Mar 21
Yesterday, we exchanged e-mails with the parts guy in Texas, and he said everything was there and it would ship yesterday which should put it on island today. He promised me an e-mail later with the tracking number. By evening, I had not gotten that follow-up e-mail. Mid morning, I sent the parts guy another e-mail, inquiring about the shipment. Good news! The package did ship yesterday, but FedEx picked it up after he had gone home, so he hadn't known the tracking number yet. He sent me the tracking number in his reply, and I tracked the package. It has made it to Puerto Rico as of mid-day. About 14:00 I checked the tracking again, and it has made it to Antigua! Now to do the Customs dance. I went up to the marina office and told them to expect FedEx paperwork for me in the morning, and that I would like to have Mr. Walker, the agent they use, do the Customs work for me again.
GPS N 17-04.000 W 061-53.000 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10113.
Mar 22
The call came on the radio from the marina office about 10:00 telling me the FedEx paperwork was there. I immediately went up to fill out the form that has to go to Customs, and ask them to notify Mr. Walker. They were out of the forms, so when Mr. Walker gets here, he will bring more and I'll have to come back up to the office. While I was there, they called Mr. Walker and asked him to come by. He said it might be this afternoon, or it might be in the morning. I'm concerned that if it's not until morning, he might not get the package to me before the weekend. By happy hour time, and marina office closing time, Mr. Walker had not showed up.
Later, while at happy hour, I saw Festus the marina manager walking down the dock. If you need something done here, Festus can make it happen. I walked down and met him, and inquired about just how hard it is to do the Customs dance myself. I explained my concern that if I didn't get the package tomorrow (Friday), that we would be sitting all weekend waiting. Festus explained to me where the Customs place is near the airport, and that I would need a rental car or taxi to get there. Once there, I would fill out the form that I normally fill out here, and that should be that. He said it might cost me $50 EC for the Customs agent to "help me" fill out the form. (I have filled these out several times, and it's not hard.) I thanked Festus and went back to happy hour. Now I have to make the decision whether to do it myself or wait on Mr. Walker. Give me something to drink about. I mean think about.
GPS N 17-04.000 W 061-53.000 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10113.
Mar 23
About 07:50, which is before the marina office is normally open, I got called on the radio from Donna the office manager. She said Mr. Walker was here and I needed to sign the form. I guess that makes that decision for me. I immediately went to the office to meet Mr. Walker. He didn't ask me to fill the form out like I did last time, just sign the blank form. I signed it, and asked him if he thought he would get the package back here today. He said that was his plan. I know from my conversation with Festus, that Customs closes early on Fridays, about 14:00.
We putzed around on the boat all morning. The few times I left the boat, I took my handheld VHF in case the office called to say Mr. Walker was back. Just about noon, it looked like it was going to rain. This didn't look like your average shower. Just as it started to sprinkle, Donna hailed me on the radio and said Mr. Walker was five minutes out with my package. I told her I would be right there. I had no sooner said those words than the sky opened up. This was definitely the hardest downpour we have seen here. I figured it would only last a few minutes, so I waited in the cockpit for it to stop, or at least diminish a little. After about five minutes, it had slackened a little bit, but was still seriously raining. Barb got me an umbrella, and I headed to the office. When I got there, Mr. Walker was already there. He apologized for timing his arrival with the rain. I thanked him and said it was worth getting wet for to have the package today. The box was fairly large, and about 30 pounds. I carried it down the spiral staircase from the office and across the covered portion of the main courtyard. It was still raining quite hard, so I stopped to wait it out, since I couldn't carry the box and the umbrella. After about five minutes of waiting, the rain slowed to a heavy sprinkle. I figured what the heck and started for the boat. I was pretty wet by the time I got there, but once there, the rain picked up again to another heavy downpour. This continued for about an hour with no let up until it finally quit. I accidentally timed my trip to the boat perfectly. We unpacked the box and checked the parts against the invoice. There were two discrepancies, but it's not the part that would be a show stopper.
Late in the afternoon, Festus walked down to the end of our dock to chat with a small sailboat that had taken it upon itself to dock there during the rainstorm. Normally the end of the dock is held open for large boats. After he spoke with them, he said hello as he was passing by MoonSail, and asked if we got the parts. I told him we did, and I thanked him for whatever role he may have played in lighting a fire under Mr. Walker. He just smiled and said he had reached out to him to let him know we had been waiting a long time for these parts and really wanted to go sailing. Like I said earlier, Festus can get things done.
At happy hour, we saw Jon & Gail from Wicked Good. Gail will be going back home tomorrow. For dinner we had Barb's homemade chicken enchiladas. She had made them earlier in the afternoon, so all that needed to be done now was pop them in the oven a while. They were excellent as usual.
GPS N 17-04.000 W 061-53.000 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10113.
Mar 24
Today is engine repair day. There are two basic problems left to be resolved. One is that after reassembly from the major work Dennis did, one injector leaks, and the fuel line leaks at all four injectors where it attaches to the banjo fittings. Since it was all apart a few weeks ago, there was no issue with breaking loose bolts that had been in place twenty years. I took off the fuel line, and the first thing I noticed was that one of the seals was missing entirely. No wonder that one leaked so badly. The banjo fittings have a little bolt that goes through them and one of these seals goes top and bottom of each fitting. The fuel line has to be off to remove an injector, so next I pulled the number four injector out. Again, where the injectors had put up quite a fight when Dennis originally pulled them for the first time in twenty years, this time it came out with no fuss. I put the spare injector in, tightened it down, and replaced the fuel line with the eight new seals. Once everything was tightened up, Barb started the engine while I watched for leaks. There don't appear to be any! Step one complete.
