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Larry's LogAfter I rested a bit, Dan and Jan from Sojourner came over. They were friends of Suzi and David from Aryil, who had thought they would be coming to Venezuela with us. When they realized they couldn't go as planned, they asked us to take some supplies they had bought for Sojourner to Margarita. Evidently, you can't buy acetone in Venezuela because drug dealers use it and the water filter cartridges are outrageously expensive, so we agreed to take these things to them. They came over to pick up their stuff and we enjoyed meeting them. After they left, we raised the dinghy and chained it to the boat. We did that every night as a security precaution. The next day, I finally got off the boat and went shopping with Diane and some other cruisers at a large mall in Porlamar. There was a free bus that went 3 times a week and we planned to buy some beer and rum. Diane had a hard time using her ATM card but Steve had kindly changed some money for us using his debit card that worked at the bank we were using. We got to the mall and walked around, finding the bank there where Diane changed some US dollars into Bolivars. We then went shopping and bought 4 cases of Polar beer and several cases of rum. Because of the duty free status of the island and the exchange rate, everything was very cheap for us. The best rum was the equivalent of $2.84 per 80 cl bottle. The beer was a little over $5 per case. It wasn't the greatest beer, but it was OK when cold. We had lunch at the mall as well, eating some fairly good pizza. We then took the bus back and managed to get everything back to the boat. We never bring cardboard onto the boat to I emptied the cartons while Diane put everything in the cockpit. We hope to avoid cockroaches that way. So far, we've seen 3 on the boat, spaced several months apart so I guess we managed to keep them off so far. Once everything was put away, I looked at the reefing line. I decided to cut off the last 6 feet where it was chafed and see if it would still be long enough. I didn't want to use the spare line I had if it wasn't necessary since I wanted to keep that length as a spare halyard. I would have to see the next time I raised the main. After that, we decided to go to Jak's for dinner. Jak's is a cruiser hangout/restaurant on the beach that serves pretty good food. When we went, it was Mexican night and we really liked it. There were also several other cruisers there that we hadn't seen in a while, like Patty and Randy from Passagio. We had first met them in Antigua. We also met some new people and that's always nice. We left fairly late and got back to the boat in the dark. Since Porlamar has a bad reputation for dinghy theft, we raised the dinghy on a halyard when we got back and used the stainless steel security chain as well to chain the engine and dinghy to the boat. It was a bit tough to do this in the dark but fortunately, the lights from shore helped a bit. Saturday we decided to do a bit more shopping since we heard that we could find Teva sandals pretty cheaply. Diane also wanted to try to find a small cookie sheet that would fit into our small boat stove oven. We took the bus into downtown Puerto La Cruz and went to the main shopping area, a very upscale place although there were people on the street selling all sorts of small items like sunglasses. We were told about a specific store to get the sandals so we asked for directions. Nobody seemed to know and we wandered around for about 45 minutes until I finally saw the right store. Sure enough, I got a pair for a very goood price and Diane did also, although not quite as good since hers were a different model. We also went into a LARGE mall with several LARGE stores where Diane found her cookie sheet. We also went into a food store where we found a jar of Kalamata olives (4 pounds, pitted), which we had sampled from those that Connie and Steve, from Kristali, had bought. We got back to the boat and Steve, Connie and Mike came over in the afternoon. We were going to leave Porlamar for Coche the next day on our way to Puerto La Cruz and they were leaving for Tortuga but stopping at Cubagua. During the evening, they convinced us to go to Cubagua with them, which was just 5 miles further west along the coast of Margarita. While Connie helped Diane with the sewing machine (more troubles), I talked with Mike about life in the technology field. He was interested and I had spent over 20 years dealing with computers and networks in various capacities from network technician to programmer to department manager. Sunday then, we left early, but shortly after Kristali, for Isla Cubagua. The winds initially were only 10 - 15 knots from the East, but picked up in a few hours to about 20 - 25. It was only a short ride, about 8-9 miles and I was using the engine to charge the batteries but also had the jib out to get some extra speed. I would have used the main with a reef in it but the first reef line had chafed badly and I didn't want to use it before I fixed it. We got there a little after Kristali at about 1:30 but the wind was so strong we didn't put the engine on the dinghy. We had towed it from Porlamar with no problems since we were downwind and the seas were relatively small considering how the wind had picked up. I had though put the engine on the stern rail mount. I rarely tow the dinghy (short distances only) and never tow it with the engine on the transom. Kristali and Destiny were the only boats there except for a French cruiser who came in shortly after we did. They launched their small dinghy and engine but went into shore and got wet anyway doing that. The anchorage was protected from the East but otherwise very open and the wind was a very constant at 20 knots. After we were anchored for an hour, we were approached by a man and several young boys (under 12 I think) in a small boat. The man waved hello, got closer and then asked us, in Spanish, for some rum. At first I didn't understand what he wanted but then it dawned that he was asking for a bottle of liquor. It didn't seem like he wanted to trade anything and so we just said no. No problem though and he just went away and asked Kristali the same thing, getting the same response. The only other excitement was seeing some other locals (2 couples) get stuck when their outboard wouldn't start, but the cruiser on the French boat went out to help and eventually it started. The couples seemed very appreciative and waved and yelled their thanks as they left. I fixed the reefing line by cutting off the frayed end and hoped it would be long enough. We also got the dinghy aboard and prepared for the longer trip to Chimana Grande tomorrow. Other than that, it was very quiet. We got up early the next morning and saw Kristali leaving. They had even a further trip but though it would be pretty good since it was downwind and it was a nice 15 to 20 knots that day. We finished our own preparations and got underway at 7am. I had one reef in the main (the reef line was just long enough, with the end coming within 1 inch of the rope clutch when loose) and a full jib. Going downwind, I put on a boom preventer and we had a really nice trip. The seas were low, only about 3-5 feet and got even less as we got further south, in the lee of the continent. We passed the Araya Peninsula, an area noted for its security problems and continued on to our destination for the evening, Chimana Grande, an island just 5 miles from Puerto La Cruz. By noon though, the wind lightened and I shook out the reef in the main. By 3pm, the wind lightened even more and the engine was on. We finally arrived at the little bay, called Cinquenita, on Chimana Grande at around 5. The cove was very small, really enough for only 1 or maybe 2 boats. It was surrounded on all sides by large hills of granite and stone and the entrance was very narrow. It was very nice inside though as we were the only boat and although anchoring was a bit tricky, so as to get the boat situated correctly. Finally, on the second try, the boat was anchored. It was a very quiet spot and pretty in its stark way. We were only 5 miles from the busy city of Puerto La Cruz (PLC) and could easily see the buildings and later the lights. But it was very quiet where we were. That evening I had some problems with the PC getting MS Word to start and could get through on email either. Oh well, technology could wait. Or friends advised us to get into PLC early, before the wind picked up so we could get into our slip easily. So the next morning, we left at around 9am and got to the Bahia Redonda Marina in PLC around 10am. The dockmaster met us in his skiff at the edge of the breakwater and showed us to our slip. He and some assistants then helped us into the Mediterranean mooring slip with no problems, tying our bow lines to the cleats on the floating dock and the stern lines to mooring balls just aft of our stern. We hooked up our power cord, water hose and were set. As we came in, we saw Herman Melville, a Tayana 37, with Jerome on board and White Tiger, a 42 foot C&C catamaran. We had met Jerome at Crews Inn in Trinidad and White Tiger in Bequia. Nice to see folks we knew already. We were between a Canadian Passport 40 and a home built steel boat with a German family. |