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Larry's LogFriday was another busy day trying to get ready to leave next week. Diane was still putting things away from yesterday's shopping and I was doing all the miscellaneous things that I needed to do. Elias brought us some more bananas and strawberries this morning, even though he wasn't working for us anymore - he had finished all the varnishing we could have done now and had done some general cleaning and waxing and finished Thursday. He was now doing some work on Twelfth Night. We both hoped we would be back so he could finish the varnish on the interior of the boat - it looked great. I called my brother about Mom's estate and got some issues resolved. Some other things I had to do were mounting the new chart tubes over the sides of the v-berth and putting away the varnish, thinner and Cetol that we were now finished using. Amazingly, I got it all to fit in the space under the v berth. That was lucky since Diane had filled every available space with provisions for the next 3 months we expected to be out. Later in the afternoon, I also got the main part of the dodger up - requiring putting up the frame and changing the some mounting hardware - I had mistakenly attached it backwards. Diane finally started washing the sails, starting with the jib. Although I had to lift them off the boom and get it out if the bag, she did the work, washing them with a soft brush on the foredeck with a mild detergent (Ivory Snow) and water. By the end of the day, the sail was completely washed but we left it on the deck so it would dry. We'll hoist it tomorrow morning before the wind comes up, rinsing it once more and then letting it dry before rolling it on the furler. Around 8, we were watching a video when we heard a knock. Tom and Steph came by to ask us to have a drink at the bar, so we went out and had a few drinks and talked for a while. Why not? Saturday morning I went to the swap meet at the Mini-mart and tried to sell some stuff that I didn't want anymore but there were no takers. Diane came a little later and we stayed until about 10:30 and then went back to the boat and put up the jib. It took a while to get everything setup but we finally hoisted it, rinsing it again as it went. The wind had started to pick up but I managed to hold on to the sheets until it was pretty dry. I rolled it up and then went to see Tom and Steph since they said they would make pancakes for me this morning. Diane stayed on the boat and did some more on the canvas. After the pancakes, Tom, Steph and I talked about the forms I needed to have notarized - it would be a problem. We finally figured out that maybe we could get someone in Florida, our broker probably, to notarize them or have them notarized and then send them to my brother in California. I finally got back to the boat around 3:30 and it started to rain so I couldn't so much else. Sunday we both had another busy day. Diane washed the mainsail after I got it off the boom where it was hanging in its bag. I was occupied doing lots of little things like re-organizing the starboard lazarette and putting away lines and such. I also noticed that the silicone "blob" that cushioned the hydraulic vang hose where it exited the mast had really broken down from the sun. I decided that instead of just using more silicone, I used 2 layers of hose and wrapped them around the hydraulic hose, held them with a small tie wrap and then used silicone to make the hose and exit opening watertight. I also had to help Diane several times since the sail is so large. She was washing it with Ivory Snow and water and some dirt came off but there were some mildew and rust stains that remained. It was better to have a somewhat stained sail that worked well than a bright white sail that didn't - a stronger detergent would have taken out the resins that help the sail hold its shape. We saw Tom and Steph later going to their boat. They said they would stop back later and we planned to invite them for dinner (spaghetti and meatballs) but we didn't see them again that day - oh well, more for us. That evening I made some music CDs for Elias, he asked for some American Rock 'n Roll that we had, classics like the Beatles and Elton John. The next day was another busy one getting ready to leave. When Diane was paying our marina bill, a guy was fixing their computers so she asked if he could fix our old one. I knew it needed a hard drive. I went up with the old machine and he said that he could bring a drive back later and even install it but I wanted to do it myself so around 5, he did come back and dropped off the machine and the new drive. He said he would come back tomorrow and collect his money ($120 for a 6Gb drive) if it worked. Fair enough. The rest of the day was occupied with more tasks for getting ready to leave. Orient Canvas finally came over and brought our a/c cover. It fit well and I was very happy with it. Edin, the owner, even gave us some money off the price. Later in the day, I helped some people with their computer although their hard drive seemed to be gone also. I mentioned that I had given my laptop to a guy that worked on PCs and said he might have a drive for them also. I went back to Destiny in time to put on the carrots that Diane had prepared. She was grilling the lomito at the barbeque potluck, but was just bringing it back to the boat. That evening, I installed the new hard drive but couldn't get the machine to recognize that it was there. I worked on it for 2 hours but had no luck. I would just return it in the morning. After the net the next morning morning, I got a call from Cliff on Skylark. I had asked for a volunteer to take over the weather reports and he volunteered so I emailed him the URLs I use and he should be set to start Thursday, when we leave. The computer guy that gave me the hard drive showed up and I brought the machine and the new drive to the office. I said I couldn't get the machine to recognize the new drive and he said he would try and come back around 4. OK, maybe he has the magic touch - I've been away too long. Just after that, I went to a Citibank here to have my signature 'notarized', although they really don't have notaries