Aruba II

We've been here nearly two weeks. So far we have diagnosed, we believe, the steering problem and the reason the generator quit. The steering required a new helm pump for $900+; the generator a rebuild with parts for about the same price. Add the labor to this at $40/hr. And we're in it up to our necks, even before tax season. Ya, ya, we're living the life, but paying I for it, too.

Our view of the downtown and cruise terminal at Oranjestad. Next to us are Tom and Susan on Adina from London, UK. They are waiting for parts and a weather window for Cartagena, too.

We had a joke with Sand Groper in Culebra that they could check out but couldn't leave. Now the shoe is on the other foot with Hotel California here.

California Lighthouse

Looking for the green flats (none: too hazy) from the restaurant (great but pricy) at the lighthouse.

Here are a few scenes from the north side (windward) of Aruba: 25 mph winds, very rough seas and desolate with no trees, few cacti and thorny shrubs. The roads are all dirt with one place that was covered by deep sand. Of course, we got stuck and had to beg help from a passing Canadian (Mannatoba) to bodily push us out(small car, T.G.). And this is the famous Aruban natural bridge (now collapsed). It's at the and on the dirt road that started at the California Lighthouse and wound down the rugged north coast past the gold smelter/refinery (also defunct).

 

 

That's the top of the x-bridge in the center, left of the red car and at the end of the asphalt.

Incredible winf and WAVES.

 

This a shot SW towards Oranjestad and Santa Cruz from the highest point on Aruba (Jamanota) near the Arikok National Park. Isn't high enough to capture the clouds, thus very little rain on this semi desert island

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Highest point with Linda next to car.

The marina has worked a deal with the Renaissance Beach Hotel for us to use the hotel's private island (and all other amenities) located a little east of here at the foot of the international airport.

Yup, flamingos!

View from the private island back towards Oranjestad. The hotel and marina are just off the ship's bow and past the white cruise terminal building. The airport is hard right over the mangroves.

This is Niki Beach between the hotel and the airport. It's where cruisers are told they can anchor after they clear in at Barcadera two miles further east past the smoldering (looks like a lava flow at night), smokey eye-sore dump.




We've ordered the generator parts. They'll have to be ordered by Mastry in Florida from Yanmar USA (could take as short a time as a week depending on weather conditions in Atlanta), then another week by FedEx from FL who doesn't know where Aruba is. Took them a week to find us last time (helm pump). So, we'll be here awhile. Anyone interested in getting away from the weather "up north"? COME ON DOWN!!!

 

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Aruba

On 1/9/14 we left Curaçao for Aruba to stage for Columbia just 96 nm away. The overnight sail was without incident save the continuing rudder/steering problems. Once here, I changed out the starboard rudder ram hoping that would take care of all our problems. Well, NOT! as we soon learned. Linda injured her ribs climbing up the truck tires suspended over the edge of the 7 ft. high pier at Barcadera where we had to present ourselves with boat papers and passports to Customs and Irritation. The pain really set in the next day, so I hope that means nothing broken, just torn. The pain is subsiding daily to where today she reports, "Better, thank you."

So, back to the steering. Last Thursday, we took off in a pretty good weather window for Bahia Honda, Columbia. 20 minutes out and it was obvious that the rudders were not fixed. We bid "Adieu" to Rob and Lauren on Southers Comfort and turned tail and fled back to Rennaissance Marina at Oranjestad where we hoped to find a pro to fix the problem once and for all. Well, I think we did. At lease we noodled the problem away from the rams to a leaking master cylinder at the helm. Seems the part that "never" fails, FAILED. It's a plastic (go figure) plug than with a spring holds a ball bearing in place above the delivery line port. And there are two of them. Because they never fail, they are not available from the manufacturer or even their repair center. The repair center in Jacksonville, FL is trying to scrounge two up from a junked unit and will let us know (today?) if we have to buy a new pump for $1,000+ from West Marine who'll ship it here for the princely sum of just $196.00. Repairs in exotic places at exotic prices: oh, joy and rupture.

In the mean time, Rob and Lauren decided to sail straight thru to Cartagena by the most direct route (staying off shore instead of hugging it.) WRONG!!! Seems the winds (upwards to 33 kts.) and seas (upwards to15+ ft.) we're horrific, beating them nearly senseless. Topping this was poor and errored navigation data which nearly ran them aground at Puerto Velero: they saw the breakers and the shallows in time to start the engine and run back out. The point was nearly a mile too short on the chart. Two other boats, Alibi and Celtic Rover, both got hammered, too, with CR taking a huge wave over the bow that swept into the cockpit and down the companionway into the salon. Both arrived in Cartagena alive and afloat. Rob's advise is stay on the 100 ft. depth line hugging the coast and pull in most every night to rest. The Columbian Coast Guard is very friendly when they see your papers are in order: a zarpe (a ticket out of the country you were just in), passports, and your registration. DO THE TRIP IN 3-4 days, NOT STRAIGHT THRU. Of course, we'll follow his advise explicitly.

Just waiting to get the H... out of here! You can checkout, but you can't leave.




