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Larry's LogThe sail that day was probably one of the best we've had. In general, the seas were only 4-6 feet and the wind was 15 to 20 knots in the St. Vincent Channel and then 10 to 15 in the St. Lucia Channel. We had to motorsail in the lee of both St. Vincent and St. Lucia, although we did get to sail in nice flat water in the lee of St. Lucia for about an hour. Because of the motoring, we put about 7 hours on the engine for an 11 hour 30 minute trip. We did get to see some porpoises as we went past St. Vincent although we were going much too slow for them to be interested. We got a grand view of the Pitons as we went past the lower part of St. Lucia, and we dropped the hook at 5:20 in Rodney Bay, next to Mystique, who got there about 15 minutes before us. Overall, it was a really good trip. The next morning was pretty busy with launching the dinghy, going in to shore, clearing in and shopping. We went into the Rodney Bay Lagoon and tied up to the dinghy dock at the marina, where Customs, Immigration and the Port Captain offices are but there was no Immigration officer on duty so we didn't get our passports stamped and the Port Captain was also gone so we didn't have to pay either. Diane wanted to buy some of the local St. Lucia rum, Bounty, since it was relatively inexpensive and the French rum was "not to our taste." She also bought some other groceries as well, which we now had to carry back to the dinghy. We went to Domino's Pizza but they didn't have any indoor seating and it was pouring rain that day so we ate in the Lime Restaurant instead. We had eaten there before with Heidi when she visited and it wasn't bad but Diane's roti wasn't near as good as the ones we had in Trinidad. Our trip into the lagoon the next day almost never happened since on our way in the outboard started to quit again. We went back to the boat and I cleaned out the carburetor again and found some dirt but the disturbing thing was some of the small stainless screws and nuts had started to rust. We were either still getting water in the fuel or the water that was there had done some work. Either way, I would have to replace them since I felt the rusting would continue even if there was no water left. I looked through my collection of fasteners and found one replacement but the rest were too small and I think a metric size. I would have to try to find them in Martinique. After I got the outboard back together, we tried to get into shore again but it still wasn't working right. Diane tried calling Mystique to see if they could tow us in. She had previously called the Rodney Bay Marina and they said a mechanic could look at it if we could get into shore. Mystique didn't answer (we found out that they were taking naps) but Sunshine Daydream, anchored about 200 yards away, heard our call for help and said they would come over and bring us in. Hope and Glen came over and towed us in. We found the mechanic and although he didn't want to, he said he would look at it in 5 minutes. It was about 3:30pm and we just waited while he took the carburetor apart and cleaned it, just as I had done about 2 hours before. He said the fuel was no good and emptied it. After he put the engine back together (his work area was a bench in front of the water), he said we needed to get fuel from somewhere. Luckily, Mystique had come in to shore and Diane found them and told them what was happening. They kindly lent us some fuel so we could test the engine and get back to Destiny. The mechanic tested the engine and adjusted the rich-lean mixture screw and the idle screw. It seemed to be working well. I'm sure it was the fuel again, although he said that one of the carburetor jets was blocked. If it was, it was probably a rust particle from one of the internal screws. We had an interesting discussion about payment though, since Diane and I both felt the mechanic was really overcharging us. In the end, neither the mechanic or us were satisfied. We got back to the boat and just relaxed the rest of the day. I would have to try to get the little Racor filter mounted somehow. On December 21, the shortest day of the year, we went into the marina complex again and, naturally, did some more shopping. We ate out, cleared out of St. Lucia and then went to get some gas for the outboard at the duty free price. We got some gas, but saw Hope and Glen from Sunshine Daydream, so we bought them a beer and relaxed a bit before going back to the boat. When we did get back, I started to fix the lifting pad and figuring out how to mount the filter for the outboard. (I had put a small inline filter on but this didn't stop water from getting in the engine and it also only blocked larger sediment and dirt.) We hoisted the engine to the stern and then the dinghy to the foredeck so I could start to work. Fixing the lifting pad was easy. I had cleaned it already with toluene to get rid of the old hypalon cement and then cleaned the tube as well. I used 3M Quick Cure 5200 since it had worked well on the rub rail. I knew 5200 was a very strong adhesive as well as sealant so I thought it would be excellent in this application. The Quick Cure type also sets in a day as opposed to 7 days for the regular one. To mount the filter, I used two 1/4" hex head capscrews through the dinghy transom and I tried to pick the best spot to mount it, taking into account where the fuel hoses would be. I drilled the holes and put in the bolts with Lifecalk to protect the raw wood of the transom. I left the lifting pad and filter bolts to dry and prepared the filter itself, putting in the hose barbs and tightening everything. It would be ready to try when we got to Martinique. The next day, we got up early, lashed the dinghy down (the 5200 had set) and were under sail by 9am. The winds were fair and the seas were only about 4 to 6 feet. The 23 mile passage up to Ste. Anne, Martinique was really nice and I almost didn't want to stop as the Cul-de-Sac du Marin come into view. But we turned on the engine and motored the last 1/2 mile toward the town of Sainte Anne. We called our friends on Kristali, Steve, Connie and Mike (their 15 year old son), on the radio and anchored near them. We hadn't seen them for about 6 months, since we left Grenada back in the summer and it was really great to see them again. Mystique had sailed with us across but went directly in to Marin to clear in and do a bit of shopping. We just stayed in Ste. Anne for the day and would go in tomorrow to do the clearance. The day was beautiful, about mid eighties and clear, with a light breeze through the anchorage. Steve, Connie and Mike came over after we had gotten squared away and visited for a bit. Diane and Connie made plans for Christmas on Kristali and then we just straightened out the boat from traveling so much the last few weeks to try to settle in. Welcome back to the land of great wine, cheese and bread. |