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Home, May-05, Apr-05, Mar-05, Feb-05, Jan-05, Dec-04, Nov-04, Archive I, Archive II
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Jun-05
Location as of ??/06/05-Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea
24/6: Paul, don't read this line until your birthday. HAPPY BIG 40th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the club!
Location as of 12/05/05, Bequia, Grenadines [13 00.582 N 061 14.43 W ]
28/5: Well after 2 weeks we finally got our FEDEX package. Frangpanni Yacht services had kept saying that had not received the package. After visiting there office and the FEDEX stop everyday for the last couple of weeks we finally were able to track down the package. It was signed for on the 17th but the office was closed most of the time. We had stopped by several times but it wasn't there.
I had the Hotel manger open the Yacht office and there it was right on top. I think they had it laying around and finally got around to sorting it and putting it out. Because of this delay we are running out of sailing season north of the hurricane belt at 12.5 degrees North. Makai and her crew will start to meander south before heading back to Venezuela. We should be there mid July.
We will be out of touch for 5- weeks, but don't be afraid to email. It will give us something to look forward to in PLC.
11/5: Well, we had the longest hop yet since leaving Trinidad: 4 whole hours! We left Canoun this morning just before 8:00 and were eating lunch here in Bequia. We are going to hang out in Bequia for at least a week. The diving here is supposed to awesome and we are going to check out some of the local sights.
Location as of 9/05/05, Tobago Cays [12 37 N 061 21 W ]
09/5: Well we spent 2 nights in the Tobago Cays and did lots of swimming and snorkeling. We saw lots of hawksbill turtles munching on the sea grass. We also got to watch a bunch of rays rooting around for supper. The coolest was the spotted eagle ray. He had a tail almost 6 feet long!
Today we are heading over to Canoun. Another short hop, we are definitely getting spoiled by these islands being so close.
07/5:
We
enjoyed our stay in Salt Whistle. We swam from the boat to soft white sand
beach every day. The resort here has a bread delivery service in the
mornings. We bought baguettes the first day, but never again! The
bread was fresh baked and wonderful but the prices were outrageous. $20EC
for 2 baguettes - that's over $7 US. I decided that baking my own bread
wasn't too laborious after all.
Did a little treasure hunting along the beach and found another $1EC.
We are heading to the Tobago Cays next.
03/5: We checked out of Hillsborough this morning and sailed over to Union Island to check in to Grenadines. This took all of 3 hours. We felt like we just barely raised anchor before we were anchoring again. We are used to long overnight passages and thought it was quite a treat to be able to go from 1 country to another in such a short hop.
After checking into the Grenadines we raised anchor again to see the sights of Mayreau. We headed to Salt Whistle Bay but when we got there, could not find a spot to anchor! It was packed full of charter boats and a megayacht. We decided to turn back and anchor at Saline Bay for the night and try Salt Whistle in the morning after some of the charters left.
Whew, what a stink at Saline bay. There are public restrooms on the beach, but I don't think they have been emptied or cleaned for a month. All night long the breeze carried in the malodorous scent from the beach. Needless to say we did not sleep well and moved first thing in the morning.
We went for a walk into town and went to the top about 1000 ft up. We saw some great views and were amazed at the locals houses. Most were smaller than our boat. There we met a group on a charter boat at Dennis' New Hideaway. Julie and Molly are on a trip around the world. Not by boat but by plane. They are traveling to various countries and getting boats to sail and sight see. One day they hope to get a boat of their own to cruise! We only had one piece of advice 'When you find the boat you like, get the next size larger!'.
3/5: After clearing out from Hillsbourgh we traveled over Petite St Vincent. It was a quick trip. We anchored in the lee of the island in 10 ft of clear blue and turquoise water. There many charter boats around us, but it was ok. After lowering the dinghy we went tithe the island to sight see and relax. This island is owned by a resort so we were limited to where we could go. We walked up the restaurant overlooking the bay and order a juice and a local beer. It felt strange as we were surrounded by pasty white tourists and charter boat sailors. (I like Venezuela and Bonaire, no charter boaters!).
We enjoyed the view and got ready to pay the tab and it was $9US for 2 drinks. In Venezuela we bought and excellent dinner for 2 including drinks, and dessert with tip for that price. I don't know how cruisers can afford it here. We will be eating and drinking more on the boat as we visit the island going north. We have not even hit the expensive islands yet!
