Wednesday January 19, 2011

Once Dave had us checked out of the resort, we prepared to toss off the dock lines and head out to Mangrove Key to anchor for the night. We are now on a mechanical hold. Before tossing off the dock lines, I always start the engine and let it warm up a bit before releasing the dock lines. As we began to leave the engine started on the first pull, however, the water stream from the tell tale that indicates the motor is pumping in sea water to cool the engine was not working. No cool water was reaching the engine.

At first we thought the problem was caused by a clogged intake port. The only way to inspect the intake port for a clog is is from outside of the boat. This meant I had to get into the water. I put on the wet suit that was given to me in Port Salarno. I then crawled over the stern pulpit and carefully made my way down the swim ladder into the crystal clear salt water. It was just a little cold. Not freezing. It appeared to me that the water temperature was at least 75 degrees.

A visual inspection of the intake port revealed some salt buildup. I took a small safety pin and cleaned the screen. I would push the pin into the round screens. Wow there are a lot of little holes in a screen. It took about an hour to clean it. Once the screen was clean, we fired up the motor. There was still no water moving through the engine to cool it down. I shut the engine off before it over heated. As overheating the engine can cause major damage. I was was frustrated. To help trouble shoot the problem, I called Jerry Leanderson. I was lucky to get in touch with him as he was driving to his cottage in northern Michigan.. Jerry has the exact same motor as I have. I described the problem. Jerry said that he has replaced the water pump in his motor several times and it was most likely the water pump (impeller) that needed to be replaced. Dave Luther fired up his MacBook Pro and started searching for water pumps for a 1985 Honda 9.9 horse motor. Dave called his friend Jim Westerman in Ann Arbor using Skype account. He described the problem to Jim. From the description of the problem, Jim agreed that it was the water pump. Jim got on the Internet. He helped to verify and cross reference the part number for the water pump.

Dave then used his Skype account to call several parts dealers on the East coast. Dave’s Skype account saved the day. We were able to make phone calls back the United States at a reasonable rate. Dave finally talked with one parts supplier who said that he would order the part and have ready to ship to the Bahamas tomorrow.

Once we were able to trouble shoot the problem and locate the part needed, I had to check us back into the marina. This is a five start marina and resort. The charge to dock a boat here is $2.00 per foot with a 40 foot minimum. This means that to tie up my 25 foot Water Mark, it was costing us $80 per night. If we were going to be stuck here it would be a very expensive layover. I went to the General Manager of the facility. Her name is Jackie Collins. I told here that were had a mechanical break down and that we were going to have to stay several days. I also pleaded poverty and told here that I thought that is was unfair to have to pay for a 40 foot boat when I had a 25 foot boat and was sailing on a tight budget. She sympathized with me and dropped the minimum length and told me that I would only have to pay $1.50 per foot. This quickly lowered the dock fee from $80 per night to $37.50 per night. This is a little more in line with the budget. Besides it is a five star facility. I don’t know who gave it a five star rating. This resort does not have a hot tub. The rating should be lower.

While working on the motor a Bohemian mon came buy in an old tattered wet suit. He said that he was selling fresh conch. I followed him around the sand point and back to his boat. It was hidden around the point so the marina security could not see it. His boat was full of conchs. He had about 50 conchs in this boat. There were so many that his boat barely floated. He showed me how to get the food out of the conch. He took a hammer and hit the conch on the pointed end and a little crack was formed. His knife went into the crack was wiggled around and out fell the entire animal. He separated the working part of the conch from the eating part.

Once back at the boat with the fresh conch, I made dinner. Dave boiled up a pot of water and cooked some pasta. I diced the conch and diced up some onions. Put them in a frying pan with melted butter and we had a delicious meal. I sent the left over pasta next door to our neighbors Hans and Michelle. The liked the dish so much they invited Dave and I over to their boat for an evening bottle of French wine. Han is a retired farmer from Quebec. Hans and his wife are traveling the Bahamas on his sail boat Grand Manier III

The wine really put me to sleep. Got back in my bunk and fell asleep. Thinking that if I have to be stranded, I am really lucky to be stranded in this place with this crew.