October 3, 2012
Good Morning,
Well….how was your day yesterday….here is how ours went:))))
Get up around 5:30 amish…..moving a little slow as we had partied/dinner w/Gris Gris the night before….a few cups of coffee and I start to feel better….look up and uh oh…..dark ominous clouds to the north….yep, here comes the thunder and lightning show. What to do…..wait it out or go and try to dodge?????
Turned on the radar….arghhhhhhh….lot’s of squalls but mainly to the NW…..if we leave soon we might just miss most of them…..if we stay we might have to stay the day and the weather for the next 2 days is not so good…..decisions, decisions, decisions……ugh!!!!
OK…..got the dinghy loaded…..we see some clearing skies to the west but NW looks bad….decide to go…..in the end a good decision….we do dodge a few squalls but the lightning stayed 2-3 miles away so all was good…..but the rain lasted for 3-4 hours.
OK….on passage….all is good…..then oh joy…..I see birds, lot’s of them…..quickly turn MM into the school and bingo…..fish on…..reel it in…a small tuna, 3-5 pounds…..perfect for us…..sushi tonight…..start to lift the fish into the cooler….but wait, the line is caught in the swim transom lid….oh no, bam…..lucky fish goes bye bye…..oweeeee. OK….not too worry, turn around and make another pass……bang….fish on…..but this one is big…..spooling, so I slowly crank down on the drag and then bang…..fish gone……reel in and the steel leader has busted….2nd time this has happened in the last few months…..I’m throwing all those steel leaders away……arghhhhhhh. OK…..the Admiral is giving me the eye…..you know the one that says let’s go….but, I steel myself and turn around and make another pass….but oh no, no more birds and alas no more fish:(((((((
OK…go on diligent bird watch…..I’m sure my jaw is set as tight as can be….how can I lose two tuna’s….I want to cry out but just put the binoculars up and search…..sitting up top then what seems like every alarm on the boat goes off…..jump down to the control panel, throttle back, finally see the Cummins high temp alarm light…..turn off squealing alarm…..WTH…..think, now think, what could cause this….WATER….go check the exhaust and no water is coming out…..shut off the Cummins and startup the Yanmar get home….have we told you how much we love out brave little Yanmar…..lifesaver!!!!
Jump down into 110 deg F ER…..stainer not clogged…crack the strainer lid and a gusher comes out…get soaked in salt water…joy. Hmmmm…..now what…..impeller or pump….hmmmm. We do have internet on the Digicel modem…..fire off an email to MMTAB……Mystic Moon Technical Advisory Board……Les, Mark, Tom and Wayne….gotta luv these guys and modern technology.
OK….another decision….where to go….it’s 16 miles to Portobella…..we are doing 4.5 knots….we have a slight counter current…..that will be 3.5-4 hours….it’s 1:00 now so say 5:00…..one hour before sunset…..maybe too close for comfort…..but wait, there is Isla Grande or Linton….we were there in 2009….ok, let’s go to Isla Grande…..7-8 miles away…..ok, we get into Isla Grande and there are zero boats….WTH….we have heard about a lot of crime in the area so neither one of us feel like being the only boat…..let’s try Linton…..ok, another 15 min and we come into an good anchorage but close to 60-70 boats…..but, a nice opening for us to anchor!!!!!
Anchor down, open up the ER and try to cool it off…..but wait, there is a smell…..sometimes the blue exhaust tube on the Yanmar gives off a plastic smell when we run hard….but wait, there is smoke…..oh no, one of our Costco terry cloth rag bags has fallen over and is up against the heat blanketed exhaust riser…..it is smoking….yep, the old man and gal can still move….and as quick as you blink, we have grabbed the bag….ouch, burning plastic is hot…..get it out of the ER and throw it in the water….but wait, that’s a lot of towels/rags….so we fish it out of the water and then just sit and stare……oh how close that was to a major league disaster…..needless to say the ER storage will be rearranged!!!!
OK….nerves calm….into the ER…..pull the plate off the impeller…it looks good…no blades missing….good but not good….I want this to be an easy fix but this is looking like a big job…..call Les on the SAT phone…..he tells me what I know but his calming voice always relaxes me….I take the impeller out and a broken shaft comes out also….WTH…..how does that happen….this pump is 17 months old with just 600 hours on it….ok, we have a brand new spare…..so, 1.5 hours later, minus 5 pounds of sweat/water weight…..Kathy too as it takes 4 hands to line up the new pump et al…..there is always that moment of truth….that was your spare, we have no more….did I install correctly…..but, we gulp, Kathy hits the starter….all starts ok, no leaks…run out to the exhaust and oh joy, lots of water gushing out…..we do the happy dance and high fives all around:))))))
So, that was our day….how was yours:))))
Don’t tell us we are not living the dream:))))
A little puckered John
Mystic Moon
Linton Panama
PS: And the beat goes on…..get up early, can’t sleep….we have fast internet and 6 weeks of emails to get to…..need coffee…but wait the coffee pot will not come on…..whaaaaaaa…ok, calm down, drink tea….Kathy comes up later….she can’t get it started either….but wait, we have a spare….on my 2nd cup as I type this…..LIG indeed!!!!
