After the storm and off to the doctor.
23 June 2017 | Bonaire
Bill/sunny with winds
It's now Wednesday morning and things are settling out. The initial forecast for Bonaire was any where from 80 to 90% chance of rain today, at least that was as of last night. Right now, it's down to just 10% and it's nice and partly cloudy with the occasional rainish looking cloud passing us by. Boats on the moorings are slowly getting back to normal. People are reinstalling dodges, bimini and other pieces of canvas on their boats. We put the covers back on our boxes by the mast and recovered the windows on the dodger to keep the sun off the plastic. We also undid the "may pole" of lines that wrapped our roller furled Genoa sail at the bow. We also took off the side and stern canvas panels that protect the cockpit from rain and wind. The generator is purring away on the stern recharging our batteries. With the winds we had last night and today(still about 20 knots) the wind generator is spinning away nicely putting out some decent amps and volts since it likes these higher winds. Last night, as the winds grew, I put the wind generator onto it's "furling" mode. As the wind builds, the head of the generator swivels to be off the center line of the wind thats blowing, slowing down the revs of the prop. Yes, it means not as much energy coming out but causes less wear and tear on the gears, etc. We reengaged it this morning, back into the "fixed" position so it no longer swivels as the wind grows. As we shift at anchorage and the bow of the boat goes into the wind, the wind generator get the full effect of the wind. Twenty knots of wind is just fine for our DuoGen.
As for our new neighbors that came in last night at the height of the storm, they have settled in, straightening out stuff on their deck, taking a bath in the bays water and getting their dinghy into the water so they can go visit Customs and Immigrations. Four people on board(2 girls and 2 guys). So far, only a few of the boats that ran for the shelter of the marina have come back out. They are going to be surprised at the changes out here as to who is on what moorings. As some boats left theirs, other boats that decided to stay out and were on an inner mooring, dropped their lines and took some of the outside moorings being in deeper water. It's going to be interesting when they come out and find the mooring they were on is now occupied. You leave it, you lost it is the way it works out here and that's exactly why we left Puff attached to ours last week when we had to go out to dump the black water tanks.
Blue was a bit fritzed by the storm and it's winds last night. I stayed up till almost 0200 just incase we had been in the "eye" of the storm when the winds dropped about 2100, but it never took off again. Instead of being in the "eye", it had simply passed us by leaving us with just a few more rain storms as they passed us by. At least the decks and canvas on deck is looking cleaner than it's been since we got here. Bonaire is an island full of dust and dirt that just loves to come on board boats at anchor when the wind(which never stops) gets going. Blue hung close by as the wind raged outside. Snowshoe could not have cared less and just slept the night away(as always).
Today, Wednesday, ended up being a day with some clouds and then some sun and then some clouds and then more sun. As for the big rain that had been forecast then downgraded, with that was more the tone of the day. Just sun and clouds and a bunch of wind. From the high teens to the big twenties, it blew all day. Yesterdays high during the storm was 35 miles per hour setting a new record for the highest wind in the last year. It's still blowing in the low teens.
We only saw one sailboat come out of the marina today but figure more will be out tomorrow as it's not a cheap marina and most of us hate to spend money when it's not necessary. The sailboat that came in in the middle of the storm got everything settled and made it into Customs and Immigration early in the day so they are all settled in for a while. As for the rest of today, well we had another wonderful lunch of steak and potatoes and a great side salad as well. Why eat out when we can eat so well on board and we sure know it's cheaper.
It's now Friday afternoon and all the boats left the marina yesterday on the mad rush to find a mooring. A couple of boats also took off westward so there ended up being enough moorings for everyone. More boats left earlier today. Yesterday, after the generator had done it's job(thank goodness) we both went in for a nice snorkel around the boat and near shore. It's quite shall or(about 8 feet in most places) so no problem. Only thing you had to watch out for was dinghies zipping between the mooring that might come close to you. Winds were there normal(15-18 knots)but surprisingly it calmed down over night. When I went to bed(about midnight) it was calm outside with the water darn close to flat. First time for that.
For the last few weeks, I've had problems with my right knee. It's quite upset with me and lets me know it. Just sitting, it's fine. Walking is just fine but standing still for any period or trying to bend it especially after standing still and it's just down right pissed. No "popping" just a bit of pain as I try and bend it. When we were at the last "Taste of Bonaire", I would regularly stand there(no seats available), lean against the light pole next to us and bend my knee as often as I could. No clue as to what's going on though I did have knee surgery back in 1986 to have some torn cartilage removed and it "pops" from time to time but recently, it's just really ticked at me. I decided it was time to go see a doctor. Tracy stayed on board(sore back--God we are getting old!)while I dinghied into town and walked over to the hospital. I checked at the Billing Office and was directed to one of the departments. There, I met three nice women. Question 1--Are you a tourist or a local? I explained that while I have lived on a boat here for couple of months, I guess I'm sort of both.OK,fine. Question 2--Do you have a letter from a doctor and a photograph? I told them that I hadn't seen a doctor about this in years nor did I have any "photograph". Not sure if it was to be of my knee or of myself. The first appointment I could get was July 11th. Over two weeks away, but first I had to go find and see a doctor. They directed me to one across the street. No problem and off I went.
At this office, I was again asked the same questions--"Tourist or local", "letter from a doctor"and for a photograph. Same questions--same answers. Next appointment date was Wednesday, June 28 at 1000 and it would cost $40. No big deal. I made the appointment and took off for the walk back to Zephyr. We'd planned on taking off from here on July8th but I guess we will have to see.
When we were in Thailand, I had a similar experience with the same knee and picked up(at the recommendation of the pharmacist)some "Arcoxia", a pill for joint inflammation and gout. I found the pills and started taking them and with in a day, the knee was better but far from alright. I have enough to last we a couple more weeks but will need something new. Arcoxia is no "approved" by the FDA and every website I look at tells me over and over that it's not "FDA Approved" so all hell could break out should I take a chance and take these non FDA approved meds with disastrous side affects up to and including just about everything you could imagine just to scare you into not taking it. At least it doesn't say my toes could fall off but everything else on my body may have a problem.
The picture today is of our three mooring blocks with all the line attached. The two on the right are for the mooring buoys and the two on the left are the two I attached just for safety sake.