|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogThe next day started fairly early, with Elias coming around 8:45. Diane went to the pharmacy at Plaza Mayor to get some antibiotics for her 'cold' (or flu or whatever was causing her to feel bad) and also to see if the optical shop there would grind new sunglass lenses for my existing frames. That would save considerable money - the new ones were well over $140. My eyes were about the same - the right one seemed to be getting a little better but the left was still the same - good close-up but blurry in the distance. After she left, I put the new boom bail I had made on the end of the boom for the preventer line. I also installed the one he fixed (welded on a new bail to the existing plate) in the middle of the mainsheet tackle system and saved the original as a spare. Elias was making progress on the bi-fold doors and the locker doors and after he finished the locker doors, we put those below since it looked like it would rain again. After lunch I just worked on the web site since I wanted to update it again soon with some more pictures from Trinidad and the most recent logs. It rained again, naturally, and I was glad we got the locker doors below but there were still many things that were outside that got wet. I suppose that only the last coat or so is important, the first ones just give some depth to the finish and protection. Diane finally got back around 3 after getting a manicure and pedicure and getting some groceries. Elias had just started the companionway again so we were very careful about bringing the groceries below. He had already sanded and cleaned it and worked for another 90 minutes or so to finish up for the week. The companionway now had 2 coats and was starting to look great. I was not going to do anything on Sunday but I decided that there were too many little projects 'hanging out' to just ignore so I spent the morning trying to figure out a way to hold the TV on its stand. The straps that were on it and held fine for 3 years just wouldn't stick to the sides anymore and the TV had fallen when we were on the way back from Tortuga. Luckily, it hadn't broken but I needed to get a new means of fastening it. I thought I could put bungee cord over the top and hold it down to the base by small padeyes, but nothing would keep it from sliding forward. I needed to put some kind of cleat in the front. Small pieces of teak would be ideal and I realized that I had some scrap that Weedie had given me in case I wanted it. They were pieces of his teak deck that he had taken up and were gray and weather beaten, but I could cut them to the right size and then sand them down. So I spent about an hour doing that and they turned out fine except that as I was fitting them to the TV's mounting base, I realized that I had some little rubber 'buttons' used as door stops that would work just as well and I could screw them to the base using the holes already in the top. I tried it and it worked fine. I might still use the wood cleats, but I don't think I'll need them now. All that took to lunch and afterward, I just did some little things and then Tom and Steph came over and we all went to the pool to talk and relax. They left around 6 and a British singlehander walked by just a little after they had gone so we invited him to sit and have a drink. We talked for a while and then Diane and I went back to Destiny for a nice dinner of Mexican 'lasagna'. Diane got up early on Monday to go to the doctor and I finally put some things away from when we were in Caracas and had the floor varnished. Elias came late since he comes from his girlfriend's home in Cumana but got started around 11 or so. Bob, from Pipe Dream, came by and asked me if I would be interested in doing the weather for the daily net. I wasn't sure but said I would go up with him tomorrow morning when he downloaded the daily weather information and see what it was like. He had done it for the last year and was finally leaving to go west for a few months. He had been doing a good job and it was an important part of the net so I said I would try. Diane came back and wanted to know when the dinghy would go back in the water since she wanted to bring in the laundry to the girl at CMO. It was much easier to do by dinghy. I said it would take another day or so but she happened to see the guy from the British boat next to us and he said we could use his dinghy so she got the laundry together, counted everything, and we went over. He had a small Avon with a 4 horsepower 4-stroke engine. As we were going over, I had almost forgotten what it was like with a small wet dinghy and a small outboard. Also, the 4-stroke engine was harder to pull that my 15! Pete, on Marnel 4, had gotten a 4-stroke 15 hp engine with an electric start - now I knew why. We got to CMO, dropped off the laundry and had lunch at the restaurant with Tom and Steph. We got back around 3 and I went to the Internet place to check our financials and send off birthday presents to the various nieces and nephews. I also inquired about a room to rent for a week to be able to put the doors from the heads and cabinets in to varnish out of the daily rain. Karen, from the small market, said there was such a room and she would contact the guy and could look at it tomorrow. When I got back from my errands, I finished rebedding some hardware in the cockpit. There were some pieces that were rusting and staining the gelcoat so I had removed them, got the stains out, cleaned the pieces, and reattached them using the stainless steel primer, along with polysulphide caulk. Hopefully, they won't rust too badly again. I got up early the next morning and went up to the marina office and met Bob there. He downloaded several different pieces of weather information from the computer in the manager's office and then we went to his boat to do the net. He announced that I would do the weather from now on so I guess I'm committed. I went back to Destiny after the weather and had my third cup of coffee and then Diane went to another doctor for a checkup. Steph called and asked if I wanted to go to a store with them so I said OK, finished up some things and walked over. Elias has started his work and I told him if Diane came back I would be back a little after lunch. We went to a place called Makro and it was like a Super Kmart store. I just bought some chips although Tom and Steph bought lots of groceries. We then went back to Mima, dropped off their things and ate at the restaurant there. We met a guy from Trinidad, Billy the rigger, who also knew Ken and Vesta from