Location as of 2/05/05, Hillsbourgh Bay, Carriacou, Grenadines [12 29 N 061 27 W ]
02/5: We hung around Hillsborough and Sandy Island for
several days. Sandy Island is a picturesque
little
sandy bar rather than a true island. It's really peaceful with clear water
and wonderful beaches. The only problem we had at Sandy Island was the
over abundance of charter boats coming in and out. We spent our time
snorkeling and treasure hunting. Sharon was the first to make a find.
1 Eastern Caribbean dollar or about 33 cents US. I also found 1 EC.
At this rate we will be millionaires by the time we are 400 years old!
We moved over to Tyrell Bay. It was quite crowded by our standards so we decided not to hang out for long. We did get a chance to catch up with Gary and Lois of Calico Clam. It's always nice to chat w/ friendly faces. They are heading back south as we go against traffic northward. Next stop Grenadines.
29/4: We have enjoyed our stay in Trinidad, but we are ready to leave. Overall it is a good place to work on the boat, but the sight seeing and the scenery is not very good. The harbor is a rolly dirty commercial port. We can't wait to head north to the Windwards to see the islands. We raised anchor around 3PM for an overnight sail to Carriacaou.
Makai's sails raised and started on a tack just forward of a beam reach and making good time (6-7 knots). During the passage we watch for other vessels and noticed a fishing boat that was 4-5 miles away but crossing our path. All of a sudden it turned south towards Makai. We weren't concerned just that we would have to keep an eye on it. As the oncoming boat headed south it started turning towards us on a converging course. There are pirates out here so we altered course to give as much room as possible.
The sun was setting and it was getting harder to clearly make out the vessel. It kept turning towards us and getting closer. Sharon tried calling them on the VHF but got no response. They kept waving and since we could determine if the they were friendly other that the boat kept turning towards us and trying to cross our bow. We assumed it was hostile. Sharon called the Trinidad Coast Guard to apprise them of our situation.
We were swerving and altering tacks. The kept waving. It was getting tense. They came across our bow so close that we had to crank the engines and jam them in reverse. With black smoke pouring out of the exhaust we missed a near collision. The nerves were flying. I thought we were about to boarded when.........they finally in Spanish were able to warn us of their fishing nets!
It seems they had been trying to warn us of the nets in the open ocean. If they would have left us alone we would have missed their nets by a mile on the course we were on. Sharon called the TT Coast Guard and let them know we were ok. They stood by on the radio during the action and then offered to track us as we sailed north. Way too much excitement, but it ended ok.
The winds died in the middle of the night and we ended up motoring past Grenada and finally getting to our destination around lunch time. We dropped anchor in a beautiful anchorage of Hillsbourgh and relaxed.
21/4: Just got back from our bird watching expedition.
We went over to Asa Wright Nature Center on Wednesday and stayed the night.
The Nature Center has a huge verandah with bird feeders all around. This
attracts over a hundred species of birds throughout the year. We we
fortunate to see at least 20 different exotic birds, including the red legged
honeycreeper.
This afternoon, we went over to the Caroni Swamp to watch the scarlet Ibis come in to roost. They are an incredibly red bird. We kept thinking they were fake! Like the flamingo, they get their color from the food they eat.
19/4: Yesterday we finally got to go see the Leatherback turtles. Jesse James arranged a Maxi-Taxi driven by Ronald as his was hit while parked in front of the office. We were picked up a 5PM for a couple hour drive across Trinidad to Saline Bay. Several other boats accompanied us.
Once we got through the rush hour traffic the drive wasn't to
bad. The road here are very twisty and rough, not to mention they drive on
the wrong side of the road. That doesn't seem to make a difference as the
back roads are 1 1/2 lanes wide and the drivers drive on what ever side is
smoother. The road slowly deteriorated into a broken beaten one lane path.
The seats we hard in the Maxi but we finally arrived at the beach.
We had some snacks provided by Jesse (very good) while waiting for the guides. You must have a permit and a guide! The guides checked out the beach and hurriedly came back for our group. Christopher said that a turtle was making her way up and we needed to get down there quickly. We walked down to the beach under a bright half moon. By the time we walked to the spot where she was going to lay her eggs the hole was mostly dug. We watched as the laying started.
Christopher explained that the turtles are very shy and if they see something that they are not sure about on the beach they will turn around and go back to the sea and try again the next night. The Leatherbacks can hold their eggs for 3-5 days but after that they just will release them in the water. So no noise and no lights. We watched as the Mom laid about 80-120 eggs with small spacer eggs. The small eggs leave room for the hatchlings as they make their break to the surface about 2 months after being laid. We also learned that the depth and location make a difference as to whether the group will be mostly male or female. The warmer the temps the greater number of female born.
