January 24 was not a good work day. After breakfast, we cut down the screws we bought at the hardware store on Saturday. Unfortunately, it turned out that they were the wrong thread, so we still need to buy screws! So, we showered, and then went to Sari Fundy's to catch the grocery bus. We got out at Napa to try to get a few things. Unfortunately, we struck out all around!
We started walking towards Budget Marine when a car pulled over. The driver asked if we wanted a lift to the other Napa in Zeelandia since he was headed there. He had been in Napa at the same time we were, and had told him that he could get what he wanted at Zeelandia as well. We thanked him for the offer, but could not take him up on it.
We checked in Budget for the screw, but they didn't have it. At this point, we split. Mike went to Dijtham, while I went to the grocery store. He found the right screw, and then joined me in the grocery store.
We returned to the boat, and put our groceries away. We went right to work on the water pump. While I cut off the bolt, Mike worked on getting the old mechanical seal out. It came out in pieces and unfortunately, we ruined one seal before we discovered that the outside part of the seal still needed to be removed. Once that was out, we tried for an hour to get the new seal in before finally accepting defeat. We needed a machine shop to press the new seal in place. We had dinner, and then went in to happy hour. It was fun catching up with friends we haven't seen in months!
January 25 was another not good work day. After breakfast, I went over to Sol to talk with Hans about the parts we needed for the chargers. He had one part, so I came back and we worked on one of the chargers. We hooked it up, and nothing happened! Because there was some damage on the circuit board, we tried the same part in the other charger. It also did not work! At that point, we quit working! We spent the rest of the day doing nothing.
January 26 was a busy day. Mike woke me up around 5:00 in the morning, when Mike told me that he was having problems starting Ling-Ling. We did some testing on the generator, and diagnosed the problem as being the fuel stop solenoid. We just put this part on 3 months ago!
We took Tink's waterpump with us so we could find a machine shop and get the seal pressed in after going to the American Consulate. We took the 7:00 bus downtown so we would have time to have breakfast at McDonalds (you know, we have to keep our energy up) before trying to find a bus to get us close to the American Consulate. The information booth told us to take the "Rond" bus. However, when we talked to the driver, he said that was not correct. One of the local people who recognized us from the marina tried to help, but he also could not find a bus. So, he gave us walking directions.
So, we set out walking towards the ring (the Curacao version of a Beltway). It was a long walk as well as hot, dusty and mostly uphill. There is a gate to the Consulate from the ring road and a guard was posted there. You could tell that we had been walking for some time, but the guard would not let us in. We could only enter and exit through the main gate, which was another ½ mile down the ring road, and then ½ back up the side street! Apparently, the terrorists have truly won. So, we continued walking and made it 10 minutes before the consulate opened to the public. We tried to convince the guard to let us wait in the air conditioned security building, which we would be passing through in 10 minutes anyway, but he said that was not allowed. So, we sat outside and waited. When the consulate opened, we were allowed in. Our backpack was X-Rayed, searched, and then swiped for chemicals and explosives. We passed through a metal detector and then were wanded with a hand version before being permitted to go up to the Consulate building where we passed through another metal detecter and were wanded again!
The woman who helped us at the consulate was very friendly, informative and helpful. We got our stuff notarized and were on our way in less than 20 minutes. Instead of going back by way of the ring, we went down a set of stairs in the hill by the "Ennia" building. Quickly we were close to downtown, and a very short walk. If only we had known about these stairs, our walk would have been so much shorter. We went to the UPS office and shipped off the documents for the boat re-flagging before going back to the bus terminal.
We caught the bus back to the shopping area, relatively close to Spanish Waters. We stopped at Maveco, a hydraulics machine shop, where they pressed in the mechanical seal for Tink's raw water pump. Now we just need to bring the oil cooler lines here! Next we went to NAPA to price some stuff, and to waste a little time, honestly, before catching the bus back to Caracasbai.
We got back on the boat, and after something to drink we reinstalled Tink's water pump. It worked! No leaks! We spent the rest of the day relaxing, and considering if we can not do anything tomorrow.
On January 27, we decided to take it easy, since we were still recovering from the death march that Mike took me on yesterday. We wrote some emails, and did a very few things. But mostly, we spent a quiet day. We did look at what it will take to remove the transmission lines. Mostly it will be time consuming. The difficult part will be loosening (and tightening) the hose that runs to the back of the transmission.
We went to Sari Fundy's for happy hour, which was fun. The folks who are hauled out right now drove over. It was actually almost over crowded, but a fun evening non-the-less. We came back to the boat and Mike suggested breakfast sandwiches for dinner. That worked for me! I think that we needed this day. We have been getting progressively more frustrated all week. It's amazing how something as simple as taking a day off dropped our frustration level.
January 28 was grocery day. While we waited for the shuttle bus provided by the grocery store, we chatted with Dimitri and Mary from Adagio. Mary and I continued talking until Mike and I got off the bus at Budget Marine. We back-tracked to the pharmacy to get a few things, and then went to the grocery store. We are slowly stocking the boat for the San Blas islands, so we try to buy a few things for storage. They had Ritz crackers! We were concerned about being late, and I had forgotten a watch, so today we rushed. We got outside, and talked with Mary and a Swiss guy named Beat. It was an interesting conversation about visas and how the laws are changing.
Finally, the bus driver came and we headed back to Sari Fundy's. We dropped Mary off at Adagio and then came back to Nightwinds. By the time we finished putting everything away, updating inventory it was almost 2:00! We had salad for lunch, then we spent a relaxing rest of the day.
On January 29, after breakfast, we checked the sky and decided we weren't going to do anything today. It dawned on me that if we were going to try to remove the hoses tomorrow, I should take care of battery water. Just as I finished, the rains came, and it rained off and on all afternoon. We did what any sailor does when it is rainy, we watched TV and dozed.
January 30 wasn't a great day, but it wasn't a bad day either. After breakfast, we started on removing the hoses from the port engine. One of the hoses was easy to remove. The other one was difficult, to say the least. As it turns out, we needed to remove a third hose as well. The one between the filter and the other side of the transmission. We got that ½ way off (as in only one side) and then got the other oil cooler hose completely off. After another 45 minutes we finally gave up on getting the third hose off without some additional tools. We spent the rest of the day making, and then simmering a new batch of spaghetti sauce.
What a day January 31 was. I woke up at 6:00 so that I could go walking. At 6:30, I went over to Adagio. Mary was ready to go, but Dimitri wasn't sure about going until I told him that we also needed to go in to town early, so it would be a short walk. He decided to join us, and off we went. We did the short walk, and I was back on the boat with enough time to shower and catch the 8:00 bus downtown.
We did our traditional breakfast at McDonalds, and then we stood in line for over an hour so we could apply for our extension. Next, we headed to the Internet cafe to do some stuff before returning to the bus stop to catch a bus back to Spanish Waters. We got back to the boat and heard the high water alarm going off. It turns out that the screw for the water pump had sheared off. So, we closed Tink's thru hull and repaired it.
We wound up working on things until around 4:00, so we showered and went up to Sari Fundy's, and had a mixed appetizer platter for lunch. We enjoyed happy hour and wound up staying late. Dimitri and Mary came up for the movie, but wound up talking with us until the bar closed. We invited them back to the boat and we continued talking until 3:00 am. It was a fun evening!