Licking our wounds

It’s time again to change our location,

As we head out to see to visit a new Nation.

Mother Nature doesn’t know yet what to due

Will the wind pick up? We have no clue.

The waves are coming any which way

As we motor sail further away from the bay

The sky is blue and on the horizon arise some clouds.

Sitting back relaxing and in our mind we have no doubts,

That the next anchorage we will drop the hook,

We’ll have new stories to write down in our book.

Maybe about the dolphins playing around our boat

Or maybe what it feels like to be so remote.

Or to be away from civilization out on the blue sea

Where your mind just wonders making you feel free.

Or when a big squall approaches very fast

You worry if it will hit or if it will pass.

Or especially about the big tuna that bit the hook

Will definitely make a good story for the book.

Whatever the story may be

Tells that we love to be out at sea.

Manuela Olshefski 12/20/2010 on our way from Aruba to Colombia

Little did I know what was in store for us when I wrote the poem, this will be a long story we never will forget and hope never to live through again.

We left Aruba on 12/19/10 and had an uneventful motor sail to Isla Monjes del Sur a Venezuelan island offshore the Maracaibo Bay. The trip was 50 miles long and our buddy boat Wind Shear a 58 foot sailboat of course a heck of a lot faster had only 4 miles to go while it was still 13 for us a difference of 3 hours. The Venezuelan Navy stationed on the island called them to find out what their intentions were. Knowing neither of them speak any Spanish I answered for them and told the authority who we were and that we were planning to spend the night on the island and asked for permission. The guy was very friendly and stayed in contact with us until we got to the island. Isla Monjes del Sur is actually two islands where a man made wall of rocks connects the two and between them they attached a very thick rope to which fishing boats tie themselves off and also put a stern anchor out. Paradise ventured first into the anchorage and noticed that it was easy to tie up as the rope had several floating lines attached for easy pick up. We tied up with one on each side of the bow. Done so we motioned Wind Shear to come in and Sid already in the dinghy helped them to get hooked up. The rope is about 175 feet long and can hold 6 or 7 boats with a reasonable distance between them but we heard they had as many as 36 boats on the line. The wind blows mainly out of the East but if a westerly should blow it’s not safe to be here. There were already 4 fishing boats tied up and later a 5^th one arrived.  On the left side is a long concrete dock and as soon as we had the engine turned off Debi and I went ashore to check in with the Navy guy. As we arrived at the dock we could not believe how tall it was, there was NO way we could get up there. The fishing boat closest or almost tied to the dock saw our predicament and offered us to climb onto their boat and then from there to the dock. It was easier said then done, the boat was still very tall and as we climbed inside and out the other side and walk the railing holding on to the roof, they pulled the boat closer to the dock and we hopped off, wow. We didn’t quite make it to the Guardia station as the Navy guy came towards us. He greeted us politely and asked if we wanted to check in on land or on our boats. I had a hunch that he wanted to see our boats so I let him decide. So we walked back to the dock and all three of us had to climb like monkeys again across the fishing boat. We did have a pretty good view of the anchorage plus the other side of the island and noticed another sail boat approaching, Boat “B” we briefly had met in Aruba and were warned by other boaters to stay away from them they are irresponsible people, drinkers and don’t care about anybodies property.

Checking in was easy he just wanted to see paper work and asked safety questions and of course wanted to see the boat. After he had checked Wind Shear and us in he wanted to see our boat as well. There we offered him a coke but he wrinkled his nose, when we asked if he wanted a beer he smiled and was quite happy to sip on one and we chatted away. The sailboat we saw earlier approached us now and so I gave them directions to come in. To protect the innocent and the guilty we are not going to mention their names, we’ll use “B” for them. I brought our Navy guest over to their boat to check them in. Boat A brought the official back to shore and while getting up on the dock the poor Navy guy fell in the water including his cell phone in his pocket.

