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Larry's LogWednesday morning was occupied with some small things. There was a metal fitting with a plastic ring around it that held the whisker pole on the deck and the plastic had just disintegrated from the sun so I needed to either get a new one or make one. I decided that I could make one from plywood, coated with epoxy and painted. I had found the right width plywood in my storage locker and so I made a template, found the coping saw and tried cutting it. Cutting a piece of 1/2 inch plywood with a coping saw is not easy and after working 20 minutes in the hot sun and only getting about an inch cut, I got my hole saw set and found the largest one was about the right size. I drilled the hole for the inside but started the larger one before the cutout for the center was done. I then had a plywood doughnut. Elias was finally putting the first complete coat on the nav station. I had taken down the last of the headliner pieces touching the bulkhead where he was varnishing so there was even more "stuff" around the boat. He was doing that while I worked on the plywood. He finished up about noon so he went to lunch and worked on the steps in the afternoon. I finished working on the replacement for the plastic ring for the day and then went over to Mima for drinks. There was another cruiser there, a Venezuelan, and we all had a good time talking about everything from countertops to the political situation in Venezuela. Eventually, his wife came over and they went back to their boat and Steph said I should stay for dinner, so I did. We visited some more and I got back to Destiny around 9, hoisted the dinghy and went to bed. Thursday, August 21 - today was the day Diane was taking our cat to the veterinarian. He was having some problems with his kidneys now and was pretty old - over 18. She didn't want her parents to make any decisions about him so we hoped that he would be OK. In the morning, I didn't do much except wait to exchange some more money and go over to Armando, the stainless steel guy, to get a quote on security bars for the hatches. I redrew the diagram of what I wanted and included a request for a price for ones that opened and ones that didn't. I felt it was important to be able to open them in case we needed to get out that way. Tom and Steph had walked over to Bahia Redonda in the morning and were talking to Bob and Geri on Freestyle when I walked down the dock and saw them. Elias was just coming to work and I went back to the boat with him. He said the doors he was doing for Mima were finished they had asked him to ask me if I could drop them off by dinghy later. No problem, so he and I went to get the doors from the room and loaded them in the dinghy. I went off with the doors and dropped off the drawing at Armando and went to Mima for a minute. I then went back to Destiny to get my sandals (which I forgot) and went off to Plaza Mayor to make my phone call. It was pretty windy so the ride wasn't as smooth as usual. There was also a fair amount of other boat traffic, with many kids driving their RIBs very fast. (I found out that August was a time for family vacations since kids were still off from school.) I finally got there without getting too wet and found the place for the call. I was a bit early so I went to have a snack (a strawberry batido made with fresh strawberries, sugar and ice blended together) and went back. I talked to Diane for about 30 minutes. The vet had said he wasn't doing too well but would take another blood test and would call tomorrow. So, I would call again and we could see what was happening. We talked about other stuff and the shopping she had done and everything else was OK, except we had to find another place to put our car. Her father felt that leaving it in his driveway was now inconvenient so we found a friend of mine who said he could manage. Diane would drive it to Connecticut on Saturday and get back to Long Island by train. Unfortunately, it meant she would be without a car the last few days of the trip. Anyway, I had lunch and went back to Mima to visit for a while. Elias was doing the second coat of varnish on the nav station so it was better if I wasn't there anyway. While I was at Mima, Tom and I got out the piece of lumber that we got for me to make to board to hold the jerry jugs at the stanchions. It was rough cut and about 12 feet long. Tom got out his saber saw and belt sander and we cut it to length and sanded it down to a point where it looked pretty good. It looked like some kind of mahogany, probably related to Luan that's used for doors. Anyway, it would work just fine although it needed to dry out some more. So I brought it back to Destiny, took a shower and walked back to Mima to go out to dinner. We went to Plaza Mayor and ate in the "Sports Bar" there and it was pretty good although I spent more than I thought, about $12, but then, I did have 2 beers, an appetizer, hamburger, coffee and dessert. Friday I did some work on the PC in the morning and finished applying epoxy to the little wood donut I made to replace the plastic ring on the whisker pole deck fitting. I then went over to Mima and left a drawing of the security bars with Tom to give to another stainless steel worker who would give me another price quote on the security bars. The price I got from Armando was pretty high and I think he was getting busy and didn't really want to do them. I then went to Plaza Mayor again to call Diane. Talking to her, the results of our cat's blood tests were not too bad but there was definitely something else wrong and the vet, who we trusted, said that it might be best to put him to sleep and he was willing to come in today, on his day off to do it. Diane had wanted to keep him until Monday but circumstances dictated that it was better today so at 2 pm, our beloved cat of 18 years was gone. Her Aunt said she could bury him in her backyard and so that's what happened. After talking to Diane, I called my brother and it was really nice to hear his voice. We talked about lots of things and I wound up spending quite a bit on the 2 calls, but they were very worth it. Afterward, I ate lunch, feeling that I wished I could have been with Diane and Cinnamon, bought some things at the supermarket, went back to Mima and stayed there for just a little while and then went back to Destiny. Elias had finished for the day and the 3rd coat of varnish looked really good. I wasn't in much of a mood to make dinner