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Larry's LogSaturday, January 1, 2005 Happy New Year! We got up a little late and didn't do too much all day but go to the SSCA Gam in the afternoon here at the marina. Susan and Bob on Sunrise organized it and everyone brought an appetizer and what they wanted to drink. There was a program scheduled that included an email read by Nancy on Texas Reb that they had gotten from friends on a boat named Aragorn that was now near Phuket in Thailand. Aragorn had survived the tsunami and gave their story and some other accounts of how boats survived. They were part of the Around the World Rally and just happened to be there, along with about 12 other boats, when the tsunami hit. Luckily all were OK with some suffering just minor damage - we knew some of the boats as well. The other part of the program was by Jack from Mystic Adventure giving a talk on visiting British Guyana. They had been there for a month last year with several other boats and had a great time. They had stayed about 25 miles up a major river there and gave some hints and tips if anyone else was thinking about doing it. It seems that very few yachts ever visit and the government was interested in building the marina tourism business. The next day we got up late again, trying to recover some lost sleep. We didn't do too much in the morning but while Diane went to play dominoes, I worked on the engine, changing the oil, oil filter and checking several other systems. It had only been 100 hours since the last change I did in Bonaire but several people had recommended doing it this often (I had been changing the oil every 150 hours). I figured it was probably much better for the engine and since we might just wind up sitting for a while here, it was better to do it now rather than let the sulfuric acid that naturally builds up in the oil start to eat away at the internal parts. Finishing that, I just cleaned up and relaxed a while until Diane got back at 4. We then had our bottle of champagne (meant for New Year's Eve) and watched TV. The next morning, I went with Geoffrey (Panache) and Denny (White Tiger) to a large Home Depo type store, EPA. I had a number of items to get but the store was out of lots of things and I couldn't get any of it. Geoffrey and Denny didn't have much luck either. We walked to a local restaurant to eat lunch and then took a taxi to a marine store nearby. We went back to the marina at about 3pm so I didn't do much else that afternoon. Diane had a dentist appointment but when she got there, the dentist never showed. So, she had gone shopping instead. We both liked the dentist and she seemed to do a good job but this was the second time she had broken an appointment. Of course, part of the problem was we had no phone so there was no way to contact us if there was a problem - oh well. I was the net controller the next morning since Michael (Wind Witch), who had been doing Tuesdays, asked me to take it (I had done it before and Michael had taken over for me when we left back in August). After that I got out the materials I needed to do some maintenance on the outboard. Naturally, the manuals were underneath the v berth so I had to dig it out. Diane was doing some hand laundry on things she didn't want to send out so I waited to change the gear oil since she occupied the cockpit. Once she finished, I went out and started. I changed the oil and then flushed the engine with fresh water (I had to get the gas tank out of the dinghy first though to be able to start the engine to flush it - one thing always leads to something else.) I was going to change the spark plugs and grease the moving parts also but it started to rain (first time since we've been here) so I put everything away out of the rain and we ate lunch. A little later, Bob, on Happy Ours, called to say I could borrow the USB wireless adaptor to try to get on the Internet. I went over and got it and started to install it when I realized that it wasn't designed to work with Windows ME. Damn! I brought it back to Bob and saw Bruce, the guy who had helped with the refrigerator, and asked him about the spare thermostat I had gotten - he said it should be correct. At least something had worked. It continued to rain on and off the rest of the day so we didn't do much else. Wednesday we had a pretty busy day since the weather was overcast and fairly cool. Diane decided to wash the boat and wax the deck areas without the non-skid and as long as it kept dry, I went to a meeting intended to start the organization of a Power Squadron group here in Venezuela. It was a good group but I'm undecided whether I should join. Once I got back to the boat, since it wasn't raining, I finished the outboard maintenance. I cleaned and re-greased the interior of the cowling and the motor itself and got all the salt deposits cleared away. I changed the spark plugs and once the cowling was back on, scrubbed the salt deposits off the body of the engine and the leg. It took some scrubbing but most of it came off and after rinsing it again, I put some wax on it - maybe that will help prevent further buildup. In the afternoon, while Diane went to make some phone calls and speak with the marina manager about our current rate (it was going up for everyone as of 1/1), I did some work on the PC and cleaned up the cockpit a bit. Things tend to get laid down and never find their way back. We had heard from my friend Joe who said he was coming in early February for a visit so we won't be going to the Golfo de Cariaco for a week as we thought we might. The next day it was hot and sunny again so the deck cleaning and waxing Diane started was on hold. Instead, we did some things inside and I went with Goeffrey to our storage room to show him the left over plywood I had. He gave me an old fluorescent fixture that he no longer used - it was the same type that I had in the galley. Diane and I also went to the marina office so we could contact the computer technician they had recommended - he said he would come over around 4 or 5 to maybe get the internet card working on the laptop. The computer guy came about 4:30 but couldn't help much. He did the same things George did (and before that, I had tried as well) so he couldn't get it working. Diane then suggested that he look at the old laptop that had stopped working in Bonaire. I got it out, plugged it in, turn on the power and amazingly, it came up with just a checksum error that cleared. The setup screen came on and after choosing the proper boot up sequence, the computer started with no problem. He was on the boat for about 