May 30, 2015 Engine testing at Elbow Cay

There is a cruiser’s net every morning here.  And they have an “open mike” segment where you can ask for assistance.  So Dave asked if anyone had any experience with a runaway engine and could give us any advise.  The boat Empty Pockets answered back and told Dave a few things to check.  He and his wife later stopped by to check on us.  He was an airplane engine mechanic.  They are different than diesel engines, but still an engine.  He had lots of recommendations of what to do to test things.  And ideas of what the problem could be depending on the results of the tests.  He also owns a sailboat.  So he was curious if the things he was suggesting were transferable to a diesel engine.  He looked at this as a learning situation for himself and was very helpful. 

Through checking things, we found oil in the air intake.  This oil was feeding into the engine and making it race.  Dave checked the oil level right away Friday and it was half way full on the dip stick, so that looked good.  He ran the engine again, and the oil level went over the high mark, which means the engine was “making oil” or oil dilution.  The oil level is increasing because something is getting into it.  He had a kit for analyzing the oil, but had to find it.

While Dave was checking the rubber seal of the air intake for holes, I said “you are so smart!”.  Dave’s reply was “If I don’t read it, I don’t know it.”  That is his version of “if you can read, you can do anything.”

I always like the sound of the engine running, because it means we are going somewhere.  Now I really liked the sound of the engine running, because it was acting normal and not racing. 

Dave worked on the outboard motor again.  It still isn’t running smoothly.  We went into Hope Town to find some Seafoam (thank you Ron and Libbo), but they didn’t have it at the Lighthouse Marina-only place we knew to check.  Dave spent the evening reading more and researching online.

this is why we don't have a cabin for guests, it is full of tools and parts

Dave wants to know where we can store a spare engine

May 29, 2015 Turn of events at Elbow Cay

Today, we wanted to finish any shore projects and move from Marsh Harbor to Elbow Cay.

First, we took the dinghy to a dock near the welding shop.  I stayed with the dinghy while Dave walked through a boat yard property and across the street to the welding shop.  He came back with good news.  They would fix it today by 3:00.  Dave asked Lucy, at the desk, how much it would be.  She said she didn’t know and would have Dave talk to the welder.  He said about $80.  Dave heard Lucy make a little squeal in another room, so he said $60, heard another squeak and then said $50.  So really, Lucy did know what he should charge. 

There is a fuel station by the dinghy dock that sells gasoline.  So Dave took his fuel tank with the dirty gas and an empty 5 gallon jerry can.  He had his jerry can filled and asked them how he could dispose of the old fuel.  They said they would take it for free!!  We were quoted $100 back in the states.  So Dave tipped him $5 and they were both happy.

Dave headed to the Mercury dealer and hardware store while I headed to the grocery store.  The nicer one, Maxwell’s, is about a mile from the dinghy dock, but worth the walk.  We didn’t need much.  Mostly we wanted some fresh vegetables to make conch salad-peppers, tomatoes, jalapeños and limes.  We had onion and orange juice.  That’s all you need.  Dave ended up meeting me at the grocery store, so we picked up a few more things that I wouldn’t have wanted to carry, like milk, tonic and flour.

When we left, our back packs were heavy and it was getting hot.  I also had 3 dozen eggs in my pack.  We haven’t broken an egg yet carrying them back to the boat in our packs.  We decided to have lunch in our favorite local restaurant that had air conditioning, the Golden Grouper. 

We still needed to pick up the welding part.  Dave was concerned about walking through that property again, especially with the no trespassing signs.  It was a long walk with heavy back packs, full bellies, and high humidity.  So we decided to give Rinssor the taxi man a call on the VHF radio.  He picked us up at the restaurant, took us to the welder, waited for us, and took us to the dinghy dock all for $10 and a $5 tip.  There went my good deal on milk and tonic, oh well. 

Back at the boat, it was about 3:00, so we decided to head to Elbow Cay.  It takes about 2 hours to motor there.  At 4:40, about one mile away from our destination, our engine started racing really fast and smoking!!!  It wouldn’t slow down when Dave tried to throttle down.  So he shut off the engine.  (We found out later that it was a good sign that we were able to shut it off.  Sometimes it keeps running until something blows, which can also put a hole in your boat.) 