 

Med moored at Rennaissance. They pushed us in against the wind with a dingy and tied us up to the dock stern in.

Oranjestad looking W towards the cruise ship terminal (on the left).

 

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It Starts - Curaçao

We started The Great Adventure II ( TGA II) only to have the auto pilot go on the fritz 5 miles from the start. So, we turned tail and went West to Sunbay Marina in Fajardo for repairs. It turned out to be fortuitous in that we sold on eBay our old Volvo Penta engines to a guy in Florida. Getting them there is turning into another story because the shipper has classified them as dangerous/hazardous cargo: diesel and oil, ya know. We're working our way thru this and hopefully they'll wend their way to FL next week.

We spent New Years in Culebra (we took the ferry over from Fajardo: as "seniors" it's $2 round trip each!) with fellow cruisers Roni and James Redman on their catamaran Harlequinn on a ball behind the reef at Dakity. We went to Susie's for a lovely dinner together with another cruising Australian couple, Bruce and Gina on Wyuna, and then toured downtown Dewey with at least 2,000+\- Puerto Ricans who came over for the week. Loud, loud, loud... I guess we are getting too old to appreciate the pressing crowds and blaring music. We took the fast ferry at 1 pm back to Sunbay to do the final prep for our departure.

January 2, 2014, 3 pm marks the real beginning of TGA II when we pulled out of the Sunbay slip, having said our "Adios" to Doña Olga, and headed SW for Curaçao 420 nm and, as it turned out, 60 hours away. We motored to the entrance of Roosevelt Roads, turned into the wind (25 kts) in 4 ft seas, put the main up bumping up and down, turned to course 206 ( SW) and out ran the wind within a half hour. We poked along as the sun set in the West, chasing a rain squall that came off Viegues. The wind finally picked up towards morning along with the seas. They remained generally 20-25 kts and 6-8 ft with spurts up to 35 kts and down to 6 kts (infrequently, I might add). It was a lumpy, bumpy sail most of the way.

Sailing at night with no moon is a little spooky and tricky when all you can see is the bow and the stars. We run the radar sweep at 36 miles and the AIS (Automatic Ident. System) which tracks ships (required if over 100 tons) that have it. Linda likes to sit at the helm watching the read-outs: radar, AIS, course, boat speed, and wind speed. There is a possibility she'll see lights, but not likely. My watch consists of checking everything, then setting the kitchen (galley) timer for 30 minutes and then snoozing on the settee sitting up. When the timer goes off, I come back to the helm, chech everything to include a look for lights and sail trim, then back down again for another 30 minutes.

Two days in and the starboard (right) rudder worked its way out of alignment. What this meant is that when the wind gusted Kuhela would turn East into the wind and stall. What I did was to run the port engine to pusher around and back onto course. This along with reefing the jib (rolling it in a foot or so) and letting the main out helped to keep us going more or less on our track. At 2 am we saw the light from Bonaire and at 3 am the smaller light on our port side from Oostpunt, the Eastern point of Curaçao. We took down the sails and motored into the sunrise (good timing, what!) for Spanish Waters and Southern Comfort who had left a week before us). An armada of boats was coming at us, so much so that we turned away from the coast to get out of the partyrush eastwards. Unbeknownst to us there was a First Sunday on the New Year jamboree at Fulkbaai (bay) where most Curasaowins hang out drinking in the shallows, listening to two rated bands, and just having a goot time. Most of the boats were quite small (under 20 ft) stuffed with people all dressed in bright red life jackets. There couldn't have been 4" of freeboard. In fact we saw one boat swamped when a large trawler hammered them with its prodigious wake. Just like PR, and the US, few "sailors" have any sailing knowledge or training. The partygoers were all fine.

We motored in the narrow changed flonked by a large, squat restore with a pier along the short on one side and a brown and bushy hill on the other. The streaming of boats never diminished as they went around us and the Antillean Coast Guard boat skulking in mid channel. Hard to starboard at the head of the channel, and there was Southern Comfort hailing us on the VHF (radio)! Pulled in close by on Rob's advise and splashed 125 ft of anchor rhode in 30 ft of water. Backed down hard to set the anchor for the prevailing winds (gusting to 35 kts) and "Bob's your uncle": end of leg one.

Monday morning with Rob and Lauren as guides - they had spent a Huricane Season here two years ago - we boarded the 9 am bus for Willemstaad and Customs and Irritation which went smoothly but slowly: now we're legal, but must check out with both when we leave.

Speaking of leaving, seems when our generator was put in an anti-siphon loop wasn't installed. So, when I cranked the engine two weeks ago and it didn't start I sucked salt water into the cylinders. Kaput! We'll be here two more weeks to have the engine repaired at $55/hr. Rob and Lauren will leave Saturday night for Aruba to stage for Cartegna.

On the plus side of the ledger, we repaired the chain stripper on the anchor windlass, repaired the sat phone antenna lead, re-wired the A/C side of the panel (new buss bars for positive, neutral, and ground), had the generator motor repaired and a new solenoid attached, and re-fueled. Did I say we live in a caustic environment? But, we do get to make these repairs in exotic places at exotic prices!

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