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Larry's LogWe had decided to leave the next morning for the southwest anchorage. Steph and Tom on Mima had told us about it and said it was very nice. We listened to the weather, got the engine hoisted although we would tow the dinghy, but stopped at the Playa Yaque anchorage for a few hours to get some 'consultation' on our hummingbird from Tony, on Ocelot, who was a wildlife biologist. We had met his brother, John, who along with his wife Sue, owned the boat. Tony was visiting with his family so we anchored near them in the little northern Playa Yaque spot and they came over to see our friend. Tony wasn't too hopeful but said if he had lasted this long, almost a week, that there was a chance. The problem was just sugar water wasn't going to be enough nourishment. He suggested mashed flies! We'll have to see what we could do. Anyway, we talked for a bit and then left for Playa Caranton, where Lady M III had gone this morning. We motored around the southwest point, avoiding the rock just below the surface there and anchored next to them. It was a nice spot although Playa Yaque was prettier. There were some interesting places to dinghy to though, so we would have to see them before we left. After we got the anchor down, Jim and Pat went snorkeling and took a look at our anchor also - no problem. After anchoring, I worked on the watermaker problem. It was air in the line again so I had to re-prime the system and although it took 10 minutes, it finally started up and so I ran the unit for about an hour. It was a bit rollier the next day since the wind was back up. The morning was lazy although Jim came by to help get a cactus thorn out of Diane's toe (he has loupes from being a dentist). After lunch, Jim came back and we went for a little dinghy ride into the little coves off the bay; Pat wasn't feeling too well after she fell down the companionway when she didn't notice Jim had taken the steps out to do some plumbing work. She hadn't broken anything but didn't feel "up to" doing much. So, Jim, Diane and I started to head towards the large fjord down the bay but it was too rough for the dinghy and we came back, getting soaking wet. Once back, since we were wet anyway, we snorkeled from the boat. It was pretty good, with the water clear, but the variety of fish wasn't as good as on the other side. The reef itself though was very nice with lots of sea fans and soft coral. The night was very rolly since the wind had shifted more the southeast and the waves were coming around the point we anchored near - Diane woke up around 1 and woke me up as well. We finally got back to sleep around 2 but the good thing was that the wind generator kept the batteries charged up all night. In the morning, Diane went into the cockpit and found our hummingbird had expired. He had survived for 8 days. We felt badly but I really didn't think he would have lived for as long as he did - his wing was still not quite right, he couldn't fly and we could only give him sugar water, just not nutritious enough (we weren't talented enough to get any flies to mash). We buried him "at sea." We had decided to leave the next day for Juangriego and back to Porlamar before going to Tortuga, and since Lady M III was there and offered to take us in to the beach when they went, we hoisted the dinghy on deck. The wind was still blowing about 15 to 20 knots and it was pretty difficult. Diane called Jim and asked if he would come over and help - he had offered before but I thought we could do it by ourselves. It was harder than I thought and so Jim came over and helped. With 3 people, it was much easier and we got it aboard with no problems after that. Later on we went in to shore, Jim burned some of his garbage and we went for a walk along the "road" that seems to run various places on the island. The landscape was a bit different that that on the north shore, much rockier with strange outcroppings. It was a little eerie in the fading light. The following day we got up very early and got the anchor up by 5am. I had some problems with the main though since the halyard got wrapped around the upper spreader because I couldn't see what was happening too well but luckily I got it clear after a few minutes. We were underway by 5:30. Since the wind was ESE, we had to motor sail the entire way to Juangriego; almost a 12 hour trip. Although it was a motor sail, after we got clear of Blanquilla, the seas got almost comfortable, about 5 feet, as opposed to the 5-7 closer to the island. The wind also got a bit lighter from the same direction. The only problem was that for the first hour or so, the autopilot kept resetting itself. All of a sudden the boat would just head up because the pilot just stopped working. It went back on and resumed course after I set it again, but it reset about 6-7 times. Finally, I set it and it just worked OK for the rest of the passage. Very strange, possibly some surface corrosion that needs to be cleaned. We traveled with Lady M III the entire way and arrived at about 4:45, and anchored in 15 feet of water about 200 yards off the fuel dock. Since it was Thanksgiving, Diane made some Swedish Meatballs; Thanksgiving at her parents' house always included those as an appetizer, for me that night it was dinner. Sorry, no turkey and stuffing this year. We left Juangriego fairly early the next day, around 8am and motored to around Cabo