We regrouped, thought about anchoring right there, but decided to sail into an anchorage outside of Elbow Cay where we have anchored before.  The winds were really light, so it took us about an hour to get there.  We had to tack a couple times to miss some islands off of Elbow Cay. 

Dave was able to lower the anchor by hand.  The windless only runs when the engine is running.  We usually back up the boat to set the anchor.  But we had left the main out, turned the boat so it would pull against the anchor, and called it good.  I dove the anchor and it look OK, not as set as usual, but it was real sandy and uphill if we did drag anchor.  And we made sure no one was directly behind us. 

By now it was about 6:00.  Dave didn’t want to start into anything tonight.  He wanted to do some reading about what could be the problem first.  So we made our conch salad, enjoyed the sunset and the lighting of the light house.  Then Dave set to reading.  It sounds like we had a “runaway” engine.  Something was feeding the beast fuel from a different source.  So we will track that down or end up having a mechanic look at it. 

What a day!!

cleaning our produce-so pretty in the sink

our first conch salad was great!

since nothing else was working, Dave didn't have to either

we haven't used this chair on this boat over the last 2 years!!

peaceful sunset

even the clouds to the east were colorful behind the light house

May 22-26, 2015 Marsh Harbor projects

All these days seem to run together working on the boat.  So I will just tell you what things we have been working on and the highlights from a few days. 

SATURDAY, I helped raise Dave up the mast and over to the roller furler to finish fixing the 5 connectors that he started back in Georgetown.  The last time we used our spinnaker, it was pretty windy and the halyard was stuck at the top of the mast.  So he was able to get that down, too.

Dave installed a dual Racor filter system for the diesel engine that is in the fuel line.  He bought it back in the US, but hadn’t installed it.  This was suggested by friends we met in Panama City, FL last year (thanks Ron and Libbo).  It has two filters side by side.  If one if bad, you just have to switch over to the other one.  Then you can change the filter when it may be more convenient.  There is also a pressure gauge that indicates when it isn’t functioning as well, which would be an indicator to change the filter.  He did that Saturday, so it seemed to run well when we went outside of the harbor on Sunday.    He also changed another fuel filter on the engine.  It was good timing, because when we removed the existing filters they were black.

SUNDAY I had Rinssor the Taxi man pick me up for church again.  The little church here is so friendly and they love to sing, which I love.  But I haven’t considered singing with them.  They aren’t practicing before mass, so I would have to take a taxi to practice on a different day. 

We thought we would leave Marsh Harbor Sunday afternoon because we needed to make water.  We don’t want to use the water in this harbor.  But the weather forecast called for strong winds for a few days and the harbor is more protected.  So we decided to just go outside of the harbor to a bay where there is a small reef.  While Dave was running the generator and making water, I took a floating dive flag and swam over to the reef (so other boats would see me).  There were all kinds of fish and even a large sea turtle.  I checked out a few conch on the way back.  But I didn’t want to stick my hand inside to see if they were alive or not, which Dave would have done. 

Just after we brought up the anchor and we were starting to leave, about 100 feet of our anchor chain ran off of the gypsy and overboard along with the anchor that was already on the bow roller.  We were only in about 15 feet of water, but there was a strong wind and other boats in the area.  The chain had piled too high under the hawse pipe (deck pipe into anchor locker), so it lifted the chain off the gypsy which holds it on the boat.  Luckily, Dave was still at the bow and we were able to bring it back in right away without drifting into anything.  He’s doing some reading to see how to avoid this in the future.

I also made bread Sunday.  Getting better every time. We did laundry Monday and Tuesday.  Remember, that means washing and rinsing in a 5 gallon bucket, wringing out the clothes and hanging them on our life lines around the boat or on a line we put up for sheets to hang higher.  The strong winds are great for drying, but a challenge to keep things on the lines. 

