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Larry's LogTuesday night was bad one, it rained about 5 - 6 times and although the wind wasn't bad with each shower (up to 20 knots), it woke us up each time. Of course the bright spot is that the boat is really washed. We never really got back to sleep after the rain at 6. While Diane stayed in bed resting, I read but we did go snorkeling with Allen at 11. He showed us a very nice reef not very far from where we were anchored, generally 15 feet deep but with some really great coral formations. Unfortunately, it was still pretty cloudy so the light wasn't great and the water was a little murky from the algae starting to grow from the lack of flushing action due to the light winds. There were lots of fish and we saw 2 of the largest French Angelfish we've ever seen, but it was generally too deep for us to see that much. We stayed out about 2 hours; we went back to Destiny and Allen to Honalee. We agreed though that we would get together for dinner later at his boat - we would bring some soup and Diane was going to make a cake. Allen had some smoked fish and could serve it with bagels and cream cheese! We hadn't had that for months, since Diane came back from the States in August. We just relaxed most of the afternoon and went over at 6. We talked for a while (no alcohol tonight) and had a very nice (if eclectic - ministrone soup, smoked fish on bagels with cream cheese and chocolate cake) dinner. We asked Allen some more about Bonaire and Las Aves and he showed me a dinghy security device that Rick(?) on Gabrielle had thought of. It was very rugged (all stainless steel rod, ¾ inch thick). He had it made up in Curacao. Very interesting - in a way similar to the steering wheel locking devices made for cars. We sat in his comfortable cockpit, petting his very friendly cat, Calypso, and finally left around 9 after a very nice time. Finally, a good night's sleep - no rain last night. We went to the beach around 10 the next morning to extract the conch Diane had gotten yesterday. Again, following the instructions in the book that Allen confirmed, I still had to break the shell almost in half to get it out. This time though I expected it and didn't get so frustrated - I just took the hammer end of the axe and hit the shell until it cracked and I could just pull the animal out easily. We took a short swim and then went back to the boat. We had returned Allen's net bag and so we just had to put some things away and go. We wanted to get out to the barrier reef and see how the snorkeling was there. As we were getting ready to go, a boat we knew, Amphitrite, came in and anchored pretty close. Not close enough to be a problem and it was probably understandable since there were just so many sandy patches. We were leaving anyway so I didn't care much (Diane gets more upset about that kind of thing anyway). We finished a quick lunch and saw another boat anchor, Blind Date. He had just come from the reef and when we spoke to him earlier, said it was pretty nice. We would find out soon. We got the anchor up around 12 and carefully went into the reef system in the north part of Las Aves de Sotavento. The sketch chart the guidebook had was pretty accurate and we had no problems reading the water and it was pretty deep most of the way in. We found a nice spot in 13 feet of clear, but now greenish, water and just relaxed the rest of the day. We had started to get some high clouds so the light wasn't very good for snorkeling anyway. I wasn't worried about the anchor; I had seen it dig in to the sandy bottom and we backed up on it pretty hard so I know it was set well. The next day was nice and sunny with the wind about 15 knots (doesn't get much better). We went snorkeling in the morning to a spot close to the boat so we didn't take down the dinghy. I checked the anchor and it was nicely dug in but I was a little surprised at the depth it was in. When I dropped the anchor, Diane had said it was 13 feet, but the depth transducer is near the engine and because the sand banked up so dramatically, it was only 8-9 feet where the anchor was. We would have to be careful bringing it up. The area we snorkeled initially was just OK but then we turned around and explored the reef in the other direction and it was good; we saw a new, very pretty species, a Spotfin Butterflyfish. Diane went back to the boat after that but I continued a bit and I saw another new species of Jack but I'm not sure what they were. We had lunch and went back out to a different spot but still close to the boat. We didn't get to see much since Diane collected 2 more conch and we had to bring them back to the boat. Diane stayed on the boat but I went back out and saw a large Southern Stingray, but it was getting late by then, the light fading, so I came back. I got the conch animals out (no technique, just brute force), cleaned up the mess from that and relaxed. The wind was pretty good so we watched a video and still had full batteries by the time we went to sleep. Friday the wind picked up to about 20 knots forcing me to feather the wind gen around midnight since it was starting to freewheel, but the batteries were pretty full. It turned out to be a dreary day; overcast and cloudy. No sun at all and the wind had picked up but then calmed down to around 5 knots. Not too much rain but there were squalls all around us. The wind clocked to the southeast and that swung to the boat pretty close to a reef that was only 6 feet deep. I kept a close watch on it through the morning but the wind eventually came back to ESE and finally East. I really didn't want to re-anchor at that point! Since the snorkeling wouldn't be good in the poor light, we just stayed on the boat. Diane did some cooking in the morning and prepared dinner. I read and cleaned my tools with WD40 (while watching the wind direction). So far, I had prevented them from getting rusty, except for certain ones that seemed to be made to get rusty; all were still usable though. We also ran the watermaker, filling the jerry jugs so I could fill the starboard tank. I had never figured out a good way to fill that tank with the watermaker - there just wasn't a pathway I could use without cutting into several bulkheads. I filled and emptied the 2 jugs twice. Lugging 6 gallon containers filled with water (6 x 8 lbs. per gallon) on deck wasn't much fun. The afternoon was filled with even more fun. The sink drain for the aft head was really getting clogged. I decided that this was a good time to take the hose off and clean everything out. The hoses came off OK and I managed to clean all the accumulated crud out of the hose, at least I thought I did. I had found a piece of thin stainless steel rod rigging (from 3 boats ago) that I used as a snake to run wires. I figured it would also work as a plumbing snake. It did but only to a certain point. I had closed the seacock, gotten the ¾ inch hose off the drain and used the snake to try to clean it out. I got an amazing amount of stuff out. I put everything back together and turned on the faucet but the drain still wouldn't empty. The only way to unclog it now was to go overboard and try to clear it from the other side. Using just my mask and snorkel, I went overboard with the snake and after 10 minutes of hitting the clog, it finally broke through. All sorts of stuff came out but I was just glad it was cleared. I kept running it through for about 10 minutes and after that, it was time for a sundowner, unfortunately, without the sun. That night we had some more rain, once at 4am and again at 5. The first time, there was some wind, about 25 to 30 knots for 15 minutes or so, but the second time there was just rain. Both times, it was enough to get us up in a hurry to close the hatches. When we got up (again) at about 8 the next morning, it was mostly sunny. We went snorkeling again around 11 but didn't stay out long. The water was still a little murky, the sky started to get overcast and it looked like rain again so we swam back to the boat and got back about 10 minutes before a slight rain. There wasn't much but the wind picked up and the sky stayed cloudy the rest of the day so we didn't go out again. It was back to reading; it rained a few more times during the day. We hadn't gotten very good weather in Sotavento. That evening there was a total eclipse of the full moon that was pretty interesting. It was a bit overcast still but you could definitely make out what was happening. We had seen another one in La Blanquilla last year though when it was really clear. This event was a little eerie since the thin clouds created a haze. Sunday started out with very light winds and was sunny. We decided to go snorkeling a little way from the boat so I took down the dinghy around 9:30. A little after I did that though, we had our first visit from the GuardiaCosta - the Coast Guard of Venezuela. They have a small post here and evidently just got their outboard motor back since they had visited Honalee the day before yesterday. (Allen had called us on the radio to tell us.) We were here already and they didn't come out here then. They had boarded Honalee and asked for papers and such. When I saw them, it seemed that they had been fishing since they had bathing suits on with just t-shirts. The only way you could tell they were officials was the GurdiaCosta sign written on the pinero. They identified themselves as they came closer. Diane had come on deck and they were talking in Spanish although the commandant (new to his post, evidently) spoke some English. He asked how long we had been here, how long we wanted to stay and about the condition of our Venezuela flag - it was pretty tattered