After laying the eggs the Mom will bury and camouflage the nest by flinging sand over it. The Mom we were watching tried to camo me as well! Another nearby turtle was measured by length and width and weighted. She was a smaller one and she came to 850 pounds. The one we were watching probably came in over a 1000 pounds. As we were getting ready to leave anther one came in from the crashing waves. We had to stay still and quiet so as not to scare her off. She was huge, even bigger than the one we were watching.
As
we went back to the van our guide said we were lucky to have 3 turtles come up
with a 100ft of each other. Some nights the watchers would have to go up and
down the beach for a mile or so. The sand was soft and that would have
been very tiring. Even so we were beat from the little beach walking and
the ride and were ready to head home. We loaded up and made the trip back,
arriving back to Makai around 11:15PM. We raised the dinghy, showered, and
to bed for us after an interesting and very educational evening!
Myth buster: Christopher our guide said that the turtles do not always go back to the same beach as they were born. This what we have been taught and told all of our lives. There have many recorded instances (turtles are tagged) of turtles nesting 100's of miles away in Venezuela or Guyana. They may do this then go to another beach. This is good as it helps with mixing the genes to other groups.
Next trip is an overnight to the Asa Wright Bird Sanctuary.
15/4: Even in Paradise taxes must be done. We have finished our taxes but it took a while to get all of the paperwork. We had sent them up so that Suzy could carry them from Washington DC to save the expense delivery to Venezuela, they didn't make it in time. So she came without them.
Wind-Borne III's daughter, Kelly, was coming from Canada so we had Paul ship her the package. It arrived one day after she left. Since Rick and Carolyn were heading home for their Bell Canada Hero award they made arrangements to deliver the package to us in Trinidad. We finally got it!! Thanks guys we owe you big.
13/4:
We
finished up the work on Makai and they splashed us early. It felt good to
get in the water, though it is a bit rolly during the day. Our Turtle
viewing trip has been delayed as the tour operator Jesse James' father-in-law
passed away and they are closed until after the funeral. Our wished go out
to them and their family.
9/4: We hauled for a short 5 days. Inspected the
damage and to our relief it is a lot less than first appearances. We will
spend the next few days rebuilding the damaged areas and working on some other
small problems while the boat is on the hard.
7/4: Well now that we are in Trinidad, only several months later than we thought. We missed Carnival, Pan concerts (steel drums), and some friends. Because of the incident in Laguna Grande with the coral and the petrified wood we are arranging to haul at Peakes. The haul will be for 5 days and in that time we need to repair the keel, fix a couple of leaky thru hulls, maybe add a new one for the water maker, replace the zincs, and change the transmission oil. Possibly sleep if there is time.
Noted earlier this is a commercial harbor. Not at all like a postcard picture. There are large and small boats being worked on, shipping traffic, and loads of local fishing boats zipping in and out. We have heard sandblasting so loud that a rock concert is quieter. Though we are looking forward to sightseeing I can't wait to get back to the out islands.
Currently
docked for repairs is a oil platform. We haven't heard what they will be
doing to it yet but it looks brand new.
2/4: First impressions of Trinidad. The harbor is a commercial harbor with an anchorage in the middle. There are big shipyards and a small container off loading dock. It is very noisy and with locals zipping through the anchorage it is very bumpy. Porlamar (or rollymar) is smoother. But at least at night it quiets down.
We have a new island with new rules and traditions to learn
about. I was just getting used to speaking Spanish and listening to their
accents. Here I think they speak English but with the accent I am not
sure. We also don't know anyone here. We will have to meet a whole
new group of people. Sharon announced our arrival on the morning net
.
1/4: No joke we made it! Well after a pounding 20.5 hour up wind slog we made it to Trinidad. We departed Los Testigos at 3:30PM Thursday afternoon and headed east. It was a shame to go as this was a beautiful Caribbean island. The reason we are out here. Unfortunately the weather said now or it may be a couple of weeks to go. So we went.
The slog up wind with waves hit 7 feet plus and choppy 3 footers made for a noisy wet ride. We had to beat north east as the winds we a bit SE. We sailed out past the last island before turning south. The wind was not being very helpful so we ended up sailing below our intended route or the rhumb line. I had hoped with the wind predictions we would have been able to hold a course direct for Trinidad. But it wasn't so.
