November 07-13, 2003 -- Los Aves

November 7-13, 2003 -- Los Aves On November 7, The Starboard engine was running hot on the trip here, so we checked the seacock and sea strainer. The strainer was partially clogged. We cleaned it, and checked the water flow on the engine. It appears to be putting out more water. Next we blew up spot, and put the engine on. It was seized. We were able to unseize the engine and got the engine started. Unfortunately, while testing out the engine, it stopped and would not restart. We checked everything, and the black box has died. So much for snorkeling today. We had dinner on Blind Date, it was a lovely evening. On November 8, We went out snorkeling with Blind Date. We piled in to Precious (Blind Date's dinghy) and headed for the north end of the barrier reef. Unfortunately, we had to cut our snorkeling trip short because of rain headed toward the boats. We spent a quiet afternoon. Carol and Ashley came over after the rain stopped and we went for a quick picture trip on Long Island, where they have a sign that indicates Jak's Restaurant 240 NM! We took pictures for Jak and for us. When returned from that, we started getting the boat ready to move to Barlovento, about 10 miles away. There wasn't much to do, but it is always a good thing to give the boat a once over before you move it. On November 9, we moved from the Aves de Sotavento to Aves de Barlevento. After we got in, we dropped the tender and then I picked up Carol, Ashley and Bo (the cat) and we went for a tour of the mangroves and saw lots of Boobies. Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons that had a whitish bird that flew well, but always crashed when it landed? I think that the cartoon bird is based on these birds. They really can't land! We saw several little ones that we thought were dead; however, they were just hanging their heads over the side of the nest sleeping. After touring the boobies, we went to Amphritrite for a visit and to invite them to cocktails. They were planning to go to the reef early in the morning, so they declined our invitation. That evening, we had cocktails with Blind Date on Nightwinds. On November 10, soreness caught up with Mike from moving the boat. There are so many muscles that you don't use normally that are used to keep you level when the boat is underway. After moving the boat a hundred miles on open ocean over the past two weeks, we were a little sore and decided to take a rest day. I went for a swim and a snorkel to check out our anchor and make sure it was well set, and then to check out the small patch of coral that formed a protective edge to the lagoon we were in. On November 11, we went snorkeling with Blind Date. We tried two different sites. We saw some interesting fish and some coral heads. The current was very strong so it tuckered us out. We were back on the boat by noon. We watched a movie and napped the day away. On November 12, my day started very early when Mike woke me up saying that there was lightening about. He must have been talking in his sleep because he was snoring again by the time I got out of bed. So, I headed top sides to take a look around and to check the radar. I saw a 60+mile line squall that was about 6 miles to the south of us. I wasn't too concerned because the wind was blowing out of the North East. I watched the spectacular lightening show for about 45 minutes while keeping an eye on the squall. It moved in to about 4 miles off when Mike got up and joined me. About 10 minutes later, we felt the tell tale signs that a squall was about to strike. The temperature fell by several degrees, and the wind picked up. It wasn't long before we had a full fledged wind reversal. The wind got up to 30 knots blowing out of the west. Not being comfortable on a lee shore, we reanchored toward the middle of the little bay that we were in. The boat was rolling back and forth for much of the day. We couldn't do much else so we popped another movie in and waited for the roll to subside. On November 13, I was in the forward part of the boat, when I heard the windless running. It turned out that the hand control unit had developed some kind of short so we changed the hand control unit out. It was rainy off and on all day, so we decided not to move on to Cayo de Agua. We stayed on the boat and didn't do much.