October 1-9, 2001 -- Weather Woes and Running The dominant focus for this week was the fact that there were two different systems that had great potential to form up into tropical systems to the east of the island chain. Sure enough, both systems formed up. First, was Tropical Storm Iris. She formed north of 10.5 north, so we weren't overly concerned about her. We kept an eye on her though. During the week, we worked with Ron on Jackobite to back his system down from Windows 2000 Professional to Windows 98. That took up the greater part of a week because we needed to get the special driver set for his computer. Iris passed the island chain well north of us. Unfortunately, she dragged up the ITCZ which spun out a bunch of thunder storms to the south of Grenada. It got very rolly in Prickley Bay for about 2 days. Then, the tropical wave at 40 degrees formed into a tropical depression. It formed up at 10.4 degrees north. We watched and waited. We called a halt to all work we were doing on the boat, and spent the next two days getting the boat ready to move and listening to the weather. The initial forecasts were very optimistic. The system would hit tropical storm strength quickly, but it would also head north of Grenada, in fact, well north of Grenada at Martinique. The system hit tropical storm strength and became Jerry. It was not moving north very fast, and by the time that Saturday, October 6 rolled around, its track was forecast to pass just north of Grenada. We became very concerned. On Sunday October 7, we decided to run. The forecast storm track had now dropped to passing over the north end of the island in less than 48 hours. It was also forecast to be at hurricane strength. We left Grenada at 7:30 AM AST ( 1130 GMT). We weren't holding anything back. We pushed the engines a little and averaged 10.3 knots for the first 8 hours. The last weather update we paid attention to was just before we had Los Testigos in sight. That forecast put the storm track a little bit further north again, crossing through the Grenedines. The system had sped up slightly, and was loosing cohesion. We passed Los Testigos about an hour to late, otherwise we would have stopped there for the night. Unfortunately, the sun set so we had to keep moving. At this point, we were definitely safe from the storm, so we dropped the engines back to idle and motored through the night. We arrived in Porlamar, Margarita about 6:30 AM AST (1030 GMT). We dropped anchor, and stayed up long enough to talk to folks back in Grenada. The storm had made a sharp turn north and the highest wind our friends had was about 15 knots! Once we were sure everyone there was safe, and everyone knew we were safe, we sacked out for a few hours. After we woke up, we moved the boat up behind Blind Date and dropped the dinghy. That evening, we had dinner with Beaujolais, Miss P, and Stargazer. Miss P and Stargazer were in Los Testigos the night before. We had chatted with them briefly and had met them in Grenada. Some people have asked us why we left. Some people have asked us if we would do it again. There are two short answers to this. First, we left because we had the speed to get out of the way safely. As to whether we would do it again, the answer is yes, if we had to we would do it again. However, our goal is not be in that situation again. Next year, if we are still in the Caribbean, our plan will be to spend hurricane season in Margarita

Since we got here, everyone has been telling us that we needed to see Simone for a dinghy cover to protect the tubes from the sun. So, today was our day, along with several other people. We took our dinghy in for the preliminary measurements for the cover, engine cover and tube covers. This doesn't sound like a complicated process. It is. The dinghy dock extends our almost 200 feet from shore. It does this for a reason. Beyond about 50 feet from the end of the dock, the water becomes to shallow to run the engine on any dinghy. So, we pulled the dinghy up to the end of the dock. I hopped out and Mike stayed in the dinghy. We pulled it around the T head, and dragged the dinghy up to the beach via the dock. I would pull on the dinghy painter line and Mike would push out from the dock. As I would pull forward, the dinghy would come back towards the dock. Mike would push out, I would pull forward, repeatedly. Finally Mike got out of the dinghy and we pushed and pulled and got it beached. Simone came out and did the preliminary measurements. If you ever watched him, you would think that the cover he made would never fit. We watched in consternation as they pulled out magic markers, plastic and scissors. They laid the plastic on the dinghy, and trimmed it on the outside. On the inside, they took a magic marker and made seemingly haphazard approximate marks as to where the tubes ended and the hull began. We got back to the boat around 1:30 PM AST or so. We had been up there since 9:30 in the morning. Mike was overheated, so we didn't do anything else today. On October 11, we continued working on varnish. We went to the Brazilian restaurant for a late lunch with a large group of people, and then wandered around with Ashley and Carol from Blind Date for the afternoon. On October 12, we worked on varnish in the morning. After finishing the work on the boat, Micki from Beaujolais, Jerry from Stargazer and I went into town. I needed some new shorts, and T-shirts as well as a new pair of Tevas. Mike also needed shorts, but opted to let me buy for him. I got back to the boat in time to nap before we spent the evening up at Jak's Restaurant for dinner and drinks. On October 13, we went into town to exchange Mike's shorts for a larger size. Then we went to the computer store we had seen while wandering around with Ashley and Carol. We were in search of a mopier since our printer had died. While we were in town, we ran into the owner of the restaurant who invited us to a BBQ the next day. We continued wandering