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Larry's LogThe next day, we started putting away some of the stuff we brought back and around 4:30 Giulio drove Diane and Janice, from Plenum, to a supermarket for some shopping. Giulio stopped at the boat and we gave him the GPS and other things we had bought for them. We then went to dinner at a restaurant near Americo Vespucci Marina, owned by a Frenchman, that was pretty good although the service was slow. We said goodbye to Giulio when he dropped us off at Bahia Redonda. He would be leaving early in the morning for Caracas. Sunday, Giulio did leave early although he called on the radio to say goodbye. We would see him again soon. Most of that day and the next several days were spent getting the boat straightened out. However, the next morning, they delivered the re-galvanized chain and anchors (except the CQR) and so I worked on doing the chain to rope splice and then got everything onboard the boat from where we left it on deck the night before. When I tried to do email that night though, I found he SSB modem wasn't working so I would need to do email from the cyber cafe in the marina tomorrow. I couldn't figure out what the problem might be since everything else was OK. Monday we went to the Dinghy Hospital and Internet place early but the Dinghy hospital was still closed and the Internet wasn't working. So, back at the boat I put in the new reefing line I had brought from the States and then went back to the Dinghy Hospital and figured out where to put the towing rings we wanted installed. I then went to the Internet place, got on and sent emails trying to get help on the SSB modem. After all that, in the evening, we went to the potluck dinner around 6. The next day I worked on the problem with the pactor modem (technically called a terminal node controller) but had no luck at first. I initially thought the modem had a problem and had sent emails to Sailmail, my email provider, and SCS, the manufacturer. Of course, since it might be a few days before they responded I continued with the problem on my own. I knew Bob on Pipe Dream had email on the boat but when I asked he had a different system so Diane asked over the radio if anyone used Sailmail and Ron on Odyssey came on. I spoke with him a bit and he offered to let me come over to his boat, in Bahia Redonda, and try out my modem in his setup. I did that and it worked fine. We talked for a bit and then I went back to Destiny to try to figure out what was wrong. Eventually, I figured out that the installation software from Verizon for DSL interfered with the COM1 port. I had gotten a DSL line while we were home for the 2 months. Once I removed it from the machine and adjusted the Internet settings, the system worked perfectly, including the new USB-Serial adaptor I bought to control the radio frequencies via the PC. I worked on that for a while, and even connected to the Panama station to get email during the day. Propagation must have been pretty good that day - and I was very happy that everything was working again. The rest of the day I worked on Joe's web site and the other web site. Diane cleaned the boat and then we went swimming for a bit in the marina's pool before dinner. Wednesday, I didn't do too much but replace the lights over the navigation table and over the companionway. They were both not working too well and I had bought replacements while we were home. We knew that Tom and Steph, on Mima, were coming in that day in the morning for just a few days. They were going to re-provision, get fuel and then go out to Tortuga to meet Dave and Judy on Survival. Survival was planning to leave for the Chesapeake very soon and Tom and Step wanted to spend some more time with them. They came in around 1 and after they first came in bow first, they went out, turned, and backed in and tied up. We started having a wonderful reunion and had several drinks together. Before dinner though, I helped Tom replace the pump for their marine air conditioner. That proved to be somewhat problematic but it eventually got done after some swearing and bloodletting. We then went to dinner at a place they knew in PLC for Arabic food - chwarma - like Greek gyros, very good. The next morning I setup the little wireless doorbell I had brought back. It worked pretty well and although we would obviously only use it in a marina, it was helpful so people didn't have to bang on the hull to get our attention when we were below. Then we went to Plaza Mayor, a large shopping mall in the marina district, by cab with Tom and Steph to do some grocery shopping. They were still planning to leave the next day for Tortuga, bringing some supplies and diesel to Survival. Dave and Judy had gone on to Tortuga to avoid checking out of Margarita, checking into PLC (charges both ways) and didn't want to pay for a marina. Anyway, we had lunch at the food court there, finished our shopping and came back to the boat. We had some more drinks aboard Mima (we brought the rum and snacks this time) and then they went to a barbeque at CMO at the invitation of Louis