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Diane's DiaryJuly 1 Friday A completely rainy day- it rained the entire day. It usually doesn't rain the entire day, just for a few hours so I guess we can't complain- every so often it's good to just indoors doing indoor things for a day. If it rained like this every day, I would probably go crazy though. I did some sewing this morning and also made banana bread. We were completely out of water so I had to wait till it stopped raining to fill the tanks and so had to leave all the dirty dishes for a few hours. I worked on my logs for a few hours in the afternoon. I paid the marina for the next 5 months so we are paid until December 21. July 2 Saturday We went to the bimonthly flea market this morning. Larry spoke to Reid on Lorelei about a radio control operator position that he takes- he works every 4 months for 4 months straight. It might be something Larry might do. The only bad thing is you are on the boat for the entire time and don't get to go home so don't see your family. If he can do this and I get the traveling auditing position, maybe we can continue cruising for 6 months or so every year. It's just something we are looking into. After the flea market, I hand washed some clothes. I also walked for an hour with Suzi in the late afternoon. July 3 Sunday I just took a nice leisurely day today. I made some omelets in the morning, and played dominoes in the afternoon. I only got a 345 playing dominoes so didn't do that great. Suzi came over to borrow some DVD's. We didn't walk today as my legs were tired from the long walk we did yesterday. We don't walk every day but about 5 times a week. After dominoes, I sat in the cockpit and read the paper. The pool was full with tons of kids in it so I don't like to go in on the weekends. There are no bathrooms near the pool so I know the kids are peeing in it - the water has been green a lot also. I made an easy dinner of tortellini so I didn't have to cook much. July 4 Monday- Happy 4th of July! We're having a big party in the restaurant to celebrate our holiday. Jeannie from Dragonfly is helping make the food "American" so I know it will come out good. I put some more waterproofing on the canvas today- some of it just needed three coats to get waterproofed. Tomorrow is Venezuela's Independence Day so lots of stores are closed today also. I took the dinghy to Plaza Mayor but a lot of the stores were closed since their holiday is tomorrow. Something is the matter with my watch and I think it just needs a new battery so I wanted to get it checked out. The Casio store was closed but I did find another store and they couldn't find anything wrong with the watch- maybe it just got water in it, Anyway, I wanted to get a pedicure but the stores were closed and the only ones opened were crowded. I made a big pot of chili when I got back from shopping. The party started at 5:30pm so I only had time to walk one lap, as I had to take a shower also. We saw David and Suzi when walking in to the restaurant, there weren't any other tables left so we sat with them at a table for 4. I would have preferred sitting with a much larger group though. The place was jammed with every table taken. David said two things to me that I thought was quite rude and was very upset at his comments. The next day Larry said something to him and Suzi did also but he never apologized to me like I thought he should have. I was pretty upset the rest of the night with his comments and it definitely lessened my enjoyment at the party. Anyway, the food was very good with Jeannie's help. The party was still pretty good anyway. July 5 Tuesday We woke up late this morning after the long night last night. I didn't get drunk but we definitely had a lot more to drink than normal. Today is another local holiday so we'll just stay in the marina all day. There is a Tropical Depression about 100 miles northwest of Grenada that should be bringing us some South west winds when it passes north of us so we want to be near the boat in case it gets bad in here. It should arrive tomorrow but who knows it may come sooner. Anyway, I worked on my logs and did some emails. I also walked 3 laps around the marina with Suzie. We watched the DVD "October Sky" at night and really enjoyed it. Autumn Wind lent it to us. July 6 Wednesday I had my yearly GYN appointment at 8:30am this morning but because this clinic gets very crowded Rafael suggested we leave at 7:30 so we did. He was right the place was a madhouse. The Doctor's visit was good- everything OK but I need to get a mammogram yearly now as well as the normal Pap smear and checkup. She also suggested getting a bone density test so I would have a baseline for later in life. I wanted to get the tests done today so I didn't have to come back again but unfortunately it was 10am by the time I got through with the Doctor and the wait for the tests was almost 3 hours long. There was no way I was going to wait that long so I decided to just come back tomorrow. Anyway, it was pouring out, as the Tropical Storm that was anticipated was nearby causing buckets loads of rain. Since Venezuela seems to have extremely poor drainage, there is always a lot of flooding when it rains. It also means less cabs are available and I was afraid I wouldn't get one in all the rain so I just left. I was fortunate to get a cab right away as one was just pulling in. It turns out the wind was not too bad as the storm passed further north than they thought it would however, it poured out the entire day so we just spent the rest of the day indoors. July 7 Thursday I left the boat at 6:30am to go back to the Doctor's office to get the tests done. I stopped for breakfast and got to the clinic at 7am so had a very low number of people in front of me. I had both tests done and was out of the clinic by 10am. The place was jammed again by the time I left so I was glad I went there early. There was a terrorist bombing in London today- they are still sorting out the details but they attacked the subway and one bus. In the pm I worked on my food spreadsheet to get my list together of things to buy for the trip. Since we'll be going for 3-4 months I need to provision well. Food is very expensive in Bonaire so I try to buy as little as possible. I also worked on my logs to get caught up. I would like to be completely caught up before we leave here. July 8 Friday I hired Arnoldo to take me shopping this morning- we went to CM, the bakery and the great cooked chicken store. The Costa Azul chicken store makes