Days of Diesel...

Well we made it back to Grenada in one piece. After 20 hours of motoring into headwinds, swells and a wicked current that sometimes was registering over 4 knots, we finally dropped anchor last night around 4 PM. We left the small offshore island chain of Los Testigos at 7:30 PM on Saturday night and it was approx 88 miles to Prickly Bay in Grenada. When we were finally here, the tripometer showed 140 nautical miles traveled meaning that in total we lost 52 miles to the current and wind. Crazy. Venezuela was great, well worth the run and the only bummer about it was having to turn around so fast and return. Here is my journal entry from Friday night when we were anchored in Los Testigos.

June 27, 2008 11:00 PM Playa Real, Los Testigos, Venezuela

The last few days have been fantastic. As reported, we left Grenada Monday evening bound for the island of Margarita in Venezuela. According to the pilot charts it would be a 139 mile downwind run. We left the anchorage and were underway around 9:30 that night. With the mainsail double reefed and the jib with a single reef we were making well over 7 knots immediately. Conditions were perfect and I anticipated a great sail. Approximately 5 miles southwest of Grenada we encountered our first problem, I know, big surprise. Poor Jaymie was baptized fairly quickly to the world of offshore sailing when we were almost run down by a large freighter whose only two lights were, as Jaymie put it, freaking candles. I called the freighter on the VHF when he was just over a mile off our starboard side and seemed to be headed directly for us. On my second attempt he responded, asking me to “slow down” when I was talking. Unfortunately I don’t speak rasta so I clearly and slowly repeated my inquiry as to his intentions, informing him that we were a sailing vessel and asking if he intended to pass us off our stern or if I needed to alter course. He assured me he was going to pass to stern. Apparently in Grenadian that translates to “I’m going to alter course when I’m about a quarter mile from running over your tiny ass boat” and by the time he made an alteration it was definitely too close for comfort. This 100 meter (at least) ship literally had two small white lights and no discernible navigational lights that would have helped me determine which direction he was headed. I left myself room to maneuver in case of emergency but in the end it was still closer than I prefer. Such is life in the Caribbean, rules are more guidelines than anything else. After that the sea was clear and Boogie jammed along making great speed in perfect conditions. Jaymie and I alternated watches throughout the night and we kept chewing up the miles. We were surfing down the swells with the wind and current to our backs and even after I completely rolled the jib up we were still making 8-9 knots under a double reefed mainsail. The log at one point had us at 10.4 knots, which to date is the fastest I have gone on this boat. So it went until the next afternoon when we sighted Margarita. By the late afternoon we were safely anchored in the harbor off the booming city of Porlamar. We had made the run in right at 20 hours and I was proud of this old girl as she got us there safely and hassle free. The anchorage off Porlamar is spectacular. Picture if downtown Los Angeles were on the coastline and you could anchor your boat less than a mile from shore and the backdrop is all those high rise buildings as far as you can see. Of all the places I have seen, this ranks right up there.

The next day, we were up in the morning and the agenda consisted of finding out how to get diesel as I have been desperately low for some time now. We took the dinghy in and started hoofing it, intent on finding out the best course to get filled up. I had read in the guides that there is a local pirogue boat that zooms around and pumps diesel straight into your boat. As we walked around trying to find a road into town, we were stopped by a gentleman by the name of Juan Baro. The dirt road we were on didn’t look promising and Juan informed us that it was better for us to avoid that particular route. He owns Marina Juan which is a do it all center for the yachting community that visits Porlamar. I inquired about diesel and as per usual for my luck (good old Capt Chaos) I was informed that the diesel boat was being repaired and it was unknown how long it would be out of service. What about the fuel dock? Nope. I am a foreign flagged vessel and I didn’t want to clear customs seeing as how the plan was to simply get fuel and head back to Grenada. Any other options? Jerry cans. Of course. I only need about 400 liters of fuel so that will be fun. I thanked Juan and went back to the boat to regroup and weigh the options. Jaymie and I had sailed all the way there solely for fuel and now it was unclear when that would be available. We could have sailed on another fifty or so miles to Cumana or Puerto La Cruz but that would be another fifty miles we would have to beat back to the East against current, swells and wind. I decided to see what kind of deal I could work out for a taxi to cruise me back and forth from the fuel station. At the time I had three 5 gallon cans that had diesel in them and after putting that 15 gallons in the port tank I still needed close to 100 gallons of fuel. Seeing as how that would take 7 trips back and forth I asked Juan to find me a taxi that would take me to a store so I could purchase more jerry cans and then hopefully make 3-4 trips total. He found me a driver, my man Antonio, who offered to drive me for 35 Bolivars an hour, basically about 12 bucks U.S. I jumped on it and we were off. It was quite the adventure and ended up taking all day. I bought 3 more 5 gallon cans so we were shuttling 30 gallons of diesel at a time in his Nissan taxi. Now I was told, and told several of my friends and family, that I was going to get diesel in Venezuela for 25 cents a gallon. Well I was wrong. When I paid for the first 30 gallons of diesel (120 liters, they charge by the liter in most countries) I paid just over 6 Bolivars. The current exchange rate is 3 to 1 for Bolivars to U.S., so my TOTAL for 30 gallons of diesel was slightly over TWO DOLLARS U.S. I thought it was a mistake. I was so freaking happy. When I returned to the boat the first time with the first run, I excitedly told Jaymie how I had just paid 2 bucks for all the diesel and she spent the rest of the day laughing at me because I was so excited. She went with me on the next run and while we were at the station I bought some water, a red bull, a snickers (or Peanutopolis in Venezuela), and a six pack of Polar Ice (the local beer). This purchase cost me 27 Bolivars or 9 dollars U.S. This would prove to be more costly than ALL the diesel I ended up buying. It was hysterical. All 3 of us drinking beer in the cab, trunk full of diesel and me ridiculously happy on the way back to the marina. Jaymie and I took the dinghy back out to Boogie, put that 30 gallons in and headed back in. On our next run poor Antonio was getting hungry and his wife was busting his balls to get home. It was almost 8 PM when he finally dropped us the last time and he still had to go to the super market. I know he was tired and I'm sure all the beer and whiskey didn't help matters for him, I know the ride through town was intesting. When it was finally done that day (this was Wed.) I had paid just about 7 dollars for 90 gallons of fuel. Less than 6 cents U.S. per gallon. Yeah you read that right, 6 cents. A nickel and a penny. What up. Venezuela rocks. The next morning Antonio took me on one more quick run and I topped up all the reserve cans. All told, I put around 100 gallons of diesel in the boat, I now have 30 gallons of reserve diesel and 7 gallons of gasoline and it was less than 10 bucks U.S. I took care of Antonio and bought Juan a bottle of Johnny Walker Black label for hooking us up. I can honestly say that I am truly looking forward to August when I get on my way to Panama and can stop in Margarita for a week or so and hopefully have a glass of Johnny with Juan and enjoy Porlamar properly. For any of my new cruiser friends that are going through there Juan is the man and do not hesitate to contact him on VHF 72 at Marina Juan, he has it all. Thanks again Juan.