Our VMG or velocity made good was also reduced as we had to run against a 2-3 knot current coming on our nose. It slowed our forward speed down by 2 knots. this and the wind reduced our speed at most times to 3.9 to 4.5 knots on average. Way slow. We usually cruise around 6-8knots. The wind and the slow speeds caused us to tack a few times and in a 105 nm trip it adds 50% to the distance travel verses the distance made good. Though we are out of practice we quickly fell into the 3-4 hours ON/OFF as we worked our way up wind to our destination.
We pulled into the Customs dock at 1PM and went to clear in. Filled out the usual paper work, answered the usual questions until they saw the cats declared. The Customs guy's eyes lit up. See in Trinidad they are freakishly worried about rabies. If you need to see a vet they must come to the boat. I gave them the Rabies certification and they relaxed a bit but reminded me that the cats must stay on the boat!
After clearing we went and picked up a YSATT mooring. (Yacht Services of Trinidad and Tobago - They help ensure quality service and workmanship of all their members.) We had pizza at Joe's and were in bed out by 7PM. We were beat from the long bouncy ride. I would hate to be in a slow leaner...some monohulls we know would have had another 12 hours of beating before making it here.
30/3: 
We made it to Los Testigos, our last stop in
Venezuela. It is small set of islands poking up 800 feet out of the water.
We anchored in a small bay on a beautiful beach. We could see the waves
crashing on the shore right across the way. While we were there fisherman
came and surrounded us with nets. They started drawing the nets in with a
large group of people on shore pulling. Little by little the the net got
smaller until they asked us to move. They lowered the net we motored over
the top and re-anchored.
27/3: We left Cubagua and headed for Porlamar on Margarita Island. It only took us about 4.5 hours motor sailing upwind to get there. We dropped anchor and started to relax. In the morning we chatted with Wombat of Sydney on the SSB and found out that the lost their engine and generator about an hour after leaving Trinidad to head to the Testigos. Not electricity except what is in the house bank. Since it was downwind they were not having any major problems and would continue to the Testigos as planned.
Around 6PM a call came over the VHF from Wombat. They were about an hour out and sailing on the kite. They hoped to make it to Porlamar before sunset and anchor under sail. We offered to stand by and assist. Well just around sundown they came is sailed up through the anchorage and tacked back upwind before dropping the hook. When they were settled we brought our Honda generator over so they could charge up.
They next day we went into town with them as illegal aliens. We weren't clearing in as we were going to leave. We stayed around to help Wombat. In Town we had lunch did some shopping and a bit of sight seeing before heading back. We were leaving at 3AM and we need our beauty sleep.
26/3: We hung around Cubagua for a couple of days. Beautiful beach, lighthouse, and a the wreck of a car carrier that ran aground and burned for a week. We enjoyed the days reading and made a trip to walk the beach. Found mom a sea shell that is almost translucent red.
25/3: Good Friday (or so says the calendar), today we headed out it 6AM AST. IT WAS NOT A GOOD FRIDAY. Some say that leaving on a Friday is bad luck. We left because were already on our journey to Trinidad. Well Makai ran aground 5 minutes after raising anchor on what started out to be a beautiful day. It took an 1 1/2 hours to get free with the help of Guarimba III. We use 2 dinghies with 15 hp out boards and the boats engines to work Makai off the hard coral and petrified tree bottom. It was painful. We finally cleared and started the eastbound leg to Cabagua. Thanks to Guarimba III for the help!!!
We finally thought ok this is it we are finally making headway to Trinidad after being held up by winds. We had some dolphins come by the boat while still in the Gulfo de Caricao to send us of. This is usually a sign of good luck. Well, on the northbound leg in 15 knots of wind the stay for the bowsprit let go - HARD. We had to pull down the screecher in a hurry. The winds were starting to pickup and it was time to bring it in anyway.
The weather forecast was a bit off. It didn't calm down. We headed upwind pounding for the next 15 miles to Cabagua. We munched on popcorn and cinnamon rolls while I refilled my spilled coffee 3 times. Thing are not going good today. We finally sighted the anchorage and headed in. We dropped the hook in 8 feet of water near the lighthouse and wreck of a car carrier that had burned. He had worse luck than us.
Sharon jumped in the water to look at the damage and there is a fair amount of the starboard keel that is torn up. We will need a haul to get it repaired. It is not critical to the boat as the builder put in a sacrificial keel stub, but I want it repaired anyway. We will check the prices in Trinidad if not it will wait until return to Puerto la Cruz. This was all before 1:30PM!