Dave spent part of every day working on our Mercury outboard motor.  Seems like it will have a complete overhaul by the time he is done.  It still doesn’t want to continue running with the choke in.  Monday night we took a few laps around the harbor at all speeds and thought it was taken care of.  But Tuesday morning it died on us again.  He has adjusted the fuel/air mixture, and the idle screw.  He changed the outboard filter and the inline filter from the tank.  He opened the top of the carburetor and sprayed in a carb cleaner and cleaned the spark plugs.  And it still seems to not get fuel.   There was no change with adjusting idle and fuel mix which tells him some little hole has a “gob” in it.  That’s short for goblin.  After not finding a manual at the Mercury dealer in Marsh Harbor, he downloaded a manual for $5 and watched some you tube videos.  He thinks he has to take apart the carburetor and clean it.  If it needs rebuilding, he’ll do that back in the states.   There’s always the possibility of bad gas.  Then he is just plugging things up again every time he runs the motor.  So there you have it.

Back to MONDAY, we had the Lehr propane motor on the dinghy and wanted to exchange it for the Mercury motor.  We store the motors on the stern and use a system of pulleys to raise the Mercury off of the mount and lower it to the dinghy.   Dave can lift the Lehr which weighs 25 lbs.  But the Mercury is a little over 100l bs.  As we were remounting the Mercury motor onto the dinghy, a strut we use in a motor davit lift system bent at a right angle.  So after studying it for a while, Dave came up with another system using our dinghy davit and was able to get it to the dinghy, with me manning the winch.  All the while, Dave had a pulled muscle on his side and now a cramping stomach.  The pulled muscle might be from climbing the mast and/or pulling the outboard motor starter cord a thousand times.  The cramping might be from eating leftovers :(  But he was determined to get that motor on and test it out.  

Our shop vac stopped working.  So Dave took that apart, cleaned it up, and had it running again.  He always amazes me. 

TUESDAY we decided to go into Marsh Harbor for errands.  We went early enough to drop off an empty propane tank at a hardware store to pick up later.  Then we walked to a local restaurant, the Golden Grouper, for breakfast.  Dave had their special, steamed sausage (bologna) in a red gravy with grits and toast.  I had their French toast made with home made bread.  He's more adventurous than me when it comes to trying new foods.  I think it comes from his Temporary Duty while in the Air Force.  He went to Egypt and Korea and says he would just point at the menu and see what he would be served.  There was nothing her ever had to spit out.  He said "if it had wiggled, I might have spit it out, but nothing wiggled."

We planned to go to the Immigration office to see if we could extend our 3 month stay.  We thought it was in the area.  Dave asked about the location as he was paying our bill.  Another gentleman said they built a new building for all the federal offices and he would give us a ride.  It was about a mile away, so we appreciated the ride.  At the Immigration’s office, they said we had to come back the week of June 8 to request the extension.  Who knows why.  We were hoping to head further north before leaving June 15 and didn’t want to be tied to that exact day.  Well there is only one office north of here, and it is on the main land of Great Abaco Island, as is Marsh Harbor.  So I guess we won’t go north until after June 8.

About 1/2 way back to the dinghy dock, there was a full service gas station (K & S Esso).  Dave asked if they knew of a place he could get something welded (the motor davit).  They sent us almost all the way back to the Federal building, but then took a right and headed back to the harbor.  We found the place and saw some interesting side streets in Marsh Harbor.  We had to leave the piece with our info.  The welder is off until Thursday.  Then they’ll e-mail us an estimate for the cost and time to fix it.  Nothing is done in a hurry here. 

Now we followed the road parallel to the shore and ended up back at the only street light in Marsh Harbor, which is by the store with the propane.  It was about 11:30 and our tank was back early.  So that worked out great.  OK, there is ONE guy that does things quicker than expected.  Dave also stopped in the Mercury dealer to look for a manual for our outboard, but no luck.  So back to the dinghy, get rid of garbage and back to the boat. 

Dave bought a new boot (switch cover) for a light switch in one of our heads.  The old boot had come off when I was cleaning the head.  The boot helps keep water and dirt out of the switch.  When he went to exchange it, the switch stopped working.  He found a loose wire and a broken spade connector.  So now it’s no longer simple.  He has to take the cover off the holding tank and see how he can get to it.  Or crawl into the small space under the sink.  There is always something.  He is going to get back to that on a later date.  There are two lights in that head, so it is going down lower on the list of priorities. 

