MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

We are still in Puerto La Cruz. One week ago Sid came back from his Panama to Honduras trip. It was a long flight to get from here to Panama City as he had a 10 hour layover in Bogota, Colombia, and that at night time when everything is closed at the airport. He’s plane left at 8 am in the morning. Dale had arrived the prior day and picked Sid up, went for lunch and in the late afternoon caught the flight to Bocas del Toro, where Snow White was berthed. They immediately got the boat ready for departure, but the weather wasn’t on their side and they lost 4 days. Bocas had been inundated with 3 weeks of heavy rainfall and the one and only road from and to David was destroyed. During the four days Sid had a chance to get to know Bocas del Toro, as we eventually we’ll he ad there as well. Wouldn’t you believe it, Sid ran into Sharky, we know her from Catalina Island, she’s running the marina restaurant and Chuck and Ann on Mirage, also from Catalina are running the marina, once more a small world.

Sid and Dale finally departed and headed to the Colombian island of San Andres. The trip started out fine but the closer they came to San Andres the rougher the sea got. Again in San Andres they had to wait out a front with high winds and high seas. They used this opportunity to do a scooter run around the island. Next leg was a short hop to Isla Providencia, also Colombia. Sid said it was a really pretty island. Sid had a flight out of Roatan on the 17^th and they had only about 5 days left, they finally found a good window to do the last leg of the trip.

Sid had some fun stories. They caught two nice size Dorado, the boat was rocking back and fourth and while Sid brought the second Dorado in the first one at that time laying on the floor with the lure still attached and was sliding back and fourth. Then Sid heard some flap noise, looked down to where the Dorado just was and there was none. He had slid back and fourth and finally slid through the scupper back into the sea. They had an escapee! (Dale mentioned that this one was not the first!) Sid told me that while Dale was on the helm he was keeping an eye on the fishing rods. I couldn’t belive when I saw the photos, he was hanging in a hammock reading a book. Knowing Sid it couldn’t have gone any different then him falling asleep, Dale took photos for proof. One time Sid had to go to the bathroom bad and was gone maybe 3 minutes max. When he came back out he heard a thump, even Dale heard it on the bridge and they both noticed that one rod had no more line and the lure was gone with it too. They also encountered whales and even managed to get up close to one of them. Also hundreds of dolphins showed off their acrobatic stunts, Sid filmed them and the whale: http://snowwhitesiddale.blogspot.com/

They finally arrived safe in Roatan at 5 pm the day before Sid’s departure, so he didn’t get to see a lot. Poor Sid had a long trip back. He had about 6 hours layover in Miami and arrived in Caracas before midnight and his plane back to Barcelona was not until 6 in the morning.

While he was gone I kept myself busy with all kind of projects. As I mentioned in my last Blogg entry I tackled the bimini. Amazingly it was easier to make then I had thought. The only problem I really had was the wind blowing like snot and I had to use anything heavy to keep the canvas from flying off the dock while I was making the pattern for it. The sewing part was much easier and I finished the bimini within 1 ½ days. Of course there was some other canvas work to fix and since Sid always criticized the ugly blue bucket on the bow not matching the boat, I found a white bucket and made a cover for it as well. I think everything on Paradise now is covered, except for the cat, she will not sit still long enough.

Isabelle’s daughter got married in the marina and since they couldn’t afford a photographer I took photos as a wedding gift: http://bodaclaudiajean.blogspot.com/

There were several more projects (including dueling computer stuff) to do which took all my time, so I barley left the marina. I think I went shopping only twice in the whole three weeks and managed to clean the hull and deck just a day before Sid came back.

It was good to have Sid back especially to fix a slight problem we’re having which is keeping us here for a bit longer.

The weekend before Sid came back I was invited to join Isabelle’s family for the yearly tradition of hallaca making. It was an incredible experience, but I don’t wan to bore you with it. If you’re interested in finding out what hallacas are and the history including recipe click here. I added it to my Boatbumms Gourmet site. http://boatbummsgourmethallacas.blogspot.com/

Christmas is just around the corner and we have been invited to a Venezuelan Christmas party on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day we will be at Darren and Rocio’s for his annual Christmas BBQ. Not sure yet when we’ll leave, but plan is to spend New Years in Medregal where Jean Marc will have a New Years Eve Buffet including fireworks show. Unless Darren talks us into a motorcycle trip to Merida for the big Harley meeting January 4th, he wants us to drive one of his Harleys. It’s a very tempting thought.

With this we wish you all a Merry Christmas and may the Happy New Year bring you joy and happiness and most of all good health.

Hugs and kisses to you all

Sid, Manuela and Tika

PS: These wild Macaws (4 of them) visited our marina the other day, just awesome!