08/07/07 One more shopping day in Isla Margarita

Didn't realize that almost two weeks have past since our last entry. Our minds were occupied with shopping, shopping and nothing but shopping and of course some socializing. Two days after we arrived in Isla Margarita Ed and Linda on Dreamtime arrived and the following evening had them over for dinner. We had met them originally in Jacksonville, then last year in Grenada and now finally here. They are planning to spend a couple of months at Maremares as our neighbors. After a fun evening they went
back to their boat and for the first time decided not to hoist the dinghy but just lock it to the boat, unfortunately the next morning they had a rude awakening as the cable was cut through, dangling in the water and the dinghy was gone (another cruiser lost his 4hp engine but since it was not locked to the dinghy the owner still has the dinghy). This is one of the worst thing that can happen to us cruiser, the dinghy is our car and therefore transportation to get ashore. Even though all the thieves
want is the motor, chances of recovering the dinghy is slim to none, you can pretty much write it off. Ed put a very high finders fee out with no luck. I knew that Leo the taxi driver in Puerto La Cruz had a used dinghy for sale, so I called him and the following day Ed, Linda and I took the ferry to PLC for one day. No luck with the dinghy as Leo proofed to be unreliable. This is not a huge problem as we offered to share our dinghy for the next few weeks as we are buddy boating together anyway.

Other then that we've been having a wonderful time in Margarita, especially Linda and I, we've been shopping pretty much every day. The Sigo bus comes twice a week to the marina and picks us up for a five hour shopping spree. Although on my first shopping trip I had a slight problem. What happens at Sigo is when you're done shopping you pay then there is a guy that packs the grocery into boxes which then are loaded into a van and driven back to the marina, so when we arrive at the marina our stuff
is already there, great service. I was the last in line and waited over one hour for my turn and told the couple in front of me to make sure the bus would waited for me, no problem they said, so I had 10 minutes to spare when all was wrapped and decided to get a soda which I did and I still had three minutes to spare before the bus left. I walk out the door and NO bus was in sight, he took off without me. The friendly couple in front of me did not let the driver know, neither did my buddy Beno who
came with me, but it was nice of him to safe a seat for me. So I had to take a cab back, arriving at the marina I see Sid and Beno getting into the dinghy, I waved and whistled as loud as I could and they took off on me once more, it was really funny ditched twice in one day. Well, heck it just makes for another funny story to tell.
The shopping here is really cool. Next to Sigo I like Rattan with lots of gourmet items, but is quite a bit more expensive. Sigo in Sumbill mall is my favorite, besides the mall it has a great movie theater where we watched the new Harry Potter movie for the low matinee price of 1.50 US. CM is the lowest priced store where all the Venezuelan's shop so long lines at the register are expected. Another fun place to go shopping is Conejero and open air market with all kind of tourist stuff, to see each
stand can take an easy 3 hours. Downtown by Plaza Bolivar is a fabric store called El Castillo, the store is enormous (the size of a department store) and the prices are incredible (there is one also in Puerto La Cruz but here everything is duty free).
The weather has been great, only a few occasions we had rain, of course in the middle of the night which makes us scramble all over the boat to close hatches. We had only one good squall with 30 knots of wind that tangled up a couple of boats and a few dragged. The weather in the last week has changed quite a bit, the tropical waves are more frequent now and thunderstorm activity has increased daily, it's just a matter of time now for the first hurricane to form. We're out of the hurricane belt but
still have to keep a close eye on the weather. The water was for most of the time crystal clear and the view over to the mainland is spectacular especially when the thunderclouds build up and later explode into a show of fireworks.
The anchorage here is also a bit on the rolly side our flopper-stopper once again came in handy.
We are loaded up with cheap wine and rum both of good quality and store enough food for at least two weeks to come, so tomorrow we'll be on our way back to the Golfo of Cariaco to show Dreamtime the best spots.
You will not believe when I tell you that Sid bought 12 gallons of gasoline today and paid an incredible 75 cents for it. Makes you wonder why it is so expensive anywhere else.
For those who in the future will drop the anchor here in Margarita we found some interesting info. The dinghy thefts happen around a full moon, not necessarily on full moon, but around that time when they have enough light to see the dinghies left in the water better, so lock it or loose it.