean. What a huge job and it's hard to sit out in the hot broiling sun but there's no other place to do it as the docks as way too filthy. I'll have to finish it another day. September 13 Saturday I finished cleaning the jib this morning- what an enormous job! You should have seen the dirt that came off of it! I helped Larry crank it back up the forestay and then furl it. I was utterly exhausted after this especially in the hot sun. Mima had invited Larry up to their apartment for pancakes as Larry loves them but I don't make them, as I hate them. I was so tired I just stayed in the boat reading the weekend paper. I made brownies and at 5:30pm, we went up to Mima's apartment with the brownies of course! Tom made a wonderful chili for dinner. We all had a good time sitting around and talking. September 14 Sunday We were supposed to go to Sunday brunch at Maremares with Tom and Steph but Steph was not feeling well so we didn't go. It was a cloudy overcast day out so it was a perfect day to wash the mainsail. Its just murder sitting out in the broiling sun so it was nice to have the shade. This sail is obviously a lot bigger than the jib so it took me all day long to clean with lots of breaks. At the end of the day, I was so tired, I couldn't finish the last section and still have the strength to make dinner so Larry helped me and finished the rest while I made dinner. Larry cleaned the boom and did a bunch of other things to get the boat ready to leave. I made homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs for dinner. We called Mima to come over but they had shut off their radio so didn't hear us. I went for a quick swim and shower around 6pm than we just watched TV the rest of the evening. September 15 Monday I called our stockbroker this morning as we are having problems with Marlene's estate - they want us to get a notary public but there really aren't any in Venezuela. So, I had to do some research - turns out there is a Citibank right here in PLC so Larry will go there tomorrow. Larry cleaned the mainsail track and the battens back in the mainsail. We also put back up the dodger and bimini as we had taken them down when we first came into the marina. I also paid our marina bill. We are actually paying $4.67 per day for our slip including water and electric! This comes out to about $150USD per month- and we were paying almost $650 in Trinidad! What a huge difference! You can see why we like Venezuela so much- it is cheaper to live here than the US! There is no way we could get a marina for that price in the US. Anyway, Steph and I went to the La Cava meat store so I could get some more meat for our trip- we've used some of the meat I had already bought so I wanted to replace it. September 16 Tuesday I vacuumed and cleaned the boat again today- we definitely are getting lots of dust as I have to vacuum about every other day. Larry went to Citibank to have his signature notarized. I dropped off the laundry and then went to Plaza Mayor to go grocery shopping. I called my parents as we will have no access to a phone until we get to Bonaire and we heard the phone calls are expensive so we will probably wait to call them until we get back to PLC since phone calls are so cheap here - about .06 per minute! I put away all the groceries when I came back and updated my spreadsheet to indicate where all the food is. We went out to dinner with Tom and Steph to El Morocco restaurant. It was very good and very reasonable for what we had- 2 appetizers, soup, main course and Larry had dessert and coffee. We only had a few drinks and the bill was about $22 for both of us! In NY, we probably would have paid about $100. The food and atmosphere were very good and we really enjoyed it. We'll have to come here more often but we really don't eat out that often. Anyway, the marina discovered an error on our bill- they had gotten the date wrong and incorrectly undercharged us for a week so I had to go up and pay the additional bill. September 17 Wednesday Suzi and David on S/V Ariyl came in at 2pm today. We were really glad to see them we had been in email contact with them so knew they were coming today. We managed to get them a side-to berth as they requested but they are right in front of the restaurant and mini-market so it's very noisy and lots of traffic. If they had AC on the boat it wouldn't make a difference but since they don't, it's not terrific but better than a med moored berth where you have to scramble over the bow or stern to get of the boat all the time. Anyway, we discovered one of our fairly new jerry jugs that we bought in Margarita last year is leaking! Of course it made a mess on my new gas can cover! We had to throw out the gas can so Larry and Tom went to the hardware store to buy another one. I went up to Mima's apartment to vacuum seal the food I just bought from the meat market the other day. Steph is going to keep the meat in the freezer until we go. I don't have enough room in the freezer for all the meat so will have to put it under the freezer. I will keep the fridge turned up higher than normal so hopefully, all this food won't go bad. I probably have enough fresh meat to last for around a month- than it will be on to cans! I hope we don't have to buy too much fresh food in Bonaire. But we will have to buy bread, and fresh fruit and vegetables. We can last about 3 weeks on fresh fruits and vegetables. Hopefully, we'll be able to catch some fish or trade with the fisherman! I fried up some chicken cutlets, cleaned out the refrigerator and went to pick up the laundry. We went to the weekly Maremares party and had a very nice time although it was very crowded with all the cruisers here. |