12:28.93 N   70:00.03 W

Monday, October 26, 2009.

Another blissful day in Paradise.  Lots of swimming and reading, but NO DRAMA!   ANGEL is ready to depart Santa Cruz Bay bound for Aruba in the morning at 0400 (if we manage to manouevre around the three LARGE boats which arrived late and anchored right behind us!)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

It is days like this when we wish we had not hoped for “interesting” things to happen in order to make this blog appealing!  Not for us the daily “went swimming” or the occasional “played Mexican Train dominoes with friends”!

The day started very well, in fact.  The alarm awoke us at 0300 and the anchor was up promptly at 0400, as planned.  We prudently waited until KARA DREAM left so that we could motor through their vacated “parking spot”.  Thus we avoided any contact with the three new arrivals behind us.

We had the spinnaker pole and preventers all ready to set the sails for a “goose wing” formation and the engine was off within 15 minutes of raising the anchor.  We sailed all the way to Aruba with  only two sail changes and everything went smoothly (except for the very rolly waves).

At Barcadera, we helped guide PICKLES (one of our late arrival boats) through the maze to the customs dock.  The wind caght us at the dock and swept us around into the opposite direction to what we had planned to tie up.  That was embarrassing- but nothing fatal and would make exiting easier.

However, the more serious misadventure occurred on the way to the dock when we managed to turn off and then on again a switch, which we later learned should NEVER NEVER be done while the engine is on.  (We were attempting to turn on the bow thrusters at the time.  Unfortunately, the POWER switch was turned off/on instead.)  We did get the thrusters on in time for the rather ungraceful docking.

The REAL problem began when we tried to turn off the engine.  No problem, Dave turned it off manually in the engine room.  HOWEVER, there was a melted plastic smell permeating the boat and the engine could not be turned on again.

Accordingly, we are about to spend the night at the customs dock while we wait for Francis, an electrician, to come in the morning.  He, apparently, arrived shortly after we called him, but was turned back at the gates because he did not have appropriate identification to enter the yard.  The verdict will have to wait until tomorrow.

At least we won’t have to worry about theft tonight in this high security area AND the work at the gravel yard next door has ceased for the night AND we are, thankfully, UPWIND of the garbage dump!  Feeling a bit self-conscious with all the Venezuelan produce boats tied up around us, I took a lovely warm water shower INDOORS for the first time since we bought ANGEL (instead of on the deck).  As I write, the airport seems to have closed down for the night as well.  I have finished stitching up our Canadian flag, which tried to self-destruct on a piece of Velcro.  A good night’s sleep is just what we need!