Great White Wonder. He also did the survey for Nick, who bought the boat last year. We talked with him for a while, and then after it stopped raining (again), I went back to Destiny. Diane still wasn't back although it was about 2. She finally walked in about 2:30 after waiting 3 hours for the doctor. Elias was putting the third coat on the companionway so we had to be careful getting in and out. We didn't do much the rest of the day - it was still drizzling and Elias was finishing up so we just relaxed. Wednesday I got up early so I could get the weather information for the net. I had set the alarm clock but got up before that, made some coffee and went up to the office. I downloaded the weather pages and went back to the boat. I did the weather on the net for the first time and did OK. Diane wanted to go to Makro this morning and so I went to the Internet place and updated the web site again with some new pictures and logs. I also visited a little with Bob and Norma from Happy Ours. They and Ty Dewi were leaving today, along with (probably) Pipe Dream. We hadn't seen them much and I wanted to say goodbye. We might see them further west but you never know. In the afternoon, just after lunch, we launched the dinghy after I got everything tightened up on the transom and adjusted the lifting straps. Diane helped with the engine and after it was all back together, Diane picked up some things that Steph had ordered from the little market here and I took that over to Mima at CMO. It looked like it was just about to rain and Elias and I had put the small pieces he had just varnished below already. I had planned to pick up the laundry, drop off the stuff for Mima, and bring back the laundry to Destiny then head back to Mima to play some chess with Tom. Unfortunately, it poured just after I got to CMO and I had to wait to get the laundry and bring it back. Finally, it let up to the point where I wouldn't get soaked and I went back. I decided not to play chess and Tom said OK but lets do it earlier tomorrow - OK. Elias couldn't do much since it was raining so hard and was just about cleaned up when I got back at a little before 5. There was also a problem with the power again so the air conditioner wasn't working although there was 120 volts coming into the boat. The ground fault main circuit breaker kept tripping and I found out that it was also happening to Marnel 4 so it wasn't just me; there was something wrong in the marina. I called Denny on White Tiger to see if they were having a problem also and they were but a different kind. Eventually, since people can just monitor conversations, we found out that Marnel 4 was having a problem as well, the same kind as me. Of course we had just started dinner but Pete and I went over to White Tiger to help Denny figure out what was going on, since he had changed some plugs around and Pete and I saw that our breakers wouldn't trip. So, in the dark and drizzle, we walked over to see Denny and figure it out. After about an hour, trying various combinations of plugs and dock connections, and calling Diane to see if our breaker would trip, we saw some very strange effects - we would need an electrician to figure it all out. We were OK since we had gotten the air conditioner to work with a Y connector that Denny loaned us, and the inverter/charger was charging the batteries. Pete wasn't quite so lucky - he could get his air conditioner working but his main breaker was before the charger so he had to run his generator to charge his batteries. And of course, the next day was a national holiday, Simon Bolivar's birthday, so everyone was off. Pete and I eventually went back to our boats - Denny had his power back and Diane and I were OK; Pete and Lanie would have to run their generator for a bit. I got up early Friday again and did the weather on the net. It was a busy day and we finally rented a room in the marina, near the condos, to let Elias varnish the doors and other removable pieces. So in the morning, we all moved the doors I had already taken off into the room. Diane had swept it already and when Elias was set up with everything, we went into PLC downtown to look for sunglasses for me. We found 4 or 5 optical shops but almost all of the sunglasses we saw didn't have any polarization, which is important on the water. We asked about making new lenses for my old frames and one shop said they could do it. So we went to eat lunch and came back to the boat. I wasn't feeling so well so we both just relaxed the rest of the day. Elias got pretty far on the doors but could just start sanding the companionway for the final coat. After doing the weather the next morning, we decided to go to Plaza Mayor to do some more shopping for my sunglasses and Diane's reading glasses. We called Tom and Steph and they said they would meet us for lunch so after we got Elias going and did some miscellaneous stuff, like putting up the awning over the foredeck, we left to go via dinghy. With just 2 of us, we got there in about 15 minutes at around 11. We went shopping again but this time I had brought my old sunglasses and found 2 shops that would make up new, non-corrective lenses with UV protection and polarization. One said it would be $65 and take a week, the other said $50 and they could do it in 30 minutes. Hmmm, which one would Diane pick? After leaving the glasses there we went to call home - Diane calling her parents and I called my brother. Using the Internet phone was very cheap and the connection itself was quite good. I spoke for about 15 minutes and Diane for about 25 and it cost us the equivalent of $4.50 - not bad. It was good to keep contact by phone sometimes. By the time I finished, it was noon and we met Tom and Steph and went for lunch and then some of the good ice cream. We went to pick up my new/old sunglasses and also ordered some reading glasses for Diane from a different place. Diane and Steph then went to the supermarket and we all went back by dinghy. It had started to rain a little but we got more wet by the wakes caused by the passing powerboats in the canals. With 4 people, the dinghy couldn't plane so it took longer to get back and Diane was concerned that Elias wanted to leave to go to Cumana to see his girlfriend for the weekend. We dropped off Tom and Steph and got back in plenty of time so Elias could make his bus for Cumana. He had finished the last coat on the companionway and it really looked great. Now, we just had to avoid touching it until it was completely dry. He had also done more work on the doors in the room we had rented so we were making some progress. |