Boat work in exotic places

September 30, 2006   Saturday

Porlamar, Isla Margarita, VZ

Yesterday we took the bus to Sigo and bought six more cases of cheap beer.  That was all we felt like putting into our cart, so it will have to do.  We also visited an electronics “super store” near the supermarket and purchased another 12 volt DVD player (like for a car).  Our JVC radio/DVD player decided last week to eat one of our DVDs.  We can see the DVD in the unit and it spins freely, but there are two tiny blocking pieces of plastic that will not move down to allow us to eject the DVD.  We have already tried the paper clip trick, thanks to Judy’s computer shop days; but it still will not eject.  We tried contacting JVC via email but haven’t heard back from them.  Repair here is out of the question, so we just bought another unit.

We spent 80% of today replacing the membranes of our watermaker.  It was quite a job.  While disassembling the unit, we discovered that we should also have ordered new end caps and new O rings.  We managed to find a couple of the right sized O rings in Bill’s diving gear, and we installed the new membranes and reassembled the unit and reinstalled it down in the engine room.  Now we must wait until tomorrow afternoon to test it, because we used some 5200 on one of the screws on one of the end caps and must wait for it to cure thoroughly before pressurizing the watermaker.  We figure there is a 50/50 chance that this will work.  Otherwise, we will have to order the parts from France.

After talking with many people here in the anchorage, we really do not want to go to Puerto La Cruz unless we must order these parts to be delivered there.  If we decide to go elsewhere, we will try to make a posting here before we leave; because there will definitely not be internet service in the outer islands.  We hate to forfeit the $600 that we already paid the marina in Puerto La Cruz for the month of October, but we really don’t want to sit there for a month either.  It has been such a light hurricane season that we are willing to take our chances and head on to Tortuga, Los Roques, the Aves, and the ABCs.  The sooner we make the passage from Aruba or Curacao to the San Blas Islands, the better.  October is the best month for that passage, and November is supposed to be okay.  In December it can be one of the roughest passages in the entire world.  We have talked to one person who encountered 45 knot winds and 90 foot seas in that area during a December passage.  This person has sailed down in the roaring forties and said that this passage was rougher than sailing in the Southern Ocean.  We would not venture into that kind of weather.

We don’t know how the men get any work done here in Venezuela with all the distraction by the pretty women in exceptionally low cut tight tops and short skirts or tight pants and high heel shoes.  They are quite distracting and most visually appealing to the male population and male visitors.  The views in Isla Margarita are lovely to say the least.

One day this week we had occasion for another cruiser to visit our boat.  We will leave out both his name and his boat name as well as the reason he visited our boat in order to protect his privacy.  Anyway, this guy obviously is a transvestite.  He was dressed in unisex attire of shorts and tee-shirt when he visited us, but the cosmetic surgery and attempts to appear female were quite apparent.  That is the first time we have seen a transvestite sailor.

We also met a couple of people who are well known down here because of a pirate attack last year.  Judy had read about this online already, and we were surprised to meet them.  Good for both of them; this attack has not changed their attitude about sailing –even remaining here in Venezuelan waters again this season.  They are two single handers, on separate boats.  They just happened to be together on his boat at the time of this attack last year.  Had the woman (who has medical training) not been aboard to treat his wounds, then he certainly would have died.  She was able to stem the blood flow on the head wound, which was the most serious.  Below is a copy of the article about the attack:

August 4, 2005

In the bay next to us in Laguna Grande, Golfo De Cariaco, Venezuela at 11:15 PM pitch black with no moon "D" and "M" aboard the American catamaran "-deleted-" (the only boat there at the time) were awakened by the sound of their dinghy being stolen. The dinghy, a ten foot "Caribe" with a 15 HP "Yamaha" had been raised on aft davits tied but not chained or cabled.
At least four pirates had arrived in a penero. Two of them had swum over to the catamaran, climbed aboard the steps and cut the dinghy's lifting tackle and lines with a machete. They had to know that releasing the dinghy in this fashion would make a lot of noise. It is scary
that they were not concerned. "D" had removed the plastic key from the outboard but the pirates were ready with their own key. This was obviously not their first theft.
"D" came out and started fighting with the two pirates on his boat's aft deck. "-deleted-" at the time had no working flashlight or working lights on it's aft deck. "D" was hit repeatedly with a machete but in the pitch black thought that they were hitting him with a club.
When the pirates jumped into the water "D" followed to try and save his dinghy. Unbeknownst to him a third pirate was swimming the dinghy away. A fourth pirate jumped into the dinghy from the penero and attacked "D" with a machete. The pirates got the dinghy started and took off leaving "D" for dead. "D" swam back to his boat.
"M" spent quite some time stemming "D"'s blood flow by applying compresses. She then weighed anchor and motored to our bay using radar and depthsounder. She was attracted by our bright anchor light and was successful in waking us. I was nervous going out of our locked cabin but the voice was female, she spoke English and I could hear an inboard instead of a penero. We cycled our alarm system and radioed the other boats in our bay for help. As quickly as we could we launched our dinghy and I went over, the first one aboard.
I had never been exposed to anything like this. It was horrible with large pools of blood everywhere on the aft deck and the port steps. "D" was sprawled nude on his back on the aft deck. The average adult holds about five to six liters of blood. "D"'s blood loss would likely have been greatest just after he was injured when he was working hard fighting his attackers and swimming back to his boat. Guessing at what he lost in the water and what I saw on deck he must have lost two to three liters of blood.
In my haste to render assistance I had only donned shorts - no shirt or footwear. It was impossible to move about the aft deck without stepping into the blood. It was very slippery. Later before getting back into our dinghy I rinsed my feet in the sea off the catamaran's aft steps. The next morning the rainwater in our dinghy was tinged pink.
"D" had nine very deep cuts to his head, chest, arms, shoulders and back. He had great difficulty rolling over so that I could check the wounds on his back. The wounds were some two to four inches long through both layers of skin and fat and into muscle. I looked at all of the wounds and ascertained that none of them was bleeding.
"D" was lucid, shaking, throwing up occasionally from shock, reasonably calm and coping well with the pain. He was as comfortable as he could be. I checked three other boats by dinghy and / or radio to find out if any of them had any medical training or medical supplies. Medical supplies were not going to help much as "D" was not bleeding and his cuts were so severe that only a doctor with suturing could help.
I immediately determined that the victim's injuries although quite horrific were not life threatening and given that the bleeding had stopped the crisis was under control. However shock could quickly change that evaluation. My whole focus at that point was getting more help than I could offer and that meant a doctor, nurse or paramedic.
I had no idea how far help would be but assumed that it would not be close. The first choice was to have help come to us in the form of a fast boat. The other boats and Sandra called "Maydays" in English and Spanish on HF as well as VHF but there was no response of any kind. In times of crisis in third world countries we have found that the cruisers generally have to do it themselves.
Greg of "-deleted-" was the only other person to dinghy over to help. He knew the area and knew that help could be secured in Cumana some 12 miles two hours away. He volunteered to drive the victims' boat there. I offered to go along but he felt safer my staying behind in case there were problems with his wife and his boat. Along the way they repeatedly fed "D" liquids and pain pills which he repeatedly threw up. They elevated his legs, forced him to stay awake and kept him as comfortable as possible.
When the catamaran arrived at "Marina Cumanagoto" the night security there pulled out all of the stops calling anyone who spoke English and could help get "D" medical help. "D" was quickly transferred by ambulance to a private hospital and got first class care. The doctor dared not sedate "D" because shock had badly set in. He was given a local anesthetic before his wounds were stitched up. A surgeon and an assistant spent three hours to close up all of "D"'s wounds.
The next day Greg needed a ride back as the catamaran no longer had dinghies. Given the seriousness of what had happened we would have expected the Authorities to rush over and investigate. They could have brought Greg home in some official boat, ship or whatever.
It took four days for the Authorities to visit Laguna Grande and investigate. As was the case with all of the other pirate attacks in Venezuela no one was charged and the Authorities did not recover any of the stolen property.
The marina quickly came to the rescue. They offered free of charge their big double outboard penero to take Greg home. The trip took only 15 minutes. A fast boat when the alarm was raised is the sort of thing which should have been available from the Authorities in the first place. The time that was lost for the catamaran to motor two hours to Cumana could have had "D"'s non life threatening injuries kill him. "D" was interviewed by the local media and the Authorities the next day in the hospital. He recovered extremely well and was out of the hospital within four days.

