Saturday, August 19, 1995 - Curaco

Finally got the rest of the laundry done. This time, I went over at ten in the morning and was through by two. While the clothes were washing, I took a shower and washed my hair. Roy came over with me to dispose of the trash. We didn't bring the ship's papers, because we didn't think Customs would be working on a weekend. Guess what -- there they were. No one had called us on the VHF. They agreed to wait while Roy paddled all the way back to the boat for the papers. Took him nearly an hour. It's a relief to be all cleared in. Now we can relax and enjoy. The wind was blowing fairly strong this morning, but by afternoon it was calm again. Just another tropical wave passing by. We've had one tropical wave after another. They're not water waves; they're waves of air pressure. Usually they're quite mild, maybe 15 to 20 knots of wind, but once in a while a tropical wave develops into a tropical depression, and occasionally a tropical depression develops into a tropical storm, and sometimes a tropical storm develops into a hurricane. All that from a gentle little tropical wave! After lunch, I paddled around while Roy dove. He found that the bottom is soft mud; anything falling on it would immediately disappear from sight. The anchor tines were straight up; only the chain was holding us. After adjusting the tines, Roy put out a second anchor. He also set a buoy with two lead belts, so we'll know if the boat changes location. When he was through, he paddled over to where I was, and we went for a pleasant paddle out the channel past Santa Barbara Beach. Saw some guys paddling -- ugh -- Ocean Kayaks. They're cheap, imitation Royaks, but they're very popular; we see them all over the place.