Dec 23
We're getting into a relax and do nothing mode for a few days because of the weekend followed by the Christmas holiday. Nothing ever happens here on Sundays, Monday will be half a day for a lot of people, being Christmas Eve, then of course Tuesday is Christmas Day, and as a bonus, Wednesday is Boxing Day.
Fred, our bartender, stopped by the boat and dropped off a jug of sorrel juice. Sorrel makes a tart red juice that is common down here around Christmas time. Fred dropping off juice is getting to be a pleasant habit. In addition to the ginger beer he brought a week ago, this is the second bottle of sorrel, and there was a bottle of local grapefruit juice. I usually won't even taste grapefruit juice, but this was much sweeter than commercial stuff and quite nice.
Late in the afternoon, it was time for the haircut that I had needed for a couple weeks now. I was getting to be quite a sight if I didn't have a hat on. To avoid the haircutting accident of last season, Barb and I both double checked that the clippers were set on "3", and that the guard was in place. When Barb started cutting, she said it wasn't as short as it should be. Turned out we had erred in the opposite direction. There are two different guards, and the one we had on the clippers was not the buzz cut one. Once the correct guard was in place, the haircut proceeded as planned. For you non-cruiser readers, a do-it-yourself haircut in the islands is done in a place where the hair blows away from anything important, like the boat. That usually means on a beach, or on the far end of a dock where the hair blows away from all boats. The end of the dock was our place of choice.
For a change of pace in the evening, we dinghied out to Seabbatical for happy hour and snacks. This was our first real use of our dinghy since getting the outboard sorted out and mounted. We spent a few hours with Mike & Lynn and then turned in early.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 24
I ran the big boat's motor for an hour today to evaluate how the alternator is charging the batteries. Since our normal shore power charger is off hopefully being repaired, the batteries need some charging. Last year I wasn't sure the engine alternators were putting out as much as they should, so I have a spare alternator and regulator if needed. I ran the motor for about an hour, and watched the amps going into the batteries on the monitor, as well as the display on the voltage regulator. It's working, but I'm still not convinced it shouldn't be putting out more. I think I'll leave it alone for the time being though.
I did decide to fix what should be a simple thing. The engine water temperature gauge at the helm reads high. It reads about 195° when the water temp is really 180° as it should be. I have verified this with an infra-red thermometer at various points in the cooling system. Last year I had replaced the sending unit on the engine, but it still reads high. So, this year I brought back a new gauge. If you have followed my logs long, you probably are familiar with the concept that no fix ever turns out to be as easy as one hoped or expected. Well, this one did! I opened up the panel at the helm, removed the wires from the old gauge, and then removed the gauge from the panel. The new gauge was exactly the same, with exactly the same hookup. It all went in place with nothing else broken and no injuries. And when finished, it read 180° on the money. Time to stop for the day while I'm ahead.
We went up to Peter's BBQ for lunch. We both had bacon cheeseburgers, as that was the day's special. Both little cats sat patiently by our table awaiting a handout through the meal, but I ate all my food. Barb however had a bite or two left when she was full, so they benefited from that. When Annie, the waitress came back to the table with my credit card after paying, she also had a bag in her hand. She and Patricia, her sister and the owner, gave us a bottle of sparkling wine as a gift both for Christmas and our steady patronage. We were surprised and flattered.
In the evening, Mike & Lynn met us for a short happy hour at the bar, then we adjourned to MoonSail for dinner. Barb made her world famous chicken enchiladas and refried beans. At least they're world famous around here. It was the first we had enchiladas in quite a while. We only had them once during the summer in Ohio since Barb was cooking for her parents too and they didn't do spicy. Of course by our standards, they are barely spicy at all.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 25
Merry Christmas! We awoke to the Coconut Telegraph cruisers radio net as usual. For our Christmas treat, Barb made breakfast. We haven't been doing much breakfast lately, so it was a nice treat to have scrambled eggs and sausage. The rest of the day was consumed with pretty much doing nothing.
