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Diane's DiaryNov 24 Sun We had a lazy day today- I did some emails to everyone for Thanksgiving and got caught up with my logs. I also wrote an article for the Caribbean Compass- a local boating newspaper called - well; never mind- I'd tell you if it gets published. Since I have been having some ear problems, I decided to stay out of the water. I think I have a slight ear infection but it isn't too bad. Larry did go snorkeling and it's nice to go snorkeling right from our boat, as the reef is close by. It was very nice to just have a lazy day and take it easy. Nov 25 Monday Well we are moving to the south anchorage this morning so we prepared the boat to leave. Larry didn't want to tow the dinghy with the engine on (not that I blame him) so this had to come off. We also needed to take down all the canvas. S/V Ocelot called us- they had a wildlife biologist on board and wanted to see our hummingbird. Since we were headed south anyway, we dropped the anchor near them for a little while. Unfortunately, they don't think the hummingbird will make it as he cannot fly. Anyway, we arrived at Playa Caranton about 2pm but Lady M 3 had already beaten us to the good spot so our's was not as protected and we rolled more. We had a late lunch and since it was blowing so much, around 20 knots, didn't get the engine on. I tried to take a little nap but couldn't get to sleep. I made a late dinner of meatloaf and carrots and we just stayed on board. Nov 26 Tuesday The boat was rolling quite badly last night and I got a terrible night's sleep. Jim from Lady M 3 came over this morning to remove a cactus thorn I got in my toe from the hike. After, I revised my article and wrote another one on VZ hospitality. It is really blowing out- an east wind about 20-22knots. I revised an article I am going to submit to the Compass on Blanquilla. With the high winds, it's too windy to get our dinghy engine onto the dinghy. Jim came over in the afternoon and we took a little dinghy ride around. We did a little snorkeling also. I will be glad to leave here, as I can't take the rocking much longer. Nov 27 Wednesday Birdie died last night- I found him in his water bowl this morning. I really didn't think he had much of a chance with his wing broken but we did the best we could for him. I buried him at sea. I felt badly he died but we did have him for 8 days so I hope he wasn't in any pain. It's really blowing out here again. The wind is from the east around 20 knots but we are still rocking and rolling. I would have liked to go back to Playa Yaque, as I am sure it is calmer there but we are going to leave tomorrow so this anchorage is a better rhumb line back to Margarita. Jim came by to help us get the dinghy up on deck this morning. With all the wind it would have been difficult to do it by ourselves. However, once the dinghy is on deck, we can't get back into the boat from the water so we are captive on the boat. We definitely need to get a side-boarding ladder. This afternoon, Jim took us to the beach to burn some garbage and take a hike. It was good getting off the boat with all the rolling we are doing. We got back to the boat at 4pm and prepared the boat to leave tomorrow. November 28 Thursday Thanksgiving Day Well, this is the first time in my entire life I have not celebrated Thanksgiving at all and I really missed everyone. We were thinking how good my Mom's home cooked Thanksgiving dinner would be around now. I miss her wonderful dinners. Maybe she would fly down and make a belated Thanksgiving dinner for us? Anyway, we thought of our friends and family back home and missed everyone. It is very difficult spending holidays without your family and friends. The boat was really rolling last night and we weren't getting any sleep so we decided to leave early since we weren't sleeping much anyway. We got up at 4am and left the anchorage at 5. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the sail up as the halyard was fouled so it took Larry a little while to free it - while in the dark in a pitching boat! We finally got underway around 5:30am. It was obvious we were going to have to motor again for the entire trip as the wind was not in the right direction to sail. It was from the SE about 15 knots with about 6' seas in the beginning while we were in the shallow water close to land, and then it decreased to 4-5'. While it was not very comfortable, it wasn't that bad. If we had sailed to the western shore of Margarita, we still would have had to beat back to Porlamar directly into the winds for 50 miles. So, this was the better way. I didn't get seasick at all but I had taken 2 Sturgeron the evening before. We had the autopilot on and it started to go crazy so we had to hand steer for a while. It would have been difficult to do this for the entire passage though. Larry reset it a few times and we even shut off the watermaker in case this was the problem but it wasn't. Finally, the autopilot seemed to settle down and worked fine but we haven't found out why it acted up. Larry thought the contacts might need to be cleaned. Anyway, we arrived at Juangriego and had the anchor set by about at 4:45pm. We were both tired from the trip and lack of sleep from the last few nights. I made Swedish meatballs since I had the leftover sauce. Larry didn't want anything else to eat so I just opened up a can of Brinkman Farms beef and noodles for dinner. Not exactly what I wanted to have for Thanksgiving dinner but I was too tired to cook. We actually watched a video since we had so much power from motoring for 12 hours. We were in bed by 9pm. November 29 Friday Well, we both had a good nights sleep and slept really soundly. The boat was not rocking at all and it felt really good. Lady M 3 and Aphrodite left before us but we were on the road again by 8am. We had to go east again for about 5 miles before we turned south for about 15 miles and finally west about 5 miles into Porlamar. Larry wanted to sail for a while so when we turned southeast we sailed. It was a beautiful day and the winds were light, about 10 knots and seas less than 4'. It was a good idea but unfortunately we weren't going very fast under sail only so we had to turn the motor on. We ran the watermaker and filled the tanks. We turned the engine off and sailed at the extreme south end of Margarita and into Porlamar. We arrived in Porlamar about 3pm and spent the rest to the afternoon