April, 2008

Cartagena, Colombia

April Fools Day........no jokes here.....we are just so thankful to be out here, discovering new adventures each day with each other.

My Captain, Best Friend, and the Love of my Life

May we share many, many more fun years together.

After we went down below, we heard a loud boom......when we went back to the cockpit, .the City of Cartagena was celebrating with fireworks.   

My friend, Sandi from TXI, said she requested Cartagena to do that for Sonny's birthday.  A nice ending to a birthday day.

We arranged with Joshue to go to his house and see the progress on our bimini. We were very pleased with the results so far.  Joshue has worked consistently and hard with his two brothers, David and Jerson.  They made the mold, then laid 7 layers of fiberglass.   They are currently sanding the fiberglass smooth, then will be ready to put gel coat on in the next few days.   The flat end is the front. We put a 3/4"  lip on the top and will put in drains to gather rain water.

While in Cartagena, we have several boat projects on the list.  We had been having trouble with our motor "growling" when we are heeled hard to starboard or we turn off the motor.  We changed our motor mounts while in Bocas del Toro last year, but the problem continues. 

We took one of the original motor mounts to a shop, here in Cartagena, to have the rubber replaced.  We were able to pick it up the same day.  When we measured the revised one, there was too much rubber in it.  Will have to modify it to get it to work.

Eduardo came today again to polish stainless and Elvis, the mechanic, came to check our motor.   He said our motor was very good, but we do need to modify our motor mounts.

Our generator is making a surge noise when running, so we changed the air filter, the oil pump and the oil filter and it is still happening.  Need some more attention.

We also checked on the progress of our friends on S/V Akka, Monte and Chris.  They have had their boat painted, a new bimini and dodger and the work has turned out great.   They used the same crew we used while we were there before. 

We did get to see our old crew.   It was like coming home after being gone a very long time.  Lots of hugs and kisses from the guys.  Of course, we would always recommend the crew for any boat work needed.   Pedro asked us to come to his house to see his family.

After we returned to Valentina, we walked a couple of miles to the Home Center to find fittings for the rain catcher in the bimini.

When we returned to the boat,  Esteban of Tapizeria Moderna met us at the boat to measure and give us a quote for a new dodger and two side panels.  We agreed to the price ($700) with us providing the material.

Bianey called us and told us he was working on our stainless for the bimini and we could go to the boat yard on Monday to begin the installation.  How exciting!  Workers here, will accept any job they can get, and completely overbook themselves and continue to tell you....mañana.   Sometimes, especially in busy seasons with lots of boats, it is very difficult to get projects done in a timely manner.  So, we are excited our bimini has been on schedule.

At anchor, you pay Club Nautico twenty dollars a week to use their dinghy dock.  That also includes trash, showers, and water.   We have pickled our watermaker while in Cartagena because the dock master told us the water is supposed to contain mercury, so we haul water from the marina to the boat rather than use our watermaker.

What a difference a day makes!

The Colombian Coast Guard, of course, is also here in full fashion, with helicopters circling the anchorage, boats patrolling the area and ships lit up, as if it were Christmas.  Two cruise ships came in today also.   A busy day in the cockpit.   We may have to invest in another pair of binoculars to keep up with all of the activities.

Our schedule today is to complete the task on the motor mounts and get our generator working.  So, we did.  The motor mounts needed adjusting and Sonny added some pieces of rubber to them and we worked again on our generator.  Come to find out, it was a relay switch that had vibrated loose.   We have had trouble with the relay switch before, but the generator had different symptoms this time.   It was surging for lack or fuel or air.   It was such an easy fix, after trouble-shooting everything else it could possibly be.   We are thankful to have it working again.

We celebrated with John and Robin on S/V Calusa with a nice dinner at Cafe de Olive and walked around Old Town.  John completed a job today on his heat exchanger, so we were all ready to celebrate our completed boat  projects.

