|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogThursday morning we listened to the weather on George's net since we now had to decide when to try to get to Sotavento and then Bonaire to get a replacement voltage regulator. I wasn't sure how long the temporary fix would last (if the light bulbs burned out - I didn't have many spares). I had sent an email to my supplier in Connecticut, Jack Rabbit Marine, to ask some questions and see what a new one would cost. Hopefully he'll respond quickly - he usually does. After listening, we decided to get ready so we did the dinghy hoist drill. First the outboard goes on the stern rail, get all the oars, paddles, gas tank, etc. out of the dinghy and then we hoisted the inflatable itself on deck. After scrubbing it a bit to get rid of the growth, (not much but considering we cleaned in the water a few times and hoisted it out of the water most days there was a fair amount) I tied it down. By that time, it was about 11am - it takes us about 2 hours to get everything ready and today was no exception. While I took care of everything on deck, Diane stowed everything below. We finally finished our preparations and sat in the cockpit for a while. It was a hot, cloudy day, the wind from the south-southeast at only about 5 knots but at least we weren't rolling quite so much. I was still pretty tired from yesterday and now from getting ready. We still weren't in a tearing rush to get to Bonaire and since we were pretty tired, we decided to stay another day. So, I ran the engine to charge the batteries, ran the watermaker (which we didn't do yesterday although we generally run it every day, but didn't have enough juice at that point) and I raised the dinghy off the deck so we could get some breeze below. We figured that if we had to, we could get to Bonaire in a day and if the charging system finally failed altogether, we could go into the marina there - not an optimal solution since it very expensive and we would have to be there for probably 2 weeks for the part to come in. Most of the day was relaxing although Diane made some very nice bread, based on the recipe Laurence, from Dolphin Street, had given her. The wind continued very light from the southeast to SSE and was overcast all day so I had to run the engine in both the morning and the afternoon. Good thing my charging system was working, getting a little over 40 amps at 1500 engine rpm. Friday night was almost completely calm so the batteries were fairly low when we got up. There were also several lightning storms at various times but whenever one of us got up, it was nowhere near. The boat also rolled again almost all night although not as badly as the previous 2 nights - I think it has to do with the tide as well as the normal swell. In the morning, we were pointed south, probably from the current in the bay more than the wind. The water was like a mirror and you could see the fish swimming around the bottom, among the scattered coral heads at 7am. We decided to leave for Sotavento so after breakfast, I tied down the dinghy, got the rest of the canvas down while Diane finished the dishes and stowed everything and we left by about 10:15. The trip was uneventful and we had to motor the entire way, about 15 miles. The wind continued very light, 5 knots or less from the south to south-southwest. There was a fair swell from the east but we generally didn't feel it too much. I didn't run the engine very hard since I wasn't sure about the alternator output using my jury rig. We ran the watermaker the entire way also to keep the amps produced at a reasonable level, thereby controlling the voltage a little. About 40 minutes after we left, I caught a barracuda again. I had caught one last year on this same trip, but we were closer to Sotavento and the fish was a little smaller - this one was about 3 feet. I let him go since we had been advised by several sources that barracuda were very often ciguatoxic. I did manage to get my lure back though - last year he cut the leader. During the trip, I checked the batteries very often, and at one point I noticed that the voltage was starting to climb. I removed one the light bulbs and that solved the problem. Once we arrived at the island group, we decided to go into a little nook formed by Isla Palmeras and Isla Ramon. In the south wind and waves that were slowly building, it would provide some protection, rather than just being on the western side of one of the islands. We made our way in and anchored in 16 feet of water, so clear that I could see the anchor dig in as we backed down. There was a large fishing boat there but he left just as we were anchoring. Diane spoke to him on the radio as he passed; she apologized for possibly blocking his exit but he was very nice and said there was no problem, he also said that he was going fishing and Diane asked if tomorrow he would bring some fish for us to trade for. He said OK so we would see what he would bring back. Just after we finished anchoring at about 3:30 (it had taken a while to get here), another boat came in from the west and tried anchoring on the west side of Isla Palmeras (we were on the northeast corner). He obviously didn't like it much, and I know there is a lot of coral there, so he picked up his anchor and came over and dropped behind us by about 75 feet. He wasn't too close but we were a bit annoyed since there were other spots - he just figured if we had anchored here, it must be good. The rest of the day we just relaxed. The wind continued calm until about 5 when it started to shift to the east and