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Diane's DiaryDecember 14 Tuesday We were in Chichiriviche last night and locked ourselves into the boat for security purposes but had zero problems- I did feel better with the boat all locked up though. We left Cayo Sal with the main up shortly before 7am. The sun doesn't rise until 6:30am since it's winter and these are our "short" days so we wanted to leave with good visibility. We had a West wind at first, which would have been terrific, but unfortunately it didn't hold and the wind than switched to the South at less than 10 knots. It was a calm trip that was good, as I would rather have it this way than high winds and seas! The Guardia Nacional Vigiliancia Costal stopped us with their boat - they wanted to know where we were coming from and going too. I actually think they were either just bored or were looking for a present. They did ask us for whiskey which we didn't have so I gave them 3 cans of beer and they left. It was a hot motor trip as there was almost no wind but later it did pick up to E-SE around 5 knots with about 12 miles to go until we got into Ensa Cata so we turned off the engine, put up the jib and sailed. Although there was very little wind, it was a nice sail. We sailed from about 1:30-3:30 and than motored the rest of the way. We were anchored by 4:30pm. There was a huge fishing net very close to the anchorage but we managed to avoid it and called the other boats to tell them it was there. It was a good thing we were familiar with the anchorage and knew the fishing nets were there from last year although Larry said it covered a lot more of the anchorage this year. Lady Diane lost their windlass so was going to have to pull up the anchor by hand. Some locals were on the beach and told us they needed a boat to get a pregnant woman off the beach. We told them we didn't have a phone (true) and were not going to take the dinghy down so they just swam to get help. Later we saw a pirogue come to help them. The anchorage was a little rolly but tolerable. December 15 Wednesday We wanted to leave by 3am so we could arrive at the next anchorage, which was 54 miles away before it got dark. Lady Diane wanted us to leave the anchorage first so they could follow us out. Knowing they would have to pull up the anchor by hand we told them we would wait. After around a half hour they told us to go on ahead- they couldn't get their anchor to go up on the bow roller. We couldn't go back into the anchorage for fear for getting caught in the fishing net so we went on ahead. We had a beautiful motor sail- calm winds and seas- winds less than 10 knots, seas 2-3 feet. So by the time we headed out it was almost 4am. Larry went to sleep from 4:30-6, the first watch. I had the Walkman on listening to music. Around 6am Pisces 3 called us. Did we hear a pan-pan from Lady Diane? No, but when we listened we did. We could barely hear them on the VHF so told them to transfer to the SSB. At first they said they were drifting towards the rocks and later said they were on the rocks. We called Eric's net on the SSB, which started at 6:30am. We had thought of turning the boat around but both of us boats were low on fuel and we weren't going to be able to tow them off the rocks anyway. We thought the best thing was just to continue and get them help via the SSB. We also were over 3 hours away from them and had a nice small countercurrent with us. When we later turned around we were going at 2500RPM and only were going 4 knots since we now had the current against us. At one point they told us they thought the mast was going to come down so we did turn around but our ETA was 4 hours. Eric called the USCG- who we never heard anything from and North Post radio in Trinidad. North Post radio was great and stayed with us the entire day on the radio. Eric said Venezuelan search and rescue was going to be there within an hour. By this time, local fisherman had pulled them off the rocks so they were safe for the time being. Since they were off the rocks and help was on the way, we turned Destiny back East again. We kept on the SSB with them and after several hours the Venezuelan CG still hadn't shown up. North Post radio heard this and offered to call them again. Lady Diane than tried to motor back to Puerto Cabello 16 miles back West but their engine failed so they had to lower the dinghy and towed the boat back into Ensa Cata. They were lucky they just got their dinghy engine fixed in Bonaire or I don't know what they would have done. Both Larry and I were on the SSB the entire day trying to help Lady Diane so neither of us got any sleep or rest at all. My foot was really hurting me since I had to go up and down the stairs the entire day. We arrived at Marina de Caraballeda at 3:30pm totally exhausted from the day's events. The gas station closed at 4pm and were all too tired to try and get fuel at this point so we elected to stay the night, get fuel tomorrow