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Diane's DiaryJuly 28 Thursday I washed the entire interior of the boat down with vinegar and water including all the woodwork, headliners, and fiberglass. It took me several hours- I also washed the floor. It was amazing how dirty everything was and I continuously had to keep changing the water. I tried to call United to find out about plane tickets for December. We will be able to use points to go from Miami but have to go to California first since it's more miles and than proceed to NY. Don't ask me why we need to do it this way but that's what United wants. Larry has 195,000 miles left so this would be a great chance to use some. However, they will only hold the ticket for 3 days. The tickets we purchase from Caracas to Miami are only good for one year so since we don't know when we are coming back to the boat I think we will have to wait until November to buy our tickets. I spent some time on the Internet in the afternoon researching the United flights and other couriers. Larry cut Suzi's hair in the morning. We didn't walk today, as there was another big rainstorm in the pm. Larry played chess with Michael on Wombat- it was a good match that ended in a draw so hopefully they'll get to play again. We finished watching the third season of "24" tonight and really liked it. We just wish we hadn't missed the second season! July 29 Friday I hand washed all the slipcovers today but they didn't come really clean. It's tough washing clothes by hand as you can't quite get all the dirt out. Karen said she would lend me her washing machine- that would be great! I walked early in the afternoon, as we had to go to Karen's goodbye party at 6pm. She is leaving the minimart today after 3 years as the owner to go sailing with another cruiser. I made a dip and we had a great time at the party. I also made a chocolate cake and gave some to Carlos the marina manager and others in the marina. I want to keep Carlos on our good side- bribery does help even if it is only cake! July 30 Saturday We had a great time at the party last night and woke up late from having a few drinks. Karen lent me her washing machine today and I really loved it. She said I could use it for a few days and I think I will. I really miss having a machine. I also realize what a terrible job the commercial laundry does here and will never give it to them again. My clothes have never really felt clean and now I know it's because they use too much soap, and don't get it all out. I have been rinsing all the clothes twice and its amazing how much better they feel. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry as the machine is not automatic- you have to fill it and keep an eye on it by emptying is so it's sort of manual. Nevertheless, it does a terrific job and I am grateful to have it. That's what I want for my birthday present- I love this machine. Of course it's only great in a marina when you have lots of water but another cruiser says they use it at anchor by just reusing the same water for a few loads. Of course you need to have enough electric also! July 31 Sunday I made our usual Sunday morning breakfast of cheese omelets than started using the washing machine again. As long as I have it, I am washing absolutely everything we have on the boat including all the slipcovers, curtains etc. It rained after lunch and Larry needed the water to work on the engine or I would have resumed washing the clothes. Instead I worked in the kitchen in the afternoon frying up some chicken cutlets and making a meat marinade. I didn't play dominoes today as I usually do on Sundays as I had other things I wanted to get done. August 1 Monday I went Arnoldo this morning to do some shopping. I didn't take any other cruiser with me, as I wanted to be quick in some stores. We went to CM, Makro, liquor store and bakery. Back to the laundry in the afternoon- Karen needs her machine back tomorrow so I want to make sure everything is done. I was actually washing clothes until 6:30pm and just have a little more to wash tomorrow. Hopefully, I'm almost done shopping- it's incredible how long it takes to do all this shopping. August 2 Tuesday The wind is up for the next few days so we'll postpone leaving until it calms done a little. We would like to leave but don't want to get beaten up and are in no big rush- we still have 3 months which is plenty of time. I finished washing this morning. It started to rain again in the afternoon so I washed all my vegetables in a Clorox solution, made another meat marinade, and made some chili. I like to have a meal all prepared so I don't have to cook for a day or so- I know from past experience that I am too tired to cook. I took a short nap in the afternoon, as I was just tired from doing all that work. We got the bottom of our boat cleaned- we had put a bag on the prop so hopefully that kept most of the barnacles off our new prop paint. August 3 Wednesday We spent a busy day getting dinghy gas, going to Plaza Mayor, turning in our boat papers to clear out and making phone calls. Aunt Mary is having some surgery on Thursday so we wanted to call her. Unfortunately, we are not getting a good connection on our Skype phone in the marina- our Internet service has been very bad also- we think someone is crashing the system or there just may be too many people using it who don't know what they are doing. I didn't have much money left on my phone card and they had no more phone cards in the marina. But I did get one at Plaza Mayor so was able to call her. We had McDonald's for lunch and ice cream while in the mall. We won't be going to a restaurant for a while so the cook needs some time off