the best-cooked chicken I have ever tasted. Anyway, I was back to the boat by 11:15am. After lunch, I went through the port and starboard forward lockers inventorying all the food I had and making a list of what I needed to buy. I went to S/V Panda in the pm and got some great DVD's to copy and some to just watch. They had a great DVD on Shackleton plus a whole bunch of others. We watched the Shackleton DVD at night and really enjoyed it. July 9 Saturday I went to the fresh fish market with Jeannie and Nancy from Panache. They still didn't have any good fresh shrimp and the prices were very high so I didn't buy any though I did get some good tuna. I didn't feel very well so took a nap when I got back. I felt much better in the afternoon so worked on my logs. Larry is busy with the PC. We're really favoring DVD's since they are small and are perfect for boats as they don't take up much room and don't get mildewed like VCR tapes. July 10 Sunday We were up late until after 11pm watching TV so we didn't wake up until almost 9am. I made our usual Sunday breakfast of cheese omelets. After breakfast I cut up lots of carrots and onions so I can make a tangine of chicken and olives later. The recipe calls for 3 cups of onions and lots of carrots so I am using the food processor for a long time. I played dominoes this afternoon but only got a 346- unfortunately I got stuck with the 50-point tile in one hand or my score would have been a lot lower. Oh, well, I play to have fun so winning isn't that important but would have liked to do better. I walked 3 laps by myself this afternoon after dominoes were over. I am still quite annoyed at David and he obviously chooses not to be friends with us anymore so I will just leave them alone. I really like Suzi but that's the way it goes. It's a shame how one party can ruin a friendship but I don't think David likes to socialize anyway- at least that's the impression I get. I made the tangine with chicken, onions and olives for dinner but Larry really didn't like it and asked me not to make it anymore. July 11 Monday It is cloudy and overcast out so it's a perfect day to get diesel for the boat. We would rather not bring the big boat to the dock as it's a hassle to do and there are some shallow spots near the fuel dock, so we just jerry jug the fuel. This of course requires making several runs though. It actually took us 3 trips, as the boat required more fuel than we thought it would. We got a total of 72.8 gallons- this includes the almost 30 gallons we have of fuel on deck. This will hopefully last us until we get back into the coast of Venezuela on our trip back here. We don't want to have to get fuel in Bonaire as it's over $3 gallon- here we paid less than $4 for the 73 gallons! We borrowed more DVD's from Panda. We also got some good ones from S/V Reality. It's good to have an assortment of DVD's to trade or own to swap with other people. July 12 Tuesday I am not feeling well and must have some sort of virus as I have a sore throat, fever, and aches and pains. Larry had to go back to the dermatologist today and wanted me to come so I did even though I would have rather stayed on the boat since I wasn't feeling well. I called the Doctor in the morning and he said he would be in his office at 11am. Since I wasn't feeling great, I just rested until we left for the Doctor. Anyway, the Doctor didn't show up until 12:30 and I was really annoyed at his tardiness by then since I wasn't feeling well in the first place. Anyway, the biopsy of the last growth he removed from Larry was benign so that was good. The tumor on his shoulder has decreased greatly so he doesn't want to remove it at this time. He said to come back in November when we get back from our trip and he'll see if he wants to remove it then. He did take another growth off of Larry's leg though. So, we got the OK to leave PLC so now we can make plans to leave. After the Doctor, we went to the Hotel Neptuno for a nice lunch. We were fortunate to get a table overlooking the water as obviously someone had just left it. Anyway, we had a nice lunch- we actually had not been here in a while so it was nice to return. They have a dynamite view overlooking the entire PLC harbor. After we came back, I just rested the rest of the day, as I was still sick. July 13 Wednesday I was still not feeling well and tried to do too much today when I should have just taken it easy. I hand washed a bunch of clothes. I also borrowed some more DVD's from another cruiser- Chris on Colonel's Lady. Willie from MV Twilight offered to get us some blank DVD's from the US- his wife is returning Sunday and can bring them back with her. It was very nice of him to offer- I didn't ask him- he volunteered so I said yes. She's going to get 100 DVD's- that's more than we need but we can always use them in the future or sell them. It's better to have more rather than less since we can't buy them down here. We ordered blank DVD's twice from the US since we can't get them here. It cost us about .50 each DVD in transportation just to get them delivered here in Venezuela so it's worth it to have a lot of blanks. Also, some DVD's get ruined in trying to make copies. Anyway, I wanted to go out to dinner tonight as I just didn't feel like cooking but Larry didn't want to go. Hurricane Emily should pass us by tomorrow- thank goodness we hadn't left yet as we would have had to leave the out islands and head to mainland Venezuela. The predictions are that it shouldn't come to close to us but we will still have to be prepared for wind, rain and a west wind. The current position is at 10.3 North, which is where we are, but it's supposed to track north. The cruisers who are supposed to sublease our slip while we are gone stopped by- even though they had written to us and asked us to hold the slip for them as they said they were definitely going to take it, now say they'll let us know tomorrow if they want it or not. So, I will look for someone else as I got the impression they are not going to take it. They are in PMO, which is half the price that BR is - of course they have no pool, wireless Internet, restaurant, minimarket or anything there so of course it's cheaper. We definitely don't want to leave our slip vacant since we have already paid for it so I'll look for someone else. I am extremely annoyed at them as I could have rented it out before but they had asked me to hold it so I did. The next person must leave a deposit or we are not going to hold it.
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