November 2010

11/1

We enjoyed the day with our friends, The Caballero family, in the Bay of Cholon.  We swam in the water and in the evening it was a group effort to make a paella.  I think this one was the very best!

It is made in a huge flat pan, that takes the effort of an artist for the delicious creation.  Tonight, they began with the milk of a coconut as a base and began adding the following ingredients:  garlic, onion, green peppers, carrots, green beans, peas, shrimp, calamari, and rice.

11/2

It rained and rained during the night, with more on the way.   But, a little rain does not stop cruisers.   We had planned a trip into Cartagena on Robert's Manatee leaving around 6:30 a.m.   There were 20 of us that went in to shop and run various errands during the day.   We were to meet back at the Manatee at 1:30 p.m. to return to our homes in the Bay of Cholon.

It was the perfect trip, except for one thing.....rain.   And, lots of it!  It lightly rained on us on our trip in, but the whole time we were in Cartagena, it poured.   The taxi drivers would not even let us in their taxis, we were so wet.  We ruined my little Olympus camera by getting it wet.  "Everything" was soaked.  The streets were so flooded you could not see the tall curbs.  It was just crazy, and....no camera for pictures. 

But, we managed to get everything done that we planned to do.   I had my blood work done around 10 a.m.  (They emailed me the results about 5 hours later).   Service, right?   We also purchased a pair of shoes for Sonny to wear on the plane for our return home.  And, we bought some groceries and prescriptions at the local grocery store.

But, we were soaking wet and freezing.   The trip back to Cholon was nice

After we returned to Valentina around 5:30 p.m. we made some tomato soup and turned the generator on to heat some hot water and took hot showers to warm up.

11/3

Today was visiting day on Valentina.   We had Damon and David come over on Bruadair, Bill and Pam on S/V Songbird, then Denis and Pam on S/V Glide.   It was a good day.

I made some Pumpkin Curry soup and Denis and Pam came over for lunch, then we played Baha Rummy until it was time to go to the Manatee for happy hour and get together with other cruisers.

11/4

We washed clothes, so they were able to dry in the strong wind before any rain came our way.   The only trick was keeping them on the line in the 20 knot winds.   I don't 'think' we lost anything overboard.

11/5

Another dreary, rainy, windy day.   The wind just howled and howled.  The rain continued to pour and even in the small Bay, we had whitecaps on the waves.

Due to the bad weather, we have not had cell phone or internet service for days.

About 2:30, a friend came out to Valentina telling us that a local woman, Maria, was having trouble breathing and needed to go to Baru to the clinic immediately.  The moto (motorcycle) taxi was not running on the road due to the rain and mud, and without phone service, they could not call a launcha to come get her, so they asked Sonny if he would take her in our dinghy.

So, Sonny picked her up with a friend, Carolina, and took them to Baru in the horrible weather to the clinic.

After he returned, we had Bill and Pam (S/V Songbird) over to teach them how to play Baja Rummy.   We had a fun night playing and laughing.

11/6

Early this morning, we changed the oil in the lower unit on the dinghy engine before the wind and waves picked up and then removed the broken card from the mainsail traveler.

We are beginning our shopping list from the US when we go next month.  And, it is already getting too big....imagine what you would need to purchase if you had not been shopping for your car, personal belongings, or home all year.  Not even one trip to WalMart.  What all would you need to get?  But, our suitcases are only so big.  ; )

11/7

Our grand- daughter

We are so proud of you!

We opened the hatches this morning, and, I see sunshine.  Just hopes it lasts today.

We even got the dinghy down today and Sonny was running around.

11/8

We are making a list of parts we need to replace.   Our traveler car on our mainsail has broken.  Of course, the company is no longer in business, so we are thankful for the internet for hunting down parts.

11/9

It continues to rain....on and off.    Sonny went over to the Manatee and hung out with Robert of the Executive Deck in between showers.

With the recent high wind and waves, a nice, large, power boat came into the Bay and got too close to the rocks at the point and capsized the boat.   All of the people are OK, they made it to shore safely.   But, the boat continued to slam on the reef for a day and had substantial damage.  Ouch!

Martha and Efrain came down today with some of their family, Antonio and Patricia from Cartagena.   Antonio made a special rice dish similar to paella that was, again, delicious.   It has a sweeter, Mexican flavor which reminded us of enchiladas in Texas.

Our plans, while she is down, are to make some curtains for her house here and do some other projects.

Antonio is something else.   He loves to cook and is fabulous.   After we had a late lunch, he prepared hamburgasitas.   They were small hamburgers with only meat and caramelized onions.   So good!

11/12

We have been wearing long sleeves and long pants because we are cold.  It is probably in the upper 70's.....  

11/13

While I still have the sewing machine unpacked, I made fender covers for our nasty, sticky fenders.   I have cleaned them with everything, and finally am giving up....just covering them.   So, that was today's project.

Our stuff is just worn out.   Everything.   The next victim is a spare camera I bought in the US two years ago.   I tried to take a picture and zoom, and it locked up.   After checking on the internet, and doing all the right things, we had DJ on S/V Hello World, a professional photographer, look at it, and sure enough, it is toast.   I added it to the pile.  So, we are holding our breath......before something else happens.

We are making a list....and it is getting long!

Sonny checked the batteries in the back lazarette and added water to them.  He also checked the packing gland, and, all is well.

Sonny began connecting a temperature gauge to the engine today.  He drilled the hole in the bulkhead and connected the sensors.  It even has an alarm to let us know if the engine is overheating.

