Still here man
Fleck
Mon 1 Oct 2007 02:12
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Hi everyone,
Still here, on dry land, enjoying the filthy air
pollution from the refinery, and the unswimable water in Piscareda Bay,
Curacao.
Turns out that the refinery was originally built
and owned by Shell. According to the locals Shell up and left when the whole
plant became uneconomic, and left the place deserted. It would have cost the
Island a fortune to dismantle the Plant (it really is massive) so they rented it
to a Venesualian Company. They don't maintain the plant properly, but the Island
can't seem to get rid of them either. Only the developed world can afford to
worry about pollution, but you should see what it has done to the stainless
steel fittings on my mast, and I have been breathing this stuff for two weeks
now.
My ship is almost ready for the sea, and I hope to
launch on tuesday. Plan to sail to Aruba next Monday with Dutch friends. Just
need to put the engine back together, get some gas fittings for propane and get
some new batteries: it's all going to happen any day now, or so they keep
promising!!
Tonight we dinghied down to the bay entrance and
swam off the Hilton hotel's private beach. This is what Caribbean Hols are
about. A big hill diverts the pollution to our marina, so no smells at all on
the coast (the trade winds allways blow in the same direction) so the
flown in holidaymakers are quite oblivious to the Islands problems. The swim was
lovely, the water is really warm: even warmer than in the Windward and Leeward
Islands. There is a small hurricane out there somewhere, but we are not
expecting it here.
Hope to have news of some progress by next
week,
Love, best wishes, yours sincerley etc
Richard
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