We have only seen 2 cockroaches since we set out the roach killer.  One was alive in the cock pit.  And one was dead in the bag with the other roach killer.  Guess it works.  So we put more traps, etc in other parts of the boat besides our galley and heads.  But we haven’t seen any live ones inside the boat.  Thank goodness.

This is life on a boat when you don’t have company.   We are usually busy working so I don't think to take photos. 

Dave fixing the shop vac

May 20, 2015 Fowl Cay Reef

Thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon, so we moved the boat this morning to Fowl Cay to snorkel in the Land and Sea park.  We anchored on the west side of the island, then took the dinghy to the east side to the coral reefs.  There were mooring balls to tie to over the dive spots.  The first place we stopped had two large coral “islands under ground”.  We snorkeled around each of them seeing schools of fish and all types of coral. 

We got back in the dinghy and moved to a mooring ball further out in the ocean.  We had to cross the reef in a shallow area to get to the mooring ball.  Once there, Pete got into the water first.  He said there was a barracuda beside the boat.  I got in and swam around the dinghy to see it.  It was about 4 feet long and swimming with a school of fish.  Pete seemed to be backing away from it quickly, so I met him on the other side again.  Then Dave got in and could see it, too.  We all started swimming towards the reef, and the barracuda seemed to be hanging with us.  I thought it was after the school of fish.  Pete and I took off for the reef.  After a little while, I looked around for Dave and didn’t see him.  I looked back and  he was in the boat.  He yelled “that damn barracuda wouldn’t leave me alone.”  Later, back at the dinghy, he told us how it kept swimming up along side him, would disappear and reappear again.  He would come right at his face as Dave swam backwards, not fast, but sticking with him.  So Dave would swim perpendicular to him and he would still come after him.  Dave even kicked it with his fins and it stuck with him.  So he decided to get out of the water.  We later read somewhere that they are protective of the school of fish they are swimming with and could even attack you if it thinks you are a threat to their food source. 

At the reef, we saw multiple types of fish.  We saw a large grouper about 5 feet long.  This reef was more 3 dimensional with the growth rising and lowering, so it was interesting to explore.  We considered exploring further with the current and having Dave pick us up, but there was a thunderstorm developing in the west.  So we decided to call it a day.  Back at the dinghy, Pete was going to let me get in first with the ladder.  Then he would get in just over the side.  I had one foot in the rope ladder and was reaching for Dave to help pull me in when Pete yelled “SHARK”.  We were both in the boat immediately.  He said it was about as long as our 10 foot dinghy and heading towards us.  I didn’t see it, but that was OK. 

We had put the Lehr outboard motor on the dinghy because we were still having trouble with our Mercury.  The Lehr has 2.5 horse power and the Mercury has 15 hp.  So it seemed to take forever to get back to the boat with a storm heading our way. 

Later, we headed across the Sea of Abaco to Red Bay on Great Abaco Island, about 10 miles north of Marsh Harbor.  By the time we arrived, the rain had started.  We could see by our AIS that there was another boat in the bay, but it was hard to see very far in front of the boat.  So we just crept in slowly until we could see 3 other boats.  We should have had our radar on to see all of them.  By the time we anchored, the rain had stopped and there was a great double rainbow with a really high arch to it.  That was unusual. 

May 19, 2015 Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

Pete’s original flight would have had him leaving today.  It cost about $500 to add the 3 days, but we were glad we did.  Pete and I went to shore today to explore Hope Town.  We  climbed the Light house and enjoyed the view.  Pete took a video as he walked 360 degrees and posted it on Facebook.  Maybe I’ll figure out how to add it here. 

Then we walked through town to the Hope Town Lodge.  We had lunch in the Reef Bar Restaurant overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  We shared “conch in a bag”.  It was fried conch and french fries served in a bag tossed with ketchup and Tabasco sauce.  Messy but another local dish. 