Wind Shear had caught 2 tunas on the way over here and invited us for dinner which was fabulous. We were talking about this weird anchor arrangement when I said that this place will be a lot to write about in the Blog, again little did I know what was in store for us. Since the next day’s trip was 80 miles for us 16 hours we decided to leave already at 1 am so we made it a quick dinner. The wind was blowing anywhere from NE to SE and while eating dinner Paradise moved sideways to the cable and ended up on the other side. We just had finished dinner and it was getting dark when Sid had to jump into the water and free Paradise from the cable which was hung up between the rudder and keel, then we put a stern anchor out from Wind Shear and we rafted to them. Question was if we should leave already but we all agreed that we needed a few hours of sleep. It was nice and calm and we fell asleep the minute we hit the pillow. I woke up at 00:30 thinking I had another 30 minutes to sleep. Then I heard Sid running around to close hatches as it started to rain then there was this god awful bang, bang noise the whole boat shuttered we hit something, first I thought it was Wind Shear put a T-Shirt on and ran on deck. I could not believe what I was facing. On our starboard side was the high wall of rocks, Paradise had hit the rocks, but we were still afloat luckily the water here is deep enough. Next to us was Wind Shear. B was tied to the fishing boat and I saw both sitting in the cockpit smoking a cigarette. I cannot even remember what went through my mind and all from then on went very fast. It was like being in a nightmare you can’t wake up. While Sid yelled for Rob and Debi to get on deck I grabbed the mike and yelled into the VHF for help from the fishermen. In just split seconds all the fishing boats lights were on then a few splashes as some fishermen swam our direction. All fishing boats turned the engines on and left the rope. Rain was pelting down as the squall blew right into the bay. We immediately lowered our dinghy into the water while “B” now not tied up to the fishing boat anymore drifted right into Wind Shear. Sid took off like a rocket and pushed all three boats with our 15 hp engine towards the thick rope, while Rob, Debi and I moved bumpers and pushed the boats so we would not sustain damage. Man I tell you what an adrenaline rush, we were all over the place making sure we’re staying off each other when I noticed that our neighbors on “B” still leisurely sat in the cockpit both smoking a f%#(* cigarette, I lost it and so did Rob we yelled at them to get off their asses and help. He just replied with his German accent: “Vee have no motar!”  I yelled back at him and said: “then jump in your dinghy and help my husband”. “Vee have no motar” and he kept sucking on his cigarette. Their dog was barking wildly which was the most annoying thing we didn’t need and Rob yelled at the guy to shut the dog up or he will make it shut up. I think they took the dog down below. Actually both went down below with the dog and we didn’t see them for a while. Then we smelled an electrical fire or something smoldering and thought oh gosh is our dinghy overheating. Luckily that one was fine, Sid asked me now if I had turned on the engine on, nope and neither did Rob and Debi. No idea where the smell came from. A while later still fending the boats from each other including ”B” and Sid busy with the dinghy. The woman on” B” finally came on deck we all yelled to her to help us out here that’s when she told us that they had a fire in their engine. How stupid can you be, knowing that you were tide up on a rope with many lines attached to turn the engine on and put it in gear and now they’re prop was wrapped, unbelievable. By there stupid action they put us even more in jeopardy hindering us to get pulled free. They had plenty of time to turn the engine on and get themselves out of the predicament while they were let go by the fishermen and started drifting over here, even without motor he could have jumped into his dinghy with 18 hp outboard and pulled himself into deeper water. The guy from” B” never even came up on deck anymore but we all sure kept trying to tell her what to do and she ran round the deck like a chicken with her head cut off. Some fishermen were now on each of our boats helping us, some in the water. Our davits got hung up over B’s life line and one of the fisherman, god bless them all, was able to free us. The same guy motioned to the anchor that we need to get ‘SB anchor out so that they could pull us out. She wouldn’t have any of it just complained about Sid having taken her bow lines. I told the guy to just take their dinghy which he did. When he came back a I had her lower the anchor into the dinghy then he went out to set it but after only about 40 feet the rode came to an end. How the heck do they anchor!!!