Dinner tonight was at Al Porto. It is Tuesday night, and we always come to Al Porto for the two-for-one pizza night on Tuesday's, but tonight is special. In addition to the regular menu, Angie has had her chefs whip up a traditional North American Christmas dinner, with a twist of Caribbean flavor. It consisted of turkey (cooked all afternoon in the pizza oven), potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy (that had a distinct cinnamon flavor), salad, and fried plantains. We had some confusion about the time of dinner. Angie had told us the previous week to be there at 17:00. So the four of us showed up, and we were the only ones there besides the staff setting things up. Turns out the buffet won't be starting until 18:00, so we sat at the bar and had a few drinks while chatting with Angie as she got the bar setup. She said they have a full house booked, and of course a few of the staff, including both regular bartenders, are off. One by previous request and one who called in at the last minute claiming he forgot it was Christmas and he had a family obligation. It ought to get interesting once the place is packed. At 18:00, we went to our table and helped ourselves to the buffet. It was all very good, and the Caribbean flavor twists made it even more memorable.
We have met Angie's five-year old many times, but have only recently met her husband. Normally when we see her at dinner time, he is home with the kid. Tonight her son and husband were both there. Sam, her son, was dressed up in his full cowboy getup which was one of his Christmas presents. Of course this included a hat and six shooter. We had finished our dinner and were enjoying a last round of drinks, when Sam and Dad were taking a stroll out the dock in front of the restaurant. It was dark, and the dock is not well lit, but there are underwater lights under it. Next thing you know, we hear a loud child's scream. Of course the whole place stops eating and looks, thinking Sam fell in. It was worse. His hat fell in. The dock is about five feet above the water. Dad, who is in very good physical shape, swung his whole body over the edge, and while supporting himself with only his arms, tried to snag the hat with his foot. We was just not quite close enough to get it. Angie brought a broom from the kitchen and they tried to snag it with that, but with no real hook shape, they couldn't get it. So, it was Mike to the rescue. He got in his dinghy and moved out to the end of the dock where he could fetch the hat. Of course he got a big round of applause for his heroic action. By now the restaurant was almost full, and it was getting noisy, so we departed.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 26
Today is Boxing Day. Boxing Day is as important a holiday here as Christmas. Thus, also as quiet, if not quieter. A couple of the restaurants that were open for Christmas dinner are closed all day today. Fortunately, Castaway's on the beach is not one of them. We joined Mike & Lynn there for lunch and then spent the afternoon on the beach. It turned out to be a mostly overcast day, with several showers passing through, but I'd rather have some clouds than nothing but sun, even with a beach umbrella. Even though there is one cruise ship in port today, they must not have booked any people here, because the beach was as quiet as we ever see it, with just people from the surrounding villas and locals in attendance. We were entertained by four young girls who had managed to catch a good sized sand crab in their little bucket. They were hilarious in that when the crab was in the bucket, they had no problem looking closely at it and even touching it. But as soon as they let it go on the sand and it ran, they all screamed like little girls. Of course, they were little girls, but even so... The crab would make it a couple feet each time it was set free, only to be caught again. They tormented it for ten or fifteen minutes before their parents finally told them it was time to let him go. I had visions of the crab finally thinking he was free and then a bird swooping down and snatching him, but he hid peacefully under some sand probably just waiting until he couldn't hear little girls anymore.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 27
To make up for the simple little project that went just as planned the other day, I had a typical boat project today. The engine on a sailboat is cooled by cool seawater. The engine's cooling system itself is a sealed system full of antifreeze just like a car. But instead of the hot antifreeze being cooled by air as it is in your car, the boat also pumps in cool seawater. The seawater and the engine coolant both circulate through independent circuits in what is called the heat exchanger. There is an engine driven pump that pumps the sea water through this system. I had noticed that my sea water pump was dripping the other day when I had the engine running. This indicates it's seal is failing, and if not fixed will result in the seal totally failing, no water pumping, and water getting into the engine oil. Been there, done that - see Thanksgiving Day Nov 27,2009 logs for the ugly details of that one. Since I prudently have a spare sea water pump aboard, it should be a simple matter of four bolts and two hose clamps to replace the pump. Well, that part all did go well. The problem was the hose that comes from the nice new sea water strainer I installed a couple weeks ago, to the pump. When the surveyor was here, he had pointed out to me that this hose was starting to kink where it made a 90° turn just below the strainer. He suggested it be replaced when convenient. (When is it ever convenient? There may be times