The second problem involves the cooling system. A boats engine is cooled by a sealed system of anti-freeze similar to an automobile. However, on a boat, there is no radiator. Instead there is a second water system, of cool saltwater. This raw water is pumped through a heat exchanger. The anti-freeze is also pumped through separate tubes in the heat exchanger, and the hot anti-freeze is cooled by the cool saltwater which is then pumped out the exhaust, cooling the exhaust line also. When we took the engine apart, we had found lots of gunk in the anti-freeze side of the system. We never did come up with an explanation for this, since the system was filled with coolant and not just plain water. We removed and boiled out the heat exchanger, removed and cleaned the water pump, replaced several hoses, and then ran engine flush through the system after everything was reassembled. There were a couple remaining problems. One was the sensors to tell you if you are overheating. There are two separate sending units. One is for the temperature gauge, and one if for a buzzer than sounds if it gets too hot and you aren't paying attention to the gauge. The gauge didn't seem to be working at all, and the alarm was always buzzing, even when you first started the engine and it couldn't possibly be overheated. So, new sensors were ordered. Also, there was a small leak where the hose goes on the water pump, which wouldn't stop no matter how much I tightened the hose clamp. The water pump is made out of some crappy alloy that deteriorates, so the surface that the hose mates to is very uneven now causing the poor seal. So, I am going to put on a new water pump. Of course the gasket for the new pump was one of the things that didn't ship right. It apparently just got forgotten to put in the box. As I removed the old pump, fortunately, the gasket stayed on the engine intact. So, I just went to Budget and got some gasket sealer, which I applied to the old gasket after cleaning it off. With the new pump in place, the hose sealed nicely and no longer dripped. To deal with the sensors. They are both fairly accessible so it shouldn't be hard. Unfortunately, the sensor for the gauge was the other error in the parts order. So, my plan is to replace the sensor for the buzzer, and take out the other one and boil it to see if it works or not. The problem could be the gauge itself or the wiring. The wire to the gauge sensor is held on by a small nut. I could turn the nut, but it wasn't unscrewing. Apparently the stud is turning within the sensor. Guess that will have to wait until I get the replacement sensor. So, I replaced the buzzer sensor and hooked it's wire up. I filled the system with coolant and Barb started the engine. The first good sign was that the buzzer was not sounding. While she stayed at the helm watching and listening, I looked everything over for leaks. I didn't see any, but there was an issue still. I could feel the main fluid tank getting quite hot, but the hose below it, which should get too hot to touch, was quite cool. It was as if the coolant wasn't circulating. Barb shut it off, and I opened the coolant cap. There was a bit of a gush and a lot of gurgling in the engine, then the coolant level went way down. I topped it back up and had Barb start the engine again. This time, the hose I had been feeling immediately got hot, and she said the gauge started to work. Apparently there had been air trapped in the system, preventing proper circulation. If that air was right at the thermostat housing where the sensors are, which is the logical place for it to have been, that could explain the gauge not working too. So, all seems well now. We ran the engine for half an hour or so and the temp stayed right at 180° where it should be. The Captain is a very happy camper now.
The only thing keeping us from going now is to clean the bottom and the prop. The bottom was just painted before we launched in November. Bottom paint works in two ways. One is that it contains copper, which is supposed to inhibit things from growing on it. The other method is that the paint actually sloughs off when you are underway. Well, since the boat has been just sitting since November, that part of the equation hasn't been happening. I have scraped barnacles from the waterline once myself, so I know they are down there. They are probably also on the prop which would keep us from motoring well. As we walked to lunch, Festus was sitting in his boat getting ready to go out for the regular Saturday local races. I asked him for a recommendation for a diver to clean the bottom, and he pointed down the dock and said that "Tony" was working a few boats down. So I walked down there but found that Tony had finished the job, taken the cash and told the boat owner that he would be back later for his equipment. I told Duncan, the boat owner, that we would be at Peter's and if the guy came back please send up to see us.
To celebrate our mechanical successes, we went to Peter's BBQ for lunch. We spoke to Patricia about her Mom, and she is still not doing well after her stroke. They don't expect her to live much longer. We were shocked to learn that she is only 64 years old. I would have guessed her to be older from her appearance. Patricia explained to us that her mother wanted to be cremated, but they don't do cremations here in Antigua. Not long ago when a Peter died, they had to fly the body to Grenada to have it cremated, then brought the ashes back here. She and her family are from Guyana, and they will take Mom there when the time comes. In Guyana they do cremations the old fashioned way of building a wooden bier that the body is placed on, and then surrounded by more wood. This method is not as thorough as a modern procedure in a machine, but after the cremation, then the remaining bones are wrapped in a cloth and tied, then either buried or buried at sea, being careful to untie the cloth at burial so the soul can escape. She told us if we came up and found a note on the door that they were closed for a week, we would know why.
After lunch, Tony had not returned for his equipment, so I taped a note on it asking him to come by our slip when he returned.
In the afternoon, I tackled a remaining issue, that being the battery charging system from the engine. We noticed a few weeks ago when we ran the engine, that the battery monitor said it was charging at a rate of over 500 amps. That is not possible. Even if the voltage regulator was not working, and the alternators were allowed to put out full power, both alternators would add up to about 180 amps. The voltage regulator has a display on it, but I don't remember how to decipher it. I got the instruction book out and Barb started the motor while I watched. The display seemed to indicate everything was normal, and in fact, now the monitor showed a reasonable charge of about 90 amps. The voltage regulator goes through three stages of charging, which are determined partly by time and party by sensed voltage from the batteries. I watched for over half an hour while it went through it's entire process, and it seemed ok. So, I'm guessing there will be more to this story. In the meantime, we turned the shore power battery charger off. We will just run off the batteries for a couple of days, so that assuming we leave the dock Monday, the engine can charge them back up and we'll see how it all performs.
Of course we went to happy hour, and I gleefully told everyone who knows us that the boat is fixed and we will be departing soon. We never did hear from the diver, and his equipment is gone. We'll see if maybe he shows up tomorrow. At happy hour, there was a guy with a shaved head, which prompted Barb to suggest that it might be time for me to take another shot at a haircut. We'll think about that one .
Back at the boat, Barb warmed up the leftover enchiladas while I caught the end of the Nationwide NASCAR race on bootleg TV. As Barb was reaching for something deep in the fridge, she yelled and jumped back. She had stuck her finger in the little fan that circulates the air between the two fridge boxes. Normally, that doesn't really hurt, although it gets your attention. She apparently did it just right though such that it caught her fingernail, pulling it back. It didn't come off, but it's going to be tender for a few days.
GPS N 17-04.000 W 061-53.000 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10113.
Mar 25
We joked that we can't leave the marina until Monday, because I wanted the good internet service so that I could watch the NASCAR race today. Well, rain is forecast for Southern California where the race is, so it may be a moot point. I was hoping maybe the diver would show up to clean the boat bottom, but we never heard from him. At 14:30, I got the race on, and they are going racing. The rain was coming, but they hoped to get at least half the race run before it got there. In NASCAR, if the race is past halfway, and enough rain comes that they can't dry the track and continue, then the race is official. That turned out to be exactly what happened. The race was scheduled for 200 laps, and about lap 125 it started to rain. This was conveniently right about happy hour time, so I assumed that would be that and we went to happy hour.
Knowing we would still be here tonight, we had invited Jon from Wicked Good over for dinner. Barb made the now Jolly Harbor famous jambalaya for dinner and we enjoyed Jon's company until about 22:00.
GPS N 17-04.000 W 061-53.000 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10113.
