Leaving Venezuela

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Hola! We're are finally ready to leave Venezuela. We're heading out Monday night, or rather early Tuesday morning. We'll cruise for awhile in the out islands of Venezuela stopping at Los Tortugas first to rest, then on to Los Roques and Los Aves.

We did get alot of work done on Ka'imi while we were here. We got our stanchions fixed. The ones we replaced are now solid stainless steel, so they won't break or rust out again. We also got our pulpit repaired - we had a pretty big crack where the navigation light sits. We've also sealed windows, new bearings in the windlass, rebuilt toilets, repaired bilge pumps, painted the decks, split the chain locker, replaced the fresh water pump, repaired the fridge, new halyard lines, repaired our whisker (spinnaker) pole...the list goes on and on. A major repair was a surprise to us as we were preparing to leave earlier. We found water in our oil and determined we had a blown head gasket and had to have it repaired. Luckily we had a spare gasket, cause you can't get them in Venezuela. We had more problems after that was fixed, the motor seemed to be heating up so we changed the saltwater pumps impellor, cleaned out the aftercooler, and made sure the fresh water pump was working. We finally found that the exhaust manifold had a clog and that solved the problem :)))))))). It was a bit scary for awhile.

We didn't get to do any South American inland traveling here, we will try to do that when we reach Cartegna, Columbia. We are hearing reports of people being robbed outside the gates of Bahia Redonda, so we are more anxious to leave. They say as the Christmas holiday approaches that type of crime increases. We have gone outside often while we have been here. There are little beach restaurants real close that serve chicken and fish and a local fresh fruit and vegetable market every Saturday. There are always kids playing in the ocean!! With the increase in incidents we haven't ventured outside for the past week, making us feel somewhat like prisoners. You would think it was safe, the Police Officer has his house right outside the gate. Here he is bringing his propane home.


Bahia Redonda marina has sixteen stray cats that live around the marina. The marina lets them stay and buys there food in order to control the rat problem (eeeek)! The cruisers volunteer to feed the cats, once in the morning and once at night. Kim got to do the night shift and she LOVED it!!!! This picture is Mustachio, we called him Stacio - he was the one closest to our boat and he was our favorite, he would visit often looking to be fed!! Of course we always obliged, even going so far as to buy some wet cat food to share with him or even some tuna. Kim has pictures of all the cats and we'll share them some other time. We will be out of touch for awhile, until we get to Bonaire, so we will update when we can. Until then, enjoy life and take some time off work!!!!! Ciao Mike and Kim on Ka'imi