I cleaned the stove, bathroom, and the enclosure in the cockpit.   Not too exciting, but needed to be done.

Just another windy day in paradise.  But, since this morning, no rain!  We are thankful.

11/16

The project of the day is:  our dinghy

Sonny will take the motor off,  clean the carburetor and rework the engine.   It has not been 'off' the dinghy since we bought it 3 1/2 years ago.  While we are away, we want to store the motor and dinghy so they will not be a temptation for thieves during the holidays.

Then, we need to clean the dinghy, which may take a few days.   Where is that automatic car wash when you need it?

11/18

Whew...made some good spaghetti today....and I swam in the water a while.

We are planning a Thanksgiving dinner up at Robert and Carmen's house.  Should have around 40 cruisers attend.

11/19

Oatmeal cookie day....very good!  It just takes a while in my small oven, but it is worth it.

Sonny emptied the diesel and gas jerry cans on the deck and stored the jerry cans away.

11/20

Sonny jumped in the water and cleaned on the bottom.   It had been a while and was needing some attention.   I swam around after my cake was done.

Tonight, we celebrated the birthdays of Kate (S/V Hello World) and Pam (S/V Songbird).

11/22

I went to the local grocery store and I also was able to buy some webbing at basurta to make a new awning .  Basurta is hard to explain.   It is a maze of wooden tables in an area covering several blocks where locals sell fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, and anything you need.  It is similar to an open air market.  But, Kate and I wandered through the maze and kept asking where we could buy some webbing and they just kept pointing us in the right direction.    Pretty amazing....but I bought 150' of it.  Perfect!

We had to hurry back to get to the launcha, as it was 9:45 and time for it to leave.   On our way back through the maze, I bought some pomellas, and oranges.

Tom and Patti (S/V Liberty) and their friend Jim arrived in the anchorage today.   It is so exciting when old friends pull into the anchorage.  We shared our first Thanksgiving cruising with Tom and Patti at Lighthouse Reef in Belize.  It was such a memorable holiday.  I volunteered to make a pecan pie, but I had never made a pie crust from scratch, so Patty made a pie crust for me.   I cannot count how many pecan pies I have made since.  

11/24

It's pie day ~ I started early this morning and made two pecan pies for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Then, I called around the anchorage on the VHF to see if anyone had any pie pans they were not using and borrowed three more pans, for a total of five pecan pies.

We jumped in the water and swam over to S/V Hello World and talked with Kate and Carol, who were also swimming in the water.

Three more boats arrived today for our Thanksgiving meal together.  They are S/V Makai, S/V Five Islands, and S/V Sunshine.  We will have over 40 people attend.

On the Manatee tonight, Bill and Pam (S/V Songbird), Kenny (S/V Makai) and Sonny played and sang.  It was such a special, magical evening.  There were over 40 people that came for the fun.

Sonny sang a special song to me that made me cry (and others in the crowd).   It was so tender and from his heart.  I am so blessed and thankful for him.

11/25

Thanksgiving Day.....we have so very much to be thankful for!   We are thankful every day for each other, for our family and friends, for our health, and so much more.  We have learned to take 'nothing' for granted.  Life is so precious and needs to be enjoyed daily.

 

"Thanksgiving Day comes once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow."          ~Edward Sandford Martin

I started early this morning toasting my bread in the oven for stuffing, when I ran out of propane.  So, Sonny had to get our tank refilled while I chopped onions and celery.

Back in business now....dressing is in the oven.

We all met on the dock, promptly at 12:30 p.m. and walked up to Robert and Carmen's house.  What a wonderful day we had.   There were probably around 50 people, lots of delicious Thanksgiving food, football, card games, fellowship and relaxing, enjoying the awesome view.

We had friends from the USA, Canada,  Colombia, Scotland, and South Africa share the day together.

 

Pam (S/V Glide) and Judy (S/V Fia) chose to start their dinner with pecan pie.   Dessert should 'always' come first.....because life is too short.

It was just an awesome day with very good memories.

11/26

11/27

Only four more days before we fly out...and lots of projects still to do.  Today we started early and unloaded the quarter berth to top off the water in the batteries.  So, we had to unload our garage once again.   While it was unloaded, Sonny disconnected the antenna tuner to our SSB radio.   Then, we pulled the wires and disconnected all of the radio.   We are taking it back with us for the necessary repairs at Icom in the US.

He filled the batteries in the lazarette and checked the packing gland.

11/29

We will have everything turned off on the boat and use the two small solar panels to keep the batteries charged while we are gone.  We have outside solar lights for night.

We decided to have Timbo, our local friend, sleep in our cockpit at night while we are gone, for added security.   We will sleep better at night in Texas.

11/30

We woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get everything ready on Valentina to catch the water taxi at 5:30 for the hour ride into Cartagena.

 It was a rough ride into Cartagena with several stops.

Our friends Antonio and Patricia had invited us to stay in their home for the night when we were in Cartagena.  They are wonderful Colombian people.  So genuinely gracious and hospitable.

Patricia is an orthodontist and we had our teeth cleaned at her office today and ran around town getting last minute items for our stay in the US.

This evening, we went to Boca Grande to Dr. Gilberto and Martha's to have dinner with them before we leave.  They are very special friends.

We look forward to our visit in Texas with our family and friends.  Cannot wait to hug and kiss on our grandbabies.....well, some of our nine grandchildren are teenagers.  Oh well, they will get embarrassed but will get hugs and kisses.