it is less inconvenient, but it's never convenient.) Anyway, when I pulled the end of this hose off the sea water pump, the end was brittle and breaking apart in my fingers. I was honestly surprised this had not failed already. I guess that convenient time just arrived. The distance this hose travels from the strainer to the pump is exactly six feet. In that six feet, the hose makes two 90° turns, squeezes under the propeller shaft, under the exhaust hose at the water muffler, and then runs through a channel alongside the engine with two other hoses and two big battery cables. I was able to move the other hoses and the battery cables somewhat out of the way, and getting both ends free was easy. The hard part was going to be moving this twenty-year-old, stiff, hard-walled reinforced hose around the corner where it made the turn under the water muffler. Many times, you reach a point of no return in a project where just putting it back together as it was is no longer an option. After some amount of pondering, I reached that point and decided to cut the old hose at the 90° turn making removal much easier. The two hunks came out, both covered with gooey, oily, slimy bilge crap. I carefully carried each piece out of the boat onto the dock trying not to drip on anything. Since we got this far, I took the opportunity to clean out some of the bilge slime that had accumulated in this area. Another task I have been putting off for years, but that really needed attention. I went over to Budget Marine to purchase a new piece of hose, which probably would have been a prudent thing to do before I ever started the project. Fortunately, they no only had the exactly correct type of hose, but they had a piece that had been cut off the long lengths they come in that was exactly the right length. So I got a discount for buying a "scrap". With much grunting and pulling on my end, and Barb's pushing on the other, we were able to get the new hose bent around the corner and into place. New clamps were applied and all the other hoses and cables were stuffed back in place on top of the new hose. The project turned out to be much more than expected, but it was one of those things that I felt better now that it's done after I saw how close to failure that hose was.
While in the engine compartment, I had also cleaned the filter on the shower sump pump, so once the project was done, nice hot showers were in order and the drain was fast as it can be. Happy hour was well deserved today.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 28
When we returned to the boat last year, we had found water in a storage locker in the aft cabin. Last year, we blamed a drip that came from where the davits are through bolted to the deck. I fixed that leak, and we didn't notice any more water in the locker while we were here last year. But this year, we found water there again. There was no evidence of a water stain from the davits where there had been before, but there was some staining of the wood on the side of the hull, up underneath the lowest part of the deck locker where you can barely see. My thought is that a lifeline stanchion is perhaps leaking. I brought a product back with us this year that I had never used before. It is called Captain Tolley's leak finder and sealer. It is a white liquid that is quite thin and watery. You apply it sparingly around something that you suspect is leaking. If there is indeed a leak, capillary action will wick the sealant into the crack where it dries and seals. Depending on the size of the crack, you may have to apply it a few times in thirty minute intervals until no more seems to wick into the crack. I did this around all the life line stanchions, and found the one directly over the suspect area and two others that obviously took in some of the sealant. I gave them several applications until they no longer took any. Time will tell if this solves the problem. I have read testimonials of many other boaters who swear by the stuff. I hope they're right.
I stopped by the machine shop to see if they had ever had any joy in getting the hub off the old wind generator. They had not, so I decided to give up on it. It's an expensive decision, since a new one is over $1000, and I'll have to get it here, but I'll have more confidence in it. At least they didn't charge me anything for trying to get it apart.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 29
We did nothing all day today. We were surprised by a visit from Fred the bartender with his new (four month) baby and ten-year old daughter. They visited for about an hour. Being Saturday, Fred is not working today, but he told us that Simone, a girl who bartended last year would be working today. She has not been there since we've been back. So, we met Mike & Lynn for happy hour, caught up with Simone, and then came back to MoonSail where we all enjoyed jambalaya for dinner.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 30
The highlight of our day today was a dinghy tour with Mike & Lynn. We circumnavigated the island that is within Jolly Harbor's inner harbor, checking out what had changed since last year in terms of docked boats, renovated villas, or new construction on the island. There is some new construction going on, although one project that was underway last year seems to have stalled. We then went out and drove around the anchorage to see what boats we out there. The seas were quite calm, so we ventured all the way out around the point at the end of Jolly Beach where there was construction last year. The construction looks largely finished, although we are still not clear what the place is. We don't know if it is a private residence or a small resort.
