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Larry's LogAs we prepare to go in the water, we see a dive boat come up and pick up one of the white/blue moorings next to us. Hmmm. We get our gear together and another dive boat gets another mooring on the other side of the catamaran. By this time, a large swell has also started from the south, making the place somewhat uncomfortable. Of course, we were only going to stay for an hour or so. Now, another dive boat comes in and asks the catamaran to leave. I don't understand the conversation since it's all in French, but the actions are clear enough. There are 4 moorings; 3 dive boats and us. We decided to wait and see if another dive boat would come and kick us off, and we saw several other larger "glass bottom" boats come up to the island but no more boats with divers. Since we were there already, had our gear out, we decided, well lets go for it. We got in the water and wow the view was really great. Its deep so the snorkeling isn't great but the water is clear and there are lots of fish. I kept an eye on Destiny to make sure the wind didn't shift and bring her closer to the rocks or into one of the other boats, but all was well. We only stayed in about 30 minutes or so since we were both a little nervous about the boat and wondered if another dive boat was going to come in and get pissed because we were on his mooring. The swell made getting into the boat an adventure but we got out OK (we go into the dinghy first and then into the big boat since we don't have a swim ladder). After rinsing the gear and ourselves off, we got underway to Basse Terre, about 12 miles further down the coast. I had made a mental note of another anchorage about half way down, Anse a la Barque, which would be protected. As we passed it, it was still a very light southwest breeze and we were motoring in a glassy sea. About 30 minutes later, I could see approximately a mile ahead of us that there were white caps on the water. White caps signal a wind speed of at least 10 - 15 knots and there were quite a few on the water's surface. There were no white caps where we were. As we closed on the wind line, I could see that we were going to get a lot of wind VERY soon. We were still motoring. And sure enough, we reached the wind and almost instantly got 20 knots from the southeast. So now we were pounding into the wind and seas. The wind continued to increase to 25 knots and then finally 30 knots. If we hadn't been in the lee of the island, the waves would have been really up, probably to 8 feet. As it was, they had reached about 4 to 5 feet quickly and were very uncomfortable. We motored into this for about 90 minutes and I was giving serious consideration to turning around and going back to Anse a la Barque. But Diane said that we needed to get to the marina at Basse Terre so we could clear out by the weekend and go to the Saintes. Iles des Saintes is part of Guadeloupe but there are no customs there. So we took our medicine and slogged through. I finally saw the masts from the marina and we realized that our torture was almost over, or so I thought. We got to the marina and saw that the fuel dock was empty. We decided to pull into that and ask at the office where we should go. Well, it's been awhile and we neglected to get our lines and fenders prepared so it made for an interesting show. Just a little nick on the gelcoat, no big deal. We got tied up and find that the marina staff are out to lunch until 3. It was now 2pm, so we waited. While waiting though, I was doing my regular check around the boat that includes looking at the energy monitor, which tells me the state of the 3 batteries on board. After motoring for so long, they should have been fully charged but they weren't. What happened? A quick look at the alternator reveals the secret. A connector on the case had broken, severing the connection to the voltage regulator. Without the voltage regulator to tell it what to do, the alternator just sits there. Damn!!! Since it was the connector on the alternator itself that broke off and not just the connector on the wire, this was going to be a problem. At first glance, it would require removing the alternator and taking it to a repair shop. But where around here would there be a repair shop? Since the unit was too hot to remove it now, we had lunch and waited for the marina staff, hopefully they would have a suggestion and help us get it repaired. At 3, I went to the marina office and explained my problem as best I could. They didn't speak must English and my French is non-existent, save for Bon jour and au revoir. But they managed to understand and pointed to a guy who was just coming up from another dock and said he was a mechanic. He spoke a little more English than the marina staff. We went to the boat and he looked at the alternator. He saw the problem and said he would be back in 10 minutes with something to fix it. OK, that would be great, but I was skeptical. 20 minutes later, he hadn't come back yet. Diane went to the marina office to arrange for a spot for at least the night, might be more if we can't fix the alternator quickly, and came back. After she came back and had looked at the spot, and had sounded the depth with our portable depth sounder, the guy finally came back with some tools and wire conectors. After looking again, and cutting off the wrong wire connector before I could stop him, he realized that it was the connector from INSIDE the case that was broken, not just on the wire. Oh well. He said he would come back tomorrow at 9 to fix it, he didn't have time today as he had "people" with him. OK, we'll see you tomorrow. Diane then went to get the marina staff, who were very helpful, to assist us in getting in the spot selected. We were wary about this since we had read that the depths in this marina were low and since we draw 7 feet, I hoped we wouldn't run aground getting to the spot. We had also never done a med type mooring before. In this situation, there is a mooring ball off the dock for each boat to tie to while they go in perpendicular to the dock. Sometimes instead of a mooring ball, you use your own anchor. In this marina, there was a mooring. Well we cast off from the fuel dock and backed up a bit and got a little stuck in the mud. No problem, just a little more gas and we started going again. I back up a bit more and turn the boat so we can go forward down the narrow channel to our spot on the last pier. As I turn into the channel for the last dock, there is almost no room. But then I see a spot next to a blue sailboat (with a guy working on it) and a sportfisherman. That's to be ours. Should be interesting. The staff, using large hand motions, tells me what to do and its actually relatively painless. Using our fenders, we squeeze into the spot and then with the help a few people on the dock already, get our 2 bow lines ashore and tied up. The head marina guy had tried to snare the mooring ball to tie on the stern line, but missed it. Luckily, there was no wind inside the marina and we were stationary, squeezed between the other 2 boats. He said to use the dinghy to tie up the stern to the mooring. No problem. I did that and adjusted the fenders and forward lines and we were in. What a process! I put a fender under the bow in case we went forward too much and then set about to get the electricity on. Diane had met a little boy (Jacques who was 12) who spoke English. He had helped her in the marina office and was on a boat just 2 boats away from us. The French islands use 220 volts but we, being from the US, use 110. We couldn't use it directly, even if I had the proper plug adapters on board. Jacques, however, asked his Dad if we could borrow his 220/110 transformer. Sure. But we still had the problem of getting the plugs to fit. Jacques then said there was a chandlery just on the other side of the street. Great, and he would accompany me to help describe the problem. After getting the boat a little more squared away, we walk to the store and Jacques tells them what I need. After some head scratching, I got the adapters I think were needed. We go back to the boat, merci Jacques, and I start to set up the somewhat kluged system. From the dock, there is the "normal" plug with a pigtail into the transformer. From the transformer, there is an adapter from the French system to "universal", meaning US. From that adapter, there is another adapter going from 3-prong (regular house outlet) to marine 3 prong (twist-on). From that adapter, I have my regular marina power cord going into the boat's electrical connection. Before I connect everything to the boat though, I tested the outlet with a little gadget that tells you if any wires are crossed. And sure enough, the first one I test, the indicator says that the hot and ground are wrong. So I tried another and that one was OK. I hooked everything up and it worked!! We could now charge the batteries. I decided that we had enough excitement for the day and wouldn't look at the alternator until tomorrow. The interesting thing though about the electrical setup was that the inverter would either charge the batteries or provide AC power, but not both. Every time I tried, we tripped the circuit breaker in the outlet box. For that night, I decided to leave it. Since we had fresh water at the dock, we also did a quick spray of the deck to get the accumulated salt off. We wanted to wash the boat completely, but that would wait. We were too tired and hot and needed to get showers before 6pm, when the office closed. We hurried over there and got the key. The showers were cold water only and no place to hang anything. Well, at least there was no extra charge for them. Then dinner and collapse into bed. |