We are anchored and now we will just sit and relax (as best we can since the anchorage is real rolly) and wait for the weather to see if we hang here or make our next leg to Margarita and then Los Testigos. These are all up wind so we want a easy trip.
Did I mention that this is NOT a Good Friday????
23/3: Well today we leave to Trinidad. The wind is predicted to be 20-25 knots. High but not bad. First we need fuel badly. We are almost empty. So our first stop was Marina Cumanagoto. We came in the narrow blocked channel. Sharon talked with the fuel dock and they said no fuel....yikes again. After some more conversation She figured out that it was no fueling until a big catamaran moved from another dock so that the mega yacht at the fuel dock could move. The marina people were looking for the owners. Some people dock and walk away form there boats without letting the marina know who they are. Finally after sitting and waiting for 30 minutes we were able to get fuel.
We pulled up to the dock and tied off. We started to fill our main diesel tanks first. it took a while as they were empty. Makai took on 419 liters of diesel. About $8bucks US. We like these prices. Why can't we have fuel like this America??? We also got more gasoline 7 gallons (under 1 dollar US). The total was 24,000 bs plus a tip. Our last diesel fill up was at $.62 gallon and we bought 100 gallons. Makai now looks like a floating gas can. We bought extra containers for gas and diesel and filled them up. It is so cheap that it is cheaper to buy a can and throw it away after using if we choose than to by fuel up island $4-7 a gallon.
We saw Wind Borne and said goodbyes across the VHF airwaves. We cleared the fuel dock and headed north to Cubagua. The winds picked up to 25 knots and we flew sometimes hitting 9 knots slightly downwind. Couldn't wait to get to a beam reach at our next waypoint. Well the winds started to hit 35 knots as we went north. We put a reef in the main and continued. The wind and waves continued to build, so we decided that we had better head back to safe harbor. What took us an hour out took several to get back. We then headed back up the Gulfo towards Puerto Real. After coming in and trying to anchor (wind was blowing 30's in the harbor) we decided to checkout Laguna Chica. It too was windy. White caps in the harbor. So we edged up behind a large hill in the lee and tried to drop anchor. It was rock and the anchor drug. So decided to go back to Laguna Grande to sit out these winds. We ended up dropping anchor near Jabulani as the bay we were in the first time was being blocked off by the fisherman so they could get all of the fish. It is 7:30 and the sun is setting the wind is dropping and we are beat to no end. We will listen to the weather on the SSB and probably try again on Thursday.
21/3:
We
have enjoyed hanging around Laguna Grande in the Gulfo de Caricao, Venezuela.
It is a desert beauty with tons of petrifies trees. We enjoyed a hike and
then went to have lunch with Wind Borne III and their daughter Kelly. Dona
Carolina made a turkey dinner complete with the fixin's. Sharon brought
her favorite Flan (my favorite actually). We enjoyed good food, great
company, but it was sad. They are headed off to Canada for a Bell Canada
Hero award while we head east then north until hurricane season. We hope
to cross their path and many others we met in PLC. Cruising is like that,
you make great friends and you leave. Then make new friends and then
remake old friends as paths cross.
18/3: Beautiful day. light head winds (none
actually) and great sunshine. About an 1 hour after departure we saw
dolphins. Then we had dolphins everywhere, jumping across the bow and
diving.
They
followed or lead us for about 45 minutes. Sorry Suz, if you decided
to come with us you could have seen this sight.
17/3: We said our good byes and with he help of Arnoldo we cast off. First stop the fuel dock for all of that cheap fuel. But...The fuel dock is out of diesel! They are having problems with the pump and said maybe tomorrow. We decided to go out to Isla de Faro anyway and check tomorrow. Sharon called a generally inquiry and Revery and Starlight Dancer both said that we could get fuel in Cumuna. So we enjoyed a great night at anchor and then in the morning headed to the Gulfo.
14/3: We are preparing to depart this Thursday. The plan is cruise the Golfo de Caricao for a couple of weeks where we will try to meet up with Wind Borne III and their daughter Kelly. Then on the first good weather window head north to a small island chain called Los Testigos. It is a supposed to beautiful area. sand beaches, no permanent resident's except the Guardia station and a few fishing camps. After we get tired of the beautiful island we will head to Trinidad to spend a few weeks before heading north.
