01/26/09 It’s been one week since our haulout and not all too much got done. Just about one hour before we hauled out the water pump was running but no water was coming out of either faucet so that was the first thing Sid tackled. He had no idea where it was leaking and tried this and that and after a full day of trying to figure out what was wrong he bought a new pump. It worked at first then the galley faucet was only trickling. The second day after many hours he finally found the problem, an air leak. Both faucets are working again and Sid could get to other repairs. I cleaned all kind of things that collected dust that had turned into mildew and did at least 5 loads of laundry, while Sid cleaned the hull, changed some through hulls, changed the pitch on the propeller and we spent some time on shopping in all the boating stores for paint, brushes, hoses and other needed stuff. Monday night we joined the potluck at TTSA which was really fun. A German guy brought his accordion and I had my harmonica with me so we played some old songs together. Tuesday nights it was movie night again. Of course the most we were looking forward to being in Trinidad are the Hashes and so we rented a car to join them again. This time the hash was in MaracasBay. Jennifer on Heart Jump joined us; she was he virgin for the hash and really had a great time. First the run went along the beach and then up a steep hill to the main road again from there it was a really, really steep up hill and for the ones that had a bad ankle like me we took the road around back to where we started. Then it went into the flat area which was surrounded bynothing but steep hills. We waded up a cold stream, across some rugged ground that was over grown with lots of weird looking weeds then into some really muddy area. It was so muddy that your shoes got stuck over and over, at one spot it was so slick, my one foot went sideways while the other went the opposite and down hill and I was doing a very ungraceful split, ouch. The trail was fun except for the mud that was a bit tough especially since Jen and I were pretty much the last ones and over 150 people had trampled this mud into deeper mud. Jen disappeared in one area up to her knees in that gook, yuck. Of course at the end of the run ice cold beer was waiting again and several Hasher welcomed us back and wanted to let us know that they had been following our Blogg.
The next morning we woke up feeling very, very old. We both had to collect our bones together before we could climb out of bed. At 7.30 I picked Jen and Diane up and we drove to MarqueripeBay for a swim and mainly for me to collect beach glass for jewelry making. What a disappointment it was to arrive at a barrier before the beach with a guard telling us that the beach was closed. So I took them to the Bamboo Cathedral, which at this time of the year is very lush. We saw many butterflies, at one spot the sun shown through the thick canopy and lit up a beautiful spider web with spider in the center. On our way back to the car we heard howler monkeys and then the trees right next to us started rustlingand we heard some different kind of noises. We could not believe our eyes; the whole tree was inhabited by spider monkeys. More rustling in the next three and the next, then bats flew by and black birds with long yellow tails landing in the same trees making the weirdest jungle noises, it was just amazing. After that I took the girls shopping but all we could talk about was our experience with the wild jungle.
At 11 Sid and I drove to TTSA where we the weekly Sunday regatta was held. We were crew on Paul and Karin’s 44” Benneteau. Paul and Karin are friends of Shawn and Debbie and needed crew. There is a race the second week of February in Tobago and we are trying to get boat work done and launched on time to sail over to Tobago to race on their boat for the three days. The race started a bit slow towards the weather mark, not much wind was blowing then half way to the mark it picked up then a shift and we didn’t have to tack we kept getting lifted right to the mark, a first for us, only heard of these stories. We never had a downwind leg as the wind shifted around. We started with doing 1.8 knots and ended doing 8.5.
Sid and I were still sore or sorer (I know that word does not exist) we went to bed really early and I don’t know who moaned and groaned more.
At 7 am I picked Jen and Lauren up and we drove back to the Cathedral to find the monkeys again. I didn’t think we would but they were still there. Of course just when one monkey was showing off the most my camera battery died, but I think Jen took a lot of photos. They were just the cutest things. There was more shopping in the program and we hit pretty much every grocery store that I know of before I had to return the car. Kind of funny because we were racing yesterday we didn’t get the chance to use the car to the fullest, we also could not return the car on Sunday, the office is closed so we were kind of forced to rent the car and for 50 bucks per day we might as well drive the car from the boat to the bathroom/showers and back, kind of silly but with all the aching bones I think it was well deserved.
A few days passed at the morning net on VHF radio a new boat introduced themselves, we jumped up and down when we heard their names Pamela and Tom on Imagine. We met those two up in the Sea of Cortez in 98 before they left for their circumnavigation. The first chance we had we had them for sundowners on the boat and tried to catch up but there is so much to cover I think we will need many more sundowners. It was really great to see them both.