Stocking up; replacing watermaker membranes

September 30, 2006   Saturday

Porlamar, Isla Margarita, VZ

Yesterday we took the bus to Sigo and bought six more cases of cheap beer.  That was all we felt like putting into our cart, so it will have to do.  We also visited an electronics “super store” near the supermarket and purchased another 12 volt DVD player (like for a car).  Our JVC radio/DVD player decided last week to eat one of our DVDs.  We can see the DVD in the unit and it spins freely, but there are two tiny blocking pieces of plastic that will not move down to allow us to eject the DVD.  We have already tried the paper clip trick, thanks to Judy’s computer shop days; but it still will not eject.  We tried contacting JVC via email but haven’t heard back from them.  Repair here is out of the question, so we just bought another unit.

We spend 80% of today replacing the membranes of our watermaker.  It was quite a job.  While disassembling the unit, we discovered that we should also have ordered new end caps and new O rings.  We managed to find a couple of the right sized O rings in Bill’s diving gear, and we installed the new membranes and reassembled the unit and reinstalled it down in the engine room.  Now we must wait until tomorrow afternoon to test it, because we used some 5200 on one of the screws on one of the end caps and must wait for it to cure thoroughly before pressurizing the watermaker.  We figure there is a 50/50 chance that this will work.  Otherwise, we will have to order the parts from France.

After talking with many people here in the anchorage, we really do not want to go to Puerto La Cruz unless we must order these parts to be delivered there.  If we decide to go elsewhere, we will try to make a posting here before we leave; because there will definitely not be internet service in the outer islands.  We hate to forfeit the $600 that we already paid the marina in Puerto La Cruz for the month of October, but we really don’t want to sit there for a month either.  It has been such a light hurricane season that we are willing to take our chances and head on to Tortuga, Los Roques, the Aves, and the ABCs.  The sooner we make the passage from Aruba or Curacao to the San Blas Islands, the better.  October is the best month for that passage, and November is supposed to be okay.  In December it can be one of the roughest passages in the entire world.  We have talked to one person who encountered 45 knot winds and 90 foot seas in that area during a December passage.  This person has sailed down in the roaring forties and said that this passage was rougher than sailing in the Southern Ocean.  We would not venture into that kind of weather.

We don’t know how the men get any work done here in Venezuela with all the distraction by the pretty women in exceptionally low cut tight tops and short skirts or tight pants and high heel shoes.  They are quite distracting and most visually appealing to the male population and male visitors.  The views in Isla Margarita are lovely to say the least.

One day this week we had occasion for another cruiser to visit our boat.  We will leave out both his name and his boat name as well as the reason he visited our boat in order to protect his privacy.  Anyway, this guy obviously is a transvestite.  He was dressed in unisex attire of shorts and tee-shirt when he visited us, but the cosmetic surgery and attempts to appear female were quite apparent.  That is the first time we have seen a transvestite sailor.

We also met a couple of people who are well known down here because of a pirate attack last year.  Judy had read about this online already, and we were surprised to meet them.  Good for both of them; this attack has not changed their attitude about sailing –even remaining here in Venezuelan waters again this season.  They are two single handers, on separate boats.  They just happened to be together on his boat at the time of this attack last year.  Had the woman (who has medical training) not been aboard to treat his wounds, then he certainly would have died.  She was able to stem the blood flow on the head wound, which was the most serious.  Below is a copy of the article about the attack:

August 4, 2005
In the bay next to us in Laguna Grande, Golfo De Cariaco, Venezuela at 11:15 PM pitch black with no moon "D" and "M" aboard the American catamaran "-deleted-" (the only boat there at the time) were awakened by the sound of their dinghy being stolen. The dinghy, a ten foot "Caribe" with a 15 HP "Yamaha" had been raised on aft davits tied but not chained or cabled.
that they were not concerned. "D" had removed the plastic key from the outboard but the pirates were ready with their own key. This was obviously not their first theft.

At least four pirates had arrived in a penero. Two of them had swum over to the catamaran, climbed aboard the steps and cut the dinghy's lifting tackle and lines with a machete. They had to know that releasing the dinghy in this fashion would make a lot of noise. It is scary
"D" came out and started fighting with the two pirates on his boat's aft deck. "-deleted-" at the time had no working flashlight or working lights on it's aft deck. "D" was hit repeatedly with a machete but in the pitch black thought that they were hitting him with a club.
When the pirates jumped into the water "D" followed to try and save his dinghy. Unbeknownst to him a third pirate was swimming the dinghy away. A fourth pirate jumped into the dinghy from the penero and attacked "D" with a machete. The pirates got the dinghy started and took off leaving "D" for dead. "D" swam back to his boat.
"M" spent quite some time stemming "D"'s blood flow by applying compresses. She then weighed anchor and motored to our bay using radar and depthsounder. She was attracted by our bright anchor light and was successful in waking us. I was nervous going out of our locked cabin but the voice was female, she spoke English and I could hear an inboard instead of a penero. We cycled our alarm system and radioed the other boats in our bay for help. As quickly as we could we launched our dinghy and I went over, the first one aboard.
I had never been exposed to anything like this. It was horrible with large pools of blood everywhere on the aft deck and the port steps. "D" was sprawled nude on his back on the aft deck. The average adult holds about five to six liters of blood. "D"'s blood loss would likely have been greatest just after he was injured when he was working hard fighting his attackers and swimming back to his boat. Guessing at what he lost in the water and what I saw on deck he must have lost two to three liters of blood.
In my haste to render assistance I had only donned shorts - no shirt or footwear. It was impossible to move about the aft deck without stepping into the blood. It was very slippery. Later before getting back into our dinghy I rinsed my feet in the sea off the catamaran's aft steps. The next morning the rainwater in our dinghy was tinged pink.
"D" had nine very deep cuts to his head, chest, arms, shoulders and back. He had great difficulty rolling over so that I could check the wounds on his back. The wounds were some two to four inches long through both layers of skin and fat and into muscle. I looked at all of the wounds and ascertained that none of them was bleeding.
"D" was lucid, shaking, throwing up occasionally from shock, reasonably calm and coping well with the pain. He was as comfortable as he could be. I checked three other boats by dinghy and / or radio to find out if any of them had any medical training or medical supplies. Medical supplies were not going to help much as "D" was not bleeding and his cuts were so severe that only a doctor with suturing could help.
I immediately determined that the victim's injuries although quite horrific were not life threatening and given that the bleeding had stopped the crisis was under control. However shock could quickly change that evaluation. My whole focus at that point was getting more help than I could offer and that meant a doctor, nurse or paramedic.
I had no idea how far help would be but assumed that it would not be close. The first choice was to have help come to us in the form of a fast boat. The other boats and Sandra called "Maydays" in English and Spanish on HF as well as VHF but there was no response of any kind. In times of crisis in third world countries we have found that the cruisers generally have to do it themselves.
Greg of "-deleted-" was the only other person to dinghy over to help. He knew the area and knew that help could be secured in Cumana some 12 miles two hours away. He volunteered to drive the victims' boat there. I offered to go along but he felt safer my staying behind in case there were problems with his wife and his boat. Along the way they repeatedly fed "D" liquids and pain pills which he repeatedly threw up. They elevated his legs, forced him to stay awake and kept him as comfortable as possible.
When the catamaran arrived at "Marina Cumanagoto" the night security there pulled out all of the stops calling anyone who spoke English and could help get "D" medical help. "D" was quickly transferred by ambulance to a private hospital and got first class care. The doctor dared not sedate "D" because shock had badly set in. He was given a local anesthetic before his wounds were stitched up. A surgeon and an assistant spent three hours to close up all of "D"'s wounds.
The next day Greg needed a ride back as the catamaran no longer had dinghies. Given the seriousness of what had happened we would have expected the Authorities to rush over and investigate. They could have brought Greg home in some official boat, ship or whatever.
It took four days for the Authorities to visit Laguna Grande and investigate. As was the case with all of the other pirate attacks in Venezuela no one was charged and the Authorities did not recover any of the stolen property.
The marina quickly came to the rescue. They offered free of charge their big double outboard penero to take Greg home. The trip took only 15 minutes. A fast boat when the alarm was raised is the sort of thing which should have been available from the Authorities in the first place. The time that was lost for the catamaran to motor two hours to Cumana could have had "D"'s non life threatening injuries kill him. "D" was interviewed by the local media and the Authorities the next day in the hospital. He recovered extremely well and was out of the hospital within four days.

