We got back to PR and Culebra June 10. Our tip to central Florida - we stayed with Jackie and Duane Williams - was successful: doctor appointments seemed to work for both of us; money was well spent at West Marine and Harbor Freight; the kids were all fine as were the g-kids and mother-in-law; the "Hood" was open-armed and gracious; and the weather was mostly good. As some like to say, "A good time was had by all." While we were lounging around, Jim Alimi, Zoya, was refinishing our interior saloon woodwork. He did such a great job we hired him to redo our saloon cushions, too. Wow, what a difference. You'll love the sight if you ever stop by.
After our return we waited a week trying to fix the dingy which has sprung the seams that glue the pontoons to the hard bottom. In other words the glue failed and it leaks water, not air, like a sieve. No amount of 5200 (sealant that dries in 24 hrs.) seems to do, so I found the 5-year guarantee (thank God!) and took the collapsed sinker in to the repair shop in Carolina (San Juan) in a rental pickup. Of course this necessitated sailing back to Fajardo on a lovely downhill run in squally weather, where we took up residence again in SunBay Marina. We were greeted as long lost family by Doña Olga, the owner and manager. What a place: single slip pricing (we usually have to pay 1.5X or 2X 'cause our 28' beam takes up more than a single slip), free water, free electricity, free Wi-Fi and Cable, and patrolling security: almost too good to be true.
Debbie and Rick Lehto, Miss Heidi, came back with us, but are staying at Puerto del Ray Marina S of us by a few miles: much more expensive and far less friendly and secure. They are having warranty work done, too, on their transmission. Seems when the new one was put in no one looked – and who would – to see that the drain plug was put in correctly. We've also made a few runs to dinner, Wal-Mart and COSTCO together since.
We have been thru three tropical waves (basically windy rain storms lasting less than 24 hours) to date and have not made up our minds what we'll do for the rest of the season: stay put in PR; sail around PR, SVI, USVI, and BVI; or head back S slowly towards Grenada. We want to be close to Salinas in case we have to duck into the mangroves at Lobos 'cause of a hurricane alert. I think we can make it back in plenty of time from the Leewards or Windwards which are basically "full" and no good places to hide left. Linda feels they're too far off. We both agree that the PR, SVI, USVI, BVI sail plan is doable. We'll keep talking.
While waiting for Zodiac to make up their minds – fix or replace, and we're sure it'll be fix and a 1 year warranty – we've been doing projects. We installed a HDTV, Dri-Decked the cockpit in Kuhela green, set up a wireless network with a 1 terabyte (remember 16 byte computers from Texas Instruments?) wireless hard drive, put in a security camera, ordered more paintballs and cayenne pepper balls with 200 round hopper for my long barrel paintball pistol, ordered an ozone generator, and cleaned, straightened, cleaned, straightened, cleaned...