I spent several hours today learning some new computer stuff that hopefully will make me some money during the upcoming summer. That will definitely be a requirement this year. We decided to do happy hour at home tonight and Barb made a new recipe of chicken rosemary baked with red potatoes. It was very nice of course.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.
Dec 31
We are expecting a package via FedEx today. It contains our mail which has our new federal vessel documentation which we can't change countries without, and several of our mail order prescriptions. We had been waiting to request forwarding the mail from TX until all the prescriptions were there, but one for Barb got messed up by the prescription service. When we sorted that out, they overnighted the prescription to our mailbox in TX at their expense. However, due to one of the recent winter storms, that UPS package got hung up an extra day in Louisville at UPS's hub. So, with the holiday, the mail got sent by our forwarder, via FedEx the day after Christmas. FedEx International Economy should take two to five days. Of course, our package got held up an extra day in Memphis, FedEx's hub, by yet another winter storm. It actually arrived on island late Friday. But, nothing happens on the weekend with FedEx or Customs, so it sat. Being just mail and meds, it should have been delivered to the marina directly. I alerted the office that I was expecting it so they could call me on the radio when it arrived. A while later I got a call, that FedEx had dropped off the paperwork, but that the package was detained by Customs. I tired calling FedEx, but they said it was out of their hands once Customs detains a package. So, I called Customs at the airport cargo facility. I explained I was a "Vessel In Transit", and that it was only mail and meds, not parts, so there should be no detainment. She cheerfully replied "No problem. Just bring your boat papers here and pick up your package". I tried explaining to her that I had no way to get there, to which she cheerfully replied "No problem. Hire an agent to do it for you". Before reaching my breaking point, I confirmed that they were not closing early due to it being New Year's Eve, and politely said goodbye. My choices now were: 1) Hire Mr. Walker, the agent we have used several times, to get it. This would cost $75 USD and not get done until Wednesday due to the holiday. 2) Rent a car for $50 USD and drive to the airport to get it myself. Or the choice I took, the long but cheap way. I gathered our ship's paper's, my passport, and money and walked up to the grocery store which is the end of the bus route that comes here. I hopped on a bus in just a few minutes which took me to the main bus station in St. Johns. I then waited about 45 minutes for the bus that goes near the airport. Buses don't go into the airport, probably due to some deal to protect taxi business, and the cargo facility is separate from the passenger terminal anyway. When I got on the bus, I confirmed with the driver that this bus went near the cargo facility, and he said it did. Of course the bus was packed to start, but once we were nearing the airport it had emptied out considerably. I had moved to a seat near the front, and reminded the driver where I was going, since I wasn't sure where the closest place for him to stop was. As were neared where I thought he should drop me, it started to pour. He didn't say anything and also didn't stop. I figured he knew what he was doing, so I just sat. We made a couple of runs down roads where we dropped people and turned around and came back to the main road. Then we went around where I knew we were nearing the end of the runway where the cargo place was, although I had never been all the way down this road before. Sure enough, he dropped me right at the cargo facility, and the rain had stopped. I clarified with him though, that this wasn't a normal part of the route, and that I needed to walk back to the main road to return. Now to find Customs. The facility is a long building with about a dozen dock doors. There were signs for about every airline's freight operation, but none for FedEx and none for Customs. After asking three times and getting vague points, I found the proper place for Customs. I politely waited my turn amongst half a dozen agent guys and after about ten minutes was acknowledged by the Customs officer. He got my package, opened and looked inside, and gave it to me, just like the cheerful lady said he would. I just smiled and thanked him rather than question why the package was held in the first place. To return, now I had to walk about a mile and a half back to the main road. At the junction, I found a bus stop and an old lady already waiting for the bus. I greeted her and we stood and waited. And waited. And waited. After forty-five minutes, a beat up pickup truck stopped and offered us rides. She accepted, but I said I would wait, because if I went with him, no telling where he would drop me and I would probably have to walk all the way across the city to the bus station. So I waited another twenty minutes or so until a bus came. It was the same guy who dropped me. He had made a round trip in this time. We rode back to the bus station, where I went to the #20 bus back to Jolly Harbor. The bus "schedule" is that the bus leaves when the bus is full. So we sat waiting for another twenty minutes or so for the bus to fill up. At least this was an air conditioned bus, so it wasn't unbearable. After almost four hours, and $15EC ($5.50US), I was back at the boat. I felt remarkably exhausted considering I really didn't do anything except sit on busses and wait for busses.