Mar 26
Right after the Coconut Telegraph net at 08:00, I headed to the marina office to see if Festus knew how to get a hold of Tony the diver. I didn't have to go far, as I met Festus on the dock on his way to the boatyard. He said he had his number, whipped out his phone and gave him a call. Festus told Tony "that MoonSail needs the bottom and prop cleaned, preferably this morning. Can you do that?" Tony said he could. Festus then asked him "What time can you be there?" To which Tony replied that "he was in the boatyard". Festus's tone of voice changed, and he more emphatically asked "But what TIME can you be there". To which Tony answered "This morning." Festus got even more insistent, and said "Tony! You are not telling me a time. What TIME will you be there?" To which Tony finally gave an appropriate answer of 09:00. Festus thanked him and hung up, just shaking his head. I was trying not to laugh too hard at the whole exchange. I thanked Festus and he went on his way. This was a perfect example of how he runs a tight ship, and the more typical island-time response of "jus-now", meaning anytime in the next couple of hours, doesn't fly with him.
Tony did actually show up promptly at 09:00. We agreed on a price, with a bit of negotiation, and he got to work. I still think the price was a little steep, but from the sounds of his scraper on the hull, he earned his money. It took him about an hour to get the job done. When he finally surfaced, I asked him if the zincs were still on the shaft. Back in the States when I lived aboard, my zincs would last in the marina about two months. Since the boat has been in the marina for four months, I was glad they are still there. Their deterioration depends on the amount of stray electricity in the water, which can be a function of the marina, your neighbors, or even your own boat.
I paid Tony and immediately called the dockmaster to come read our electric and water meters. I had not done this until Tony had finished, assuming he would want to rinse off when he was done diving. William the dockmaster came and took the readings, and we joked about the fact that we were finally leaving. Once he called the readings in to the office, I went up there to checkout. Again, the whole staff spoke about they couldn't believe we were leaving them. I assured them that we would be back in ten days or so when our guests get here, so not to worry. They would see our smiling faces again.
I got back to the boat and we made the final preparations to get underway. We called William on the radio again to come help untie our dock lines to the outer pilings. I had rigged our stern lines such that I could just slip them off the cleats from the boat. At 11:45, William came and untied us from the piling as I slipped the last line off the dock, and off we went. We yelled our goodbyes to William and told him to pass them along to Sylvester, the other dockmaster. As we motored out of the marina/mooring field area, Barb was busy on deck with her normal routine of coiling lines and stowing them and raising the fenders. She seemed to remember the routine even though it has been almost three years.
We are headed to Falmouth Harbor today, which is about twelve miles from Jolly Harbor. On a normal day, you would leave Jolly Harbor and turn south along the coast. You can normally sail for the first third of the trip expecting a nice east wind. If we were going to sail, we would only be able to use the jib, as the reason we are headed to Falmouth is to get an error corrected that was made in the re-installation of our mainsail furler. So, we can't use the main at all. But, as luck would have it, what wind there was, was right out of the south, so we couldn't have sailed anyway. So we were motoring. Once you turn east at the southern end of the island, you have to motor the rest of the way to Falmouth anyway, so we'll just motor the whole way. We found that the engine temperature gauge was reading a bit high all the way, but not truly overheated. The gauge is still suspect, so I'm not panicking about it yet.
As we turned the southwest corner of the island, approaching the pass between the island and Cades Reef, we were greeted by a dolphin. We both happened to be looking off the port side as the single dolphin made a lazy arc in the water a few feet off our side and took a breath. We could see him in the water for a few seconds and then he disappeared. It is said that seeing dolphins is a good luck sign, and we will take it as such. The last dolphins we saw from MoonSail were approximately in the same place as we came north from Falmouth to Jolly Harbor in 2009. We assume they were welcoming us back.
When we arrived in Falmouth Harbor, we started scouting around for our anchoring or mooring options. Being lazy, I will generally be willing to pay for a mooring instead of working at anchoring. Also, being our first trip out, I figured we need to take baby steps, so why jump right into anchoring and worrying about holding etc. We found there were several vacant moorings, so we picked one up. When we pick up moorings, I drive the boat and Barb stands on the bow with the boat hook, snags the mooring pennant, and attaches our bridle lines to it. This all went as if we had not been away so long, and Barb had us attached in no time. We use two bridle lines, one from each bow cleat, and usually once Barb has the first one secure, I join her on the bow to help with the second one. Once we had them both secure, I read the sign on the mooring buoy. When you took the time to read the whole thing, it said that this mooring was for boats OVER 70 feet long. At first glance I thought it was saying the limit was 70 feet. But after re-reading it, we figured we better take a different one. It also said the fee was $25 USD/night, and I thought the fee was supposed to be $20, so that was further proof this was a bigger mooring intended for bigger boats. So, Barb got to practice dropping the mooring, which is just a matter of untying one end of each of our lines and letting it slip out of the loop on the end of the mooring pennant. We motored ahead a couple hundred feet and found another mooring. This time we read the sign first, and there was no mention of length, and the fee was $20, so we were good. Once again, Barb snagged the pennant on the first try and got us secure. Why do some couples have so much trouble with this?
Once we were settled, I gave Stan from Antigua Rigging a call on the phone. If we are going to go to the dock tomorrow for our repair, I'm not going to bother to launch the dinghy today. We'll just stay aboard for the rest of the day. He said he hoped to get us in tomorrow, so the dinghy stayed up. About 17:00, my mind was telling me there was something we were supposed to be doing. Oh yeah - Happy hour. The regulars at WestPoint are probably missing us, but drinks are cheaper on the boat anyway. Barb made pizza for dinner, and we sat back in the cockpit to watch Falmouth Harbor light up. There seems to be fewer big boats here compared to when we were here in 2009. Not sure if it's just timing, or the economy. The St. Barth's Bucket Race was this past weekend, so maybe some of the large sailboats are up there. To our surprise, five or six large boats came into the marinas after dark. There are two marinas here for the large boats, Antigua Yacht Club Marina, and Falmouth Harbor Marina. Two large power mega yachts came in, and four large (over 100 feet) sailboats.
Speaking of large sailboats, there is a very large white sailboat on the end of Antigua Yacht Club Marina's dock, closest to us. This is not a "classic" old sailboat, but rather a modern mega-yacht sailboat. Barb asked me what the name of the big sailboat we saw in Norfolk back in 2005 was. In 2005, we were touring the USS Wisconsin and a huge mega-sailboat was tied up next to the Wisconsin. This was our first exposure to mega-sailboats. We had found then that the boat was Felicita. Well, we have seen many, many huge boats since then, so I didn't think much about this one when we came in. But now that Barb piqued my interest, I got the binoculars and started trying to find the name on this boat. Sure enough, I could see a life preserver that I thought said Felicita on it. A bit later, we heard somebody hail them on the VHF, confirming what I saw. Felicita appeared to be preparing to leave, but the VHF conversation indicated that their departure had just been cancelled. Not sure why. But, once again, it has been proven that Barb has a much better memory than I.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 12. Total miles 10125.