finally east-northeast, but continued well under 10 knots. Interestingly, just before sunset, we saw a huge thunderstorm come up from the south, fortunately to the west of us, and while we had dinner, we watched the show. Saturday night we had a very interesting storm. The lightning we had watched earlier yesterday evening started up again right near and over us, beginning at about midnight. There were lots of flashes all around but the clouds had very little rain, almost none, and very little wind as well. The direction of the wind varied from north to southeast, only getting up to 15 knots at the most, but it lasted for several hours. I had gotten up and watched to see if we were OK and we were. I stayed up for a couple of hours though and while I checked the depth a few times, most of the readings were 14 to 16 feet. At one point however, when the wind had picked up to about 15 knots and I checked the depth, it was 10 feet. I ran up and double-checked our location and it didn't seem that we had moved, just swung according to the wind direction. So I checked again and saw 8.5 feet! Now I was worried. The wind wasn't strong but evidently was enough to stretch the anchor chain to a point where the boat's stern half was over a coral head. The keel draws 7 feet and the rudder probably about 6 so we didn't have much water under us at that point. When I looked about though, we were still not dragging. I knew we had swung in this direction before so I checked the depth again and now it was 14 feet. That coral head was close, but far enough away. I had been on the verge of waking Diane and saying we had to move. I got up pretty late since I was awake so much of the night and I just did some chores around the boat in the morning. Diane was pretty busy though, defrosting the freezer and doing some hand laundry. But after lunch, we both went snorkeling. I went to look first for the coral head that gave me the 8.5-foot reading last night. I think I found it and it was just a small one. I suppose that the boat's sounder just happened to find it because there was mostly just sand for at least 100 feet from the boat and I had 70 feet of scope out. The snorkeling itself was just fair although I did see 2 small morays. Dinner was a lobster that we traded for with a fisherman who had come in the morning along with conch steak made from the ones we got in Barlovento. There was another thunderstorm overnight on Sunday, actually several, starting from about 3am and lasting all the way to dawn. Again, there wasn't much wind, and what there was came from all directions and we had more rain, but only relatively more than the previous night. It was still raining lightly at 6 when I started to tie down the dinghy on the foredeck but it soon stopped, we finished getting ready and the anchor was up by 7. The trip to Bonaire was pretty uneventful. The weather was still crazy since we had southwest winds at about 5 knots but at least there were no squalls. About 16 miles out from Bonaire, we saw another sailboat going east and a few minutes later, Skylark called us on the VHF. Cliff and Orma had left to go back to PLC after a little over 3 weeks in Bonaire. We talked for a while and wished them a safe passage back. They would still be in PLC when we got back in late December or January. We had asked them about the mooring situation and they said it was pretty crowded. They had left mooring #3 but thought someone else would probably take it before we got there. We had also spoken to Allan on Honalee that morning and he said he would try to get us something. We didn't want to turn back so we would just see what happened. The winds continued from the southwest and clocked even more westerly as we got closer to Bonaire. At least they stayed pretty light, 5 to 8 knots, but there was now some chop kicking up. I couldn't believe that we had to motor upwind to Bonaire from Las Aves! We rounded the southern point of Bonaire about 2:30 with the wind now from the northwest (so much for a nice sail north in the lee of the island) and spoke to Blanca from Promesa, who was moored there. We had met Leo and her in PLC and again briefly in Porlamar. She said that Allan had reserved a mooring for us and she and Leo would come out to help us pick up the lines. It turned out that we had gotten #3, the one just vacated by Skylark that morning. It was a good spot, far away from Karel's Bar and the noisy music and also from Oscarina, a local charter boat that ran her engine every morning and evening for at least 2 hours. It was close to the marina, making it easy to go there for things, and close to the dive sites we went to the most. We got to the mooring at 4:30, after motoring for 9 hours. It took longer than I thought because of the headwinds and the fact that I ran the engine slower because of the uncertainty about the alternator output. The charging system had been difficult to use because I had to monitor it closely, but it worked fine. After Promesa helped us with the mooring, we invited them on board but they were a bit busy so we said tomorrow would be good. They planned to leave in 2 days and we wanted to see them before that. A little later, Ingemar came by and came on board for a quick drink. Laurence and the boys were on Dolphin Street but he just wanted to say hello. After his visit, we had a quick dinner and just relaxed and went to sleep early. The wind had calmed down and was now coming from the northeast, a protected quadrant, so there was now no swell coming into the mooring area. We would launch the dinghy and check in tomorrow. |