February, 2011
Antigua and How to Make the Engine Run Againand the Charger Work
One of the many, many, many rainbows we saw in this part of the world.
The first night all we cared about was relishing the fact that we were at anchor. Secure. Nothing to care about. Just sleep as long as you wish. That was a great luxury. I didn’t care what we were going to do tomorrow, it would all work out. Like always. All I knew was that I could sleep till how ever long I wanted to. Nice….
The dock with internet and ice cream.
It also has 365 beaches.
The following morning, we didn’t talk much about what was to be done but I knew Jose’s head was working over time. He likes to worry a little. It was Sunday and nothing to do but make sure the shops we needed were indeed closed. They were. So just look over the Bay and take in the sights.
We were anchored in a very large, and very quite bay called Foulmouth Harbour. There are a few shops here for boat supplies, ice cream, coffee, internet, a few groceries, etc. Down the street a few blocks away you are in English Harbour whose harbor runs parallel to Foulmouth Harbour. English Harbour has a historical past from the 1700’s. It is hurricane proof and historically used for refitting and careening ships for the British. When the French weren’t attacking it, they were attacked by pirates. So walls were built around the small village to protect the shops for rigging, sales, masts, etc. There’s currently a sail loft still operating here.
On the other side of the bay.
The Police Station
Down the street with typical houses.
Only a few small stores and a few larger stores.
The sail loft in English Harbour.
The museum.
The fish market in the center of the main village, St. John.
Monday was engine and generator day. We got many recommendations to visit a local specialist Yanmar dealer shop. My friend Bruce suggested that we needed to change the filters. So that’s were we started out. There we advised to perhaps empty out the entire diesel tanks because there might be algae growing the tanks which would have to be emptied and started again. I shuttered to think what that might entail since we were at anchor with no engine and no containers.
(Just a note here. I have a friend, Bruce, that I’ve been writing to for over 10 years when he was going around the world in his 38’ catamaran. He has since been living in the Caribbean Islands for several years. He recognized me as I was walking down the street near the Harbor. After 10 years, we finally got to meet face to face. What a thrill!)
Along the way heading back to the boat, Jose heard someone speaking Spanish. I knew he was feeling quite isolated with only my company for almost a month and almost all English in Antigua. So any time he heard someone speaking Spanish, his ears drifted in that direction followed by his body. A couple passed by speaking Spanish and he piped up asking them where they were from and telling them how good it was to hear other Spanish speakers. They were from Venezuela and they made friends. The following day he passed by their boat and as luck would have it, Joaquin, the person responsible for the 70’ Marlow powerboat they were renting was there. After talking to Jose for a while, Joaquin said he would be happy to stop by and look at the boat problems.
So at the appointed hour of 4pm, he came over and spent a mere 2.5 hrs. repairing both problems. Ultimately, there are two drain cups that need to be emptied from time to time located under the 2 filters. When algae is in the diesel, it makes a gunk like substance. The little trays below the 2 filters need to be emptied. With all the jostling in the crossing, the gunk got into the lines which clogging the diesel from entering the engine. Joaquin blew it out the lines and we were good to go on the engine. Now diesel went to the engine and the engine ran.
The other issue was charging the batteries. The charger and the inverter were not the problem. Life expectancy of batteries is about 5 years and two of the batteries were about 5 years old. Therefore, the batteries were not charging. Any easy fix. Just test out the batteries to see which ones needed replacing. An added difficulty was that 2 gel batteries were mixed with to alkaline batteries. Not a good idea because they charge at different levels. So Jose needed to use one set or the other set but not together.
I am learning more about how things work than I ever wanted to. If I have to translate, I need to understand how things work to understand what one person is saying and then explain it to the other person. Sort of being in the middle. But now with Joaquin and Jose together, they just spend the day doing mechanical school together. I don’t need to know anything mechanical. Wonderful. And Jose knows a whole lot more than a week ago.
The genoa was fraying badly so it needed repair before Jose proceeded on his 10 day trip to get to Panama. The local sail loft was so busy that they didn’t have much time to repair the sail. This was the impetus to go to St. Martin which is a one day’s sail away or 18 hours. Supplies were less expensive and there was more than one good sail making shop in town. The sooner Jose could take his sail there, the higher up on the waiting list he would be. So the next day, we set sail for St. Martin.
The day before we did that, while Jose was in mechanic school with Joaquin, I made a trip to try to retrieve our line that was left on the first boat that tried to help us get in. We said we’d pick it up from the hotel. They worked for a resort which was the next opening north of us. Sounds easy. But I had to go to the center of Antigua, a 180 mile square island, and then take another bus to the other end of the island. Just to get around the corner from us. After 5 hrs., I actually came back with the line. Jose though he’d never see the line again. An amazing recovery!
The retrieved line.
Fungi – (on the right) Antigua staple of cornmeal, okra, water and salt. Not bad. Hot sauce probably helps. Rice on the left with a chicken wing in back.
It’s not a flower! It’s ‘ackee’. You cook it with salted fish.
Once in St. Martin, it was time to leave the boat. So I got a hotel room, did my month’s worth of laundry and headed over to St. John to meet up with a catamaran and more adventures.