We may look like the Beverly Hillbilly's going to town in a dinghy, but we really not are Jed Clampett and Granny. Today was the monthly swap meet at the marina, so yesterday, we cleaned out every storage area on the boat.  If we have not used it in the past year, out it went.  We had priced everything and got ready for the cruiser's flea market.  The marina set up six large tables, and our "valuables" took up three of them.   We got rid of sanders, gas cans, microwave (OK, we only used it for popcorn), a portable generator, a toolbox, and other valuable stuff we thought we had to have.  But, thankfully now, it is all on someone else's boat for a year or two, until they are able to share it with someone else. A funny story.....the Japanese man who bought our portable generator said he wanted it, not for charging his batteries .....but, for his rice cooker. Brought back memories of big garage sales in Texas.

We also had a good surprise today.  Our friends, Kenneth and Leta from Waxahachie, had previously emailed us that Leta's sister and her husband would be in Cartagena teaching some classes at Youth With a Mission.

Jim and Judy arrived at the marina while we were at the swap meet.   It was good to see them.   We brought them out to the boat, then we went and ate lunch together.  We plan to get together again before they leave on Saturday.    Doesn't she look like Leta?

We had dinner with Cosmo and Donna on Kukla and met Ricardo, a Colombiano on S/V Vino Tinto.   A nice evening.  All three boats are upgrading our solar panels.

On our way, Sonny spotted a Colombian submarine that was headed out to sea.

We had planned on just staying in the water to get the welding done, but decided to go ahead and haul out to have Sigma look at our newly painted antifouling that is covered with small barnacles.

Joshue and his two brothers, David and Jerson arrived with our new bimini and it looked so big!   But, beautiful!   Joshue did a wonderful job on our project and we would highly recommend him to any cruiser.  He measured on the boat, went home to his back yard, and arrived with a perfect fit.  His telephone number is 315 832 5940.

Bianey and his brothers and cousins, Julio, Martin, and Johnny, were on-site ready to begin the welding.  What a great, professional group of guys.

Except.......for our bottom.   The Sigma bottom paint we correctly put on four months ago, is covered with barnacles.   So, we will have to re-do it.   We talked to the local Sigma representatives, who we bought the paint from, and, after talking to two additional levels of bosses, they said they would give us a discount if we purchased more Sigma paint.   But, we will never put Sigma paint on our bottom again after these results, and deal with a company that does not stand by its guarantee.  A note to cruisers, beware of Sigma paint.  Check out our results below after 4 months.

We also had our crew, Pedro and family, sand our barnacles off and we put on two gallons of Hemple antifouling paint.  Plan to splash tomorrow at noon.

\

After much hard work, Bianey and the crew have finished the stainless steel on our hard bimini and our stern rail and....it looks great! 

You can contact Bianey at 316 633 9418 in Cartagena.

 They worked very hard and we are very proud of our new bimini.

Thank you Joshue and Bianey & family for our wonderful bimini.

We also had Bianey make us a new stainless steel collar on our bow sprit that joins our forestay, whisker stay and bobstay.  Our old one had a hairline crack, and Bianey (Torres Brothers) did a great job on it.  They are excellent welders.  So, we installed it today and drilled more holes for our rod.

Esteban came this afternoon to measure for the dodger, but it was too windy to make a pattern.

Today was John's Birthday on S/V Calusa, so we joined John, Robin, and Chris for his birthday celebration in Old Town.  We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.   Such a nice treat for long work days lately.

Esteban came early this morning to make a pattern for our new dodger.

Then, we started drilling again on the rod in the stainless.  We broke the tap, so we, along with Chris and Monte, S/V Akka, walked to Home Center for a new one.  Of course, they did not have the size, so we changed sizes to 6/32 and bought new drill bits and screws.

On the way, we stopped at a shop and we both got haircuts.  It was $3,500 each.  Or, $1.75 in US money.  That includes shampoo.

After we got back to the boat, Monte helped Sonny drill the final 7 holes in the stainless.   Finally!   Finished with that project.     ☺

This morning, Sonny began mounting the solar panel control and Kay varnished.

Then...it was time to play.

  We walked to Old Town with Monte and Chris and enjoyed the sights.

Top of Page       or       On to Cartagena, May 2008        or   

"Don't Dream Your Life....

Live Your Dream".

Author Unknown