Wednesday, September 27, 1995 - Curaco

Caught the 8-o'clock bus. Ate breakfast at McDonald's. Then we went out to Napa Auto Parts and returned the alternator. They wouldn't refund Roy's money, but they gave him another alternator. Hope this one works. Had no problem getting cleared out, but we were told we needed the Harbor Master's permission to stop at Klein Cura‡ao, so we went up to his office. Had to wait about half an hour. When he finally came out, he apologized for keeping us waiting. Said we didn't need formal permission to go to Klein Cura‡ao. He said he'd phone the Harbor Police and let them know we're coming. Zoomed back to the bus terminal. Roy caught the bus by a cat's whisker. I went out to Centrum to get some vegetables and stuff. As usual, I bought too much and could hardly walk. Waited ten minutes for a bus, but they kept passing me by, so I decided I'd better walk a couple of blocks to a bus stop. As I was crossing the street, I saw a minibus stopped at a light, so I hopped on it without thinking. Took it for granted he was headed downtown, but he went in the other direction. But that was okay. It was too late for the 12:30 bus, so I had an hour-and-a-half wait for the next one anyway. It was pleasant sitting on a comfortable seat, taking a last look at the countryside here. Sure beat lugging fifty pounds of groceries in the blazing sun. When I got back downtown, I went to an ATM, thinking it would surely be working by now, but it wasn't! This is at least the fifth day. The people in the U.S. are probably saying it's Cura‡ao's problem, and the people in Cura‡ao are saying it's the responsibility of the U.S., so no one's doing anything. Picked up the papers at the Tourist Information Office, ate lunch at McDonald's, and caught the 2:30 bus back. Roy had already removed the awning, untied the stern line to the tree, picked up the port bow anchor, and cleaned the chains. I scraped the rest of the mud off the anchor. Then we paddled over to Sarifundy's and filled the water jugs. When we got back to the boat, Roy dived on the hull and cleaned the growth out of the through-hulls. He also tightened the perry nut. The he went back to Sarifundy's and bought ten meters of chain. Tomorrow we head to Klein Cura‡ao!