Mar 27
Neither of us slept very well last night. The boat was rolling from side to side a bit all night, which is not a comfortable movement. It was moving enough that several things were making noises as it rolled. In hindsight, I should have gotten up, hunted down the noises and silenced them, but I didn't. This morning we both wondered if it really was rolly last night (this is not known as an anchorage particularly prone to rolling), or if we just weren't used to the feel of the boat being away from the dock. This morning, I did hunt down three or four things that were clunking in the night and silenced them.
At 08:00, we listened to the Coconut Telegraph and were happy to check in as NOT being in Jolly Harbor. We had been curious what our SSB reception would be like here compared to Jolly Harbor. As a rule, in a marina you have a lot of RF interference because of the close proximity to all the electricity and neighboring boats. Here in Falmouth Harbor, it's entirely different. We don't seem to have as much general hissing background noise, but we have much more odd whistling and distortion that probably comes from the variety of electronic stuff on the mega-boats here. At 09:00 there is a local VHF broadcast of weather and local events which we listened to. It isn't really a cruiser's net, just a broadcast.
I spent a couple hours in the morning, catching up on writing. I also made several calls to Antigua Rigging to see about scheduling our work. I didn't want to go to the trouble of launching the dinghy if we were going to the dock today. Finally around noon, I got the answer that it would not be today that we go to the dock. Maybe tomorrow.
So, we launched the dinghy. Another procedure that we haven't done the complete normal way that it works away from a dock. Everything went well, and the outboard actually started with a couple of pulls. In 2009 when we were here, dinghies were welcome in a nice little basin at the yacht club, right by all the marine businesses. But now, there is a sign there that say "Registered dinghies only", and we read something in the Caribbean Compass magazine about some controversy with dinghies and the yacht club, but we don't know the details. To avoid any problem, we went all the way to a raggedy dock by the gas station where we saw several other dinghies tied up.
We were going to have lunch at a place called Trappas, where we had been told they had a good burger, but it turns out they are only open for dinner. So, we went to the Mad Mongoose, where we have been many times before. Junior, the bartender took good care of us and we both had good burgers and several cold Caribs. We had lunch here a few weeks ago when we were here by car, and thought they were ok, but not as good as we remembered from 2009. But today, they were noticeably better than the ones we had a few weeks ago. Once we were done eating, we went out on the patio and availed ourselves of the free internet they offer. Not only is it free, but they have power outlets at the patio tables in case you need to plug in. They make no bones about people who don't even buy anything using it, which is unusual. I got caught up on e-mail and Facebook events. We should be able to get Wi-fi out in the harbor, but I have not gone to the trouble to hook up my new amplified antenna yet, so the signal out there is very weak. After sitting at the dock in Jolly Harbor with great internet, we are having to adjust to not being connected 24/7. While we were sitting there, the power went out. That's not a problem for the laptop, but it means their Wi-fi router is off too. There were about eight people using the internet at this time, and it was funny to see how long it took most of them to figure out what happened. I was conveniently done with everything I wanted to do, so I packed up and went to pay our tab. Of course the cash register and credit card machines aren't working either. Junior said the owner was on her way over to start their generator. I joked with him that every bartender should know how to start the generator to keep the beer cold and the cash flowing. He said he thought he did know how to start it, but it wasn't starting. In just a couple minutes, the owner showed up, and she couldn't start the generator either. Fortunately, I had cash, including enough small bills to make close enough change to pay our bill.
We hopped in the dinghy and decided to take a tour of the harbor instead of going straight back to MoonSail. We first went out the main channel to the southern point where a lot of boats anchor. We saw Orion, dock neighbors from Jolly Harbor, but nobody else we knew. Then we gave the dinghy a test to see if it would plane, and went the full length of the harbor to Catamaran Marina. I have been there before by dinghy, but wanted to re-familiarize myself with where we should be going soon for the rigging repair. We toured around both sides of the marina, and the haulout slip area. Hopefully they will let us side tie when we come in and not have to do a stern-to anchor dropping routine. We then drove back through the anchorage and mooring field. There is one boat we know from previous years, Arctic Tern. We have already spoken to Hunter & Devi on the radio and plan to get together this evening. The only other boat we know the name of is Foggy Mountain, who checks in on the Coconut Telegraph, but we have never met them.
After a few hours relaxing aboard, we dinghied over to Arctic Tern for sundowners. We first met Hunter & Devi in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, in the winter of 2005/2006. They were at the dock next to us and were replacing their diesel generator. Similar to us, they came back to the States in the summer of 2006, then went on south with our group during the winter of 2006/2007. We saw them numerous times over the next couple of years in Grenada. The last time we saw them was here in Falmouth Harbor in 2009. We have kept in touch over the years via Facebook though. We spent a couple of hours with them catching up on cruisers come and gone, family stuff, and plans for the future. When it came time to leave, it had been dark for a while. We commented that this would be our first find-the-boat-in-the-dark trick since returning. I saw a blinking anchor light and commented that we knew that wasn't us. Or if it was, the light was malfunctioning. We have an anchor light that can blink, but it wasn't set to. Hunter asked if I had one of those darn strobes. I recalled that he and I had this discussion years ago, about the fact that a strobe is not the same as a blinking LED, and that we agreed to disagree. Once we were out on the water, we saw not one but two blinking lights. One in fact, was a strobe, which is an international distress signal. And it turned out to be on a mega-sailboat in the marina. The other was a blinking LED on a regular boat in the anchorage. There should be no excuse for a professional captain to inadvertently have his strobe flashing, especially in a marina. The other one, flashed all night, which is not acceptable either. The flashing LED's while not really covered under regulations, are intended to be turned on to flash when you leave the boat, so that you might find it easier when you return. Once you return, you should switch it back to a solid light indicating you are anchored.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10125.
Mar 28
We both slept much better last night. Turns out the previous night had been a bit rolly, as last night it was flat as could be. The wind died to nothing, and it was quiet and peaceful all night. I woke up once during the night and looked out the back window and jumped thinking something was wrong because the dock wasn't there. It took me several seconds to get my wits about me and remember where we were.
The Coconut Telegraph was very hard to hear this morning. I am supposed to host it Saturday. I'm having my doubts how well I will hear anybody. I called Antigua rigging a little after 08:00 to see if today would be the day. The girl said two of the riggers called in sick today, so they were scrambling to cover other jobs already scheduled. She said to call her back after lunch and check the status.
