January 10 - 17, 2005 - Rain and Work

We started out January 10 with all kinds of good intentions. So, we headed in to town to look for a few things we needed to work on the boat. Almost as soon as we got in, it started raining! So, we decided to go into the Internet cafe to do some research. The rain finally let up, and then tapered off, temporarily. We decided, instead of walking through town, we would get our oil and head back to the boat, and see if things cleared up later. At 1:15 PM, we left the boat to go up to Palm Beach, The area up there is pretty attractive, and they certainly have a lot of touristy stuff (of course, it would be the "high rise" hotel area up there!). We hopped off the bus when we thought we heard the bus driver announce Palm Beach. But no, I think he was announcing something about de Palm tours. So, we started walking. At the next set of tourist shops, we asked for directions. We set off for the shop we were looking for, but not before making a quick pit stop at McDonalds for french fries. We found the shop we were looking for, but they did not have the part we needed. However, they told us a shop downtown should have it, so we wound up going back, before coming back up again so we could complete our business with this shop. Once we had completed everything, we went to Tomato Charlie's for an early dinner. We had heard good things about this restaurant, but the pizza was nothing to write home about. I think we did more walking today than we have in a long time! On January 11, we had no ambition, so we had a lazy morning. After lunch, we headed in to town to visit the auto parts store we had seen. The place is supposed to be closed from 12 to 2, but at 2:30, the store was still closed! So, we crossed the street to check out a toy store, and to give the shop a chance to open back up. We spent almost 20 minutes in the toy store, and when we went back to the auto parts store, they were still closed! Giving up, we went back to the boat and spent a quiet evening. On January 12, we woke up with all kinds of ambition! We taped the fly bridge combing and the port toe rail. Mike put in a load of laundry. We were just finishing sanding when it started to rain, and proceeded to rain for several hours! Finally around 1:30 PM, it cleared up enough to get a coat on the fly bridge combing. That evening we went out to dinner with Kat and Marcy. We started at a Jamaican place for a drink and then went to Nos Canucu for dinner. On Wednesdays they do a buffet with traditional Arubian foods. It was pretty good, though a little salty. They also had a traditional dancing demonstration. It was a fun evening! On January 13, we finished taping and sanding the port toe rail. After that, we went into the Internet cafe to download updated drivers for our printer, and a few other things before returning to the boat to spend a quiet rest of the day and evening. On January 14, it actually didn't rain! We were able to get a coat of varnish on the port rail as well as on the fly bridge combing! Unfortunately, in the middle of varnishing, a strong gust of wind knocked over my varnish cup. So we had to stop, clean up and then continue. After we finished with that, we headed to the grocery store. That evening, we had a fun evening out at Jimmy's Place. On January 15, we didn't do anything. We spent a quiet day relaxing, and watching the rain. January 16 was a work day. After breakfast, we sanded the port rail and did two loads of laundry. Then we went to fix Tink's water pump. Unfortunately, the screw that needs to come out is stripping, and we can't get it loose! So, we wound up removing the water pump completely so we could take it in to a machine shop. In the afternoon, we were able to put a coat of varnish on the port rail. After that, we spent a quiet rest of the day. January 17 was run around town day. Our first stop was to the pharmacy for some stuff before stopping at Telestar to check on our chargers. The guy at Telestar asked us to call back after 1:30 PM, so we headed to Kooltemps machine shop to get the screw out of the pump. The woman behind the counter took the pump back to the workshop immediately and asked us to wait. About 10 minutes later, she came back with the machinist and our pump. Everything was done - No Charge. We spent a few minutes talking about the boat, and traveling before heading on to our next stop. We walked back to the main road in Dakota and waited for a bus to continue down to Blue Water Boat and Tackle in Balashi. We needed blue tape, varnish and now, a screw for Tink's raw water pump. Unfortunately, they didn't have the type of varnish we wanted, so we got option two. They also didn't have a screw for Tink. On the flip side, they had a few things at a reasonable price that we did need, so we got them. After we spent way to much money, we walked back to the bus stop and caught a bus back to Oranjestad. We were finally able to check out the auto parts store. It is an old fashioned one. From there, we stopped by a hardware store, and then had lunch at Burger King. After that, we returned to the boat and spent a quiet afternoon