Worked on preparing Makai for departure. Because of the cheap fuel, 7 cents a gallon for diesel and 14 cents a gallon for gas we have been adding extra capacity by tying on 20 liter plastic acid cans. I know in the US they have to be red but here the red cans cost $37 US and are flimsier. These plastic cans are white cost $4 US and we have seen fisherman using them for eons. The cans cost more than the fuel. Hopefully we will have enough to get us through end of June when we return. Gas and diesel in the windwards can cost as much as $4-5/gal.
6/3: On Suz's last night, the El Ancla restaurant owner Roberto came to the table but she couldn't make up her mind what she wanted so Roberto said 'Trust me, I'll make you something good' He brought a stand to our table, a small propane stove, shrimp, Cognac, and other ingredients. Roberto with great flair and fire made Suzy her dinner. It was excellent (of course we had to try it). We had a Sambvca on the house and chatted with George from 'Pyewacket'.
We hauled her off to the aeropuerto for her first leg to Caracas, PR, and home!
Friday night was neat. Alex the Waiter invited us to have pabillon creollo (a traditional Venezuelan) dish at his house made by his mom. It all started when Sharon asked Oswaldo where we could get really good pabillon creollo. Alex came by and said his grandma made the best and invited us to dinner. Friday night he picked us, Suzy, and Wind-Borne III us in his car, a 74 Ford. We drove to his mom's house and up the stairs we went. The house is perched on the hill over looking PLC and the bay. We climbed up the stairs and made a switchback on to a dirt path that lead to a staircase and up to the house.
The
house had a great view and a wonderful breeze. We met Alex's Mom, Step
dad, 4 sisters, and 2 little cute cousins. We said our hellos and chatted
as best we could with our broken Spanish with Alex translating when needed.
Sharon was able to talk with everyone. We enjoyed wine and Alex was right,
his family makes the best pabillon creollo. The meal was awesome. We
did feel bad as the dining table was small and the rest of the family had to eat
next door.
After dinner there was dancing, marengi. Sharon, Suzy, Rick, Carolyn and Alex's family hit the floor. The music was neat and everyone had a good time. We enjoyed chatting and dancing until late at night. The second latest we had been up since getting here. Soon it was time to head home. We all said our good byes and Sharon invited the family for an Asian meal on Wed evening at the boat.
3/3:
Friday we spent the at Isla de Faro. We sailed with Suzy, Rick & Lila from
'Second Lady', and G.
This is a
beautiful inlet with a spectacular beach. This is a busy anchorage during
the weekend but weekdays it is quiet. We dropped the hook and spent the
afternoon snorkeling and eating some great vittles made by Sharon and Rick.
Soon the day started to close we headed home. We did get to sail half of
the trip back but the winds were light and just faded away. We fired up
the iron genny and we got ourselves home, tired and ready for a nap!
2/3: Another month is here and our friend Suz is here
and we have been on the run. Since last week Friday we have gone to
Los
Alto's, a chartered snorkel trip to the Piscina, Guácharo Cave, and a river walk
to the Mira Flores. Suzy arrived at the Barcelona Airport and we met her
at the gate. She was ready to go and see the sights. We came back to
the marina and had a late dinner at El Ancla restaurant. The next morning
we got up and went up to Los Alto's with 'Wind Borne III' and their guest Pam.
We stopped at Hector's coffee plantation, Tai potters, casa de Carlos where the
view was superb, and had lunch a Picolata (I liked Vista Montana better).
G was our tour guide for the trip. We left at
8:30 in the morning for a 3 hour drive to the caves. We stopped for lunch and
then went to the caves. We
did the second to last tour. We were hit for tourist rates @ 8000bs or
about $3. The cave is huge and goes back about 10 kilometers. It is
the 2nd l
ongest
cave in Venezuela. Or guide walked the 3 of back. The cave has about
19,000 birds (see side bar). They make a racket and you can't see them,
the scene would make Alfred Hitchcock nervous.
We hiked back about 2/3 of a mile looking at the cave formations, the crabs and fish. The rats that live in the cave spend an entire life time there. They are cute not like the big city rats.
Hector
was called away so Carlos gave the tour. I got to cut a bunch of bananas
off the stalk.
Unfortunately
we forgot to get them from Carlos' car and they baked in the sun for 2
days...yuck. Sharon and Suz saw the sites, the views were much better as
there were fewer clouds this time.