We spent the morning aboard, writing and reading. We heard Felicita call the marina office on the radio and tell them they would be leaving the dock soon. When they did, we were watching the procedure through our powerful binoculars. It is not a matter of simply casting off the dock lines for a boat that sized (210 feet). She is moored stern-to, with two anchors deployed out in front. There are four lines off the stern to the dock which are not tied to cleats, but shackled to chains around the dock pilings. So, the dockhand has to unbolt the shackles one by one and the crew on the boat pull the lines in once they are free. Of course the captain has to hold the boat in position as this is happening. Once all the lines are free, the bow crew takes over. As the captain inches the boat forward, the crew starts hauling in one of the anchors. The anchors are deployed in a V off the front of the boat. Of course they have these huge high-pressure wash down systems that are pumping huge amounts of water over the anchor chain as it is being retrieved. Once one anchor is retrieved, they use the bow thrusters to move the bow over towards the other anchor as they haul that one in. In this case, as they were hauling in the first anchor, they were very close to some anchored small boats (our size). The dinghy from Felicita was in the water and standing by in case they had to push any of those boats out of the way as they found the anchor. I guess not all those little boats were there when Felicita came in. All in all, it took 45 minutes from the time the dockhand started unbolting lines, until they were underway. Interestingly, Felicita seems to have a mostly female crew. Most big boats have guys for deckhands, and girls for guest service. But these young ladies were hauling those line and handling hoses quite efficiently. The only guy on deck was actually operating the windlass to raise the anchors, and that's a push-button job. Ah to be young and nimble.
I called Antigua Rigging back after lunch aboard. She said it would not be today, but they have me firmly scheduled for tomorrow morning. Since we aren't doing that then, I tackled an entirely new project. We brought a new external amplified Wi-fi antenna back with us in January. It's installation has never bubbled to the top of the project since there were plenty of other things to worry about, and in the marina where they had antennas out on the docks, I didn't need it. Now that we are out in the middle of a harbor we do need it. I had not even looked at the package since I got it, so I have no idea how hard it will be to install. I imagine, the hardest part will be mounting and pulling wires properly. My planned place to mount it is on the davits/arch, which means pulling a wire through the already crowded tubing of the arch. Since I have a long term plan to get the bent tube of the arch replaced (which will probably be put off until next year), I may wait until then to permanently install this antenna, since I will have to be pulling all those wires out for the repair anyway. So, why not hook it up temporarily, and just stick it outside when needed? I got the package out and read the instructions. It is really a pretty simple deal. You screw the antenna onto the amp, plug in a wire that goes to a power supply, and another wire to the wireless router. Then you connect the power supply to a 12v source. Since this is going to be temporary, I didn't want to even open up the power panel to wire it permanently, so I spliced a cigarette lighter plug onto the power supply wires. I put everything together and plugged it in the 12v plug. I immediately heard a sizzle and smelled something burning, so I quickly unplugged it. I started feeling connections to see if something was hot but felt nothing. I briefly plugged it back in and the sound clearly came from the wireless router. The instructions had been very clear about proper polarity, so I had made sure to connect the wires to the plug properly. What I had not done was check the 12v outlet to see if it's polarity was correct. Apparently, when the factory installed that, they didn't pay attention to polarity. Correcting the problem was a simple matter of pulling out the socket, swapping the wires on the back and putting it back in. But, the wireless router is apparently toast now. Not deterred, I continued, just by plugging the cable that would have gone to the router, straight into my computer. It will just mean we can't both be on at once. Once the polarity was correct, the lights on the amplifier lit up correctly, and I was able to get into the setup screens. I saw lots and lots of signals out there, and connected to one of the pay-as-you-go networks. But, I was unable to get to their sign-on screen. I started messing with options in the setup of the antenna until I got it to a point where not only didn't it work, but I could no longer access the setup screens. Of course the detailed user's guide that might enable me to figure it out is online, so I'll have to go to shore to get on the internet and read that.
Late in the afternoon, I went to shore to The Mad Mongoose for internet access. They have free, if somewhat unreliable, internet there. They don't make you buy anything to use it, but not wanting to be a super-cheap cruiser, I bought a beer. I got e-mails for the day, and found the online user's guide for the antenna. I was hoping it was a downloadable PDF, so I could download it and then be back at the boat with the antenna to try and figure it out. But, it apparently is only available as web pages, so I can't download it. I looked through it a little and thought I might have found the answer of how to get back into the setup screens. I made a note of what I hoped the answer was and returned to MoonSail. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple. I guess I'll have to e-mail the vendor for help.
While I was at The Mad Mongoose, I saw a lady with six or seven little kids crossing the street just down the block. I don't think they were all hers, because they all seemed to be about the same size. The kids were all single file as they crossed the street with the lady bringing up the rear. My impression was a momma duck herding her little flock across the street.
For dinner, Barb made the tomato basil pizza that we entered in Al Porto's contest. During the evening, a couple rain showers blew through, and the wind shifted to way north of east, which is fairly unusual. Instead of pointing at the Falmouth Harbor Marina docks, we were pointing almost north towards the anchorage. Even after the squalls ended, the wind stayed from this direction.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10125.
Mar 29
By morning, the wind had abated entirely and it was dead calm. When I first went above with my coffee, boats were pointing in all sorts of directions because there was no wind to keep them aligned. In a crowded anchorage, this is when trouble starts because when people anchor close to one another, they count on everybody pointing the same way. Fortunately, the anchorage is not crowded at all, so I didn't see any issues. As I was looking north towards the head of the anchorage, I could see a distinct line on the water where it changed from mirror calm to small ripples. I could see this line slowly moving south across the water, and very obviously, as the line passed a boat, the boat turned around into the wind. It was if Mother Nature was tired of the boats not being lined up, and one by one she was straightening things out.
After the Coconut Telegraph was over about 8:20, I call Antigua Rigging to verify we were to come in this morning. She said yes, the rigger would be ready for us in about half an hour. Next, I called the marina to tell them we were coming and see where they wanted us. Within about ten minutes, we had fired up the motor, dropped the mooring lines and were on our way. It's only about half a mile from where we were moored to the marina. As we approached the marina, we hailed them on the VHF to get more specific docking instructions. If we were staying here a while, the procedure for docking is to back up to the dock while dropping your anchor so in the end, your anchor holds your bow and you have two stern lines to the dock. I have never done that type of docking, and hope never to have to. Since we were only expecting to be at the dock a few hours, they had us come alongside their fuel dock, which is long enough to handle two boats our length. We got tied up with no problem. I went in to see if they needed me to check in since I thought the rigging company was paying for the dockage. The marina lady told me the rigging company never pays for dockage when they fix boats at the dock, so I told her I would go check with them. Antigua Rigging's office and shop are just behind the marina buildings, so I walked over there and met Sanchia, the girl I have been speaking with on the phone. She assured me that yes, they would cover the marina charge. So I went back and informed the marina lady of that. I still had to fill out the normal check-in paperwork, but that was it.