How to get your dog back on the boat in the yard:
Trini a Trinidad rescue dog with owner Beat from Uri, Switzerland
We can not say it enough how lucky we were with the weather especially being January when the Christmas winds hardly ever slow down. The whole week we watched the weather we were sure we would be stuck in Margarita at least until the end of the month, then all of a sudden a bubble formed, I call it a bubble as it looked just like that on the wind chart. It formed off the eastern Coast of Venezuela and over Trinidad and held long enough for a two day passage. There was a wave underway and would probably hit us ¾ into our tip. We left Margarita at 7 am with anticipation of how rough it would get. We had practically flat seas with some 6 foot gentle swells, the wind as usual was on the nose but did turn south for a couple of hours. We motor sailed the whole 147 miles in 26 hours, last time it took us 36 hours. Entering the Boca we had some confused seas but it was a calm crossing. Trinidad is strict with checking in or out so we did what was required, tie up to the customs dock first and check in. The immigration guy had his usual attitude of showing his authority, which made me laugh, it was so silly. The four stamps he had to stamp in our passports and papers, took over an hour, while he had a great time chatting with his fellow employees. We also had to pay an overtime fee for arriving on a Saturday. Then it was off to customs, he made sure we understood that he was not suppose to work that day and that we were inconveniencing him, at least he had a friendly attitude about it and got it off his chest. He did not give back our boat documentation papers though and after many trip to his office they finally found it, stapled to our entrance papers. These photos were taken the first morning in the anchorage:
As we walked into the Cruise Inn Reception where Heart Jump was checking in we were greeted like we were long lost family; it was like coming home. Since we’re not staying at the hotel they invited us to come over and relax at the pool. After we helped Heart Jump getting in to their slip we headed back to Paradise still tied up to the customs dock when we notices dark clouds heading towards us, realizing once more how lucky we were not just with the flat seas but also that we managed to get here before the rain started. We found a 10 minute window between rain showers and tied up to a mooring ball and then it rained pretty much until late afternoon. For dinner we headed to one of the restaurants that on Saturday’s has Bak’n Shark and reunited with Loren and Dave on Good to go. Yeah, we’re in Trinidad!
Things are moving rather fast, two days later we were hauled out at Power Boats where Paradise is sitting right next to the water with a coconut palm tree behind the cockpit and the most spectacular view over Chaguaramas Bay. We have our deck chairs set up and after a hard day of work we’ll be enjoying a cocktail with front row seat to the beautiful Trinidadian sunsets. Not just that, we have steps to climb up into the boat and not those cumbersome ladders, which makes it much safer to get on and off the boat. If all goes well we should be back in the water in a couple of weeks.
Looks like I'm not going to be able to download the film yet or photos, Internet here is soooooo bad. Imagine having to pay 30 US dollars per week for Internet service that does not work well.
Amazing how fast time goes by when you’re having fun and that’s just what we had. We never made it to Testigos or Coche, we just hung out in Porlamar, Isla Margarita with Heart Jump and did the tourist thing; shopping, movie, shelling on the beach, dining out, cocktails at sunset, some more shopping and also not so tourist stuff like sail repair.
How does Jimmy Buffet’s song go again: “Sewing away in Margaritaville”!!!
The mainsail of Heart Jump had a rip, we brought our sewing machine to their boat, arranged it on deck under the mainsail and sewed away. Didn’t even have to take the sail all the way down, it worked out great and it was a great team effort; as a thank you Michael and Jennifer took us out for dinner.
The whole time the wind was blowing like snot and swells headed right into the anchorage. Sid helped Heart Jump to get their stern anchor set and we mounted our flopper stoppers. I tell you those flopper stoppers are the hit, they slow the roll down so much it’s like not even having swells and compared to all the other boats we had it calm. Wind is still blowing over 20 knots at nights even higher and pretty much every night we had squalls with yet higher winds. Sid likes to sleep in the cockpit but got rained out many times and had to come down below. Finally looks like we have a weather window, short one, but enough time to get to Trinidad. CJ the weather guru who gives precise weather every morning on the Porlamar Cruisers Net VHF 72, even promised us that we will have calm seas and 10 to 15 knots of wind, perfect cruising condition. The high swells having rolled into the anchorage all week long are noticeably getting smaller too.