so I just had some snacks and watched a movie for the evening. The next morning I tried to keep busy. Elias came at a little before 9 and I had just checked on Sojourner, who had left on a trip to Angel Falls. While he started sanding for the last coat (ultimo mano) on the navigation station, I went outside and cleaned the fenders and dorade vents with a mixture of bleach and detergent. They came out a bit better and at least I got the worst of the dirt off. It was important for the fenders so that they wouldn't grind the dirt into the hull where they rubbed. I was also going to put the fender covers back on as soon as everything dried. I also put the piece of lumber back out in the sun to get it really dry before painting it. Around noon, George came by with my newly chromed hinges. They looked pretty good although some that were very badly corroded were chromed but you could see the rust and imperfections under the chrome plating. George said that the polishing machine would have just ground away too much metal. Well, there were just a few like that and the rest looked pretty good, and I got back everything so I was pretty happy. Now I could start putting everything back together. Of course, I had to wait until Diane got back with the stainless steel screws she was getting for me - using brass screws on a chromed hinge just wouldn't look right. Elias was putting the final coat on the nav station so I just went out, took a shower and went over to Mima to play chess. I paid Elias before I left so that was no problem. Tom and I played one game in which I beat him pretty badly so we just sat around and had a few drinks after that. They invited me to stay for dinner and so I did, getting back to Destiny around 9. I wasn't planning to do much on Sunday but wound up doing more than I planned. The morning was occupied with little chores but then I started putting up some of the headliner pieces that I had taken down so Elias could do the entire bulkhead up past the headliner. Of course, that entailed doing some electrical work also since 2 of the headliners had lights on them. I decided to not just splice the wires together so I put up a terminal strip to make it easier in the future to do anything there. I didn't put them all up since 2 were fairly large and I didn't want to risk scratching the new varnish struggling with it by myself so I would wait for either Elias or Diane to help with those. The afternoon was also pretty busy, at least until about 3. I hoisted the dinghy since I was too tired the night before to do it, and washed off the boat, again. (The birds really liked our boat's awning.) While I was using the hose, I filled the water tank and rinsed off the dinghy as well. Then I checked on Sojourner, did some work on the PC and watched a video after dinner. Monday morning I went to Plaza Mayor again to call Diane, do a little shopping and also called my friend Tony. Diane had seen him a few days before and he had gotten me some small pieces of stainless steel that I had wanted. I decided to call since it had been a long time since we had spoken and sometimes email just doesn't cut it. We had a very nice conversation and I got all the latest on everyone we knew up in NY and City Island. Diane said she was ready to come home and had just a few last minute things to do. Arnaldo, the dockmaster from Bahia Redonda, was going to pick her up from the airport and I was also going to make carrying the bags and such easier. It was very nice of him but Diane was bringing back a part for his radio-controlled helicopter. Steph had come with me to the mall and made a call also and then we went to get a snack and do our shopping. We came back and had lunch at the restaurant at CMO and I finally got back to Destiny around 1. I wanted to get the companionway steps back in the boat, particularly since Diane was coming back tomorrow and now since it looked like rain. Elias was working in the room and I brought some of the hardware to put back on and we brought the 2 remaining pieces back to the boat and he helped me get them below. Once below, I finished putting on the hardware and fit everything back in place - wonderful!! I did a little more but basically just relaxed the rest of the day. I wanted to finish putting the headliner back in but Elias was putting a final coat on some trim where we always put our hands so I could do that and since it started to rain, I couldn't do much outside so I just relaxed and did a little on the PC. Tuesday I tried getting the boat back together, at least a much as possible, in preparation for Diane's arrival this evening. I got the rest of the headliner up and put up the small teak strips between each one. I cleaned the stove and did some other things but wanted to see if I could put some of the doors back up. Diane had said she would try to get the screws I needed but wasn't sure if she could so I went over to Mima and we were going to go to a store "casa de tornillos' (house of screws) that hopefully had what I needed. I went over before lunch but we started talking about their railings and by the time we were ready and got directions, it was too late - siesta time - almost noon. So we had lunch at the CMO restaurant and went to several places after lunch. The first one had stainless steel screws in the right size but not in the same type head I needed. They were also very expensive. The second store had the right head but not the exact size. We went to several places since they were close and finally went back to the marinas. I got back to Destiny around 4:30 and Arnaldo was waiting already. Diane's plane wasn't due to arrive until 6:20 but we left and wound up waiting at the airport for 2 hours, standing, since the seating/restaurant area in the airport was being renovated. Diane's plane finally arrived at 7:30 and we got the 3 huge duffel bags into the car and got back to the boat around 8:30. We thanked Arnaldo and took the stuff on board and just collapsed - Diane had been up since 3:30 to catch her flight from NY at 6:30. The next day was just trying to get everything together. I spent almost all day putting doors back on, particularly the head door, since everything had been removed to be varnished. We had kept the room where Elias worked for another week so we could try to get a little organized and put things away. Steph came over later since Diane was sleeping most of the morning and she and Diane went to the pool. I just kept mounting doors and putting things away. |