and leave tomorrow night. We had a scheduled radio contact with Lady Diane at 6pm but they didn't come on frequency- we all hoped they were OK. We have another contact scheduled for tomorrow morning. We just sat, had a few beers and relaxed. I was lucky I had dinner all prepared, as I was just too tired to cook. Larry did emails, we checked the weather and we were in bed by 8pm. We again locked ourselves in the boat at night but had no problems at all. The boat was rolling again but was better than Ensa Cata. We are all hoping Lady Diane is OK. December 16 Thursday Larry was up early so he could get on Eric's net at 6:30am and report an update on Lady Diane. We did reach Lady Diane at 7:30am on the SSB- the GC had arrived at 6pm last night to tow them back into the navy yard at Puerto Cabello so everything was OK. Their damage so far was 2 broken shrouds, and broken rudder, propeller and rudder shaft. So things could have been a lot worse. I made some cheese omelets for breakfast. We updated the security net to tell them Lady Diane was fine. We didn't want to bring Destiny to the fuel dock as we had seen it last year and it looked pretty shabby. Also, we weren't sure what Hurricane Ivan did to the depth at the dock. We knew heavy west winds had entered this anchorage so who knows what it did to the depth. We got a local boater to take Larry and Roland in to get fuel and gave him a nice tip for helping us. We didn't do much the entire day, as we were both exhausted from yesterday. We will leave tonight for Puerto Frances. December 17 Friday We left the anchorage at 10pm just as another sailboat from the Ivory Coast was leaving the marina. He had his flashing strobe masthead light on and was blinding us. We tried to call him on the VHF radio but he was a French boat so of course didn't even answer. We had the anchor up; mainsails hoisted and were underway by 10:20pm. We had a SE wind less than 5 knots with about 1-2 foot sea so it was really a dream trip and very easy. About an hour before we arrived in Puerto Frances the wind switched to NW, which is a very strange wind direction down here. We arrived at Puerto Frances with the anchor down around 7:30am. It was a little difficult entering the harbor with the sun directly in our eyes but it wasn't too bad. Anyway, the wind stayed from the NW, which is exactly the direction this anchorage is exposed from. The anchorage was somewhat rolly but tolerable. We spoke to Ray from Drivers Wanted on the SSB. He broke his boom en route but arrived safely into Cartagena. I went to sleep around 9:30am and slept for a little while but Larry just stayed up - why I don't know we were both tired and needed sleep. Anyway, a local fisherman stopped by later - he had some fish he wanted to sell but wanted an outrageous price so we didn't buy any. We all were still pretty tired and would have stayed here another day to rest as it was very pretty and quiet. However, when we listened to the weather nets on the SSB, all the forecasters predicted the winds were going to increase soon - George said within the next 24-36 hours so we decided to just push on tonight. We're going to leave at 6pm. Pisces 3 is going to follow us a while and than continue north to Tortuga. December 18 Saturday We got underway last night at 6pm in a brief rain shower that soaked both of us even though I had my foul weather gear on. It actually rained for several hours yesterday afternoon. We debated leaving a little later after the squall passed but there was a lot of fisherman around and we wanted to get clear of them and the point we were near while it was still daylight. Anyway, the squall only lasted around a half hour and we had no other rain the entire night. The autopilot died around 7:30pm at night so it was back to hand steering again. Since you get more tired hand steering we just did 2-hour watches instead of our normal 3-hour watches. We had a NW wind, which switched to SE but it was a light wind and seas until around 5:30am, than the wind switched to NE and increased up to 15 knots. We were about 5 hours away from La Borracha at this point and could have sailed but we were both tired from hand steering and being up all night long- we both don't really sleep well on passages. So we just continued motor sailing. The seas increased to about 4-5 feet so we were rocking and rolling a little but it wasn't too uncomfortable. There were no other boats in the anchorage so we anchored on the shelf right in the middle of the bay. The anchorage is usually very calm except today with the increased wind; it was rolly with huge gusts of wind that came suddenly down the mountains in large gusts. Three other boats later came in and 2 of them dragged very badly. We really didn't get any sleep during the day but if we had gone directly into PLC we wouldn't have gotten any rest at all. At least here we spent a quiet day not doing much. December 19 Sunday We left the anchorage at 9:15am and just