around town, unfortunately we never did find a mopier. We returned to the boat to spend a quiet evening. On October 14, I went to the BBQ while Mike spent a quiet day on the boat. We traveled to a house in San Juan, about 25 minutes from Porlimar. The house was magnificent. It was an open air house/compound. The kitchen had walls on only two sides! The stairs were all open construction. And there was this tree. It had a cave in the center of it, naturally formed! The place is just beyond description. On October 15, we went on a tour of the island with Miss P and Stargazer. The first half of the day was pretty interesting. However, the second half left something to be desired. After all, how many beaches and hotels can you look at? On October 16, we had our preliminary cover fitting. See above for getting the dinghy ashore! After we finished that, we returned to the boat and did varnish work. On October 17, we spent the day cleaning the boat and doing maintenance items. On October 18, we went to the Mangrove area on Margarita with Miss P, Stargazer, Blind Date, and Beaujolais. We did a tour of the mangroves, then spent the day at the beach playing the surf and looking for clam beds. On the trip back, we took a different route through the mangroves and were treated to an entirely different scenic view. We saw star fish, sea horses, and other aquatic type animals. On October 19, Mike had a sinus headache. We also had the secondary fitting for the dinghy cover. Usually it only takes two; however, we wanted clear pockets sewn into to the cover for our name boards and numbers, so they had to fit it then mark where the clear pockets would go. After we did that, we returned to the boat and had a quiet day. Mike wasn't feeling up to going to Mexican night, so I went alone and spent a few hours up there before coming back to the boat. On October 20, we saw Coos and Martha from Orca. They had arrived yesterday. Our dinghy cover was completed and put on today, well mostly. The rail covers still needed to be completed. They promised that tomorrow morning they would be done. Mike's headache was still there, so we spent another quiet day on the boat. This is just part of the arrival cycle we have. Each island has its own pollens and irritants that we need to get used to. So, one of us almost always gets a sinus headache after we have been in a new island for a week or so. On October 21, the rail covers were installed! Our dinghy cover was officially done! When Simone finished, we dropped him off at Stargazer to look at the problems with the sail cover that Simone had made them. In the afternoon, we went in to play dominoes

After having played off and on for a week, we finally settled down to pay attention to a number of small projects and maintenance items that we needed to get caught up on. Of course, this didn't mean that we didn't have fun as well. For this evening, we went to dinner with Couss and Martha from Orca and John and Jerry from Stargazer. We had heard quite a bit about a restaurant and bar called Cheers. So, we decided to go there for dinner. We arrived around 7:00 PM. The dining room wasn't even open yet! So we started the evening with a few cocktails at the bar before we were seated. The food was excellent though the service wasn't spectacular. It was Monday night and early at that. However, the company was fantastic and it was an enjoyable evening. On October 24 and 25, we stayed aboard the boat again doing minor chores, maintenance and projects. On October 26, we spent the day completing odds and ends of several long running projects. In the evening, we decided that we would go to Jaks for dinner. After finishing dinner, we joined Robert from Iwi, Ron from Sula, Richard and Wes from a boat at the Hilton marina, and Mark and Winni from another boat for drinks. We closed Jaks, and then went over to the Pescador to watch the live entertainment. Over all, it was a fun evening. Though I have to wonder what it is about the Spanish speaking islands that love bad Canadian lounge singers! On October 27, we spent a quiet day and then headed to Blind Date for dinner. It was a wonderful evening. On October 28, we spent the morning cleaning the boat, and the afternoon playing dominoes. On October 29, Windom showed up, coming in from Trinidad with a stop over in the Testegos. Mike and Patty from Galadrial came over from Peurto La Crus, where their boat is on the hard with the bottom drying out. When they had to return to the U.S. Ashley and Carol volunteered to cat sit for them. They planned to pick the cat back up after their boat went back in the water. Since it was still on the hard, they hadn't picked the cat up in 3 months! So ostensibly, they were coming to visit the cat! We all went to Jaks for dinner and drinks and had a great evening. On October 30, we went into town to wander a little bit and do a bit of shopping. Now, this may not sound like a big deal; however, it is more complicated than it sounds. To do a major grocery shopping can take all day. Take a simple grocery list that contains cough syrup, aspirin, isopropyl alcohol, lettuce, tomatoes, and assorted salad fixings, milk, bacon, bread, eggs, tortillas and shredded cheese. It is a fairly simple list right? Well, here in Margarita, to get the aspirin, and cough syrup, you have to go to the pharmacy. To get the alcohol, milk, bacon and bread is one grocery store, the eggs, tortillas and shredded cheese is a second grocery store on the other side of town, and the lettuce, tomatoes and salad fixings are at a third grocery store, unless you go early in the morning in which case you can get them at the rabbit market. Considering that the average temperature here is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, cold things must be taken to the boat after purchase. Shopping is an all day affair! On October 31, we puttered around on the boat before going to Jaks for dinner and her Halloween party. It was a fun evening