Sanchez, who they had seen earlier that morning. We had been back in the marina now for a little over a week. The heat during the day was bad but at least there was generally a breeze. At night though, the wind almost always died and even though it cooled off to about 80, it was still hot below with no breeze; it was almost unbearable (we were running the little 12 volt fans but they didn't help that much). So that morning we went shopping for an air conditioner in downtown PLC. We had rented one in Trinidad but they wanted more here to rent one and also charged an installation fee. Since we planned to be here a while after we got back from Tortuga, we decided to buy one. After finding a few stores that sold them, we bought a 12,000 BTU unit from the store we went to first, for the equivalent of about $270 US. We had a bit of a problem getting it back in a taxi, most were too small or didn't want to go back to the marina, but we eventually got one, although we had to take it out of the box to get it to fit. Once we got back a marina guy helped me carry it and get it on the boat. I installed it using the cardboard and Styrofoam from the box and we now have a cooler place to live while in a marina. We then had lunch with Tom and Steph before they left at around 4pm. Hopefully we'll see then again soon. They were planning to be back in PLC by 10/24 so Tom could catch his flight back to the States on the 28th. A little later in the day we picked up our new Caribe dinghy. The 10-foot dinghy was an excellent price since they were made in Venezuela; actually, we saw the same dinghy for sale at the Newport Boat show for more than double the price we finally paid, due mostly to the shipping and exchange rate. The towing bridles had been put on and we sprayed 303 Fabric Guard on it and waxed the fiberglass bottom. The guy who worked at the Dinghy Hospital launched it from a small trailer and paddled it around to our boat and then we locked it up for the night, took showers and had dinner at the marina restaurant since we didn't have anything ready to eat. Even though the things bought were a good price, it was still an expensive day. With our new air conditioner, we slept really well that night. In the morning, we talked to Mima briefly- they went directly to Tortuga last night, arriving at 3am at an easy harbor to get into in the dark. Also in the morning I went to the cyber cafe and uploaded some updates and a new page to Joe's web site that I had finished. That afternoon, I fashioned rope lift straps for the new dinghy but I will need to make some of wire to make them harder to cut. I may use the old running backstay wires but I'll have to see their condition. Irma La Douce had delivered my re-galvanized CQR anchor yesterday morning and I had just put it on the deck that day. I decided to put it away so I emptied the starboard cockpit locker - I had to reorganize it a bit anyway. After I put the anchor away and reorganized the locker I just relaxed the rest of the day. Sunday was spent putting things away and organizing the locker under the v berth and the one under the navigation table while Diane went to play dominoes. Of course, now that we had an air conditioner, the marina's power went out at around 3:30. Amazingly, it came back on at 6pm. Diane and I both thought that we would be sweating that night again. The next morning, I put up the laundry line for Diane and started to put away more stuff. I started to splice a new thimble onto the stern anchor line but the line was too stiff so I let it soak in water and fabric softener overnight. I had cut the old one off when I got the chain and anchors re-galvanized, and I had brought back a new thimble from the States. I spliced the "like new" dinghy anchor chain onto the line again and organized the main cabin bilge storage and the locker under and behind the navigation station. While doing that, I found the 20' length of chain I couldn't find before. I wanted to get that piece done as well but I needed to call tomorrow. We went to the weekly potluck again that evening. Diane continued with laundry the following morning while I continued to straighten the contents of the boat. I put stuff away in the aft cabin (better known as "the garage"), the seat locker under the navigation station and in the forward hanging locker. From the hanging locker, I managed to convince Diane to throw away the many little pieces of scrap that she had saved while making the slipcovers. And George, from Irma La Douche, picked up the last remaining piece of chain I had found and said it would be back Friday. We planned to take Janice and Weedie out to dinner that night as a thank-you for watching the boat. I took a shower before going and my glasses broke (the lens fell out) as I was rinsing them off after the shower. Amazingly the tiny screw that holds the frame together was still there. I carefully wrapped them in a paper towel and went back to the boat, found my spare set and went off to a little local restaurant on the beach, a short walk away. We had a great dinner of huge shrimp and 'more than uno' cervezas. |