So it’s a go, we’re leaving tomorrow morning early at sunrise. Keep your fingers crossed for a smooth crossing! Coconut Water here I come!!!!!!
What a disappointment!!! We left Isla Margarita as planned last night and headed on a direct course towards Trinidad. First I have to back up, we heard that the weather window had changed from Thursday/Friday to Wednesday/Thursday, so we hustled all day to get to Porlamar, did some shopping, filled up with Diesel and got the boat ready for the long trip. All came along easy except the Diesel guy had no Diesel, not till the next morning. Luckily he came through for us, instead of pulling up in his old boat he picked up our jugs on the dock and returned them a little over an hour later, which by then was already 7 pm. Now we still had to get all the fuel back on board and into the tank, get together with Heart Jump to make plans about our trip, take a shower, make dinner, square things away. It was a hectic day and by 10 pm we finally hit the sack to get 1 ½ hours sleep. We then left as planned at midnight. Weather prognoses were perfect with a 2 day window, 10 to 15 knots of wind and 3 foot seas. At first leaving and coming out of the lee of the island it was just perfect, 5 knots of wind with a gentle roll of wind waves, oh yeah we can do this. That unfortunately changed drastically fast and within one hour we had still 5 knots of wind but sea state rose 6 t 8 footers plus the wind was right on the nose. We did the Caribbean two step; two forward and one back. Sid took the first watch and I could not sleep the boat was tossed around so much. Third hour one squall after another hit us with heavy rain, at least they didn't have any wind involved except the last one. After 4 hours of this mess and talking back and fourth with our buddy boat Heart Jump we decided to maybe head towards the Testigos, that was a joke as this tack was even worse then we already had so lowered our heads, pulled our tail ins and turned the boats around and headed the 18 miles back to Isla Margarita and that was another 3 ½ hours rough trip. We listened again to Eric and Chris's weather prognoses and they said that we should have 10 knots of wind with 3 foot seas, wrong. They also said that there should be some moderation the following day but in the night we should see some 17 knots of wind. A bit frustrated we have to acknowledge that we may be stuck here for quite some time, at least one week if not longer; which is a problem as we are checked out of the country already. We're going to wait until tomorrow and try to sail to Los Testigos if that fails we'll head back to Isla Coche and hang out until we get a window.
It's kind of funny, every time we arrive in El Oculto just after we anchor we get showered with rain, this time was no difference. It rained hard for at least 3 hours and the air was pleasantly cool. By sunset the clouds were empty and the bright stars started to shine. It was so quite you could hear a pin drop. We both slept so good, they could have taken the boat away from under us and planted us on the beach we would have never woken up. Heavy wind was predicted for the second of January but nothing happened, it staid calm and in the afternoon some clouds opened up again and drizzled us with rain. This anchorage is so peaceful and we enjoy even more so being the only boat here. For the first time ever here we had a flock of scarlet ibis fly over us. In the afternoon on the 4th Jennifer and Michael on Heart Jump arrived, the wind now was gusting again and it looks like we'll be here for a few days before we can head to Isla Coche and Margarita until the next break in weather.
01/6/09
For some reason we could not send any emails out and it seemed other cruisers had no luck either. Hope it will work later on. We pulled anchor this morning early at four for the 35 mile run to Isla Coche. The wind was blowing already and it was a bit rough coming out of the bay. The 35 mile run turned into 47 miles as we had to tack back and fourth as the swells were 4 by 4's and close together and of course our track was right into them which the bigger swells would bring us to a stop, so it was tacking back and fourth. We're anchored in sheltered Isla Coche and are very tired, so I'm closing this and I wlll go on deck and sip on a rum with club soda (no diet coke/pepsi available in Venezuela either.
01/07/09
Our weather window has moved up and we left Coche in a hurry this morning for IslaMargarita to get fuel and check out. It's beenhectic day, it's 9 pm already, Sid is filling up fuel while I prep dinner, then it's to bed for a couple of hours. We're leaving at midnight for Trinidad which is anywhere from 30 to 36 hours, so I will fill you in when we get there. It's going to be a rough trip but it's just going to get worse from Friday on and then who knows when we'll get a chance again. So keep your fingers crossed for a good crossing.
Trini a Trinidad rescue dog with owner Beat from Uri, Switzerland
.jpg)