Porlamar, Isla Margarita, VZ

NOTE May 27, 2013:  Social conditions are much different in all of Venezuela than when we visited in 2006 and 2007.  We would recommend avoiding VZ until crime abates as it is too dangerous today.

September 28, 2006 Thursday

Porlamar, Isla Margarita, VZ

We were cleared in on Tuesday by Juan Baro.  Fantastic service he provides.  Cannot imagine why anyone would deal with clearing themselves in when Juan makes it so simple.

Marina Juan also provides free bus trips to the Sigo supermarket and shopping center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Juan gives you a laminated number on a lanyard that you hang around your neck.  You show this number to the cashier when you check out of the supermarket; and they direct you over to some guys who pack up all your groceries into boxes, which are labeled with your number.  The boxes are loaded into a large enclosed delivery truck which follows the bus back to the harbor.  Then the guys unload the boxes and they are wheeled out to the end of the dinghy dock for you.  Talk about service!!  And all this doesn't cost a penny!  Juan does request that you tip the guys 2500 Bs per person -- that is $1.09 USD.  Their services are certainly worth that piddling amount.  And your laminated number also entitles you to a free coke or water at the supermarket.  What a deal!

So, we ventured to Sigo on the bus yesterday.  This was to be just a scouting expedition; we don't need any food on the boat except maybe another loaf of bread.  But Judy cannot go into a supermarket and not find something to buy.  This supermarket would rival any in the states.  They had everything.  Of course, everything is labeled in Spanish; so shopping was interesting.  We did buy a few mystery items---things that we think we know what they are, but are't totally certain.  So some meals might be a bit adventuresome.

Bill has discovered that he likes the local Venzuelan beer called Polar Hielo (ice).  We bought a case.  After we got back to the boat and reviewed the cash register receipt, we discovered that the case of beer cost only $7.35 USD.  We have been warned that booze will cost more on the mainland, so this is the last place to really stock up on cheap beer before we head to the San Blas Islands in late November.  So we really should buy enough to last until end of February, when we should be going through the Panama Canal.  Beer could also be used for bribes or trading if needed.  So we will probably go back to Sigo on the bus tomorrow and buy another 10 cases of beer.  Man; that sure makes us sound like drunks!  And Judy doesn't drink the nasty stuff and Bill really doesn't drink more than 2 beers on any day.  That will be our 5 month supply.

Oh yeah.  Gosh these people can eat!  We went to lunch at a very nice seaside restaurant on Tuesday.  We were astounded at the quantities of food that all the local people ate.  Every single table also was drinking either wine or beer, even the ambulance drivers who had stopped there for lunch.  Absolutely no one was drinking water or soft drinks.  Just a difference in cultures.

We ordered Asopada de Pescadore, which turned out to be like a soupy paella.  It was fantastic and had every imaginable type of seafood in it.  They brought it to the table on a cart in a large soup tureen.  They added a generous splash of olive oil and white wine over the top and served up large bowls to us.  It was delicious but way, way more than we could ever eat in one meal.  We were still so full that we even skipped dinner that night.  We had the leftover soup for dinner again the next evening, and we still have another meal worth in the fridge.  We will have 3 meals from what was served for one lunch. 

When we went grocery shopping, we again noticed how much everyone was eating in the little restaurant tucked into the corner of the supermarket.  And the rest of the world is always joking about the fat Americans and how our restaurants serve such huge portions.  The US doesn't hold a candle to the Venezuelans in that regard.

This afternoon we had diesel delivered to our boat.  The two guys did an excellent job; no bumping against our boat and no drips anywhere.  And the delivered diesel only cost 32 cents USD per gallon!!!!  Man, what a profit you could turn with a shipload of that to the states.  We had been warned that US boats are not allowed to purchase diesel on the VZ mainland, so this was our only opportunity to buy diesel at these ridiculously low prices.  After we leave Puerto La Cruz then we will not be visiting any more inhabited islands.

We will be clearing out with the officials tomorrow.  Actually, Juan's guys will be clearing us out with the officials tomorrow.  We just need to drop off our in-bound clearance papers at Juan's office and they will handle everything and have our departure papers ready by 5:30 tomorrow afternoon.  (We will then take the bus to the supermarket and buy that all-important cheap beer.)  We have 24 hours to leave Isla Margarita after the clearance papers are stamped.  But, since they are closed on weekends, that means that we can leave as late as 7:00 a.m. Monday.  Don't you just love their logic?  You have 24 hours to leave, but we aren't working for 2 days so you really have 3 days to leave.  We plan to leave this anchorage Sunday and move to the west end of Isla Margarita.  That is about 45 miles from here.  From there, it will only be about 55 miles to Puerto La Cruz.  According to the sailing guide books, very few boats visit the west end of Isla Margarita.  So it sounds just perfect for us.

Porlamar, Isla Margarita, VZ

September 28, 2006 Thursday

 

We were cleared in on Tuesday by Juan Baro.  Fantastic service he provides.  Cannot imagine why anyone would deal with clearing themselves in when Juan makes it so simple.

Marina Juan also provides free bus trips to the Sigo supermarket and shopping center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Juan gives you a laminated number on a lanyard that you hang around your neck.  You show this number to the cashier when you check out of the supermarket; and they direct you over to some guys who pack up all your groceries into boxes, which are labeled with your number.  The boxes are loaded into a large enclosed delivery truck which follows the bus back to the harbor.  Then the guys unload the boxes and they are wheeled out to the end of the dinghy dock for you.  Talk about service!!  And all this doesn't cost a penny!  Juan does request that you tip the guys 2500 Bs per person -- that is $1.09 USD.  Their services are certainly worth that piddling amount.  And your laminated number also entitles you to a free coke or water at the supermarket.  What a deal!

So, we ventured to Sigo on the bus yesterday.  This was to be just a scouting expedition; we don't need any food on the boat except maybe another loaf of bread.  But Judy cannot go into a supermarket and not find something to buy.  This supermarket would rival any in the states.  They had everything.  Of course, everything is labeled in Spanish; so shopping was interesting.  We did buy a few mystery items---things that we think we know what they are, but are't totally certain.  So some meals might be a bit adventuresome.

Bill has discovered that he likes the local Venzuelan beer called Polar Hielo (ice).  We bought a case.  After we got back to the boat and reviewed the cash register receipt, we discovered that the case of beer cost only $7.35 USD.  We have been warned that booze will cost more on the mainland, so this is the last place to really stock up on cheap beer before we head to the San Blas Islands in late November.  So we really should buy enough to last until end of February, when we should be going through the Panama Canal.  Beer could also be used for bribes or trading if needed.  So we will probably go back to Sigo on the bus tomorrow and buy another 10 cases of beer.  Man; that sure makes us sound like drunks!  And Judy doesn't drink the nasty stuff and Bill really doesn't drink more than 2 beers on any day.  That will be our 5 month supply.