While on the bus from downtown out to the airport, a nicely dressed gentleman about my age sat next to me. He had a couple of bags and appeared to have done some shopping. The bus was packed, as they always are. He got a phone call which he answered, but obviously couldn't get a word in since there was a loud woman's voice yelling on the other end. He hung up, and the phone rang again. This time he listened a bit longer, but then hung up again after being unable to speak to her. He said something to the local ladies standing in the aisle by us, and the gist I got of it was that the caller was his son's wife. His son apparently was with another woman. That in and of itself is not uncommon in the Caribbean culture. Apparently nobody explained this to her. After a few minutes, the phone rang again. This time the poor man was very patient and just kept saying "Listen to me", over and over for several minutes, until the screaming stopped and he got to speak. He calmly said, "The children don't need their father dead and their mother in prison, so don't do that. Give me some time to sort it out." After she said something else, he hung up and hailed the bus to stop. I'm sure this wasn't his planned destination and that he was going to do something to deal with his son's problem. And I thought I was having a bad day dealing with Customs.
When I had gotten back to the boat, I had found Mike & Lynn there. They had come in to use the marina showers, and while they were here, the marina office called on the radio to say that their new wind generators had been delivered and were in the office. They have been waiting over three weeks for this delivery and were very glad it was finally here. I walked up to the office and helped Mike carry them down to the boat.
I was feeling quite tired and achy, much more than I should have for my physical exertion today. I felt like I might have a fever, so I took my temperature and sure enough I was about three degrees above my normal. I hadn't eaten anything all day, except a few crackers and cheese when I got back from my journey around 14:30, but I wasn't feeling hungry either. We had planned to go to happy hour and dinner out with Mike & Lynn, so we met for happy hour and decided to judge dinner when the time came. After a few drinks I was feeling a bit better and getting hungry. So we went over to Peter's for dinner. We haven't had dinner at Peter's since we've been back, and it was nice.
On our way back to the boat, we saw a burning light in the sky over towards the beach. At first we thought some dumbass has fired off a parachute flare, which usually happens at New Year's or Fourth of July. But after we saw a second one go up, we realized it wasn't a flare, but rather something like flying luminaries. I have since done some research and found you can actually buy these things and they are popular for night weddings and special events. Who knew?
We had walked from Peter's all the way to the dinghy dock before I realized that the new tabby cat had followed us from Peter's. He was just hanging by us, so I decided to see if he would let me pick him up. Surprisingly he did. I didn't push my luck and just held him a few seconds while petting his head. No, for anybody who wonders, he will not become our new boat cat no matter how friendly he is.
Back on the boat, we both decided we were not going to make midnight, even though it was after 23:00 already. We went to bed, but by the time we were both just dozing, midnight arrived and we heard the boom of fireworks. There are three resorts within a mile of here, and all three had fireworks. Two we could see clearly while our view of the third was blocked by a large power boat next to us. We enjoyed them for the ten minutes or so they went on and then went back to bed. So much for our celebration of Old Year's Night. Speaking of Old Year's Night, I used to think that phrase was coined by Foxy, owner of Foxy's Tamarind Bar in the BVI. His place is known for it Old Year's Night Party each year. Well, it turns out that's just what they call it down here. I heard several local people, whom I'm sure never heard of Foxy, refer to it as that.
GPS N 17-00.893 W 061-46.422 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10149.