Soon after docking, Bishop, one of the riggers from Antigua Rigging showed up, tool bag in hand. He was aware of what was wrong, and already had ideas of how to resolve it. The basic problem is that when they replaced the gooseneck on the mast, which is the piece that the boom attaches to, they didn't notice that the new gooseneck was slightly different from the twenty-year-old one. The slight difference wasn't so slight though, because the studs that were not on the new piece, hold the lower part of the furling mechanism in place. The first order of business was to remove the main sail from the mast. It took us several tries to get it all the way unfurled, because with the mechanism too low in the mast, the furling line was jamming. Bishop got a helper, and with the two of them using screwdrivers to hold things up, I was finally able to unfurl the sail. Once unfurled, we needed to release the main halyard and drop the sail. I released the halyard, but nothing happened. Bishop tugged on the sail, but it wasn't coming down. After several seconds, he politely asked if I released the correct halyard. Oops. You would think after fifteen years I would know what line is what wouldn't you? I released the real main halyard and the sail came right down. I was thoroughly embarrassed. I blamed it on the fact that when they replaced all the lines they used different colors than the old ones. Of course that didn't change the location of the line, nor the label on the line clutch, so it was a pretty weak defense. Anyway, with the sail off now, Bishop went to work removing the gooseneck from the mast. This involved drilling out ten rivets and removing two bolts. Once he had it off, he tied a little line to the inside of the furler, where the sail should attach, and tied a loop in the other end. He then took the spare halyard (I knew which one that was), and hooked the loop to it. We tensioned the halyard to raise the furler mechanism up to where it should be. Now that it's apart, I understand what the problem is. Bishop's challenge now is to fashion something to replace the studs that are not cast into the new gooseneck.
By now it was lunchtime, so while Bishop went to lunch, we ate at the restaurant at the marina. It is an Italian restaurant. Surprisingly, they didn't have a separate lunch menu, and they were a bit pricey. We both ordered pasta dishes, and they were both excellent. After we finished eating, we moved over to a little sitting area by the dock and while Barb used their internet to get her e-mail, I read a magazine. We didn't see Bishop go by and realize he was back working until I heard hammering coming from our boat. (Our view of the boat was blocked by a large fuel tank.) I went back over to see what he had come up with. It took him several trips back and forth to the shop to get his solution fine tuned, but he soon had the gooseneck in place, holding the furler properly. He re-did all the rivets, and reassembled the boom and vang. The sail however was going to be a problem. Did I mention that the wind today is howling? The wind has been very mild for a week or more, but not today. Once it started blowing this morning, it pick up to over 20 knots with much higher gusts. Bishop was reluctant to try and put the sail up while at the dock, since that would put extreme pressure on both the rigging and the dock lines. I told him we would take care of it back out on the mooring later when the wind died down.
Not long before Bishop finished his work, two local sport fishing boats came in from a day of fishing. One of them had two huge groupers. One was 64 pounds and the other was 82. We watched as the captain filleted them. About twenty large tarpon were just off the dock gobbling up the scraps as he tossed them in the water. The chef from the restaurant came out and claimed a big hunk of one fillet for tonight's dinner catch of the day. Can't get much fresher than that.
We left the dock and went back to see if a mooring was available. It was about 16:00, so we didn't know if other boats may have come in during the day. Since we weren't sure that we would complete the repair in one day and not have to stay overnight at the dock, we had not done anything to reserve our mooring. When we got back around there, we found the mooring we had been on had a reserved sign on it. We hadn't asked John, the man who owns the mooring to hold it for us, so we assumed it was reserved for somebody else. Fortunately, the next mooring over was open, so we picked it up. I called "Sea Pony" (that's John) on the radio to make sure he hadn't held that for us, since I didn't want to leave it marked reserved if it had been for us. He laughed and said that it had been reserved for the boat that was one mooring further over. They had taken the wrong one, but stayed there. So we could have taken it, but he told me not to worry about it and stay where we were if we were happy. Since I made Barb do the mooring thing twice the first time we came in, I decided not to make her do it twice again, and we stayed where we were.
While we were waiting for the wind to die down, I thought I would get out the big cordless drill that we bought to use as a poor man's power winch. We have never actually used it since we are still capable of doing everything ourselves. I dug the drill out, and got the battery charger for it. I plugged in the battery charger, snapped on the battery, and nothing happened. I pulled the plug back out to make sure it was making good contact, and one of the plug prongs broke off and stayed in the socket. After all the things that have broken, I was flabbergasted. I said "What the %#$* else can go wrong?" Of course I shouldn't have said that. Now I will have to get a new end for the charger cord, and probably replace the socket since the piece is down inside.
About an hour after we had moored, the wind started to abate. It was still blowing a bit, but we felt we could raise the sail. Being on the mooring, the boat will just move around as the wind fills the sail, but since we will be pointing straight into the wind, we won't go anywhere. We were helped in our decision to get it over with because without the sail on the furler, the furling tube slams around in the mast making an awfully annoying noise as the boat rocks about on the water. It's annoying to us, and when you notice your neighbors looking over trying to figure out what all the racket is, it embarrassing. So, I got the tools needed. When we raise the foresail, I crank the winch and Barb feeds the edge of the sail into the grove in the furler. But, with the main, the groove in the furler is to high for her to reach. So I stand at the mast feeding the sail into the groove, and can also tug on the halyard as she winches it, making the winching a bit easier. We got the sail up, and I attached the bottom of the sail to the furler. That's the part I couldn't do before the fix. Once the sail was attached, the next step was to furl it. Barb started to take the main halyard off the winch, and it started sliding through the rope clutch, letting the sail back down. That isn't right. Barb held the halyard on the winch as I opened and closed the clutch and tried again. Again, the line slipped through the clutch. Barb winched the sail tight again and re-secured the halyard on the winch so I could inspect the clutch more closely. Once I looked at it, I saw that it had broken inside. I knew I shouldn't have said "what else can go wrong". We need the winch that's holding the halyard for the furling line, so while I held the halyard from letting the sail down, Barb took it off the winch and moved it back to the winch normally used for the jib sheets. We re-tensioned it and then furled the sail. Once the sail is furled, it won't slide down if the halyard tension is released, so we were able to take the halyard off the winch for now, but I will have to replace the clutch before we can unfurl the sail again.
