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Diane's DiaryNov 1 Fri I got a terrible night's sleep. I know this is definitely because I am afraid of being boarded by banditos so I was sleeping lightly & was aware of any sounds. Anyway, we had a lot of wind in the anchorage last night- too bad the batteries & water tanks were already full. The anchorage was a little tricky to leave to head east before it gets light as the lights from Margarita glare at you & there is a wreck near the anchorage we didn't want to hit. So, we left at first light- about 5:45am. We had a tough motor sail for around the first hour or so pounding directly into the winds. Needless to say, it was not a very comfortable trip. I went down to use the bathroom & discovered we had no more water in one of the tanks. How could this be when we just filled them all up? It takes so long to fill up a tank & unless we have lots of electricity from the wind & sun, we have to run the engine just to run the water maker. So, we were both upset & depressed. Luckily, we can buy water in Porlamar- it's expensive but the water isn't supposed to be to clean there to run the water maker. But the real problem is to find out WHY we lost the water. Plus, we learned a lesson - from now on when we transit, we will shut off the water pressure so this does not happen again. Anyway, the seas calmed down after the first hour or so & even though we were heading directly into the wind, it wasn't too bad. We got into Porlamar about 11am. Welcome back to duty free shopping! How I missed it! Michael from Kristali came over within about 5 minutes of our anchoring - Connie & Steve were off shopping. It was really nice to see him again. We hadn't seen them since we left them in July. We were both really tired from the last few days. Larry wanted to find out why we lost the water. Turns out it was a hose that burst on the hot water heater- we didn't hear the water pump go on because we had the engine on. Anyway, this was the easiest solution for us to fix. Kristali has decided to stay another day so we will get together tomorrow. We're glad they are staying another day as we are both exhausted & need to rest. We both really haven't gotten a good night's sleep since we left the end of the Gulf so we are very tired. We had an early day & were sound asleep by 9pm. Nov 2 Sat We both feel much better now after a good night's sleep. We took the dinghy down & Larry drove me to the dock so I could go to the supermarket. I first took a cab to the Unicasa & then went to the CM store. The Unicasa is part of the same chain as in PLC-expensive but they have American products which we sometimes crave. The CM is a huge supermarket with excellent prices. Unfortunately, it was mobbed. I asked one of the other customers why & she said it was the beginning of the month & most people get paid twice a month - the first & 15. So, I picked the wrong time to shop. I picked up a few things but couldn't get near the meat or cheese counter due to the crowds. Oh well, I will have to come back another time. Larry wants to only spend a few days here & then go to Blanquilla. Frankly, I like the shopping here & could stay longer. I got back to the boat around 1pm, we had lunch, & Kristali came over around 2:30. It was really nice seeing them again & to hear of their travels to the Aves, Rocques & Bonaire. They really convinced us that we are missing out by not going there. We have both wanted to see them but since we went home to sell the house, it was too late in the season to go out there properly & still come east. The winter is not a good time to be there because the winds are too strong & it's not comfortable to snorkel in high winds. We remembered when we were in the Tobago Cays- when the wind was high we did not enjoy the snorkeling as the water was too rough. Anyway, we will have to think about all of it. They stayed till 7:30 & gave us cruising notes in case we decided to go. We had a light dinner after they left as we had a big lunch & lots of appetizers. Nov 3 Sun Well, Kristali left this morning - don't know if we will ever see them again as they are heading back to the US now. We will definitely miss them, I got up at 5am & couldn't get back to sleep. I was really hungry, as we had not eaten dinner last night. So, when Larry woke up, I made breakfast early & we ate before 7am, which is something, we rarely do. S/V Sweet Dreams gave us several cruising notes & books on VZ to read so I spent the morning reading them & taking notes. I was tired so took a nap from 11-1pm. After lunch I took more notes. For dinner, I made fresh mushrooms in the pressure cooker with tomato paste. This is an excellent recipe from my pressure cooker cookbook. It was really nice to have fresh mushrooms again - can't remember when I last had those. I also made grouper fish from a recipe a cruiser gave me. The recipe is excellent as I have made it before but it was too heavy for this delicate fish so I won't prepare it that way again. I didn't feel well the entire day- my stomach was very upset & I kept getting diarrhea so I wanted to take it easy. The anchorage is really rolly- it was not like this when we were here in July & it is not very