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Diane's DiarySeptember 19 Monday It is very hot as there's very little breeze- today would have been a better day to come here from Barlovento since there's less wind. I had to defrost the freezer again- it's only been about 2 weeks since I last did it. I made some excellent corn muffins in the am and they came out superb. I think I have this recipe down correctly! At 11am, I started making homemade tortillas; they finished rising around 11:30 and I started rolling them out and cooking them so that took around an hour. Larry was finishing his book and so we didn't go out snorkeling until 2:30pm. We forgot the yellow boarding strap so had to come back to the boat to get it, as it's very difficult for me to get into the dinghy without it. Anyway, our own way back out again, just as Larry was trying to put the dinghy up on plane, it wouldn't go up and we heard a strange noise. Luckily, we were almost to the snorkeling area so just went there. Maybe we just hit something? No, Larry looked at the prop and it looked fine. We went snorkeling but the water was green and sort of murky so it wasn't too good. We did see a big lobster, school of rainbow parrotfish and a very curious young French angelfish that kept approaching me. I checked out the spot between the island and "mainland" as we thought it was a reef but it was just sea grass. I did found a large conch that we took. We were able to just raise the dinghy engine and drift over the area and go to the little beach near us for showers. This was good, as we didn't have to take the dingy all around the island to get back to the beach. The problems with the dinghy engine continued but we found we were OK as long as we just ran it slow and didn't try to put it up on plane. Larry read some of his repair book when we got back and he thinks it's possible a filter is just clogged so he'll work on that tomorrow. We hope so as that's the easiest solution possible. We ran the water maker 3 hours today. September 20 Tuesday It's still hot with little wind as there are 2 hurricanes further north that are giving us light wind down here. The winds will be low; almost nothing for the next several days so we know it will be hot. Larry worked on the dinghy engine all morning. It's not the filters so he doesn't know what it could be. We'll email a few people and see if we can get this fixed otherwise we may be going to Bonaire sooner than we expect. It's ironic that we just sold our spare 5HP motor earlier this year. We had kept it for 5 years and finally decided to sell it. Of course Murphy's Law dictates that's why we had a problem- we have no spare right now! I made some bacon and banged out 2 conch as I'll make conch chowder tonight. I also made oatmeal raisin cookies. I had never made them before and it took a few batches before I got them right. By that time, I was really hot as we had little wind and was so tired of cooking; I just refrigerated the rest of the dough to make another day. Anyway, Larry was tired from working on the engine so didn't want to go snorkeling. So, we just went to the beach and took a quick swim. Larry will do a few emails tonight and see if anyone we know can help us with the dinghy problem or we'll have to go on to Bonaire. We don't know if we're damaging the engine further by using it right now. September 21 Wednesday The refrigerator ran all night. When I tried to turn it down this morning, it wouldn't go down, so I had to shut it off. Another thing for Larry to fix! There is no wind at all - I mean zilch, nada. It is unbearably hot. We have some bugs but not too many yet - that's because we've had no rain out here at all. Larry spoke to Tom from Mima this morning via the SSB and Tom said he was aware of this problem on Yamaha's- seems like when they get a few years old the rubber on the propeller has a problem. The only solution is to drill some screws in the propeller or buy a new prop. Tom says the fisherman in Laguna Grande have been using the 'adding the screws' solution for years as they don't have the money to buy a new prop. Larry worked on the refrigerator this morning in all this heat. He found out it was the thermostat and it's a good thing we have a spare. We had this problem out here last year and when we got to PLC, found out it was the thermostat and bought a spare. I guess the refrigerator is getting old- probably around 20 years, plus it works a lot harder out here in the Caribbean since the sun is so intense. Anyway, 3 guesses as to where the spare is?? You're right- it's buried! It was in the aft cabin so everything had to be removed to find it. But he installed it and yes that was the problem. Maybe that's why the refrigerator was running so much. Anyway, Larry also had to replace the wire connectors so he spent the morning just working on the refrigerator so couldn't even get to the dinghy engine. I worked on my logs and wrote a story for the Compass about making bread. At 2pm, after lunch, Larry started working on the dinghy engine. Unfortunately, he didn't have the correct size screws. But he thinks the problem is just the prop like a few people are telling us, so that's all we need to replace. They should have this part in Bonaire, as Yamaha engines are fairly common out here. Anyway, Larry was too tired to go snorkeling so we just went to the little beach and had a nice swim and shower. A French boat had come in sometime in the am and had anchored near the small beach. So, we couldn't do our usual nude swim! The boat left at 4pm and we couldn't believe it as it was too late in the day to be able to read the reefs. You need to leave between 10-noontime to really be able to see the reef. All they did was just go to Isla Ramon which is close by but on the outer reef as they probably want to leave early in the am. September 22 Thursday Very hot- just unbearable, with zero wind. We couldn't sleep since it was so hot. I am very lethargic and don't feel well and am sure it's due to the heat. Having the awning up would help a lot but we don't want to put it up for just a day or so as it's a pain to put up and take down so we usually only put it up when we are going to be somewhere for at least a few weeks. We read and I just rested in the am, as I wasn't feeling well. The 2 hurricanes up north are really keeping the winds low down here. We went to the beach to put in the longer screws in the prop but the screws were bent (why didn't Larry notice this?) so we couldn't put them in. We went snorkeling back at the same spot but the water was still green so it wasn't too great. I finished book #15, Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman. I really like this author a lot but felt the book was not up to his usual great standard. I started book #16, Third Degree by James Patterson- another author I like. The wind is picking up very slightly but Larry put up the breeze booster so we could get some more air in