now! By the time we get back here I will be really sick of cooking. We only eat out a few times in Bonaire since it's so expensive and eat at the cheap places. August 4 Thursday We have to watch the weather reports right now as the weatherman said it's possible another hurricane is brewing out in the Atlantic. Well, we certainly don't want to be cruising if another one is coming near us! We'll just have to wait a few days and see. I went with Reggie from Liberty this morning to load up on fresh fruits and vegetables for the trip. She had never been there since they are new to Venezuela. I wanted to get as much as possible here as the food has not been refrigerated so hopefully it doesn't have to go in the refrigerator. Anyway, Liberty is going to sublease our spot for the 90 days we are gone. It works out well for both of us- we are guaranteed our old spot and know we can get back into the marina, and they are paying a reduced rate since we are 44' and they are larger at 48'. Anyway, Larry went with Jeffrey to the EPA hardware store to get some last minute items. I called Yorktown storage and worked on my logs. Our storage unit is only paid until Sept 1 so we had to pay some more. Hopefully, when we get down to Florida we can move the stuff there where it's cheaper. We went to the restaurant to have dinner tonight and watch the movie "Sahara" which was supposed to be good. The movie was good but we will never go to the restaurant again to watch a movie- the sound system is terrible and the voices are distorted. Plus, since many people are not listening to the movie and are talking, it's noisy. August 5 Friday The hurricane they predicted is just a Tropical Storm now and it looks like it will pass well north of us. The winds are a little high now- 15-20 with 5-7 foot seas so we'll wait until next week to leave when it's predicted to decrease some. We could go now but who wants to get beaten up? I would rather have a nice sooth trip with a lower sea state. Aunt Mary had some surgery yesterday and it all went smoothly so I'm glad. I finished entering all my DVD's into the computer to get a master list of exactly what we have. Somehow we lost 2 DVD's that I know we had- Woman of Valor (which wasn't that great anyway and Star Trek Nemesis which I would really like to find) Anyway, from now on I'll give people my list and won't give them my entire DVD book like I did. I will ask them to take only 5 movies at a time so I don't lose any and record exactly what movies they took. Larry is working on fixing and changing the kitchen drain sink and hoses. It's a hot job under the sink for several hours so he said it would be better to do it while still in the marina where we have the AC. I worked on my logs in the PM. I made a big casserole dish of chicken enchiladas in the afternoon. The pool is green and filled with kids so I haven't been in much lately. Also, since there is no bathroom nearby, I am sure the kids are going to the bathroom in it also. August 6 Saturday The wind is definitely still up- it's now 20 knots with 6-8 foot seas so we'll stay put here in the marina for a few days. It's predicted to calm down early next week. We went to the flea market this morning and I was able to get for free 2 books that I wanted to read. One was a new Kellerman and the other was a new book by Dan Brown who wrote "The Da Vinci code", which has been a bestseller for some time. After we got back from the flea market, I did some last loads of laundry at Karen's. I had just finished the third load of laundry when the marina had no water again. I organized all my DVD and VCD's into alphabetical order in my books. Actually, it took a few hours to do since we have so many movies. Larry printed out our lists so I could put a copy in each book so I would know exactly what movies are in each book. I also made a master list so I could give it out when people want to borrow DVD's. Hopefully when we get back in November they'll be some more people we can get movies from! We figure when we get back to the US at least we'll have lots of movies to watch as we probably won't get cable TV if we're going to rent just for a few months. I hope we have enough electric to watch a few movies while we are at anchor! However, since we need so much electric for everything else, we usually don't have enough to watch TV. The last two times we were out this way we only watched TV when we were stuck in the marina in Bonaire with all that bad weather. August 7 Sunday We woke up late this morning- around 9am. I made a big breakfast of bacon and eggs for breakfast. I took the dinghy to Plaza Mayor by myself to finish all the last minute items we needed like lettuce, fresh milk, fresh OJ, etc. The supermarket was packed- there are loads of tourists in PLC at this time of year and it was just awful. Also, I rarely go to the mall on weekends due to the crowds- now I know why! I bought 30 more bottles of diet coke- we have about 75 bottles with us. That won't be enough for the entire time we are out so we will just have to ration it. I was back before noon and put everything away. We had lunch, washed down the boat, and raised the dinghy up on deck, took the engine and washed it off. The bottom was filthy even though we take it out of the water every night- the canals are filled with all sorts of stuff in the water! I cleaned out the refrigerator and washed all the new vegetables I bought. By this time, we were both exhausted. We could leave tomorrow but are both tired and it is a long trip. So, we decided to stay tomorrow and leave early Tuesday morning. We have to be out of our slip Tuesday morning at the latest, as Liberty needs to vacate the slip they are in for