That’s exactly what it feels like when you step out of a car or building with air conditioning into 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity. The hot, thick air hits you like a wave, and having been born and raised in Canada, the first thing that comes to mind is, the furnace is turned up too high!
Another strange occurrence is that coming from the cold air indoors into the hot air outdoors, my glasses fog up. The tables have turned! This girl is much more used to fogged up glasses coming in from the cold air outdoors to warm air indoors, not the other way around. Gotta love us crazy Canucks!
We are leaving Ponce, PR this morning. The boat is ready and the weather looks good. We plan on heading east along the coast of Puerto Rico, and across to St. Croix. Depending on the winds, we hope to head from there to Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia and finally the Grenadines. This trip is roughly 500 miles, with prevailing east trade winds 10 to 20 knots, seas hopefully about 5 to 10 feet.
We have again been delayed due to mechanical and electrical issues. I know, you’re surprised, right? : ) We, or rather I should say, El Capitano, has fixed the leak in the boat where water came through into the salon, and then down into the engine room. There were a couple of holes on the starboard side under the teak deck, where rust had eaten through the steel. After pulling up all the teak, Greg hammered, chiselled and wire wheeled the rust away, plugged up the holes and painted the area with our infamous Rust Bullet. Once we are in Grenada, we will do the same to the port side, and as the teak cannot be saved, we are going to put down some heavy duty rubber walkway material, which will be very practical as these areas serve as walkways along the sides of the boat.
Our poor old boat has a lot less paint on her than when we left Charleston. Thanks to a crappy quickie cheap paint job by the previous owner, we have left a trail of paint crumbs all the way here. The Atlantic has been harsh to our old girl, and she brings quite a few stares here in the marina. Greg, being a professional painter (having owned and operated a body shop for 10 years with his brother David) really appreciates all the helpful advice from fellow cruisers and locals on how to rectify the peeling paint. We got an email from our friends on Opus (fellow cruisers in our tax bracket) who met and befriended the people on the boat Hanco, a $3.5 million dollar motor yacht in the slip kitty corner to us. They passed this along to us... "There's a boat here now that I think you know but I'm not sure of the name. A couple and their two young teenage'ish sons aboard what charitably could be called a floating 'project'. Captain Ron would have loved this splotchy blue hulled sail boat that's "a work in progress". Nice family aboard who certainly have their work cut out for them." As a professional painter and welder, Greg is only too aware of how rough she looks and it bothers him to no end. Our plan has always been to refinish her in Grenada during hurricane season when we have the time. Goes to show how in this day and age, image is of utmost important to most “yachty” people. Greg’s concern, first and foremost, has always been the safety of his family. We have been so busy repairing the “necessities” we can’t be bothered to worry even a little how she looks to them. The Dutch Dreamer is 30 years old, and has sat with very little use for many, many years. Now that she is being used the way she was meant to be, she is telling us she needs some tender loving care.
The cupboards in the salon have dried out and been put back together. This was the perfect opportunity for yours truly to excel in her organization skills and go through these cupboards properly, with the help of plastic organizers from Walmart. I did the same in the aft cabin, with supplies and tools, which really pisses Greg off because he can’t find a thing, he is always asking “Carol, where are my red handled pliers”, etc. . Last weekend we rented a car. Enterprise Car Rental has a weekend special, and Greg had a long list of parts and supplies he needed for the boat. We ended up keeping the car for another day and driving to San Juan, which is about a 1-1/2 hour drive. We went to West Marine, where Greg was able to get a new water pressure pump. Yes, we actually have regular running cold water again, what a pleasure and doubly so as the water is free here. Any kind of movement one makes here causes a sweat, so it is wonderful to be able to shower off in between, and the cold water so refreshing! Greg will pressure test and reinstall the hot water tank in Grenada. We sure as hell don’t miss it yet! Yesterday Greg spent in the engine room, cleaning all the salt water off his baby Mercedes, and getting the generator going again, which also got a good soaking. All is running 100 per cent.
The drive to San Juan though the mountains was beautiful. Everything is so incredibly lush and green. Seen through the eyes of someone who lived in the Northwest Territories and is used to seeing a lot of white, it’s like someone has taken a green Crayola crayon and just coloured everything in sight! That being said, Greg had his eyes peeled to the road, as the drivers here in PR are completely insane. Turn signals are not used, and when they want to switch lanes, they do so, assuming you will simply get out of their way. Oh and did I mention they don’t believe in many street signs? Makes things interesting, that’s for sure. Then there are the lanes that simply disappear without warning. Driving in San Juan, well, I could write a book about that. Twelve lane highways going through the city, filled with a million insane drivers. You get the picture. Greg was exhausted when we got back to the boat that night. The next day when he woke up, he had a big red blotch in the white of his left eye. Poor guy just about blew a gasket, yikes! Needless to say, we much prefer sailing a boat these days... much bigger area and less traffic : ) Can’t wait to get back on the open ocean again...
We have provisioned at Sam’s and Walmart, and another place like Sam’s called Santiago Cash and Carry. I have a new wardrobe of shorts, skorts, tank tops and short PJ’s, thanks to Walmart. I have melted off about 20 lbs and two sizes which is awesome! We have a few more things to finish on the boat, and then we will be ready to set sail once again. We are nervous being inside the hurricane belt and want to get down to Grenada as soon as we can. We looked into getting a cell phone here, but can’t find anything that will work in the Caribbean, so will pick up something there.
Oh, almost forgot to tell you some very exciting news! We bought an air compressor for diving! Greg got a super deal on it, it is like new, the guy just never used it, so we bought it. It was being stored in a storage unit just at the end of our dock, so it was very convenient as well. It is a Bauer Junior, not too big, so we will be able to store it in the aft lazerette (sp?). The diving is supposed to be spectacular in the Grenadines, so we are pretty excited. Other cruisers have told us the sand beaches are pink from the conch shells. For those of you that are not aware, in January of 2008 our family took the PADI diving course in Edmonton, and then got our Open Water Certification in the Mayan Riviera in March. As a result, all four of us are now certified divers. We have all of our own equipment including BCD’s, regulators, wet suits, weights, masks, snorkels, fins, and tanks so now we are all set and can’t wait to dive again! We are so looking forward to some much needed R & R and FUN!!!!
We love and miss you all, and think of you daily. Keep those emails coming, we love to hear from you!!! It’s so great to hear about you, your families, and what’s happening in your lives. Enjoy the photos! The ones taken at the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club are labled “PYFC”, just in case you were wondering what the heck that meant. We will email again as soon as we can.
Love from The Dutch Dreamers
No comments:
Post a Comment