motored to PLC and arrived at BR at 11am. Karen from the minimart had left the key for our storage room but unfortunately it was the wrong key. So we couldn't get our AC out and were pretty unhappy about that as it was hot out and we just wanted to cool down. I saw Bruce from Wanderlust and he was nice enough to come look at our refrigerator. He said it was just the thermostat that had broken so it should be an easy fix. Luckily, Larry has a spare so he has to add this to the list of things to do. Since the compressor doesn't turn off at all, Bruce said to keep turning the compressor on and off every 2 hours so we don't burn the compressor out. Anyway, Karen finally returned to the marina later in the day but she couldn't find the correct key to the storage room. Great! Now we have no AC tonight and it's hot out. She lent us a big fan, which was very nice of her but it didn't help that much. We did get the boat washed down but not much else. Our slip is on the seawall right in front of the bathroom so it's about halfway down the seawall in terms of the marina location. Fortunately, we do have cable TV here- we are the last boat in the marina that has it as it only goes halfway down the dock. Anyway, since it was so late by this time, we just had dinner in the restaurant. Prices in the restaurant seem to have gone up considerably and the USD has gone down in price - some people told us they were only getting 2300! Anyway, we were both tired from the trip and the heat so we didn't get as much done as we would have liked. December 20 Monday We washed the dinghy down and started to assemble it to get it launched. Prices have really gone up since we left- taxi rides have increased to 5000B or over $2USD at 2300-exchange rate- they used to only be $1USD. Anyway, I gathered all the laundry up, counted it and gave it to the laundry here in BR. I used to use the laundry at CMO but unless we stay there we aren't allowed to use the laundry there anymore. I think CMO did a good job also but it was a pain launching the dinghy just to get the laundry. Anyway, we saw a lot of people we knew so we spoke to some of them. We are both still tired with lots of things to do but it is very hot out. Sylvester lent me some B's so we could go shopping but by the time we did other things it was too late in the day to go so I'll just go in the am. I helped Larry look for the thermostat in the refrigerator- naturally it was in the aft cabin buried underneath the bunk so everything had to come out of the cabin to find it. Karen called the owner of the unit and gave us the key in the morning-good old AC- it feels great to have it again! I bet we will sleep very well tonight! We are so glad to have our AC back! December 21 Tuesday I left the marina via dinghy by myself at 9:30am to go to Plaza Mayor and shopping. I stopped at Maremares first as I wanted to find out about their Xmas and New Years day's events. The Xmas Eve and New Year parties are outrageously priced at 95,000B and 120,000B and this does NOT include booze! So I don't think we'll be going here as it's way to expensive. Xmas day and New Year day the brunch is 30,000B and that's what we used to pay. Of course the B was 3000 then so it only cost $10USD now at 2300 it's $13- plus tip of course. We can afford to go to the brunch but I don't think we'll do the other events, as they are too expensive. Anyway, I also wanted to go to the casino to change money but the casino didn't open till 11am, it was only 10am and I didn't want to wait another hour. I also saw Mary on Miss Astor and heard all about her story with Hurricane Ivan and Tortuga. Her batteries died; she's a powerboat and couldn't leave as the hurricane was approaching. I cannot even imagine what she was going through knowing a hurricane is headed right for you and being unable to leave- yikes! She got the Venezuelan CG to come get her but she had to pay them. She told me the VE CG does NOT come after boaters in distress, as they are NOT in the rescue business! I then went to the mall and it was very crowded. I have never seen it so busy unless it's a Saturday night. However, this is vacation time now and PLC is a tourist town so it was very full. I went to exchange money with the DVD store and exchanged $400 at 2450 exchange rate. I made a lot of stops- phone calls, bakery, lunch at MacDonalds, had a batido, pharmacy and the supermarket. The supermarket was just a mad house and unfortunately I needed a lot of food and hate shopping when the stores are like this but had to do it. Anyway, I got back to the boat around 3:30pm totally exhausted. I gave Sylvester the food I brought back for them from Bonaire, as I didn't have any more room in the refrigerator. I picked up the laundry and we had some drinks. I was too tired to even take a shower. I bought the new DVD "The Incredibles" and we watched it at night. It was excellent and we both enjoyed it. I'm glad we bought it, as I definitely want to keep it. |