Dinner tonight was one of Barb's leftover surprises. That is when you take several leftovers, add something new, and come up with a totally irreproducible meal. The result was quite good, as usual. I think there have only been two time in all these years that the result has really been something neither of us have liked.
After dinner we were relaxing in the cockpit, in the dark, and we kept hearing something that sounded like a loud exhale. It took several times before we finally figured it out. It was a turtle surfacing for a breath near the boat. We finally saw him in the moonlight once. Just before we went to bed I went to the stern of the boat to make sure the dinghy was secure, and the turtle came up just a couple feet away from the stern as I was standing there.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10125.
Mar 30
The names of boats frequently are the source of some amusement. Every boat must have it's name either on the side or the stern. You must also display your hailing port (where you are from). Many boats, usually large mega boats, are registered in the Bikini Atoll, which is in the South Pacific. I'm sure there is some tax reason for this. So, it's common to see "Bikini" as the hailing port. The cat next us is registered in Bikini, and the name of the boat is Skimpy. So, on the stern it says "Skimpy Bikini". To add to the humor, there are several bikini parts hanging from the rigging.
At noon, we went ashore for lunch. This time we landed the dinghy at the Yacht Club basin where we did in past visits. I went into the marina office to inquire about this new "registered dinghies only" sign. The answer I got was that for casual use of a couple hours, there was no charge, but for all day or overnight there was. Exactly what the time limit was and how they administered it was still unclear, but we left it there. We decided to walk over to Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbor, only about a quarter mile walk, and check it out. We had been there in 2009, but it's a very cool place. There is an admission fee of $8 USD to the dockyard, but there are many exceptions. We thought the deal was if you were on a boat, you paid once and could go anytime during your stay. We also thought that if you were specifically going to one of the businesses in the dockyard, you didn't have to pay. I was more than happy to pay, and as the young lady was getting my change, Barb asked if the entry fee was good for as long as we stayed. We explained that we were on our own boat. She replied that we didn't have to pay at all then and gave me my money back. Cool.
Our first stop in the dockyard is the ATM. It's the only ATM we know of in the English Harbor/Falmouth Harbor area. I went in the little ATM room and found it said it was out of service. So, we continued walking in to where there are a couple of restaurants. We looked at the menu for Copper & Lumber and decided to eat there on the patio overlooking half of the Dockyard Marina and the Slipway Marina across the water. While we were eating a large sailboat left from the other side of the Dockyard Marina. As it made it's way out of the harbor, all of a sudden all the other large boats started blowing their horns. (And these big boats have big horns.) I'm guessing the boat that was leaving is leaving for the season, probably returning to Europe or The Med. The community between the mega boats is pretty tight, and they all know one another.
Also from our patio vantage point, we can see a large motor yacht named Leander. We have seen Leander before, in 2009. While she is not owned by the Royal Family, she is frequently chartered by them. She was docked at what looks like a new dock, a bit away from the main docks. In addition to the typical deal where the boat has two anchors out in front, and then several stern lines to the dock, Leander had two huge lines going to shore, one off the stern and one from the stern to the shore to their starboard. As we were eating, a middle aged couple came by dressed and sweating as if they had been out for a run. It then became evident that they were guests on Leander, because there was one crewman at the back of the boat, and when he saw them approaching, he opened the doors to the main saloon, and corralled the huge flag waving off the stern so they could walk by. We didn't recognize them as anybody famous.
After we ate, we took a walk out the point of land that makes one side of the entrance to English Harbor. English Harbor got it's name because back in the 1700's, the English found it to be a well protected bay where they could hide their Navy vessels, and protect the bay from above easily. So, out on the end of the point is the partially restored remains of a small fort called Ft. Berkeley. It wasn't a long hike, probably less than a mile round trip, along a pretty easy path. Of course the view from there was great, and we got some good pictures.
We returned to the boat about 16:00. The dinghy had been parked for about four hours, and nobody hassled us about it. Seems to be a loose policy. We had dinner aboard tonight and relaxed in the cockpit. After dark, I was just gazing towards the marinas watching the lights. Suddenly, I became aware that there had been some lights ashore that I could no longer see. Then I heard the sound of water, and realized we were about to get rained on. We quickly dashed below and closed the hatches, just as a pretty heavy shower hit us. It didn't last long, but would have surprised us if I hadn't have just happened to be looking in the right place.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10125.
Mar 31
I hosted the Coconut Telegraph today for the first time since we've been back. The person who has been doing Saturdays asked me if I would take every other one from her for the next few weeks, since she was going to be having a lot of guests. I still had my copy of the script from years ago and it came back to me as if we had never been away. The only problem was that I was having trouble hearing a number of the boats. Lynn on Seabbatical tried to relay for me, but I was barely hearing her either. I'm sure I missed some, but we got those that we could checked in.
Today I was reminded again why one should never say "What else could go wrong?" Today the worst possible thing that can go wrong on a boat, short of maybe fire or sinking, went wrong. The head clogged. The normal rule on a boat is that nothing goes in the head that you didn't eat first. We adhere to that rule. However, no matter how diligent you are about flushing vinegar through the system routinely, urine and saltwater combine to form a nasty calcium-type deposit on the inside of the hoses. Anyplace there is a point in the hose where the liquid stands, sooner or later, the calcification will close the hose, very similar to cholesterol and your arteries. While we were in the marina at Jolly Harbor, we were only using the head on the boat for #1 purposes. Which is probably why we were getting away with this not happening sooner. Since we have been out of the marina almost a week, we have been using the head for #1 and #2 purposes. So the problem appeared. It sure would have been a lot more convenient if it had happened at the marina where we just had to walk a few hundred feet to their bathrooms. Now, it's dinghy ashore or bucket time until I fix the problem. A short time later when I needed to use the facilities, I chose to dinghy ashore and check e-mail while I was there. I went to the Yacht Club basin, and looked around for a public restroom. There are several small shops and restaurants in the complex, so there must be restrooms. I finally found one, on the second floor. It had one small room with a urinal, and one small room with a toilet. I went in the room with the toilet, and it looked like it was clogged! This is not going to be a good day. I was about to continue my search when I noticed there was a plunger behind the toilet. Might as well give it a try. I gave it a couple good pumps with the plunger and it flushed normally. Things are looking up.