Oh yeah.  Gosh these people can eat!  We went to lunch at a very nice seaside restaurant on Tuesday.  We were astounded at the quantities of food that all the local people ate.  Every single table also was drinking either wine or beer, even the ambulance drivers who had stopped there for lunch.  Absolutely no one was drinking water or soft drinks.  Just a difference in cultures.

We ordered Asopada de Pescadore, which turned out to be like a soupy paella.  It was fantastic and had every imaginable type of seafood in it.  They brought it to the table on a cart in a large soup tureen.  They added a generous splash of olive oil and white wine over the top and served up large bowls to us.  It was delicious but way, way more than we could ever eat in one meal.  We were still so full that we even skipped dinner that night.  We had the leftover soup for dinner again the next evening, and we still have another meal worth in the fridge.  We will have 3 meals from what was served for one lunch. 

When we went grocery shopping, we again noticed how much everyone was eating in the little restaurant tucked into the corner of the supermarket.  And the rest of the world is always joking about the fat Americans and how our restaurants serve such huge portions.  The US doesn't hold a candle to the Venezuelans in that regard.

This afternoon we had diesel delivered to our boat.  The two guys did an excellent job; no bumping against our boat and no drips anywhere.  And the delivered diesel only cost 32 cents USD per gallon!!!!  Man, what a profit you could turn with a shipload of that to the states.  We had been warned that US boats are not allowed to purchase diesel on the VZ mainland, so this was our only opportunity to buy diesel at these ridiculously low prices.  After we leave Puerto La Cruz then we will not be visiting any more inhabited islands.

We will be clearing out with the officials tomorrow.  Actually, Juan's guys will be clearing us out with the officials tomorrow.  We just need to drop off our in-bound clearance papers at Juan's office and they will handle everything and have our departure papers ready by 5:30 tomorrow afternoon.  (We will then take the bus to the supermarket and buy that all-important cheap beer.)  We have 24 hours to leave Isla Margarita after the clearance papers are stamped.  But, since they are closed on weekends, that means that we can leave as late as 7:00 a.m. Monday.  Don't you just love their logic?  You have 24 hours to leave, but we aren't working for 2 days so you really have 3 days to leave.  We plan to leave this anchorage Sunday and move to the west end of Isla Margarita.  That is about 45 miles from here.  From there, it will only be about 55 miles to Puerto La Cruz.  According to the sailing guide books, very few boats visit the west end of Isla Margarita.  So it sounds just perfect for us.

Isla Margarita

September 25, 2006   Monday

Los Testigos to Isla Margarita 49.4NM

Arrived at 10.56.985N; 63.49.759W

Sailed out of Los Testigos at 6:00 a.m.  We had nice winds on a beam reach and then the winds clocked around to a broad reach.  It was our nicest sail since we moved aboard and began cruising.  But about 15 miles before our destination, the wind died down.  Even with only 5 knots wind speed, we were able to maintain 4 knots boat speed (probably thanks to current); but at that slow speed it would have been after dark before we arrived.  The guide book says not to arrive in Porlamar in darkness because the local fishermen set nets around the harbor entrance.  So we started the engine and motor sailed the rest of the way and arrived here about 3:00 p.m.

We talked to several of our friends on the VHF radio.  They had all just left the anchorage at Porlamar, Isla Margarita; and were enroute to Isla Coche.  A couple of them asked us to join them in the sail over to Isla Coche; we could continue all together from there to Puerto La Cruz.  But we had to stop in Porlamar because we were delivering a boat part to someone.  Shhhhh……don’t tell anyone, because that means we are smugglers.   Chuck offered to return to Porlamar if we wanted him to accompany us on the passage to Puerto La Cruz, but we told him to go on.  We will be fine on our own.

After seeing this anchorage, we are doubly annoyed with ourselves for staying in Trinidad all summer.  And ESPECIALLY ANNOYED with our insurance company for insisting that we be there instead of here.  Porlamar is a large, very cosmopolitan city with a very large shallow harbor with clear waters.  We contacted Juan Baro, who will act as our agent to clear in and out of here.  We will meet him tomorrow morning and surrender our passports and boat paperwork to him, and he will handle everything for us.  This involves visiting several official offices.  By the time we hired taxis and paid all the fees, it will only cost a bit more to use Juan to handle it all for us; and will be infinitely easier on us.

Taffy and Shirley on S/V The Road came over and picked up their water pump which we had brought from Trinidad.  The hull of The Road is painted black with white stripes all around both sides, like a highway.  It is extremely distinctive.  The Road stands for The Royal Order of Ancient Druids.  Obviously from a name like that, Taffy is from Ireland.  Shirley is from South Africa, and they sailed out of South Africa years ago.  They have an African Gray parrot named Rubbish. 

Rubbish does all kinds of voice antics.  He can mimic almost any sound and talks quite well.  For example, he will make a sound just like a fog horn.  Then he will say “Stop that.  That’s ugly.”  Only he can’t say it quite clearly and it sounds like “that’s uggie.”  Rubbish can also mimic Shirley’s voice perfectly.  Sometimes when Taffy is working on something on the boat and calls for Shirley to come help him, Rubbish will answer as if he is Shirley. 

Taffy:  “Shirley, I need your help straight away.”

Rubbish:  “Coming.  Be right there.”

Several moments later:

Taffy:  “Shirley, I really need your help right this minute; I can’t hold this much longer.”

Rubbish:  “Coming.  Be right there.”

About the third time this occurs, then Taffy realizes that Shirley isn’t nearby and the bird is talking in her voice.  Gotta love this parrot.

The Road was severely damaged 4 years ago when a Venezuelan fishing boat ran over them near Trinidad.  Taffy and Shirley are fortunate that they were not killed in this incident.  They were rescued from the sea by another boat and The Road partially sank.  The Road was then hauled into Trinidad and put on the hard.  Taffy and Shirley had to return to the UK and get jobs to earn enough to repair the boat.  They returned to Trinidad and began working earnestly on the boat in July 2005.  They finally got The Road seaworthy and left Trinidad about 3 weeks ago.  And we thought we were sick of being in Trinidad!

Taffy told us something interesting about Amel boats.  When the EU was setting standards for the CE certifications that all products in Europe are required to meet, they devised a drop test for yachts.  They raise the yacht 2 meters up in a travel lift sling, then they drop it onto a concrete slab.  Of all the boat manufacturers in Europe, only one manufacturer was willing to allow their boats to be tested in this manner.  Of course, it was Amel.  They dropped an Amel like ours from 2 meters height directly onto concrete and the boat passed the test with no structural damage, just mars in the gel coat.  Now, that is impressive.

We have decided that we will stick around Isla Margarita until Sunday.  Certainly no reason to rush off to sit in another marina in Puerto La Cruz.  It is quite pleasant here on anchor in this harbor, even though it does roll a bit at night.  We are sending our laundry ashore to be done.  That is a first for us; we always do that chore ourselves.  But laundry service is so inexpensive here that it doesn’t seem worth the effort to do it ourselves.

It will take us awhile to get accustomed to the exchange rate of 2300 Bolivars to one US dollar.  This means that everything sounds quite expensive but really isn’t.  For example, the broadband WiFi service that we are using cost 40,000 Bs for one week – that sounds like a lot of money but is really only $17.39.  Still a lot for internet service for one week by US standards, but certainly not expensive for this remote place.

On to Isla Margarita

September 25, 2006   Monday

Los Testigos to Isla Margarita 49.4NM

Arrived at 10.56.985N; 63.49.759W

Sailed out of Los Testigos at 6:00 a.m.  We had nice winds on a beam reach and then the winds clocked around to a broad reach.  It was our nicest sail since we moved aboard and began cruising.  But about 15 miles before our destination, the wind died down.  Even with only 5 knots wind speed, we were able to maintain 4 knots boat speed (probably thanks to current); but at that slow speed it would have been after dark before we arrived.  The guide book says not to arrive in Porlamar in darkness because the local fishermen set nets around the harbor entrance.  So we started the engine and motor sailed the rest of the way and arrived here about 3:00 p.m.