Dona Carolina from 'Wind Borne III' arranged a power cat charter snorkel trip to Punta del Cruz and the Piscina for snorkeling. We took a very funny looking catamaran and motored east to the snorkel spots. It was just the 6 of us. They had beverages and and munchies for the trip.
We
stopped at Punta del Cruz and anchored just of shore and went into the water an
snorkeled the reef. It was nice and the surrounding scenery was beautiful
with the islands and the views into the Caribbean.
After a
bit we went over to the Piscina. It is a shallow behind a reef in between
2 islands. The water is like a pool and it has an interesting reef and
some reef fish. Sharon spotted the rare snorkel fish....ok it was just a
long lost snorkel, but it did have coral growing on it. after a hour or so
went went around the island and had lunch at the resturant on the beach.
We putz'd on the beach and finally packed up to head home. We didn't see
any dolphins but the day was full of fun and sun!
20/2: Got the SSB working today! listened into the 'Paranoia Net' 8104.0 or better know as the Security Net. Propagation was bad but heard some of our friends in the out-islands. Finally after 6 weeks of waiting. Also got the head fixed. The part cost $120 plus shipping, the head only cost $100 new. Needed to get it fixed for Suz's visit.
17/2: We spoke with Jiame and our parts have cleared customs and should be here today or tomorrow (6 weeks). As I have stated before things here operate little differently than the US. In the US an item is shipped from aboard and you pay the duty if owned based on the price of the item. In Venezuela you pay the duty in cash based on the value that the Customs officer handling your stuff determines its value. Basically whatever they think they can get from you!! We pay Jiame to make sure that the amount we have to pay is reasonable and doesn't hold up our stuff. Things get LOST and there are no refunds.
Read an interesting Venezuelan tax notice for Coca-Cola. It seems Coke bottling failed to pay some taxes. The Chavez government shut down 4 bottling plants and 29 distribution centers until they are current( also happening to some McDonalds restaurants as well). Using this hardline approach the Gov't was able to collect an additional $13Billion in taxes last year, double the previous year. We have people in the US worth more than the annual tax collection here.
Oriente Canvas installed our side enclosures today. 803,000 bs or $320 total. Custom fit with window and roll down cover. It looks great! These guys do good work and you couldn't buy the Sunbrella in the US for the the total cost. Next is the awning and dinghy cover.
Work update: Batteries sorted, waiting for 2 more. The full charge voltage of the lead acid is 12.9 volts, lower than the 13.2 we had been seeing with the AGM.
Need to complete the SSB install, finally getting the parts after 6 weeks wait.
16/2: Installed the new Trojan T105s. The old batteries we 12 volt AGM's and the replacements are 6 volt liquid batteries. T0 install had to rewire to create banks of 12 volt by putting 2 in series and then wire the sets in parallel. ( One of the best tools to have on hand is a lug pinning tool. Basically you fit the cable into the correct lug, place the lug it the slot, in our case 2/0 and hammer. It creates a compressed bond that makes and excellent mechanical fit.) Fired the system up and had 12.5 volts. Put the charger on them and after 4 hours turned the charger off and the batteries drops down 12.65 volts. Not good. Checked the connections and everything appears ok. Will try an equalize charge and see if they respond if not we will haul them back to Vamesca.
The marine store that had the batteries is called Vamesca and the head salesman is Potter. We hate to go there as he is a bit slippery. Quoted one price showed me the sheet and then when I came to pick the batteries up the price went up 40,000 bs. plus the concern is that these batteries might have been returns but just set for resale. They are a bit untrustworthy and you always feel that you are being ripped off.
These batteries are not holding a charge (did a short equalize)! Have to return them and see where else we can go if they can't find good new ones!
14/2:
Happy Santo Valentin to my sweeties, Admiral Sharon and Mom!!!!
Love ya both.
Cruising is about work as well as play. We have been having problems with our Heart battery charger. It has been going to high voltage and has toasted our battery bank. Unlike the US where I could just run down to one of my favorite charities like West Marine or Fawcett's, Venezuela has fewer choices that involve more hunting. Also having to look at St Marteen to get the charger repaired. That will be an excise all by itself!!!!!
The local battery is made by Duncan. Their best comes with a 6 month warranty, yikes. Not one person we spoke had anything good to say about them. They are not that cheap either. We have 3 AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries that need to be replaced. The best price we could get here was around $1,500 if we could get them shipped in country.