Negro, the northeast tip of Margarita. We tried sailing into very light winds, 5-10 ESE for about 2 hours before we gave up trying to clear Cabo Blanco, the next major cape, and turned on the engine again. We made some more water while motoring so it wasn't wasted. We motored until almost to Punta Ballena when the wind veered to the east more and we actually had just a close reach and sailed the rest of the way to Porlamar. We anchored at about 3pm in 12 feet of water and got the boat straightened out, putting on the sun canvas and raising the bow of the dinghy, still upside down on deck, just to get air below. We just relaxed the remainder of the day and made a shopping list for the next week. It's Saturday, November 30; welcome to Margarita and the end of the 2002 hurricane season. We got up fairly late, for us, at about 7:30 because a hotel on the beach has a band going on the weekends until about 3am, and it kept us awake, especially after the quiet of La Blanquilla. After breakfast, we launched the dinghy, got everything ready and went to shore to go, what else, shopping. Of course, it rained until about 10:30, not much but hopefully enough to get some of the salt off the boat. I went around between showers and wiped down the stainless steel, hoping to keep it from starting to get rust spots. When we finally got in, we saw Clyff and Anna from Koncerto, who we had anchored behind. We hadn't seen them since Martinique but we didn't talk to long since we wanted to get to the store. There was supposed to be another national strike Monday so we wanted to try to get as much done as soon as possible. We went to Rattan, a large supermarket in town and while Diane did that, I went on the internet, checked email, looked at the financial sites and did some research on underwater cameras, since ours had stopped working a few days before while at La Blanquilla. We had lunch at a good pizza place, finished shopping and brought all our stuff back to the boat. We decided to have happy hour and dinner at Jak's Restaurant so we went back in to shore. We saw some people we knew from PLC there who had just come in and we had a nice dinner, as usual. We went back to the boat around 7, hoisted the dinghy (as we do every night in Porlamar) and just relaxed for the evening. It rained again early this morning so I needed to get up to close the hatches. The locals say it never rains here but every time we've been here so far, it has. We saw a movie today, "Changing Lanes", with Sam Jackson and Ben Affleck, that was very good, leaving for the mall around 10:30. We got back around 4 and noticed Pat and Jim from Lady M III were trying to call their son in Canada but we couldn't figure out how to use the cell phone that they borrowed from Amphitrite. Some locals tried to help also but nobody could figure out the special access code. They called (radioed) later from their boat saying that they finally got through. We also spoke to Kiana who had just come in yesterday. Hopefully, we'll see them tomorrow since they're planning to move on soon. Today, December 2, started the fourth general, national strike in Venezuela. All the stores closed so we just stayed by the boat all day. The paper said that it may go beyond 1 day, but we'll just have to see, of course, we now know (as of December 30, that the strike has continued for quite a while and shows no signs yet of stopping.) So we just stayed on the boat and I did my logs (very out of date) while Diane cooked but we did invite Paul and Lynne from Kiana over. They came by around 3 and we had a very nice reunion - we hadn't seen them since Trinidad last year. They had been through Las Aves and Los Roques and loved them, so that only reinforced our desire to go there. The strike was still going the next day so we stayed around the boat again. In the morning, I put some water into the starboard tank that I had made yesterday, filling the jerry jugs. I still had no satisfactory way to plumb the starboard tank to the watermaker product line. I also emptied the 2 remaining diesel jugs into the fuel tank, bringing that to 3/4 full. Diane worked on her logs, did some email and then washed the cockpit chairs' slipcovers she had made in Trinidad. They were getting pretty dirty from salt and just sitting on them. I then worked on my logs for a few hours before going to Lady M III for a game of dominoes and some drinks. We went over around 3 and had a good time - they taught us another game using dominoes call Chicken Foot, rather than the Mexican Train we had played before. We heard on the local radio net today that the strike was still on and that there might be some trouble in the streets today so we decided to stay by the boat again And so, Diane read her new book while I worked on my logs for most of the morning. I then tackled the small leak on the watermaker hose leading to the membrane. It was a minor leak but annoying and it was in a difficult place to reach but after some swearing, I managed to get the hose off, tighten the fitting under it and then retighten the hose. Of course there was some salt water now on the floor that had to be cleaned up. I ran the water maker for 10 minutes to see if it was OK and all seemed fine. I would have to look at it again when it was running for a while. Later on when I ran the engine to charge the batteries I ran the watermaker. After an hour, the leak hadn't reappeared so I guess it's fixed. |