Last Burger Night (probably)

Yesterday was another day of getting things done.

We have encountered our first couple of issues – nothing major, just annoyances. The head (toilet) in our cabin is slowly leaking. I made two attempts to remedy the problem using components of the old assembly we took out nearly a year ago but only succeeded in reducing the leak slightly. I believe we need a rubber flap called a joker valve so hopefully I can get that today.

The second issue is one of the oar supports on the dinghy is peeling off. I tried using the glue that came with the emergency kit but after spending too long in the midday sun without a shirt on all I gained was sunburn. I need to fix this before I can put the dinghy cover on so I’m keen to resolve this. Along with the joker valves, some better gum/glue is on the shopping list for today.

Helen continued the reorganization of the boat putting a lot of stuff we won’t need for a while into vacuum bags. These are a godsend on a boat as they reduced the volume of clothing, etc by a huge amount allowing us to put significantly more into the spaces we have.

I picked up our second hand sea anchor. It’s essentially a parachute that, when correctly deployed, allows one to stop in the water and let storms pass over quickly. The previous owner left a little message stating he hoped this would be a waste of money. I agree with his sentiment. Shortly after bringing the sea anchor aboard along with a couple of fenders that were also spare Helen asked if the dinghy floating away from the boat was ours. I had forgotten to tie it to the boat (first time I have done this) so had to dive in and retrieve it.

In the afternoon Helen and I spent some time talking to Rene, a cruiser who helps run the show at Clarkes Court Bay, about Venezuelan Islands. This resulted in our changing our minds about doing a single dash to Los Roques. I was particular moved to learn we can pick up crates of beer for US$5 each in Margarita. We may change our minds again so rather than flip flop publically in our blog we’ll just announce where we’re off to when we go.

In the evening we went to, probably, our last burger night at Clarkes Court Bay. They had a rum tasting session going and live music. It made for a great evening. We met up with a number of our friends and in some cases said our goodbyes as we’re expecting to head out of here early next week.

The plan for today is to head round to Prickly Bay quite soon. I’ll visit the nearby Tropical Shipping branch and see if I can clear our goods without an agent. In doing so I’ll drop off some of our crates and empties at the nearby Carib outlet. If I am successful, our land based friend Mike will be able to help transport the gear to a dock tomorrow (Friday). I may also head off to the Venezuelan embassy to obtain a visa which will make things a lot simpler cruising their islands. While out and about I’ll try to pick up something to fix our head.