It was only about 10:00 when I went ashore, so The Mad Mongoose where I usually park for the free internet was not open yet. So, I got a table at the little coffee bar right by the dinghy dock. I ordered a coffee and got the password for their wi-fi. I checked mail and caught up on things and spent about half an hour. While I was there, Barb watched a controversy unfold in the harbor. There is a clearly marked no anchoring zone in front of the Falmouth Harbor Marina so that the big boats that come there have room to maneuver. Well, there are three sailboats clearly anchored inside this zone. The Port Authority hailed one of them on the VHF radio and told him he had to move from that area so that a large motor yacht could safely leave the marina without worrying about hitting him. The sailboat captain said he was a single-hander and couldn't move. Not sure if he normally has crew or was just trying to make up an excuse. If he is always a single-hander, then he has to be able to anchor or un-anchor by himself. The captain of the motor-yacht offered to send over one or two crew members to help him if he would come get them in his dinghy. Then somebody from the marina came out to the sailboat in a dinghy and there was a long conversation. Then nothing happened for over an hour. Finally, the captain of another sailboat, who talks to the offending sailboat frequently on the radio, came over, and the two of them weighed anchor and moved just outside the exclusion zone. After he was re-anchored, he hailed the motor yacht several times on the VHF, but they never answered him. Eventually, the motor yacht left without further incident. The other two boats remain in the no anchoring area.
I returned to the boat, hoping somehow the head had magically healed itself, but that was not the case. The first order of business is to determine which hose is clogged. There is a hose from the base of the head to the Y-valve which directs things overboard or to the holding tank, and there is the hose from the Y-valve to the overboard thru-hull. I have replaced the hose from the head to the Y-valve in the past, and I suspect I will find it is not the problem. To figure it out, I disconnected that hose from the Y-valve, got a bucket under the end of it, and gently pumped the head. Sure enough, it pumped easily, so the problem is in the other, twenty-year-old hose. If you've followed our story long, you've probably heard me rant about the way American production boats are built. They build the hull, the put in the wiring and plumbing, then drop in an inner liner that is the basis of the interior. This then hides all the stuff that sooner or later you will need to service. When I replaced the first head hose several years ago, I had to drill a four-inch hole in the fiberglass behind the head to get my hand in there and be able to direct the hose in and out. The hose that is clogged today looks like it will be even more of a challenge to remove. After pondering the situation and looking at where the hose went, it seemed to me that the clog was likely near the end where the hose attaches to the thru-hull. I came to this conclusion because there was a low spot there where the hose came up a few inches from the hull to the valve on the through hull. Maybe if I take the hose off the thru-hull, I can clear the clog rather than have to replace the hose. Just getting the hose off the thru-hull was a major job. The hose is an inch and a half, thick-walled, wire reinforced hose that has not moved in almost twenty years. The thru-hull is in the bottom of our hanging locker, so I removed all the clothes from the locker and took the bottom shelf out so I could at least get both arms in the locker for the fight. I was able to get a screwdriver under the edge of the hose and start working it around. I finally got the hose lose from the thru-hull, so I could twist it, but I still couldn't pull it back off the thru-hull since it was so stiff. I could have simply made a cut in the hose the length of the thru-hull fitting, but then I'd be committed to replacing the hose. I finally got a burst of energy and with major prying, pulling, grunting, and a little swearing got the hose off. Sure enough it was plugged solid with the rock-like calcium deposits. How anything had ever gone through it was a mystery. Now comes the fun part. Using a long screwdriver, I first cleaned the thru-hull fitting out. I then opened the thru-hull valve and let the seawater flush out the thru-hull. Then I started using the screwdriver in the hose. I got about nine inches of it cleaned out, but I could tell there was more. I then used a thin flexible but stiff wire we have to get even further. I could run this wire down from the top a couple feet before encountering the obstruction, and from the bottom, I got another six inches or so cleaned out with it. But, eventually I seemed to be hitting a spot where I could not get the wire to break through. So the hose will have to come out. Out came the four-inch hole saw and the electric drill. I drilled a hole behind the toilet on the opposite side of where I drilled one to replace the other hose several years ago. From this hole, I could feel the hose and determine that unlike the other hose I replaced, this one does not appear to be attached to the backside of the fiberglass. The next problem though is how to get this stiff old hose to turn the corner where it goes through the wall from the head to the hanging locker in the bedroom. I decided I needed more room and more holes. So, I undid the input and output hoses from the toilet and removed it entirely. Then I drilled another four-inch hole in the fiberglass on the bathroom side of where the hose goes through the wall and makes the 90° turn. Putting my hand in this hole, I can feel that the hose is pinched between the hull and the inner liner that forms the base where the toilet is bolted. So, hole number three got drilled right next to where the hose seems to be pinched. Once I had that hole, I could get my huge screwdriver and pry the hose out from where it was pinched. Now I could freely move the hose around. But there was still the problem of it around the tight corner. Since I'm replacing it anyway, I bit the bullet and cut the hose at the 90° turn. Then with one hand pulling from the Y-valve end, and the other hand in the various holes, I was able to work the hose out. Now to get the new hose in. I actually have about seven feet of new sanitation hose aboard that was destined for the replacement of the hose to the holding tank, but that project has still not happened. I started to feed the new hose in the hole by the Y-valve but it stopped after a few inches. Just inside that hole it needs to be pulled out past a little shelf that is inside there. I could not get my arm in the access holes far enough to reach the end of the hose. So, Barb got to be part of the action. Her arms are smaller, so she could reach in past her elbow and reach the end of the hose. As she directed the end, I pushed it into the hole. With her help, it wasn't hard to get the hose to the place where it has to make the 90° turn. Now the fun part. I went into the locker and got my finger through the wall and into the end of the hose. With much more prying, pulling, grunting, and yes, more swearing, we got the hose through far enough to reach the thru-hull. I slipped a couple of hose clamps over the end of the hose and tried to put it on the thru-hull. Of course it needs to bend just a little bit, and even the new hose is quite stiff, so another major struggle ensued. Finally I got it on and clamped it down. In just a matter of about ten more minutes, I reconnected the hoses to the Y-valve, remounted the toilet and connected it and, and opened the valves. I pumped the toilet and everything seemed to work and be flowing freely.
We had been invited to Blue Moon for sundowners to celebrate Adrian's successful completion of the course to get his Yacht master's license. The Yacht master's license is required to skipper a charter boat, which Adrian and Sam plan to do in order to support staying in the Caribbean. We were supposed to be at Blue Moon at 17:00, and it was about 16:20 when we finished the head repair. I jumped in the shower and put on clean clothes, since I may have been a little ripe between all the sweating and the handling of the offending clog material. I also took a couple Aleve since I will probably be a bit sore after all this work. We got to Blue Moon right at 17:00 and joined Adrian & Sam, Andy, one of the other course graduates, Rupert, their instructor, and two other Brits, Steve and Mack, who are both single-handers they had met before crossing the Atlantic. We enjoyed beverages and conversation with them for several hours before heading back to MoonSail. After a bit more time spent in our cockpit, I could feel that I was getting sore. Tomorrow ought to be fun.
GPS N 17-00.863 W 061-46.433 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10125.