We talked to several of our friends on the VHF radio.  They had all just left the anchorage at Porlamar, Isla Margarita; and were enroute to Isla Coche.  A couple of them asked us to join them in the sail over to Isla Coche; we could continue all together from there to Puerto La Cruz.  But we had to stop in Porlamar because we were delivering a boat part to someone.  Shhhhh……don’t tell anyone, because that means we are smugglers.   Chuck offered to return to Porlamar if we wanted him to accompany us on the passage to Puerto La Cruz, but we told him to go on.  We will be fine on our own.

After seeing this anchorage, we are doubly annoyed with ourselves for staying in Trinidad all summer.  And ESPECIALLY ANNOYED with our insurance company for insisting that we be there instead of here.  Porlamar is a large, very cosmopolitan city with a very large shallow harbor with clear waters.  We contacted Juan Baro, who will act as our agent to clear in and out of here.  We will meet him tomorrow morning and surrender our passports and boat paperwork to him, and he will handle everything for us.  This involves visiting several official offices.  By the time we hired taxis and paid all the fees, it will only cost a bit more to use Juan to handle it all for us; and will be infinitely easier on us.

Taffy and Shirley on S/V The Road came over and picked up their water pump which we had brought from Trinidad.  The hull of The Road is painted black with white stripes all around both sides, like a highway.  It is extremely distinctive.  The Road stands for The Royal Order of Ancient Druids.  Obviously from a name like that, Taffy is from Ireland.  Shirley is from South Africa, and they sailed out of South Africa years ago.  They have an African Gray parrot named Rubbish. 

Rubbish does all kinds of voice antics.  He can mimic almost any sound and talks quite well.  For example, he will make a sound just like a fog horn.  Then he will say “Stop that.  That’s ugly.”  Only he can’t say it quite clearly and it sounds like “that’s uggie.”  Rubbish can also mimic Shirley’s voice perfectly.  Sometimes when Taffy is working on something on the boat and calls for Shirley to come help him, Rubbish will answer as if he is Shirley. 

Taffy:  “Shirley, I need your help straight away.”

Rubbish:  “Coming.  Be right there.”

Several moments later:

Taffy:  “Shirley, I really need your help right this minute; I can’t hold this much longer.”

Rubbish:  “Coming.  Be right there.”

About the third time this occurs, then Taffy realizes that Shirley isn’t nearby and the bird is talking in her voice.  Gotta love this parrot.

The Road was severely damaged 4 years ago when a Venezuelan fishing boat ran over them near Trinidad.  Taffy and Shirley are fortunate that they were not killed in this incident.  They were rescued from the sea by another boat and The Road partially sank.  The Road was then hauled into Trinidad and put on the hard.  Taffy and Shirley had to return to the UK and get jobs to earn enough to repair the boat.  They returned to Trinidad and began working earnestly on the boat in July 2005.  They finally got The Road seaworthy and left Trinidad about 3 weeks ago.  And we thought we were sick of being in Trinidad!

Taffy told us something interesting about Amel boats.  When the EU was setting standards for the CE certifications that all products in Europe are required to meet, they devised a drop test for yachts.  They raise the yacht 2 meters up in a travel lift sling, then they drop it onto a concrete slab.  Of all the boat manufacturers in Europe, only one manufacturer was willing to allow their boats to be tested in this manner.  Of course, it was Amel.  They dropped an Amel like ours from 2 meters height directly onto concrete and the boat passed the test with no structural damage, just mars in the gel coat.  Now, that is impressive.

We have decided that we will stick around Isla Margarita until Sunday.  Certainly no reason to rush off to sit in another marina in Puerto La Cruz.  It is quite pleasant here on anchor in this harbor, even though it does roll a bit at night.  We are sending our laundry ashore to be done.  That is a first for us; we always do that chore ourselves.  But laundry service is so inexpensive here that it doesn’t seem worth the effort to do it ourselves.

It will take us awhile to get accustomed to the exchange rate of 2300 Bolivars to one US dollar.  This means that everything sounds quite expensive but really isn’t.  For example, the broadband WiFi service that we are using cost 40,000 Bs for one week – that sounds like a lot of money but is really only $17.39.  Still a lot for internet service for one week by US standards, but certainly not expensive for this remote place. 

Trinidad to Los Testigos

September 20, 2006   Wednesday

Trinidad

Yesterday evening Judy found $300 TT lying on the ground.  We asked everyone we knew at the marina if they had lost any money and found no takers, so we decided to blow it at The Lure.  This is a restaurant next to our marina that we have avoided because everyone told us how expensive it is.  They were right.  Bill had grilled kingfish and Judy had a seafood salad.  We shared an appetizer of calamari and drank only water.  Total tab was $412.77 TT, or about $66 US.  That is a very expensive meal for Trinidad.

Cleared out and left Coral Cove Marina shortly before noon.  Topped off with 135 liters of diesel.  Also filled another gerry can with 12.8 liters gasoline for future use for the dinghy outboard.

Another coincidence meeting occurred at the fuel dock.  While we were filling our tanks, a guy came out of Sails Restaurant to talk to us.  This is the same guy who had been docked next to our boat last summer, fall and winter in the BVI!  Can’t remember his name, but his boat is a catamaran named Dharma Bum III.  We have heard him on the VHF radio all summer and never realized he was the same guy from the BVI.  Sometimes we can both be a little dense.

Seems he was at anchor at TTSA around the point from Chaguaramas Harbor last May when a 40-ft. Endeavor sailboat plowed right into his boat.  It did significant damage; and, of course, neither boat was insured.  Getting work completed in a timely manner is impossible here in Trinidad, so he is still working on that.  But his boat is fixed enough that she is floating and they are living aboard.  They are headed to the South Pacific and hope to be in the Marquesas by February; that is about 5,000 miles away.  He wants to be there before the cruising crowd arrives.  We think he is a little daring to be crossing that 3,000 mile open stretch of ocean during typhoon season.

Can’t remember if we mentioned this last year, but this particular family was/is doing a language experiment with their daughter.  The kid was born in Venezuela and heard Spanish for the first 18 months of her life.  But the mother speaks to the kid in Chinese; father speaks to her in German; and if they together speak to the kid (like at the dinner table) then they speak in English.  They were curious as to which language the kid would learn first.

The daughter is now 3 years old.  And she speaks Chinese almost all the time.  So we just guess that means that moms still have the most influence during early childhood development.  One lucky kid.  She will be fluent in 4 or 5 languages and see half of the world before she is elementary school age.

When we left the marina, we left the computer running; uploading a few photos to this website as we motored out of the anchorage.  Hope the WiFi connection held long enough to complete the upload, but will worry about that later.

We followed Chuck and Pam Ursey on S/V Helen Louise out to Chachacacare Island.  It felt glorious to finally be out of that stuffy, filthy harbor.  We really wish now that we had taken a few day sails instead of just sitting at that dock all summer.

It was so pleasant at anchor at Chachacacare, even without air conditioning.  There was a pleasant breeze.  Early to bed; anchor up at 2:00 a.m. to head to Los Testigos.

September 21, 2006    Thursday

11.22.085N; 63.07.308W

Los Testigos, Venezuela

First, Happy Birthday to Kristina.

We left Chachacacare in pitch blackness at 2:00 a.m.  Beautiful stars but no moon.  We followed S/V Helen Louise the entire 100 miles to Los Testigos.  As we mentioned previously, our boats are identical so we travel at the same speeds.

This was the first night passage during which Judy did not get seasick.  Not sure which was the strongest contributing factor:

1. last meal was 9 hours earlier and only ate yogurt underway
2. seas were totally flat calm, instead of the very rough seas during earlier night passages
3. the stern light of S/V Helen Louise provided a visual fix to follow rather than watching the chart plotter so much

We motored with mainsail only for the entire passage.  Winds were from our stern at only 4 knots, and our forward speed was greater so we couldn’t use the genoa.  There was a 2.5 knot current pushing us along; so we were clipping along at 9-10 knots SOG (speed over ground).  Trip was exactly 100 NM in 10 hours 45 minutes, for average speed of 9.3 knots including the time spent raising and lowering the anchor at beginning and ending harbors.  It was a very pleasant passage.