30 minutes and charged us the equivalent of about $12 - pretty high for Venezuela, especially since he didn't really fix anything. Maybe he figured his 'miracle' after turning on the old PC justified it. Diane was pretty pissed after he left but we just wouldn't use him anymore. After he left though, I copied all the files we thought we had lost onto diskettes and tried copying them to my laptop. Strangely, my machine wouldn't read anything from that drive. I tried some that I knew were OK and then realized that the driver for the wireless card was still loaded so I removed it and the diskette drive then worked fine - very strange! Anyway, we went to dinner at the restaurant and saw the movie that they were showing, 'Shall We Dance" with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere - pretty good. Friday we woke up late, missing the morning net (probably too much to drink last night at the dinner and movie). Diane went shopping with Geri from Freestyle while I flushed the watermaker again and worked on the PC some more. The power went out about 12:30 so I went out on the dock to check if it was the entire marina - it was. I talked for a while with the Spanish cruiser across the dock from us, Santiago. He was making a housing for his window air conditioner and he spoke English pretty well. I also saw George who had helped me with the wireless card before and told him about the current problems. He said he would try to get the latest drivers for a PCMCIA card to try. We didn't do much the rest of the afternoon but went to the 'rodeo' the marina restaurant was giving starting at 6. They had rented a mechanical bull and would be serving a barbeque dinner. At first, nobody went on the ride but finally lots of people did, even me. I didn't stay on too long but at least my ride wasn't the shortest. It was a real blast and a lot of fun. The bull operator really knew how to drive it and made it just difficult enough so people got a good ride but didn't get hurt when they got thrown. We had a very good dinner and then people went on the bull afterward also. Several people got lots of pictures so we can see how silly we looked. Probably the best rider was Jack from Mystic Adventure who was raised on a cattle ranch in Nebraska. A very fun evening. The next morning we went to the small marine flea market at the mini-mart here in the marina. It's usually the first Saturday of the month but it was held again so soon since the last time was right after New Year's and people were probably having a hard time getting up that morning. (After last night's rodeo, I think a lot of people had the same problem.) There were quite a few people there though and although I didn't bring my small quantity of stuff, we had a good time seeing people after last night. Back at the boat, we didn't do too much except work on the PC a little - I got our logs updated through Bonaire and Diane wrote some emails. Sunday we had a busy day. In the morning, while I took down the dinghy and cleaned one side of the boat's waterline, Diane did some things inside and then helped me get the outboard back on the dinghy - we hadn't put it back on since I had done the maintenance. Once that was done, I finished putting some things away in the cockpit and we then had lunch. Diane then went to make a phone call and I got ready to go to Maremares to see Denny on White Tiger; he was having a knot tying class that I wanted to go to. I went over and there were 2 other people doing the class - it was pretty good and we practiced Turk's heads, monkey's fist and "Trinidad braid" which is a way to make large line from small stuff. After the class I went to Denny's boat and we just talked for a while - I got back to Destiny about 4. I had just gotten back from a shower when Gaby and Andrea, from Midnight Stroller, showed up with Diane. They were back in Venezuela after the birth of their grandson in Miami and had come to PLC to visit us, although we didn't know they were coming really. They had left PLC earlier in the year, went through the Panama Canal, seen the Galapagos, the Marquesas and then crossed to Hawaii, where the boat was now. We had a great time seeing them again and Diane, luckily, had enough to make everyone dinner. They showed us some really great pictures taken along the way and we talked until about midnight. They left to go back to their hotel and we realized we might not see them again; of course, we thought that before when they left with the boat this past April. We had a pretty busy Monday doing some miscellaneous things. I flushed the water maker again and put up rat guards on the dock lines and power cord. I also put a cloth over the jib's suncover to prevent it from getting dirty from people grabbing it to get on board. There were other small things as well and the afternoon was mostly occupied with the Internet. That evening we went to the weekly potluck barbeque and had a nice time. Tuesday morning I did the net and then we went to Plaza Mayor immediately after to walk over to the lab to get my test done. Unfortunately, they said I shouldn't have taken my medicine for 4 days before taking the test so they said to come back on Friday. They had never said that before. We tried to see my doctor who is in the same building but he was out. So, after I got something to eat, we walked back to Plaza Mayor, had a 'batido' (a frozen drink made from fresh fruit, ice, water and some sugar) and went to make some phone calls. I then got my haircut and went to look at a new computer store to maybe buy a new wireless internet card but they were much too expensive. By then it was lunchtime. After some more shopping we went back to the boat before leaving again to go to our dentist appointments. I had broken a tooth just a couple of days before so I needed to go too. We took a 'por puesto' (shared taxi) that was much cheaper than a regular cab and stopped first at a large computer store just outside downtown. Unfortunately, the store was still closed for siesta. We had a drink nearby and finally got in to look around and spoke to the owner (in English) - he told us that the USB wireless adaptors would be in later in the week and asked us to call back. It was a nice store but we didn't have much time to look around so after talking to the owner, we quickly walked to the dentist. We got there around 3 and Diane went in first. The dentist's husband and son were also there so we met them. After I was done (almost an hour in the chair) the dentist had to do some work on her husband but they had offered to have their son drive us back to the marina - very nice. |