public in Venezuela. (The other options for getting a notarized signature were no good.) The bank officer I spoke to, in some English, called the Citibank in NY and I spoke to the NY agent over the phone to have them verify who I was. I had my passport and bank card but I suppose they could have been forged. Anyway, after finally getting through on the phone to the States, I gave my social security number to the agent on the phone, he spoke to the bank officer and that was it. She stamped my forms and made a copy for me and I went back to the boat. Pretty painless. Diane had gone shopping and came back about 45 minutes after I did. After we ate lunch, I put more things away; we then put on the first set of slipcovers (Diane had taken the new ones to be washed). While Diane put some things away from shopping, I went to fill the last of the jerry jugs with diesel. After I got the fuel, Diane helped me get the heavy jugs on the boat and I hoisted the dinghy. We then put the covers on them and I set them against the tie down board. They would fit well but I would tie them down tomorrow. About 4:30, the marina office called on the radio and said the computer guy showed up and he had gotten the machine to work. We went up and sure enough, the machine came up with DOS, based in Win98. OK, so now I just had to load the OS, some programs and Diane has her computer back. I wanted to ask how he did it but he spoke no English and my Spanish wasn't up to it. In the evening, we went to a very nice restaurant with Tom and Steph - I even had to wear regular long pants! I hadn't done that in months but the meal was excellent. Wednesday I woke up very early, around 4am, and couldn't get back to sleep so I stayed up and worked on setting up Diane's PC. The new drive worked fine and the process went well, just slowly. I did the weather for the last time this morning. I actually didn't mind doing it but getting up early was a drag some days. When Diane got up, we decided to wait another day and leave on Friday since there were so many things we wanted to do and also Suzi and David on Aryil were supposed to come in today and we wanted to see them. We had already checked out but nobody thought it would be a problem. After the net then I continued to load software and also put some things away. Its seems like we're forever taking things out and putting them away, and because we were here so long and did so much on the boat, there was more stuff "out" than usual. That took until about lunch time. After lunch, I was about to put the second gasoline jerry jug away and put the cover on it but I noticed that it was leaking from where the letters are embossed on the side of the can. Diane had noticed that the cover we had made for it was stained and that was why. As the can got hot and the gas expanded and forced the sides of the plastic can out, the cracks would appear and the gas would leak. We couldn't use it that way so I decided to go to EPA in the afternoon and looked for another, hopefully like the old one. That afternoon our friends Suzi and David on Ariyl came in from Coche. We met them at the dock and it was great to see them again. We helped get them oriented and then agreed to meet later to go to the Maremares cocktail party later. I went to EPA to look for a gas can and also to get some PVC tubing to cover the turnbuckles. I found the PVC but the gas can they had didn't look too good so I walked over to the Auto-Boat Center and got a much better one there (at a MUCH higher price). Unfortunately, it didn't match the old one so the cover wouldn't fit. Oh well. I got back and tried out the PVC tubing on one of the lower shrouds and it fit well. Now I just had to cut them and install each one over the appropriate turnbuckle. I had to tune the rigging anyway to it was no problem to loosen each one to slide the tubing over the shroud. I only tried one since we had to get ready for the weekly party at Maremares. Suzi and David wanted to go so we went also in our dinghy and showed them the way. We had a nice time there, saw many of our friends that we haven't seen in a while since we hadn't been to the party in a few weeks and got back around 7:30. We were supposed to leave Thursday morning but put it off a day to finish the little last minute stuff we missed. Sometimes its very hard to leave the dock. After breakfast, we took down the small forward awning and washed it with gentle detergent and set it aside to get the dinghy hoisted. While Diane did things below, I took off the gas tank, fuel filter, oars, etc. and got the engine ready to lift. I had setup the new triple block on the engine lift and hoped that it would make it easier for Diane. I tried attaching it to the engine lifting strap though and found I ran out if line. I got out some other line of the same diameter, reeved that and it was also too short. After that, I just took a short piece of line, attached it to the lower block and put the carabiner on that. That worked fine so Diane and I hoisted the engine to the stern and then the dinghy onto the foredeck. We washed the dinghy inside and out and then left it upside down in preparation to tying it down. By then, it was time for lunch. After eating quickly, I cleaned the stainless steel lock and security device for the outboard and put it back on. I then started on the PVC tubing. I cut the 2" tubing for the lower shrouds and then used my Dremel tool to sand the edges. I then used the 1 ½" tubing for the upper shrouds. The lower shrouds' tubing went all the way to the deck but the upper shrouds wouldn't do that so I cut a slot in the side so the tubing would slide down slightly over the chainplate itself, covering the cotter pin. I made all of them and got most installed (by removing the shrouds and sliding them up over the wire) but Suzi and David came by around 5 so I didn't get to the port side uppers. We all talked for a while and had a few drinks and then went to the restaurant for dinner. Diane, Suzi and I had pasta with shrimp and David had a beef dish. They were all very good, a very pleasant surprise. Roberto, the new owner, cooked the shrimp at the table and then gave us each a complementary drink after dinner. Very nice. |