Sid was busy with the dinghy and what I learned later had to drive back and fourth with some fishermen to their main ship and had to ask for permission to help us, the captain looked at his watch and allowed one hours wow, hey thanks a lot. To make an already long story shorter, if this is any possible LOL, Sid managed to get Paradise free although still on the wrong side of the cable we were tied securely to the rope and out of harms way. While he had to drive back to the main ship Wind Shear slipped back and hit bottom or rocks. Sid was pissed when he saw that when he came back. Between Sid and the main ship they finally managed to get Wind Shear out of there over the cable and into deeper water. Now it was Paradise time. They let the line go and I don’t know what happened but they lost the line as well to Paradise and we were floating back and headed to some nasty looking blocks that definitely would have crushed our rudder. Luckily we had a good moon shining and the lights from the guardia station lit so I noticed one of the yellow floating lines, grabbed the boat hook as fast as I could and pulled us back up to the cable. Sid then was able to tie us up with a long line that reached out to the fishing boat and Paradise was pulled towards the cable but was hung up on the anchor of boat B. After one of the guys pulled their anchor in, Paradise was pulled free while the woman on B was screaming frantically: “how about me, how about me and what about my bow lines and demanded them back.” I had no longer sympathy for that broad and told her to shut up and that the boats were more important than her stupid line. Man what incompetent people.

As I was motoring about Sid went back to help B to help and found out that the guy was down below trying to fix the starter and Sid was asked to get on the boat and help him. No way, that starter could be fixed later, the important thing was to get the boat out of the mess as the wind still was blowing hard and the swells into the bay got bigger. Besides once you set foot on a boat in distress you kind of take over the responsibility and definitely not with a derelict boat as B. The fishermen cleared B’s prop but now the problem was they wanted money, without money they were not going to pull them free. I think Sid said they wanted 200 dollars per boat. After asking Sid how much she would pay them he just answered how much is your boat worth, he’d give them at least 500 dollars. This was not their problem between them and the fishing boat and so Sid came back to Paradise. After she gave them some money they pulled B free. They were in tow with the fishing boat, the boat was afloat, they have sails, they were OK so we decided to get underway, besides their destination was a Venezuelan port. Wind Shear had quite a big wad of Venezuelan money left over and wanted to give it to the Venezuelan Fishermen. Sid went back by dinghy but since we were low on fuel we had to exchange the gas tank. Man I tell you that was an ordeal in itself. While he hooked up the tank the davits missed his head just by a little bit so I pulled him closer in again. He then drove over to the Veni boat and handed them the money and couldn’t thank them enough. They were very happy that he came back and each one of them shook his hand. After he returned we headed to the lee of the island hoping to be able to put the dinghy back on the davits, but even there the swells were too high. We had no choice but to pull our dinghy which is in pretty bad shape as it is and we were worried we would loose it. Sure enough 5 minutes into the sail a loud pop told us that one of the lines had broken off the dinghy. We slowed down and Superman Sid climbed out the back down into the dinghy which was not easy, I let him a bit loose so he would not get hit by the boat up and down motion, he tied a line on had a hard time climbing back onto the boat and we kept on going. Wind Shear told us later that “B” was drifting with no sail up behind the rock. I almost forgot at one point the woman on B” told me that her husband had taken some sleeping pills so that he would have a good nights sleep!!!! We sure as hell hope never to run into them again. In the mean time we heard that they were kicked out of the Renaissance Marina in Aruba.

The wind was still coming out of the West with about 15 knots and was right on the bow, so we had to motor sail. Plan was to sail to Cabo de la Vela  80 miles and would take us 16 hours and definitely longer with the dinghy in tow, that slowed us down up by a knot and a half. So we decided to stop in Bahia Honda and get the dinghy up then head to Vela.