Los Testigos is a quiet tiny group of 4-5 islands.  There is a tiny fishing village with a total of 160 inhabitants on two of the islands.  This is not an official port of entry, but there is a local Guadacosta (Coast Guard) station.  You are required to present your documentation on arrival and request their permission to remain on Los Testigos for a few days.  The sailing guide book says that the attitude varies by officer but that they normally will let you stay for 48 hours.  We had an extremely nice officer, very courteous and friendly.  He allowed us to stay until Monday 7:00 a.m.  This was the easiest clearance we have experienced to date.  The officer liked the fact that Judy is the official captain.  He also liked that we had gone to the trouble to present our crew list and paperwork in Spanish.  Great form that Judy had downloaded before we moved aboard.  We have 100 copies for future use in any area where Spanish is spoken.

Many of our friends who had left Trinidad on Monday and Tuesday were already here.  We all met for dinner ashore at the Case Verde, which is exactly what the name says—a green house—the home of a nice young Venezuelan couple who decided to sell dinner to a few dozen cruisers.  They offered dinner choices of kingfish, barracuda or “salmon of the Caribbean” (mystery fish to all of us).  Dinner was $4.50 and beer was $1.00.  We opted for the grilled kingfish and it was delicious.  It was a lot of fun.

Beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.  Snorkeling is supposed to be superb.  We will enjoy the next few days.

September 22, 2006   Friday

All our friends left at 7:00 this morning for the passage to Isla Margarita.  We opted to stay here because we don’t want to rush.  Our reservation at the marina in Puerto La Cruz is for October 1^st, and we see no reason to get in a big hurry to go sit in another marina.  We only plan the one stop at Isla Margarita before settling in at the marina in Puerto La Cruz for the month of October.

The diesel fuel we bought in Trinidad was dirty.   Our engine was missing for the last half of the trip here.  We were worried that we might not make it for the final 20 miles because the missing was getting worse.  The engine was only turning 2,000 rpms at that point.  We have dual Racor filters, and you are supposed to be able to flip from one to the other; but we didn’t want to try it for the first time while out at sea.  When we were safely anchored here, then we flipped to the other filter and everything worked fine.  But that meant we still needed to change the clogged filter.

So, this morning Bill changed the clogged fuel filter.  Since he was down in the engine room anyway, he also changed the engine oil and the engine oil filter.  Glad to be done with those routine maintenance chores while anchored in a calm area with a nice breeze.

Bill’s gout is acting up again; swollen and painful toe joint.  Guess he has been enjoying too much fish again lately and will have to forego seafood for a few days. 

It’s been fun listening to all our friends on the VHF who are enroute to Isla Margarita.  They have been chattering all morning about the fish they are catching and about a little yellow bird that has flown from boat to boat, resting a bit on each one.

We enjoyed our day of solitude.  There are six other boats here, but we don’t know any of them.  The Guardacosta toured through the anchorage this afternoon in a local fisherman’s boat and wrote down the names of all the anchored boats; keeping an eye on things.  Guess they needed to make note of which boats had left in the mass exodus this morning.  What a difference.  The coast guard here has no resources whatsoever, yet they are trying to be vigilant about their responsibilities.  They don’t even have any small boats at their disposal, or radios, or anything except a bare office ashore.  The coast guard in Trinidad has all kind of resources (including resources from the US government) yet they don’t do a darn thing and don’t seem to care about what should be their responsibilities.

September 23, 2006   Saturday

Open all the hatches and side ports; enjoy the breeze.  Light rain starts.  Close all the hatches and side ports; get hot and humid down inside the boat.  Rain stops.  Open all the hatches and side ports again.

Repeat every 15 minutes.

When you get tired of doing this, start the generator and turn on the air conditioning and watch DVDs for a few hours.

There you have a complete description of our day in Los Testigos today as an extremely light tropical wave passes through the area.

Finally out of Trinidad; welcome to Los Testigos

September 20, 2006   Wednesday

Trinidad

Yesterday evening Judy found $300 TT lying on the ground.  We asked everyone we knew at the marina if they had lost any money and found no takers, so we decided to blow it at The Lure.  This is a restaurant next to our marina that we have avoided because everyone told us how expensive it is.  They were right.  Bill had grilled kingfish and Judy had a seafood salad.  We shared an appetizer of calamari and drank only water.  Total tab was $412.77 TT, or about $66 US.  That is a very expensive meal for Trinidad.

Cleared out and left Coral Cove Marina shortly before noon.  Topped off with 135 liters of diesel.  Also filled another gerry can with 12.8 liters gasoline for future use for the dinghy outboard.

Another coincidence meeting occurred at the fuel dock.  While we were filling our tanks, a guy came out of Sails Restaurant to talk to us.  This is the same guy who had been docked next to our boat last summer, fall and winter in the BVI!  Can’t remember his name, but his boat is a catamaran named Dharma Bum III.  We have heard him on the VHF radio all summer and never realized he was the same guy from the BVI.  Sometimes we can both be a little dense.

Seems he was at anchor at TTSA around the point from Chaguaramas Harbor last May when a 40-ft. Endeavor sailboat plowed right into his boat.  It did significant damage; and, of course, neither boat was insured.  Getting work completed in a timely manner is impossible here in Trinidad, so he is still working on that.  But his boat is fixed enough that she is floating and they are living aboard.  They are headed to the South Pacific and hope to be in the Marquesas by February; that is about 5,000 miles away.  He wants to be there before the cruising crowd arrives.  We think he is a little daring to be crossing that 3,000 mile open stretch of ocean during typhoon season.

Can’t remember if we mentioned this last year, but this particular family was/is doing a language experiment with their daughter.  The kid was born in Venezuela and heard Spanish for the first 18 months of her life.  But the mother speaks to the kid in Chinese; father speaks to her in German; and if they together speak to the kid (like at the dinner table) then they speak in English.  They were curious as to which language the kid would learn first.

The daughter is now 3 years old.  And she speaks Chinese almost all the time.  So we just guess that means that moms still have the most influence during early childhood development.  One lucky kid.  She will be fluent in 4 or 5 languages and see half of the world before she is elementary school age.

When we left the marina, we left the computer running; uploading a few photos to this website as we motored out of the anchorage.  Hope the WiFi connection held long enough to complete the upload, but will worry about that later.

We followed Chuck and Pam Ursey on S/V Helen Louise out to Chachacacare Island.  It felt glorious to finally be out of that stuffy, filthy harbor.  We really wish now that we had taken a few day sails instead of just sitting at that dock all summer.

It was so pleasant at anchor at Chachacacare, even without air conditioning.  There was a pleasant breeze.  Early to bed; anchor up at 2:00 a.m. to head to Los Testigos.

September 21, 2006    Thursday

11.22.085N; 63.07.308W

Los Testigos, Venezuela

First, Happy Birthday to Kristina.

We left Chachacacare in pitch blackness at 2:00 a.m.  Beautiful stars but no moon.  We followed S/V Helen Louise the entire 100 miles to Los Testigos.  As we mentioned previously, our boats are identical so we travel at the same speeds.

This was the first night passage during which Judy did not get seasick.  Not sure which was the strongest contributing factor:

1. last meal was 9 hours earlier and only ate yogurt underway
2. seas were totally flat calm, instead of the very rough seas during earlier night passages
3. the stern light of S/V Helen Louise provided a visual fix to follow rather than watching the chart plotter so much

We motored with mainsail only for the entire passage.  Winds were from our stern at only 4 knots, and our forward speed was greater so we couldn’t use the genoa.  There was a 2.5 knot current pushing us along; so we were clipping along at 9-10 knots SOG (speed over ground).  Trip was exactly 100 NM in 10 hours 45 minutes, for average speed of 9.3 knots including the time spent raising and lowering the anchor at beginning and ending harbors.  It was a very pleasant passage.

