Log 44H Bottom Paint, and Dolphins - to Medregal Village

Written at: Medregal Village, Golfo de Cariaco, Venezuela. September 9, 2007

From the camber at Navimco we weighed anchor next morning at 0830 to enter the haulout slip, bow on. There were workers to help with our lines and to help us haul Wave Dancer 100 yards into the yard near our allotted hard stand. Once we paid the bill (before the work was even started!) the travel lift was along shortly, the straps secured with no problems, and we were hauled out, moved into the yard and six triangular blocking stands secured Veleda before the straps were removed. We were on the hard!

Trying to hook up to shore power was a problem! We had an extension cord that would reach over to their electrical station, and it had standard three pronged North American plugs, which we could adapt into our ship's power cord. However, their plug did not seem to be operational and a couple of workers made a jury rig directly wiring in the socket. When Judy climbed over the stern rail, she got an electrical shock. We disconnected. The workers then attached a ground wire to our shaft, pounding a steel rod into the hard caked surface. We tried again, and the reversed polarity light came on, but we had seen that before and things still worked OK. However this time when we opened the master switch on Veleda, the breaker on the battery charger immediately clicked off. We then smelled a burning wire and a bit of smoke emanated from the electrical panel. I shut off the master switch and disconnected the power cord. Judy was afraid we had a fire in the electrical panel, and we had the fire extinguisher ready as we opened the panel. No fire. The workers wanted to try another connection, but we said, "No thanks!"

We were now stranded on the hard with no way to recharge our batteries. The main implication of this situation was that our frozen and refrigerated food would last only a few days, as our refrigeration operates from the batteries only. We also did not know what damage was done to our electrical system or our battery charger. (When the engine is running, the batteries are charged directly from the alternator, but of course we could not operate our engine while on the hard.)

The workers power-washed Veleda's bottom and scraped it in preparation for the bottom paint. We initially planned to do it ourselves, but the price was so economical we had the boatyard do it for us. However, as we also wanted the waterline stripe painted, we went around the hull sanding and scraping the waterline, the shaft and the propellor. We noted several osmosis blisters, a few of which were breaking open, leaking fluid. We opened them up, dried and sanded them, and filled with epoxy paste which we sanded down when dried. Next haulout we will have to have an osmosis treatment done on the hull. We borrowed a power cord from Ready for Takeoff, a large 100 foot motor yacht on the hard beside us. Steve was most helpful and invited us over for drinks that evening. We were able to use our sander and drill to finish the preparations for painting, and we even hooked it up to our power system (with the battery charger turned off) allowing us to use the electrical plugs on board for the computer and lights.

That evening we enjoyed Steve's hospitality on board Ready for Takeoff, together with Joe and Diane from Moon Goddess, also on the hard the other side of us. We were impressed by this condominium sized power yacht. Behind the main bar was a backlit aqua green and crystal white glass mural of a mermaid, her long green and white hair draped strategically across her voluptuous chest, her curved scaled tail resting on a sea-washed rock. Steve took us on a tour of his vessel. The four of us just shook our heads at the size and shore side layout of things. We are accustomed to boats that heel and plunge in the seas with all things built in tied down or otherwise secured from falling over. This floating condo had a full size stand up domestic refrigerator, microwave and electric stove, a dinning room table and chairs not bolted down, a king-size bed with bedside tables on each side, a walk-in engine room with 250 horsepower engines, 500 gallon water tank, and 500 gallon fuel tanks. The size just blew our minds, coming from a 32 and a 40 foot sail boat. Our fuel tank in Veleda is only 28 gallons and our two water tanks hold only 55 gallons. Needless to say with a boat's name of Ready for Takeoff, Steve was a pilot. He was also a very good host.

Next day, was busy painting. In the morning we taped the upper and lower sides of the waterline stripe, and painted it. Judy put a smooth coat of clear antifouling laquer-type paint on the propellor. In the afternoon we removed the tape, and re-taped the lower waterline stripe ready for the hull bottom painting which they did late afternoon. We supplied all the materials, rollers, brushes, paint trays, and even the bottom paint. We wish we had bought the bottom paint with us from Grenada, as there was not much choice at this boat yard, and it was as expensive or more so than U.S. prices, with less choice. We bought an economical red bottom paint for $108.00 U.S. a gallon, as they had no blue to match our previous coats, and any other paint would have cost over $200.00 U.S. a gallon. As it was the cost of the labour was less than the cost of the bottom paint.

That late afternoon we went over town for the first and only time near Cumana with Joe and Diane for a meal at a local restaurant. We were advised to go straight out the gate and up one block before turning left or right, as the boat yard is located in the middle of a barrio that would not be safe to transit day or night. The next street up was a main thoroughfare with several bus routes that go into down town Cumana, and had several stores and restaurants for the local community, at local economic prices. A half chicken with chips and salad cost less than. $2.00 Canadian. As we strolled the busy street we greeted the locals with "Hola" and "Buenas tardes", to which most happily responded. However, we still got back well before dark.

Next day, a Saturday we were ready and were launched by 1030. We anchored out in the camber again, initially planning to stay there for the day while cleaning the boat up after the dirt from the yard. However as we had a west wind that would take us into the Golfo de Cariaco and down to Medregal Village, we weighed anchor and set off at 1230.

We had a pleasant run for an hour under full genoa only before the wind died. At 1400 we were visited by several large pods of Dolphin. I went aft and hauled in my fishing lines, then spent the next hour enjoying with Judy, up on the bow, the dozens of dolphin that came over to play around our bow wave. We could see them coming towards us from forward and aft, hundreds of yards away as they frolicked on the surface, gracefully cavorting out of the water singly and in twos and threes as they approached our bow. Judy was telling them how lovely they looked, clapping her hands and waving to them. It was as if they were putting on a performance for us and frequently as they glided by they would turn on their sides to get a better look at us. This was the largest visitation we have had in our ten years of cruising!

We could recognize several of them as they passed by repeatedly, by scars on their dorsal surfaces and for others by the small remoras which attached themselves to their flanks. We noticed several youngsters by their smaller size, sticking close to a parent. I took dozens of pictures, including three video clips, all of which came out remarkably well. We felt quite privileged by their visit. It made our day!

Four hours (21 nautical miles) after departing Navimco we anchored off Medregal Village (10 31.91N, 063 48.00W),which is not a village but a very pleasant resort which also caters to cruisers anchored off. We immediately went ashore to meet Dwight and Stephanie, who were enjoying the company of a few Russian petroleum engineers vacationing there.

Next log