comfortable. I wanted Larry to put out a bridle so we would face into the wind but he didn't want to bother since we are only staying a few days. I really am not comfortable sleeping & have not gotten a good night's sleep as the rolling seems to only happen at night. Nov 4 Mon We had a big rainstorm last night. Who said it doesn't rain in Margarita? It doesn't rain too often here except it's rainy season right now so this is when we get all the rain. Naturally, the bed got soaking wet as we had the hatch covers on & we can't close the hatches all the way when they are on. Anyway, Larry came with me to Sigo to go shopping. They have a free bus from the marina on Mon, Wed & Fri. Taking the bus is fine except it doesn't leave there until 1:30pm so if you finish early you just get stuck waiting. We did learn later on that the least crowded day to shop there is Wed so we will keep that in mind for the next time we come. Also, I think they have more merchandise on Wed or Fri as they get big crowds over the weekend. We spent almost $70USD on booze- but this will last us for quite awhile. Since booze is so much cheaper here on duty free Margarita, we will buy everything here. We did note that the expensive Aniversario rum we really like went up in price to over $5USD per bottle. In July, we paid less than $3 bottle. They were actually raising all the prices in the supermarket the day we were there so we just lucked out getting a good price as the USD was getting stronger each day. There was another terrible rainstorm while we were gone shopping. We arrived back at the boat in the pouring rain. I had closed the hatches just so we don't get a robber in the boat but really didn't tie the hatches down well. The hatch in the bathroom was wide open- we rarely shut this one, as it's too small for robbers to enter it. Anyway, the floor was completely soaked- & so was our bed! It was not much fun dinghying back to the boat with all the food in the pouring rain. With all the food to put away, I didn't finish till 4pm. We get rid of all the cardboard immediately so we don't bring any cockroaches on board. I made spaghetti & meatballs for dinner. The boat is really rolling again so I didn't get a good night's sleep. Nov 5 Tuesday The boat is really rolling big time this morning- a Tropical Wave is currently passing us by. The rain we had yesterday must have been part of this wave. Anyway, I took a taxi into town to go shopping again to the big Rattan's- they are more expensive but have a lot of things we really like. I got some more lomito- this steak is better than filet mignon. If you buy the entire piece & have the butcher cut it up it's cheaper that way. It costs about $2USD per lb when you buy it whole. I found an excellent recipe with a red wine marinade that is superb. The butcher told me NOT to bar-be-que this meat as it dries out the meat. Since we both like the marinade, I will probably make it this way all the time. Nov 6 Wed We went back shopping on the free Sigo bus today. We needed to get a lot of things & just can't take them all in 1 shopping trip so we needed to come again today. When we really leave VZ for good we will need at least 2 weeks here to buy everything we need (that means booze since it's so cheap here) as it's impossible to do it all in 1 trip in the dinghy. Nov 7 Thursday I got a really bad night's sleep last night. The voltage buzzer went off at 3am & woke up me. Larry never hears it at all. I had a really hard time getting back to sleep so I slept late. We listened to the weather report & they said a northerly swell would be coming in over the weekend making all west coast anchorages rolly. Since we remember from St. Marten 2 years ago what that was like, we have just decided to stay here over the weekend & leave early next week. We have decided to stay in VZ over the winter & go back to the US next Nov after hurricane season is over. We have always wanted to see Merida, the Aves & Rocques & since we spent so much time in the US selling our house, we weren't able to make it that far this year. Our friends on Kristali said we would probably enjoy those places a lot so we have decided to stay. We have been graciously invited to spend Christmas with Guilio & his family so we will do that. Plus, Larry may get the Lasik eye surgery while we are in Caracas. We will probably go up to Merida in January, go to Caracas, the eye surgery & Colonial Tovar in Feb, haul the boat in March. Then, go back to the Gulf in April, Margarita in May, then to Blanquilla & Tortugua. Come back to PLC; get fuel & food & head to the Aves, Rocques & Bonaire. Then come back east & either head due north from here in early Nov or head back to Trini in Oct, stay a few weeks, & head north from there. Well, it sounds like a plan but as we cruisers all know by know, cruising plans are subject to change at any moment! Anyway, more shopping today. Larry came with me to Rattan Depot- sort of a supermkt & hardware store in 1 store. We bought another 5-gallon gas can & I think we may buy another when we go back. Even though the gas can is double the price of the US, with gas at .15 gallon it pays to have several gas cans. Plus, this new dinghy engine uses up a lot of gas. |