from the wind. Diane apologized for the flag and said we would like to stay another few days before going to Bonaire; she also said we loved it here, which although obvious flattery, was true. They were very nice and said no problem with staying and we said gracias and they left. They kept the boat about 15-20 feet away from the side all the time with their stern to the wind. They never asked for our papers or to come on board. After their visit, we went snorkeling on a reef about ¼ mile behind us. Although the water was still a bit murky, the sun was bright and the snorkeling was excellent. We saw some fish that we had only seen once or twice before and I got some (I hope) good pictures. Diane also collected more conchs that we put into a large bucket suspended over the side to keep them alive. I wasn't going to make a mess of the boat again. When we left the reef to anchor near Isla Palmeras, I would do my hatchet job (literally) to the shells on the beach there. Diane made some bread after lunch and before we went out again, but the snorkeling that afternoon was just OK. We went back to the same reef but a slightly different area and the combination of the late afternoon light and somewhat murky water was disturbing. We did see some good fish though, another Queen Angelfish and a Spotted Trunkfish. We would have to come back in better conditions. The wind continued light and I had to run the engine again to charge the batteries. At least it wasn't raining. The wind was strange again the next day. We woke up about 4am since the wind died completely, making it hot and somehow we got mosquitoes. I suppose that they just happened to find us here but we were about 2 miles from the island to our south, where they must have come from. I stayed up for a while and read - it was just too hot. Diane got up for a little while also. Finally, we put on insect repellent, burned a mosquito coil and went back to sleep. Around 8, Diane got up and said we were pointed south. I got up and sure enough, the wind had clocked to the south, what little there was, and we were pretty close to a small reef again in relatively shallow water. Diane continued to make breakfast and I took in some scope so that we wouldn't hit the reef if we continued to go around or if the wind strengthened. We would have to leave though if the wind continued it present trend since we would wind up in about 6 feet of water - we need at least 8. After breakfast, the wind picked up to about 8 knots and seemed to be clocking more to the west. I told Diane we needed to leave and so she came up and I got the anchor up, but not before hitting the bottom a little (the anchor was in 8 feet of water but we had drifted over water even shallower than that. We finally got the anchor up and moved to another spot and I dropped it again but the inertia of the boat brought us in the shallows once more. So, after some slight bumping (just sand fortunately) I got the anchor up again and we motored to an area about 200 yards away. When we got there though, the bottom was too full of coral and I didn't even try to anchor. We went back to the original area and finally dropped the anchor (after another 2 tries) in about 35 feet of water. I let out 100 feet of chain and although the wind had now pointed us in a SSW direction, we stayed in about 20 feet of water. The problem was that the bottom came up so dramatically, from 30 to less than 10 in little more than a boat length, so the depth gauge would say 25 (being 10 feet forward of the stern) but the bow was over just 15. We were only about 100 feet from our original position but it had taken about 90 minutes to maneuver those 100 feet, between all the abortive anchoring attempts and bringing in the buckets suspended overboard that had some conch in them. Thank goodness the dinghy was alongside and the painter was polypropylene so it floated and there was no chance for it to entangle the prop. After relaxing a bit, we went snorkeling since the wind was still very light, although now from the southwest. We weren't going far, could see the boat easily and could get back quickly if we had too. We took the dinghy over to the same spot as yesterday and although the water was still a little murky, the snorkeling was pretty good - we saw several Queen Angelfish, a Tiger Grouper, a Spotted Trunkfish and a Honeycomb Cowfish, among the more usual inhabitants of the reef. These were fish we had seen only once or maybe a few times before. We got back to the boat around 2:30 and the wind, although almost non-existent, was at least from the south-southeast now. We just relaxed and while Diane tried to sleep, I read. By 4, the wind, under 5 knots still, was back to the east although it was very hot now and we still had some bugs. We just relaxed the rest of the day and tried to stay as cool as possible. |