So we planned to leave that night, Thursday and start heading East. I figured if we left at midnight we would make the offshore islands of Los Testigos sometime in the morning. Just before sundown I saw one of the local boats pumping something to a sailboat anchored near us. I went topside and of course, there was the diesel boat, back in action. I spent a day and a half lugging 5 gallon cans back and forth from boat to the long pier to cab to gas station then back and here was the old diesel boat, all repaired and tied up next door pumping away. What else could I do but laugh when they cruised by Rum Boogie and shouted out "Diesel Skipper?". Karma is such a rotten bitch sometimes. I took a nap and got up around midnight thinking I would pull the hook and get us motoring. To my dismay, we were completely surrounded by pirogues that were fishing. There had been quite a bit of rain during the previous days and that causes the bait fish to come near shore so the fishermen were working nets together and had the bay all but surrounded. I didn’t feel comfortable trying to motor out with all the unlit boats and fishing nets in the water so I resolved to leave early in the morning. At one point, one of the fishing boats was a few feet from the boat at 2 AM. I asked what was up and was told, very cheerfully, PESCANDO! Which basically was me being told that they were having a great time fishing. I laughed and went back to bed. No worries, island time right? We left Margarita this morning and started our trek to Los Testigos, about 45 miles to the East. The cruise went great. I finally managed to get the starboard motor running correctly. I thought I had it fixed before but it continued to vex us until this afternoon when I tore apart the entire fuel delivery and return system and thoroughly cleaned it all. I did this while we were motoring but it wasn’t rough so it really wasn’t that bad. We had great weather and made good time. Not only did I get to catch two good size Barracuda on the trolling lines but about 6 miles off of Los Testigos we were treated to a convoy of dolphins who escorted us for fifteen minutes or so, playfully swimming and jumping in the bow wake. I don’t care how many thousands of dolphins I have seen, they still make me feel like a little kid and it’s always exhilarating running up to the front of the boat and cheering them on as they play. We got into the anchorage right at twilight, shortly after the sun had set. After getting safely hooked up, we had some dinner. Tonight has been one of those incredible nights on an anchorage where you just wish that time would slow down and you loathe each second that ticks off on the clock. The skies are clear and a ton of stars are scattered across the sky. There is no horizon visible in any direction which is due to the fact that there is very little light here. There are around 160 inhabitants on these small islands and they sustain by fishing. As you may imagine, there are only a few small villages and light is scarce. There are a handful of boats nearby and the only light is cast by the anchor lights on top of the masts of the four boats in the anchorage. It’s just after midnight now and I am still listening to the breakers smashing against the beach on the far side of the bay. The trades are blowing full force but the temperature is perfect. After dinner, I rigged up one of the speakers in the front of the boat and just sat on the trampolines taking it all in. What a life. This is what I dreamed about. Jaymie went to bed a couple of hours ago and I sat on the front watching shooting stars. How much better does it get? I hope all of you get to experience something like this sometime in your life. If you haven’t yet, get your ass out and do it. Tomorrow the plan is to get some diving in and do some exploring around these islands, then tomorrow night we start our bash back to Grenada. We need to cover another 88 miles or so against current, swells and headwind but the weather is cooperating so it shouldn’t be too bad. For now, I’m going back up to the trampolines to lay around and breathe in all this beauty until I fall asleep.

So that was Friday night and catches you up on the whole week. Saturday we spent the day cruising around checking out the islands and diving on a reef that extends about 200 yards offshore. The water has a greenish tint there due to runoff from the Orinoco River that dumps into the ocean from the mainland. Still a great spot for diving with lots of huge coral, parrot fish, puffers and even a couple of decent sized squid. So far I have still not seen a Giant Squid, which as many of you know is the only thing I fear. Saturday night we pulled the hook and started the bash to the East. Today is laundry, groceries, ice and hardware store day. I have a few things to work on and just some general maintenance as well as the normal errands to run. The weather seems to be holding so after some adjustments to the SSB radio and a couple of other random items, we should be heading North for the Tobago Cays. For any of you jokers actually planning on visiting me, you might want to time it when I'm going back through the island of Margarita in Venezuela. If you do, don't bring sand to the beach. The women on that island...OH...MY...GOD... I fear I may never return...