After the late lunch, we stopped in the museum.  They have a great gift shop with items from local artists and books about the area.  Pete found a book that was the log book of Randolph Johnston, the artist who settled in Little Harbour in the 50’s.  Then we walked through the “shopping district” of town that I had not been to.  It was on two streets and stretched about 4 blocks.  The stores were interspersed with houses.  We walked through about 4 gift shops and found Vernon’s grocery store.  All we needed was milk, but they are famous for their home made pies.  They were out of pie, but had bread fresh out of the oven.  We had to buy a loaf because it smelt so good.  I have a lot of practicing to do before I can make bread like this.  But Pete gave me some hints. 

We checked with Capt’n Jacks to see if they had Taco Tuesday then went back to the boat to get Dave.  At the boat, we had to try the fresh bread with the guava coconut jam that I had bought. 

By the time we had returned to Capt’n Jacks, they were out of the fish tacos.  But we had a nice dinner on the deck watching the sunset behind the lighthouse. 

conch in a bag

conch in a bag

little crowded at the dinghy dock

at Capt'n Jacks

another beautiful sunset

May 18, 2015 Marsh Harbor then Elbow Cay

After a lazy morning, we went to Marsh Harbor.  We needed to change Pete’s return flight from Marsh Harbor to Nassau.  I had sent an e-mail last week, but didn’t get any response.  We anchored in the harbor and went to shore (with our garbage).  First we walked to the tourist information office.  The lady working there remembered us from a month ago.  We asked her if there was an office for Bahamas Air.  There was one at the airport, so she called them to be sure they were open. 

Then she called our favorite taxi driver, Rinssor.  He took me to the airport, waited while I changed Pete’s ticket, and brought me back to a restaurant to meet Pete and Dave.  And he only charged me $20 roundtrip instead of $15 each way.  He said “we’re friends”. 

Dave and Pete walked to a couple hardware stores.  We finally found a blue jerry can for water.  They visited George to get a conch salad.  George remembered Dave.  Then Dave told Pete, in ear shot of George, that George had a thousand acre conch ranch out west.  How can you forget someone who makes comments like that?

They picked me up and we headed back to the boat.  We left Marsh Harbor and headed back to Elbow Cay.  I think Pete was pleasantly surprised on how friendly everyone was and at how they remembered us. 

May 17, 2015 Great Guana Cay-Nippers

Today we spent about 2-3 hours sailing to Great Guana Cay.  We used the gennaker and were able to sail at 7-8 knots and even touched 9 knots.  We can’t go that fast with the motor.  We anchored in Fisher’s Bay and took the dinghy to the harbor where we tied up to Nipper’s dinghy dock.  We walked to Nippers on the ocean side of the island.  They have a pig roast every Sunday.  So we had a great buffet of pork and local Bahamian dishes.  The sides were Bahamian peas and rice, macaroni and cheese that is thick and served like cake, corn, potato salad, a mustard based coleslaw, a custard type cake and mixed fruit.  There was BBQ pork and plain pork that you could add a thin gravy to.  Pretty good.  We spent the next hour or so walking the beach and swimming.  The water is beautiful and warm.  It was kind of windy today, so we decided not to bring our snorkel gear.  Then we returned to the restaurant/bar and people watched.   I was amazed at the people I saw that were about my age singing along with songs I had never heard.  Guess we’ve been out of touch.  Of course there was a lot of flesh, or eye candy, as the guys say.

We had watched a group of guys drinking shots and having a way too much fun.  As we were leaving, we heard them trying to argue their $600 tab.   It sounded like they had a $500 limit credit card.  Live and learn. 

We decided to stop at another place that is in the bay where we are anchored.  Pete and I walked to Grabbers while Dave brought the dinghy around from the harbor to our bay.  They are right on the beach and have a swimming pool (as did Nippers).  This afternoon they had a DJ, so there was more people watching entertainment.  This time, there was a guy about 70 strutting around in a speedo.   They had someone making fresh conch salad.  So we had that and some conch fritters to give Pete another taste of the local cuisine. 

Nipper's dock on Great Guana Cay

Beautiful water to enjoy

shortly after this photo, a wave came all the way up to us, soaking my sundress

pool at Nippers-need to get the sand out of your suit

ocean view from Nippers

"eye candy"

water hole on the way back to the boat

enjoying the end of the day at Grabber's

our boat is in Fisher's Bay behind the guys