setting the boat up- putting the canvas up, etc. We then relaxed and had some salsa and chips. I made a different marinade for a recipe with lomito. It wasn't as good as my previous marinade but still good. It's just different. I started preparing my list to go grocery shopping tomorrow. With the upcoming strike set for Monday, I'm sure the stores will be crowded. Hopefully, we will only be here for a few days and than we will be on our way to Tortuga. November 30 Saturday I got a terrible night's sleep- the local weekend disco was out in full force. The music starts around 9pm - our usual bedtime, and lasts until approximately 5am with earth shattering music. It definitely keeps me awake. I finally got to sleep but was tired the entire day. It was raining again today- on and off rain. Every time we come into Margarita it rains here and we have always been told it does rain here very much! Anyway, at least it got most of the salt off the boat. Larry came with me and I went to Rattan supermarket and he went to an Internet café. The store was completely mobbed - it was like Christmas Eve- so packed you could barely get your cart down the aisle. I guess everyone is stocking up for the strike on Monday. But we also know Saturday is a big shopping day so the supermarkets are usually busy but this was ridiculous. I like the meat and gourmet section here but prefer to get my fruits and vegetables at one of the other supermarkets. It's just like at home- some supermarkets have different things and I usually go to several different ones also. We went for a pizza lunch in a nice restaurant. The pizza was actually pretty good. We got back to the boat around 3:30 and I put all the groceries away. We decided to go to Jak's for dinner- I was tired and didn't feel like cooking. We had a delicious dinner and got back to the boat around 7pm. One of the worse things about Margarita is having to lift the dinghy out of the water every night. If you don't lift it, the dinghy will definitely be stolen. We prefer to do it when it's still light out but sometimes we get back when it's night and it's harder to do it then. December 1 Sunday I got another bad nights sleep last night. The disco was blaring until the wee hours of the morning and then it started to rain at 5am. We had a big breakfast of cheese and mushroom omelets. It's been a while since we had those. I did some cleaning and we left about noontime to go Sambil mall. Larry went to the Internet café- double the normal price here so we won't use this one again. We enjoyed walking around in the AC and looking in all the stores. We decided to go to the movies and saw "Changing Lanes" with Ben Affleck. It was pretty good and definitely worth seeing. After not seeing TV for such a long time, it's a pleasure to see a movie again. The mall was pretty crowded with people doing their last minute shopping before the strike tomorrow. December 2 Monday This was the first day of the general strike so everything is closed. We have just decided to stay close to the boat for now. I made a baked ziti and some chili. In the afternoon, S/V Kiana, friends we met in Trinidad, came over for drinks. It was good to see them again. They are on their way north but we will probably see them next year. We had a great time with their visit. We didn't get off the boat the entire day. They left at 5pm. December 3 Tuesday The strike is still on- this is day 2 so all the stores are still closed. I made some red kidney beans in the pressure cooker and they came out pretty good. I was definitely impressed. I will have to buy and make them again. I used some water to wash the slipcovers on our nice Sport-a-seats. The slipcovers were filthy so I'm glad I made them. However, the Trini fabric is still bleeding very badly so I do not want to send these out with the wash. We have a lot of dirty clothes so I will definitely have to get some of the wash done here. We went over to Lady M 3 for drinks and to play dominoes. We went over at 3pm but by the time we started to play and finally finished, it was almost 8pm by the time we got back. December 4 Wednesday Day 3 of the strike. The last 3 times (with the exception of the coup), the strikes only lasted one day each but this time seems to be different. We have decided not to leave Margarita until the strike is over just to play it safe. We just don't know how this will all turn out and we may have to leave the country. So, Margarita is already east and we can jump back to Trinidad if we have too. We really want to see Guilio, Merida, and islands east so we hope this is all resolved peacefully. We will just sit tight right now as Margarita is mainly a tourist island and we seem to be in no danger here. We watched a video another boater left us in the afternoon called "The Contender"- it was very good and we are glad we saw it. After dinner, we watched another video. December 5 Thursday Day 4 of the strike. I took a taxi to Unicasa as we are getting low on provisions. Unicasa is definitely more expensive than Sigo or CM so a lot of locals do not shop here. I like their fruits and vegetables and they have fantastic fresh squeezed OJ for $1 quart- I happened to get the last one of those. However, they had no lomito nor any of the better cuts of meat left. They did seem to be re-supplying all the fresh fruits and vegetables though. I wanted to go to the other supermarket CM also but was just too tired and it was a mad house. The supermarkets are only open from 10-2pm only. Rattan supermarket in the center of town has not been open at all. The demonstrations have taken place in front of their store so I guess they figured it was best to close. All these businesses must be losing a lot of money and we really feel bad for the small businessman. I will honor the strike and go food shopping only as I feel that is a necessity. If they close the supermarkets, I feel they will have a lot of riots if people can't eat so I agree with keeping the supermarkets open - all the other sections of the stores except for the liquor are also closed. At 8pm nightly, we hear pots and pans banging. I have been buying the local paper and found this is an anti-Chavez demonstration in support of the strike. We decided to go to Jak's to watch the TV- I wanted to see the latest on the strike. We decided to have dinner - the food is always good and cheap. We saw people we knew - S/V Passagio and Its Good so it was nice to see them and catch up. |