Los Testigos is a quiet tiny group of 4-5 islands.  There is a tiny fishing village with a total of 160 inhabitants on two of the islands.  This is not an official port of entry, but there is a local Guadacosta (Coast Guard) station.  You are required to present your documentation on arrival and request their permission to remain on Los Testigos for a few days.  The sailing guide book says that the attitude varies by officer but that they normally will let you stay for 48 hours.  We had an extremely nice officer, very courteous and friendly.  He allowed us to stay until Monday 7:00 a.m.  This was the easiest clearance we have experienced to date.  The officer liked the fact that Judy is the official captain.  He also liked that we had gone to the trouble to present our crew list and paperwork in Spanish.  Great form that Judy had downloaded before we moved aboard.  We have 100 copies for future use in any area where Spanish is spoken.

Many of our friends who had left Trinidad on Monday and Tuesday were already here.  We all met for dinner ashore at the Case Verde, which is exactly what the name says—a green house—the home of a nice young Venezuelan couple who decided to sell dinner to a few dozen cruisers.  They offered dinner choices of kingfish, barracuda or “salmon of the Caribbean” (mystery fish to all of us).  Dinner was $4.50 and beer was $1.00.  We opted for the grilled kingfish and it was delicious.  It was a lot of fun.

Beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.  Snorkeling is supposed to be superb.  We will enjoy the next few days.

September 22, 2006   Friday

All our friends left at 7:00 this morning for the passage to Isla Margarita.  We opted to stay here because we don’t want to rush.  Our reservation at the marina in Puerto La Cruz is for October 1^st, and we see no reason to get in a big hurry to go sit in another marina.  We only plan the one stop at Isla Margarita before settling in at the marina in Puerto La Cruz for the month of October.

The diesel fuel we bought in Trinidad was dirty.   Our engine was missing for the last half of the trip here.  We were worried that we might not make it for the final 20 miles because the missing was getting worse.  The engine was only turning 2,000 rpms at that point.  We have dual Racor filters, and you are supposed to be able to flip from one to the other; but we didn’t want to try it for the first time while out at sea.  When we were safely anchored here, then we flipped to the other filter and everything worked fine.  But that meant we still needed to change the clogged filter.

So, this morning Bill changed the clogged fuel filter.  Since he was down in the engine room anyway, he also changed the engine oil and the engine oil filter.  Glad to be done with those routine maintenance chores while anchored in a calm area with a nice breeze.

Bill’s gout is acting up again; swollen and painful toe joint.  Guess he has been enjoying too much fish again lately and will have to forego seafood for a few days. 

It’s been fun listening to all our friends on the VHF who are enroute to Isla Margarita.  They have been chattering all morning about the fish they are catching and about a little yellow bird that has flown from boat to boat, resting a bit on each one.

We enjoyed our day of solitude.  There are six other boats here, but we don’t know any of them.  The Guardacosta toured through the anchorage this afternoon in a local fisherman’s boat and wrote down the names of all the anchored boats; keeping an eye on things.  Guess they needed to make note of which boats had left in the mass exodus this morning.  What a difference.  The coast guard here has no resources whatsoever, yet they are trying to be vigilant about their responsibilities.  They don’t even have any small boats at their disposal, or radios, or anything except a bare office ashore.  The coast guard in Trinidad has all kind of resources (including resources from the US government) yet they don’t do a darn thing and don’t seem to care about what should be their responsibilities.

September 23, 2006   Saturday

Open all the hatches and side ports; enjoy the breeze.  Light rain starts.  Close all the hatches and side ports; get hot and humid down inside the boat.  Rain stops.  Open all the hatches and side ports again.

Repeat every 15 minutes.

When you get tired of doing this, start the generator and turn on the air conditioning and watch DVDs for a few hours.

There you have a complete description of our day in Los Testigos today as an extremely light tropical wave passes through the area.

Venezuela bound from Trinidad

September 19, 2006   Tuesday

Leaving Trinidad, headed for Los Testigos

As planned, we will be clearing out of Trinidad mid-day today.  Bill is frantically doing all the last minutes items on our departure checklist.  The harbor fuel dock is out of gasoline and we wanted to bring an extra tank of gas for the dinghy outboard.  So Bill has traded bottles of wine for gasoline from other boats here in the marina.  Yesterday we purchased 4 large jerry cans for water, so we have 100 liters of fresh water stored in case anything happens to our desalinator water maker.  Our main diesel tank is 90% full, but we hope to top it off when we leave this harbor anyway.  We have heard that Americans cannot buy diesel in Venezuela right now, so we want to have plenty to last until Curacao.

The local dive shop is supposed to have air tanks filled and ready for us within an hour.  So, one more trip over to the ATM; clear Immigration and Customs once again; last minute grocery stop for bread, eggs & produce; and I think we are finally ready to leave Trinidad.

Bye for a few weeks.

Leaving Trinidad, headed for Los Testigos

September 19, 2006   Tuesday

 

As planned, we will be clearing out of Trinidad mid-day today.  Bill is frantically doing all the last minutes items on our departure checklist.  The harbor fuel dock is out of gasoline and we wanted to bring an extra tank of gas for the dinghy outboard.  So Bill has traded bottles of wine for gasoline from other boats here in the marina.  Yesterday we purchased 4 large jerry cans for water, so we have 100 liters of fresh water stored in case anything happens to our desalinator water maker.  Our main diesel tank is 90% full, but we hope to top it off when we leave this harbor anyway.  We have heard that Americans cannot buy diesel in Venezuela right now, so we want to have plenty to last until Curacao.

The local dive shop is supposed to have air tanks filled and ready for us within an hour.  So, one more trip over to the ATM; clear Immigration and Customs once again; last minute grocery stop for bread, eggs & produce; and I think we are finally ready to leave Trinidad.

Bye for a few weeks.

Corto Maltes Amazonia Lodge & then back to boat

September 14, 2006   Thursday

Corto Maltes Amazonia lodge, Peru

No early activities scheduled for today.  Good thing, because we didn’t even wake up until the 8:00 breakfast was being served.

Mid-morning we went fishing on the river.  Barli caught a tiny catfish and a crab.  The rest of us didn’t catch a thing but we fed a lot of bait to some tiny silver fish.

Napped in the hammocks on the porch of our lodge until lunch was served.  Gosh; what a hard life we a living these days.

Late afternoon we went a good ways down river and visited a farm.  Most of the vegetables and fruits were familiar to us, but we saw a few new ones.  It rained again while we were at the farm, so it was quite cool on the long ride back up the river.

There was s heated game of futball (soccer) played in front of our lodge by 8 of the guys who work around here.  We watched the fame from our hammocks.  They were pretty good.

Another great dinner and again early to bed.  This is our final night here.  Judy got a spider bite (or some kind of insect; never saw it or felt it) on her hand while hiking to Lake Sandoval; it is looking nasty and very swollen but there is no medicine available here at the lodge.  She has no fever, so it isn’t a serious matter, just uncomfortable and ugly.  Can’t believe we didn’t bring any meds.  Also cannot believe we forgot to bring our Epi-pens and prednisone and Benadryl.  Of all the places where one might be exposed to an insect bite that could cause anaphylactic shock, the Amazon Jungle is certainly the place.  And we didn’t even think about that possibility.  All that trouble to get medical training and a properly stocked full medical kit, and we forget to bring anything with us to the Amazon Jungle.  Pretty dumb.

September 15, 2006   Friday

Leaving Peru.

Leisurely morning swinging in hammocks until Barli came to collect our luggage.  River boat ride to Puerto Maldonado, where we said goodbye to Barli and hello again to Estevan.  We were now back in the care of the airport transport rep.  Estevan joined us for a walk around the town square park and a passion fruit ice cream cone.  Today was a special day in the park.

There are a LOT of motorcycles in Pto. Maldonado; not many automobiles, but MANY motorcycles.  It is not unusual to see a family of 3 or 4 toodling along on a single motocycle.