our cabin. The mosquito coil I lit when out in the middle of the night and then we had bugs - don't know what they were but think they must have been sand flies so we got bitten until I got up, relit the coil and applied bug spray to my body. Today was the last day Larry was net controller on the Safety and Security net- Melodye is back from being on the hard and will resume her old duties tomorrow. It's been very quiet on the net- think a lot of cruisers have just gone home for the summer. September 23 Friday The wind is picking up very slightly but anything is better than nothing. It sure was a great time to go East with such little wind but we are heading West. We would love the wind to be this low when we come back from Bonaire, as it would be great to go through the islands again. Larry went out to take some pictures in the Am and I made some more oatmeal raisin cookies and got the boat ready to leave. Larry also put longer screws in the prop but they didn't hold as he thinks he needs to drill new holes. But he thinks the new propeller will definitely solve the problem. There's no sense rushing to Bonaire now, as the stores will probably be closed over the weekend. We left the anchorage at 10:50am but some clouds were coming in so we didn't have fantastic sunshine. Going out was scary, as I couldn't tell if the dark spots were reef or sea grass but we followed Doyle's cruising guide and had no problem leaving. We anchored at Isla Ramon and are the only boat here. Last year there was just one other boat that had come from Bonaire (if you recall we had a west wind and a problem with the battery regulator). But the year before, we were anchored here with at least 4 other boats. Anyway, the water tanks were low, as we didn't run the water maker at all yesterday so it took 3.5 hours to fill the tanks. We had even taken showers on shore so we didn't use a lot of water. Anyway, we arrived in Isla Ramon at 11:45am. The water is extremely blue and clear and it's nice to have such beautiful water again. We saw some dark clouds coming towards us around 1pm along with some claps of thunder so thought it would be prudent to wait and see what happened. Fortunately, the storm went north of us and dissipated so we were lucky. We went snorkeling around the little island near here. The water inside the reef was green with not such great visibility but there was a lot of fish. I saw a school of midnight and rainbow parrotfish. Two years ago I had gotten some conch here but the only one I found this time that was too small. I did see lots of dead ones though. We have a strong current where Destiny is anchored- we are facing north even though the wind is from the SE. When we were snorkeling and I got to this part of the reef, I had to keep finning or I started to go backwards that's how strong the current was! We have a little roll here but it's tolerable. September 24 Saturday We had a slight breeze overnight so it wasn't too ungodly hot but there wasn't a lot of wind. The wind started out from the SE as predicted but than switched around to the E again less than 10 knots. We'll leave tomorrow for Bonaire - we want to make sure we go to the police station to clear in as we have been hearing about more boats having problems with Immigration. So, even though the dinghy engine isn't working quite right, we can still use it. We'll just take a mooring closer to Karel's bar since it won't be the weekend and move further north when we get the dinghy fixed. We heard from the store in Bonaire and they have the propeller in stock- $111 USD plus tax but at least they have it. We hoisted the dinghy this morning and cleaned it all off. Even though we have been good with lifting it out of the water every third night plus cleaning the bottom regularly, we still have growth on it. We'll go swimming this afternoon just using our swim ladder. We'll leave for Bonaire early tomorrow morning- around daybreak. I worked on my logs, finished my bread story, and also finished my James Patterson book, which I liked a lot. I'm reading the scuba diving book today so I can refresh myself before we go diving. Larry is busy reading the Angels and Demons book I gave him and he can't put it down! Oh, there's only 1 other cruising boat here in all of Sotavento. Quite a change from when we were here the first year. September 25 Sunday I had set the alarm clock for 5:30am but was up even before it went off as the boat was rolling some and it kept me awake. There's little wind so it's really hot. When we got up at 6am, it was cloudy and overcast out. The weatherman said there was a small tropical wave going to pass us so I guess this is it. He said there wouldn't be much rain or wind associated with it. If he hadn't said that, I guess we would have just stayed another day but we were also anxious to get to Bonaire and check in with the Police station on a weekend so we could avoid the Immigration office. We left the anchorage at 7am under motor. It did rain while we were underway and actually we were glad for it as it washed off all the salt water on Destiny. This is the first time we have had rain since we left PLC so the boat really needed a good fresh water rinse. It didn't rain that hard or for very long. We were beginning to think we made an error leaving today when we saw some lightening and heard thunder but fortunately it stayed away from us. We arrived in Bonaire at 3:30pm and motored the entire way except for a brief half hour where we could sail in a southerly wind! The wind must have been from the squall. We did have some wind up to around 15 knots for this brief period but otherwise it was almost nothing. So, it was a relatively easy trip. We motored to Bonaire last year also. Since we had to run the engine anyway, we were running the water maker and I filled up every container we had. We always seem to get low on water in Bonaire, as we never seem to have a lot of wind while we are there. We took a mooring close to Karel's Bar so we wouldn't have to dinghy far. Normally we go to the moorings on the northern end, as they are further away from the Friday and Saturday night band that plays at Karel's bar. Just as we were trying to get a mooring a dinghy passed by, waved, but didn't offer to help. I couldn't believe it as we have always helped other cruisers trying to get the mooring. We launched the dinghy and went to customs - no problem. However, at the police station they said if we were coming from Venezuela we would have to check in at Immigration tomorrow. I immediately knew this was going to be trouble as other cruisers have been having problems with Immigration. Some have even been told to leave. I think we're going to have a problem tomorrow! Oh, as I was opening the hatches, one fell on my finger and bent my finger back- Ouch! Hope it's not broken as it sure hurts a lot. We had an ice cream in town- our first in a few months!
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