Rick from 'Second Lady' and I went around to the various battery shops and the only thing to be had was the Duncans. We decided to go with the cruiser standard. Trojan deep cycle 6 volt batteries in series to build a 12 volt bank with 675AMPS. Money I did not want to spend but we have to have them. The battery box has plenty of room but I need to make new cables to install the bank. More needs to be done
8/2: We found out today who was crowned Queen of Carnaval. It was #8, Anna Karrina, who was cheered by our section.
4/2:
Well
Carnaval is here. Jiime and Andreas arranged transportation for 40
cruisers. We were dropped off at the baseball stadium and escorted to our
seats by the heavily armed Polica. We set right behind home plate with a
good view of the stage to select the Queen of Carnaval. As with everything here we are on Venezuelan time. The
show was supposed to started at 7:30 PM it finally got going around 9:30.
Right on time!
It was interesting if not very loud, music blaring, speech making, and on. It was fun, but the contestants and the show looked like it was done in some high school. We had 40 cent ice cream (which was real cream pour over a a cup of flavored crushed ice, very good) and 40 cent beers. It was tourist stadium prices after all! We watched people partying and having a good time. One of the things we noticed is the amount of boob jobs done on women as young as the teens and most of the guys were very scrawny.
We enjoyed the show worked on our Spanish and generally had a good time. Soon it was time to go and Andreas shepparded us home. We can't wait until next year and we get to be in Trinidad for Carnaval!
DIVE!!!DIVE!!!DIVE!!!
Ray & Gale of 'Precocious Gale' and I went on our first
Venezuela dive. Sharon couldn't go because of her eye surgery. We
took a taxi to the Aquatic dive center in Paseo Colon. The dive was to the
outer reef north of Isla De Faro (lighthouse island). We loaded our equipment in
the parogue and off we went through the islands and finally stopped 1/3 of a
mile north of Isla de Faro. Our captain, a Cuban ex-pat,
dropped anchor and with a quick overview off we went. We dove in 100+ feet
around the reef. I only went past 75 for a few minutes. The below
the thermo cline the water temp was a chilly 73 degrees F. Way to cold.
Beside the view wasn't ay different than 45-55 ft.
After the first dive went to an anchorage on the south side
of the island that looked like a post card. While we relaxed and waited
out our dive interval (period of time above water after a dive to let the
nitrogen exit our bodies to prevent the bends) the guide took another guest on a
discovery dive. This is a guided dive done after covering the basics.
This allows someone to try diving on controlled conditions.
After lunch we did a cave dive. The entrance was 45' down and was 6X20'. It then went up at an angel until we broke the surface in the cave. It was excellent. The roof was about 50' up and the cave was 100' long and wide. There were several large stalactites hanging from the ceiling. This was a very old cave. While buddy diving with Gale the guide Virgina pointed out a very large Atlantic Spade fish and a huge porcupine fish.
After surfacing we headed back to the dock and were home by 3PM. The owner of the dive shop was kind enough to give us a ride. The taxis probably would not have been happy for us to climb in t he cabs with all of wet gear. The whole day including 2 tanks of air, the parogue, lunch, and a guide for bs 78,000 or $30 US. Pretty inexpensive!
2/2: Sharon and the crew of 'Second Lady' can now see without glasses. Their eyes are still not 100% but they walking around and watching TV without glasses or contacts. Sharon is much happier and
1/2: Another month has started and Carnival is this weekend. Sharon's ojos (eyes) are getting better. Her vision is improving as her eyes heal. Her sight has improved to where she is watching TV and reading without her glass or contacts!
One of the similarities of cruising and living in a house is the need for transportation when you leave home. When on land in the States we jumped in the Miata and buzzed down to one of my favorite charities (West Marine, Home Depot...). Living on a boat where are home is now floating we jump into our dinghy and head off to shop. Our original tender was a Water tender 9.4 and a Nissan 5hp 4cycle engine. It was like driving a Yugo. Very slow and not a lot of room, but it was cheap.
Since we are in the land of inexpensive we decided now was a time to upgrade to a Porsche on water. We bought a new Caribe C10X last month, but it needed a bit more zip than the Nissan 5hp, today we got a Mercury 15HP 2 cyl. I started the break-in process and wow. At half throttle it went up on plane and we blew to Plaza Mayor in record time. Can't wait until I can open it up.
It is also Tuesday and Marie-Elena at Al Ancla made ribs tonight. The Tuesday night special. A bunch of cruisers got together for dinner and talk. It is always fun, but Sharon's eyes are still a bit tired and sore so we bagged it early and came back to Makai for the evening.