Today was Honda day in the park.  Honda sponsors this one day each year.  There was a stage with music and pretty girls and an announcer.  There were also a couple of girl dancers, wearing red bra-type tops and thongs with fringe on their hips.  Estevan said these dancers were doing the typical currently-popular dance of this area.  Hard to describe other than the music was fast and the girls would hold their arms over their heads and bring down while turning in a circle, while at the same time shaking their hips very rapidly.  So they were sort of spinning around which shaking their hips and moving their arms up and down repeatedly.  This now explains the dance movements of the little girls last Saturday night in Aguas Calientes.

Anyway, on this one day of each year, Honda sponsors this rally in the town park.  If your Honda motorcycle needs any service or repair, Honda does it for free!!  There were probably 80 motorcycles parked, lined up waiting for their turn for free repairs.  There were 5 or 6 mechanics constantly working on the bikes.  Of course, not to miss a chance at a sale or upgrade, Honda also had a small tent set up next to the stage with the pretty girls where they were displaying the newest Honda models.  Just like a new car show.  As Bill said:  pretty girls, music, dancers, prizes, and free repairs; how could anyone stay home and miss this.

Our flight stopped in Cusco and arrived in Lima at 4:00 p.m., but Continental doesn’t open their ticket counter until 8:30 p.m.; so we are stuck sitting around the airport for the next 4 hours before we can even check our luggage.  Bill scoped out the airport and found a few places serving food on the second floor.  So we had a McDonald’s hamburger; not our favorite place and we wouldn’t even think of visiting one in the states; but it was great to have a taste of home.  We also found a pharmacy in the airport and bought some medicine for Judy’s spider bite.  It started looking better within a few hours.

Our flight left Lima at midnight and arrived in Houston Saturday at 6:30 a.m.  We had a 7 hour layover before our flight back to Trinidad.  Aaron and Elisabeth met us at the airport with our 4 huge suitcases and duffle bags of things to bring back to the boat.  We made a quick trip to Sam’s Club where Bill had his eyeglasses adjusted.  Hopefully they will not fall off his face now every time he looks downward.  We also bought another case of the foil packed tuna.  This type tuna is great for a boat because the packs take up so much less space than cans and they don’t rust.  Also, the tuna tastes better and doesn’t require any draining.  This is one of our favorite lunches because it is so easy and quick to prepare.  We now will have about 68 packs onboard when we start our passage to Venezuela and points farther west.

We then had a great Mexican breakfast at Taqueria Arrandas.  Really enjoyed having our last Mexican food fix before heading back to areas where Mexican food is non-existent.  That is one thing that we really miss and still crave. 

Uneventful flight home; cleared in Immigration at Port of Spain airport.  The Immigration officer told us that he was giving us 2 days; Judy questioned the 2 days because people are normally only given 24 hours to check in again at Immigration in Chaguaramas after they arrive back in Trinidad at the airport.  The officer again said that he was giving us 2 days.  How nice of him.

After an hour of waiting, our luggage finally appeared on the baggage carousel.  Bill had called Jesse James, the wonderful taxi service owner who was meeting us at the airport.  Jesse explained that we needed to go to a specific door located near Customs and declare any boat parts which we brought back.  We did this and obtained a folded, stapled piece of paper and were instructed to take it to the Customs office in Chaguaramas.  This piece of paper also enabled us to walk straight through the Customs check point instead of waiting through a line of at least 100 people.

We stopped by KFC at Jesse’s suggestion on the ride back to Chaguaramas.  Very glad he suggested this, as there was nothing on the boat to eat and no where else open by the time we arrived back there.  Jesse also informed us that we must go directly to the Customs office and clear in again with that folded, stapled piece of paper.  Good thing that Jesse is so well-informed about what needs to be done down here.  We just assumed that we were supposed to clear in with Customs when we are supposed to clear in again with Immigration again in Chaguaramas.  So, we made a stop at Customs on our way home.  Easiest clearance we have done so far, thanks to Jesse James.

September 16, 2006  Sunday

Coral Cove Marina, Chaguaramas, Trinidad

Note to anyone reading this who might plan to do a similar trip to the Amazon Jungle:  all our clothes, backpacks, and luggage now smells like our thatch roofed jungle hut.  Wish we had brought a bottle of Febreeze to mist over everything when we packed up to leave the jungle.  Absolutely everything must be laundered because it STINKS.  Bill went around to all the people on boats that we know here in the marina and borrowed laundry tokens.  The marina office is not open on Sundays, and Judy had used all our laundry tokens before we left.  Didn’t want to leave any dirty clothes on our closed-up boat while we were on vacation.  Not a good idea in the tropics if you want to avoid mold and mildew.

So Judy spent the day doing multiple loads of laundry.  The laundry room at this marina must have been 120F.  They really need to vent that room.  And Bill spent the day cleaning the outside of the boat, getting ready to leave.   We hope to leave soon.

About 4:00 p.m. Judy decided to check all our paperwork and discovered that the nice Immigration officer at the airport who said twice that he was giving us 2 days had really given us only the standard 24 hours.  So that meant that we had to rush over to Immigration and report in to Chaguaramas.  Had we not done this immediately, we would have had to pay a significant penalty fee.   Just entering the country at the airport Immigration office is not sufficient.  Since our boat is in Chaguaramas, we must also clear in with the Immigration office in Chaguaramas.   Had we checked our passports last night, we could have done this when we checked in with Chaguaramas Customs because the offices are located close to one another.

Now, (this is good) when we got to the Chaguaramas Immigration office, they made us complete a Departure form – because we were required to complete an Arrival form at the airport the night before.  It makes no sense whatsoever why we were required to complete a Departure form when we are not departing yet, but we did what they insisted needed to be done.  And, of course, paid even more fees.  We have now paid a total of $682 TT in Customs and Immigration fees since we first arrived in Trinidad back on July 8.  This is getting a little ridiculous.

Many of us plan to leave together on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We are all heading to Los Testigos, which are a tiny group of uninhabited islands owned by Venezuela.  We will be allowed to stay there only 72 hours; then on to Isla Margarita for a week or so; then on to Puerto La Cruz.  It is advised to travel in groups throughout those waters, so we will basically have a mini-flotilla.  Safety in numbers and all that logic.

We should not have internet access until we reach our next marina in Puerto La Cruz on October 1 (weather permitting).  So there probably will not be any further website updates until then.  Also,  we have several hundred photos of our trip to Peru but probably will not have time to deal with dating and renaming them and uploading to this website today.  That takes awhile.  So, when time allows we will add some of the Peru photos later.

We are very much looking forward to the crystal clear waters of Los Testigos.  Hoping for an uneventful passage.  We bought our required carton of cigarettes to bring on this trip.  Everyone says we will need cigarettes to give to bribe or “tip” officials when they visit our boat, as well as to trade with fishermen.  Some cruisers buy lockers full of cigarettes for this purpose; we only bought one carton.  Hope they like Malboros.

We will be clearing out of Trinidad mid-day Tuesday and moving out of the marina to a harbor at nearby Chacachacare Island.  There will be probably a half-dozen cruisers moving out there today so we will not be alone out there, as it can be a dangerous place.  It is only 6 miles off the very dangerous Paria peninsula of Venezuela, where there are a lot of pirates.  Then we plan to leave Chacachacare about 3 or 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.  We will be buddy-boat sailing with Chuck and Pam Ursey and S/V Helen Louise, which is a boat exactly like ours so we should sail at same speeds.  There likely will be others accompanying us on this passage, but it is hard to stay near one another when you are sailing different sizes and types of boats.  It is really nice that we will be in the company of a boat exactly like ours so that we can stay relatively close together.  Chuck and Pam think they will accompany us all the way to Puerto La Cruz, as they have a reservation at Bahia Redonda Marina—same place we will be staying for the month of October.

So if you don’t hear from us for a few weeks, it is because we don’t have internet service.  We feel like the old Peter, Paul & Mary song:  Our bags are packed; we’re ready to go……