an incoming boat. Time to play musical boats! August 8 Monday I washed down the cockpit and stored everything else away. We were going to take the awning down today but it started raining after lunch and of course this meant the awning was now soaked! We reorganized the boat so we are now sleeping back in the forward cabin. It's definitely hotter up there while in the marina as we can't put the forward awning up. Also, the space is definitely smaller than the aft cabin. However, while at anchor, we get a much better breeze with the forward hatch open so that's where we sleep while at anchor. Anyway, I didn't get a great night sleep last night- probably adjusting to the smaller berth in addition to the anticipation of the trip. I made some Cesar salad dressing for the trip as you have to use the food processor and that uses up lots of electric at anchor. I also did some cleaning around the boat- the head and galley while I still have lots of water to use. Fresh water is definitely at a premium while at sea! Suzi invited us over for dinner tonight and made wonderful potato pancakes- they were terrific! She also made a pork roast and a salad. It was a wonderful meal! We are definitely leaving in the am tomorrow and are all set ready to go. August 9 Tuesday and August 10 Wednesday We had a very busy last morning getting set to leave. We were up at 6am doing our last minute chores. We didn't want to take down the AC until we were just about ready to leave, as it gets so hot on the boat without it. We had our last breakfast with the TV on and AC running- this will be a last for a while! We had to take down the awning, the AC and Larry had to tie down the dinghy after the AC was off the boat so there was a lot to do. Naturally all of this took much longer than we thought. We also wanted to give Destiny a final wash with fresh water, as it will be a long time before we can wash her again. We had to be out of our slip at 10am so the other boats could move into the slips and Liberty could take our spot. I got some last minute bread but today of all days she had no baguettes! Also, she only gets bread in weekly and tomorrow is the day so the bread wasn't exactly fresh either. Oh, well, I wasn't going to take a taxi to the store just to buy bread! Jan from SV Vixen helped Larry get the AC off the boat. Carlos, the marina manager, was nice enough to store it for free for us in the cable TV room. That really helped us a lot as it takes up a whole berth if we have to take it with us. Anyway, we took last minute showers with the last of unlimited water for a long time. We finally got underway at 10:15am. Edgar pushed us perfectly out of the slip, as it is a difficult slip to get out of- we are the second boat in and when you back up, it's straight into the end of the marina and rocks so you need to be careful- you can't back up to much but just enough to clear the buoy where we tie the stern lines. Anyway, the wind was- well, what direction do you think? It was NW- directly in our faces so we couldn't sail! For the rest of the trip, the wind switched SW, S, E and finally SE. SE was not really good either as this means we are directly downwind. Oh, so you think that should make for a good passage right? Wrong! The boat rolls like this and you have to watch the main constantly as the sail wants to gybe so no, it wasn't a great trip. The winds and seas were down - about 15 knots and 3-5 foot seas so this helped a lot. In the beginning, we had no seas at all but than they increased as we moved farther away from land. I did the 7-11pm shift- normally we only go for 3 hours but Larry had to get up several times helping me with the sail as it was flopping around. I gave him an extra hour sleep for this. Larry did the 11-2 shift, Larry 5-7 and me 2-5. I had taken another Sturgeon during the night, as I was feeling nauseous from the rolling around so this medicine makes me sleepy. I listened to the CD player and that helped me stay awake. We arrived at Sebastopol at noon - our trip took 25.5 hours and we sailed for only 7 hours. The rest of the time we motor sailed. Two years ago we motored the entire way and it took us 26 hours so we beat our time by a half hour! We did not have to run the engine as hard as the previous year so hopefully we didn't use 18 gallons of fuel- we normally consume 1 gallon an hour at 2000RPM. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it back to Venezuela before we have to refuel. We were able to get into the Sebastopol southern entrance as the winds and waves were not too strong. I would definitely not enter this cut if the waves were over 10 feet though as I think it could be dangerous and you might hit the reef. Anyway, the SE wind was now about 18 knots so we anchored behind the little island to rest for the night. No other boats were there but of course just after we got settled, a huge powerboat came down from Gran Roque and anchored too. So much for peace and quiet! Larry raised the dinghy so we would get some air in the forward cabin. We were both exhausted so I laid down and slept for 3 hours- Larry didn't sleep at all, I don't know why, as we were both tired. Thank goodness I had a pot of chili already made for dinner, as I was just too tired to cook. We ate dinner in the cockpit before the sun set at 6:45pm so we could eat in the daylight. The big powerboat moved around 7pm when it was almost dark. We couldn't believe someone would move around the reef when it was dark out but the wind had died, they were anchored close to the island so we think they may have had mosquitoes and so moved. We were both so tired we went to sleep at 8:30pm.
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