Way, way out there
My return to Discovery was not exactly welcoming, nor even pleasant. A long flight from Seattle to Caracas, a sleepness night in a ratty hotel near the airport and then an early flight to Puerto La Cruz burdened with three massive bags and boxes stuffed with gear, parts and galley equipment only to be met with a frantic Nico. The water pump to the freezer had quit the night before and we were losing all our frozen goods. I dumped all the gear, hooked up the cooling water intake to the shore water and ran to the chandlery to purchase a new pump (and spare). The next 5 days would be of much the same. Replace the impellar for the generator after overheating, two of the 4 electric heads were down and needed replacement,…not a fun week in the blazing heat.
The crew of The Best Odyssey has been on a short hiatus the last couple of weeks, but we’ve been far from docile. After the last trip ended in Grenada Jody, Nico and I sailed down to Trinidad to pick up a couple new sails, then headed east over the top of Venezuela to Puerto La Cruz to prepare her for our absence. A number of large projects will be completed before our next trip July 21st, including a tow winch for the dinghy for paragliding a few thousand feet over sea level, a large solar panel array to minimize generator run time, a new freezer to keep the beers cold…