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Larry's LogAfter breakfast Monday morning, we made some phone calls - one to Elias (the boat was fine and he was finished) and one to Giulio, who said he would like to see us if we came to Caracas. So, we made plans to go to Caracas for a day to see Giulio and Giancarla on Tuesday night before heading back to PLC on Wednesday. The posada staff got the bus schedule for us and there were buses at either 7 or 8 at night leaving for Caracas - it was a 12 hour ride from Merida so we would arrive in daylight. It was supposed to be a sleeper bus (buscama) so we hoped it would be comfortable, at least. We paid for another half day in the posada, had lunch at the nice Italian restaurant again and relaxed in the room until it was time to leave. We got to the bus station at about 6, got our tickets and boarded the bus almost on time. The trip to Caracas was fine except we were in the last seats, under the air conditioning unit, and it was particularly noisy and even colder than usual. I don't understand it but the 'good' long distance buses here are always very cold, and this one was no exception. We arrived in Caracas about 8:30am Tuesday morning, got a taxi to our hotel but couldn't get into our room since it wasn't ready yet. We just dropped off the bags and walked to a place we remembered for a nice breakfast. When we got back, the room was ready and we just collapsed for a few hours. For lunch, we walked to a large mall nearby (Sambil Mall for anyone who's been there) and ate at a Chili's Restaurant; very good burgers and fries! We didn't walk around the mall much but did get our tickets for the bus back to PLC for the next day as we went back to the hotel. We had decided to get the early afternoon bus since we wanted to arrive in PLC during the daylight and I needed to have time to put some things away in order to sleep (everything was moved around so Elias could varnish in the forward cabin and do the cabin sole). We waited at the hotel until Giulo came to pick us up to have dinner at his apartment. It was really nice to see him and Giancarla again, as well as Samantha, Giulio's 22 year old daughter, and Lucas, their 3 year old son. We all had a very good time talking and had an excellent dinner (with homemade risotto). Giulio drove us back to the hotel around 11. It rained pretty hard the next morning but let up so we got breakfast and sandwiches for the trip back with no problem. It then rained again but the bus left on time and the trip was fine until we got closer to PLC. There is a bridge near a town called Piritu which is about an hour west of PLC. This is the same bridge that went out in February, and it still wasn't fixed completely although there was a temporary one put up to handle most traffic. Well, lucky us, the temporary one was closed because the heavy rain caused the river to flood the bridge (it had also been closed before when we wanted to go to Caracas earlier in the year). When we got to the temporary bridge and it seemed obvious that it had been closed for some time so why the bus left Caracas, knowing he would have to stop at Piritu, is beyond me - there were lots of trucks, buses and cars all just parked when we got there. We thought at first that the driver would just turn around and go via Los Llanos, a very long detour (about 6 hours) but he just parked his bus along with the others and we waited for about an hour. Eventually, he moved the bus a little and told everyone he wasn't going anywhere and we could walk across the bridge and get something on the other side to get the rest of the way to PLC. At least it wasn't raining at that point. We collected our bags and walked the half mile or so across the old bridge, which they were still working on, and just missed a bus going to Barcelona, a town west of PLC. We finally got a taxi (at our extra expense) with a local woman who was trying to get to Margarita by ferry. Since the ferry terminal was close to the marina, we took it with her and finally got back to the boat at about 5pm. We did have a nice surprise though when we got back; Suzi and David on Aryil had come in and were just across from us on the dock. We talked to them for a bit and then got on the boat and tried to make it livable, at least for that evening - everything was in disarray from Elias doing the varnishing while we were gone. The next day I was busy putting the boat back together while Diane brought in the laundry (we had lots fro the trip) and did some shopping since we had very little on board to eat. I got the boat a little more in shape and saw that Elias had done a very good job on the varnish, as usual. We didn't do much else - we were both still tired. I did notice though that the port side lifeline fitting at the bow had broken. Elias later explained that he had come on the boat to work and as he leaned against it, it snapped. I looked and what happened is the stud into the turnbuckle had rusted and become weakened enough so even slight pressure would break it. I was actually glad it happened then and not when I was working on the bow trying to wrestle with the anchor or a sail and holding on to it during some nasty weather - I probably would have fallen in. Now though, I needed a replacement. Friday morning, Diane went with Viviane, from Autumn Wind (they were back from the States) to go shopping again while I continued working on the boat. Things were slowly getting back in order; I put the table leaf back on, a cabinet door, etc. I also started putting things away from the varnishing. We needed to go see some doctors before leaving but we wanted to try to get back to Bonaire for some more diving soon. Saturday started another busy day for me. I had bought an extension speaker about a year ago for our VHF which is located at the navigation station below. When we sail anywhere, we're naturally in the cockpit and unless we turn up the volume to where it's almost unintelligible, we can't hear the radio. Since we leave the radio on channel 16 while underway, we need to be able to hear it. Anyway, I started working on running a speaker wire from the radio's location to the coaming box on the starboard side. To do that, I first needed to take most of the stuff out of the starboard cockpit locker since to run the wire I needed to get inside the locker. It was quite a process and I couldn't get the wire run - it kept getting stuck even using the wire snake I had. I tried for a few hours and finally gave up for the day. Sunday morning, Suzie gave me a haircut which I really needed; I hadn't had one in almost 4 months. Suzie then did a little trim on Diane's hair while I talked to David. I started on the speaker wire again in the afternoon but still couldn't get it run; either it would get stuck or would go through the wrong raceway; I was feeding it in without being able to see the entrance as it was (naturally) in an awkward position. I finally gave up again for the day. We had David and Suzie for dinner in evening. We launched the dinghy the next morning - it had been on deck since we were in AquaVi. After