Bahia Honda is such a beautiful place we decided after all that we needed a rest and lick our wounds. And licking we did, we were all so sore for days to come, our necks were the worst. We found bruises where we didn’t even knew we hit, it was a well deserved rest. Besides on the following day the 21^st was Debi’s birthday we didn’t think she should be underway and miss a her day. We had dinner aboard Paradise and spoiled her with baked over lobster on Bechamel sauce appetizer, Sambucca shrimp as main dish and Swiss apple pie for desert. I even found some candles for her to make a wish. We had a very nice relaxed evening even though we went over and over what could have been a major disaster for all of us. We can’t say enough how lucky we were. We all were a super team working together to protect what we own, without any of us especially without Sid and his thinking and taking over the situation we would have not had a happy outcome. Sid is still my hero and always will be what a guy we all are so proud of him.

We found no damage on he hull not even scratches, we fended the boats off well. What’s below the water line is still a mystery. As we wanted to get in the water to check we noticed these little jelly fish the size of a penny, they look like a monster’s eye with blue iris and dark blue pupil and the many tentacles look like the veins in the white of the eye. They just looked painful so we abandoned the idea. Besides there is no water in the bilge so it’s just cosmetic damage if any.

Bahia Honda is a huge bay some 6 miles across in any direction and reminds us a bit of the Sea of Cortez, with barren hills and taller mountains in the background. We had two waypoints from the Pizazz route, which both were to rolly, so we ventured into the west side about 1/3 into the bay and found a pretty calm spot to anchor (12°21.06’N  071° 49.41’W).

The first night I enjoyed watching the lunar eclipse and the many blinking stars that filled the sky and realizing how lucky we were and how wonderful life is.

Fishermen keep coming buy in their self made boats all with about 10 hp gas engines with no gear. One kid in particular Mario from the Pueblo Bahia Honda to the East keeps coming every day and hangs out next to the boat talking to us. I noticed his pants were torn to shreds so Sid found him an old pair of his he does not wear anymore. The kids smiled the biggest smile. You should see his bilge pump a 4 inch PVC tube he inserts a wooden stick in it and starts to pull and push it through the tube like a plunger which fills with water, amazing. The anchor is a giant rock with a huge hole in the middle where a thick rope is tied through. It also has a short stick with a sail made out of old potato sacks. The first day when he came by with his father we gave them some water to drink and baseball caps since they asked for it. They were so happy he gave me a tiny lobster, the only thing I guess they had caught that day (that was the BD appetizer). Later on another fishing boat arrived from the village to the west end of the bay. They asked if we had paint, hats, rice, fishing stuff. We gave the hats away already but Sid found a big spool of fishing line and 1 ½ cans of oil based paint and of course lots of water again, Winds Shear had another can of paint as well. They were happy and returned a few hours later with a huge lobster for us and Wind Shear. As I was just in the process of making sandwiches I gave them two with more water and they were happy. We chat for quite a bit and so I found out that this area is safe from robbers, but he said to be careful from Cabo de Vela southward on. For any future cruisers stopping here in Bahia Honda, this is what the fishermen need:

Clothing, caps, fishing line and hooks, oil based paints for their boats, rice, beans, cigarettes, coke, just about anything you have too much of on the boat.

Today the 24^th of December there are still tropical waves underway and so we decided to spend Christmas here, there can be a slight roll heading into the bay but it stayed comfortable for us so far. The wind picked up to 15 knots and knocked the swell down, the wind brought us then a very tolerable 2 foot wind chop. The beaches here are of brown sand and when the sun plays in it, it sparkles with gold and silver, really neat. We found lots of really nice conch shells one even a king’s helmet conch which is rare to find.

On the second beach we found lots of brown seeds not sure what they are called but they are used for jewelry. From this beach we had a better look further west into the Bay and it seemed the water was even calmer there so Sid and Rob pioneered with dinghy and hand held depth sounder to check the area out. They found a perfect spot for catamarans in 7 foot of water but there is also a submerged rock close buy. In general we found 30 feet of water in the bay, it shallows quickly towards the shore so we are about 300 yards away from the beach anchored in about 14 feet of water.

WE LIKE TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST THINGS TO COME IN 2011. Ok off to cooking, I have to bake some Swiss Christmas Cookies and the traditional Swiss breakfast bread "Zopf".
Hugs and kisses to you all from the Boatbumms