Thursday, October 19, 1995 - Venezula, On way to Isla Margarita

We had to slow down during the night to keep from arriving at the marina in the dark. Got there at eight a.m. We were impressed. The high hill, El Morro, had a number of large, expensive-looking hotels or condos on it. The marina looked modern and well-equipped, with a travel-lift, forklift, and modern gasoline pumps at the fuel dock, but to our amazement, the diesel pump was an antiquated model with no nozzle on the hose! In the process of filling the jerry jugs, Roy spilled diesel all over the dock, all over the jugs, and all over Roy. What a mess! The attendant handed him a water hose, which of course did no good whatsoever, but Roy pretended to use it so as not to hurt his feelings. Then we wiped off the jugs and Roy with a few thousand paper towels. We nearly fainted when we paid for the diesel. We bought a little over 70 gallons. It worked out to 11 1/2 cents a gallon! Unreal! If we had a 5000-gallon tank, we could buy enough diesel to go around the world. And we had thought the diesel was cheap in Cura‡ao! We motored happily northeast towards Isla Margarita. In the afternoon, a dark cloud went over and cooled everything off. The breeze picked up briefly, so Roy tried to sail, but it soon died down again, and Roy had to take all the sails down. Around seven in the evening, when we were almost to Cubagua Island, we decided to stop and drift for the night, so we could get a good night's sleep and go through Margarita Channel in daylight. Ate supper in peace and quiet.