I finished that, I put some things away in cockpit and found rat droppings in the coaming box but luckily no evidence anywhere else so I don't think they got inside the boat. I put plastic bottles on the dock lines to make sure nothing could get on the boat again. I worked on the speaker wire again and finally got it run - after 3 hours of concentrated effort. I was going to finish installing the speaker also but it rained in the afternoon so I worked on the PC a little. Diane went to the mall around 5 after the rain let up a bit to do some shopping and change money. I started doing the net again Tuesday morning and while Diane went shopping, I finished installing the remote speaker. Then, I cleaned up the windvane parts that had been sitting on deck, wrapped everything in plastic sheeting and stored them below in starboard cockpit locker. After that I could put the rest of the lines and other stuff back in the locker. Wednesday morning, we went to Plaza Mayor y dinghy and walked over to get my blood test done and made an appointment for the doctor. Afterward, we went back to Plaza Mayor, did some shopping and went back to the boat. We didn't do much else that day except visit with Ariyl for a little while. The next day, we picked up my test results and brought them to the doctor. Everything was very good so he said to continue my medication as I was doing and just come back in 3 months. Walking back to the mall, we had lunch and then went back to the marina. That afternoon I took down the headliner in the galley since we had noticed a leak on the outside surface of the hatch there and I couldn't figure out where it came from. It might have come from around the outside of the hatch but I checked there are the caulk seemed to be in good condition, but we would see. I didn't do much on Friday except work on the web site and try to update my logs. Diane cleaned some more of the dodger pieces and other outdoor canvas in the morning and also worked on her PC in the afternoon. I found some more evidence of 'little visitors' being in the cockpit but luckily, so far, none of them being below. I adjusted where the bottles were on the lines - I suppose it was possible the rat had gotten on the line around the bottle before but it couldn't happen now. It rained again in the afternoon but no leak appeared around the galley hatch where I had removed the headliner. I figured I would leave the headliner off for a few more days to see if the leak reappeared. Saturday I didn't do much except play chess with Paul on Autumn Wind. We enjoyed the games (I won both). Diane played dominoes the next day while I worked on the PC, trying to finish my logs. There was also an announcement Sunday that the canals and surrounding areas were closed to navigation because of a conference that President Chavez and the presidents of many Caribbean countries were having at the Maremares Hotel/Marina complex. The ban was in effect from Sunday at 4pm through Thursday at 6pm. It meant that no boats were allowed in or out of the canal system (meaning all the cruisers were stuck if they wanted to leave) and anyone wanting to come into a marina couldn't. We couldn't even use our dinghies in the canal to go from marina to marina. They had actually cleared all the boats from there and emptied the hotel. We found out that they had found all the boats temporary slips nearby at a place called Isla Paraiso, which was a very nice marina/condominium facility that used to be available to cruisers but was now only open to condo owners. Of course, there was no prior notice of this. Monday morning I made the PLC navigation restriction announcement over the SSB to the Security Net so people who planned to come to PLC this week wouldn't attempt it just to be turned away at the canal entrance. There was a large warship going up and down the canals to make sure the rule was enforced. After the net, we sprayed the canvas that had been cleaned earlier and then went to the dermatologist downtown. Walked around PLC a little, had lunch in our favorite chawarma place, had some very good ice cream in a new place we found and then came back to the boat. In the afternoon, I worked on the PC some more (trying to finish the web site updates) and had dinner with Suzi and David at the restaurant. After doing the local net Tuesday morning again, Diane went to Makro, a local warehouse store and I continued on the PC. I hadn't done a web update in a while and wanted to before we left. After Diane got back, we ate lunch and then I got a spare lifeline turnbuckle from both Goeffrey on Panache and Andy from Dragonfly. The one from Andy worked better so I used that one and gave the other back. We heard that afternoon that some dinghies had been confiscated by the Guardia Nacional because of the current navigation restriction (the owners said they could collect them after Thursday but why they tried going there after the announcement is still a mystery). We also heard that Fidel Castro was had also there (a surprise to most since he was 'scheduled'). The restriction was in force until Thursday at 6pm and now we heard that there was a curfew in force in some parts of the area near Maremares for tonight and tomorrow night. Of course, they did this, again, without any warning. Elias was supposed to come over for dinner so Diane spoke to him about postponing since he might not be able to get home but he said the curfew was only in Lecheria and Barcelona, towns to the west of Puerto La Cruz, and since he lived in PLC, he wouldn't have a problem. So, he came over and we had a nice time - Diane made spaghetti and meatballs, one of my favorites and one of Elias' as well. The next day I started putting some more things away, like some of the supplies I had used while we were on the hard and also some more of the stuff we had gotten from our West Marine shipment as spares, like fuel filters, etc. That took most of the morning and since it rained in the afternoon I worked on the PC again. Thursday I started to work on the placement of the new depth sounder transducer. I had bought another one since the installed system is really starting to get flaky - its 21 years old so I guess I can't complain too much. I tested several locations by smoothing and cleaning the areas, putting the transducer in a plastic bag with water and placing it on the hull. I then turned on the instrument and noticed how it responded. The best places and the ones with easiest access were under the drawers under aft cabin berth and in the bilge near the galley. It seemed that they were about even so I'll probably use the location in the galley bilge since that's further from any acoustic interference, both the engine and the other depth transducer. I worked on putting some more things away in the afternoon and that evening we had Carlos, the marina manager over for drinks and appetizers. Carlos spoke English pretty well and was a very nice guy - we all had a good time talking about the marina and how it had changed since Carlos had arrived 3 years ago, and of course we talked about the current situation in Venezuela. |