|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogAfter clearing in, Diane and I went back to the boat to get Kirk and Harleigh. I had found out where we could get showers; at the Port Royale Marina which was in the Simpson Bay Lagoon. We gathered our shower stuff, clean clothes and dinghied over. The outboard engine had started to give me problems as I went in for clearance. It would stall if I gave it more than about half throttle. Strange, we owned this engine for 8 years and never had a problem before. I had used fresh gas, bought in Bermuda and used the correct oil and right concentration. Well, at least it started again every time. Once we got to the marina, the showers were closed (the attendant was at lunch) so we decided to get lunch and go back later. The Port Royale Marina was a complex of a marina, stores and restaurants, so we had a choice of where to eat. We picked a place that served hamburgers, fries and pizza. Tasted pretty good!! After lunch, and waiting for the attendant for another 20 minutes (welcome to "Island Time") we took our showers. Although the sign said $1.50 per shower, we were all charged $2. Hmmm. We later learned that this attendant was fired, presumably for this kind of practice. Since the dinghy outboard was acting up and we would get wet on the ride back, and since we also found out that we could have walked quicker to the marina from the Marigot dinghy dock, I decided to meet Diane, Kirk and Harleigh back at the dinghy dock. They would walk and I would take the dinghy. The entrance to the lagoon is through a small channel and under a lift bridge. Going in, I noticed a strong current and the wind was also quite strong, about 15 to 20 knots. Going out, I was with the wind until I had to turn toward the town. Then it was into the wind. The engine stalled several times, but always started. That is until I got about one-third of the way to town. Then it stopped and wouldn't start. Being an inflatable dinghy, the wind started to blow it around very easily. I was rapidly going downwind, toward the opposite side of the bay. At least there was some land I was drifting towards. Fortunately, I did have oars on the boat and started using those, but for those of you who have never tried rowing an inflatable dinghy against a 15 knot headwind, I can tell you "it ain't easy." After 30 minutes, I was just about back at Destiny. I knew I couldn't make it to the dinghy dock, which was another 1/2 mile upwind. I was completely exhausted and just as sweaty as before I took my nice shower. DAMN! Of course, the crew on shore wondered what happened. We were to meet in 10 minutes after we left the showers. It was now almost an hour later. Fortunately, another cruiser happened to go into the dinghy dock and Diane asked if he had seen me. He said he saw someone rowing and Diane assumed (correctly) that it was me. He then graciously gave the crew a ride back to the boat, where I was still trying to catch my breath. We thanked him profusely and after resting, I tried to figure out the problem with the outboard. Such fun! It looked at the spark plug and it seemed dirty so I got one of the spares I had and changed it. That seemed to help. But since we were all tired, we just stayed on the boat and went to bed early. The next day, Tuesday, we all went into town and just walked around. We ate lunch at a nice local place - Enoch's - and just got familiar with Marigot. We decided to rent a car the next day and tour the island. The crew would be leaving on Thursday and they wanted to see some of the island before they left. We also found where an outboard repair place was so we decided to stop there tomorrow and ask about what might be the problem. Wednesday we got up and went into town and find the place where we had reserved the car. The car was a little one but had 4 doors and was surprisingly comfortable, even with me in the back seat. Kirk drove since he spoke fluent French and understood the signs. We took a tour around the island, catching most of the tourist spots. When we got to the windward side, near a place called Oyster Pond, we saw something that chills all sailors. A boat, a large catamaran, had gone up on a reef and then was holed. There was a salvage tug there trying to get lines to it. We later learned that it was a charter boat with cruise ship passengers out for a day trip. It had started taking on water (no explanation for that) and the captain had intentionally brought it onto the reef so the passengers could get off. Unfortunately, when the 20 or so passengers got off, that lightened the boat so much that it then was pushed into the shallows past the reef, where it was impossible to pull it off. It was a total loss except for the equipment that could be salvaged. A very sobering sight. We continued our tour, we stopped at Lagoonies, a cruiser's bar/restaurant on the Dutch side of the Simpson Bay Lagoon. The food was OK but they were kinda slow and our food came out in stages. Oh well at least the beer was cold. We then stopped at a large marine store called Budget Marine and bought some things I knew we needed, like another spark plug for the outboard. As we continued around the island, we passed Philipsburgh, the capital of the Dutch side. A very commercial port and very different from Marigot, the French side capital. The story about where the boundary was drawn is somewhat suspect, but according to local legend, a Frenchman with a bottle of wine and a Dutchman with a bottle of gin agreed to walk around the island and wherever they met would be the border. Since the gin was stronger than the wine, the French side is bigger. Well maybe. We also stopped at the Mariner engine repair place to ask about the outboard engine problem. The owner was very nice and gave me several things to try. He said it sounded like the carburetor might be clogged or dirty. At least now I had some expert advice on things to try. We arrived back at Marigot around 3 and returned the car. Diane had wanted to drive back to Grand Case but we were all pretty tired. Harleigh had said he wanted to buy us dinner that night and we walked around the Port Royale Marina and found a nice restaurant. Diane said her meal was just OK but I thoroughly enjoyed my Mahi-Mahi. Instead of having dessert there, we walked a bit into town and had dessert listening to a street festival. The band was pretty good but everything they played sounded the same amplified to the "loudest" setting. The next morning, we moved the boat a little closer in to the dinghy dock since the outboard was still acting up. I ferried everyone to shore and the crew waited at Enoch's Place while Diane and I walked back to the outboard repair shop. I bought some carburetor cleaner and the owner kindly explained how to use it, by removing the carburetor and tearing it down into all the little pieces, then spraying this cleaner on all the parts and reversing the process. Sounds like great fun!! After a long hot walk back to Marigot, we ate lunch with Kirk and Harleigh. They were to leave for the airport after lunch. As we finished eating, right on cue, their cab arrived. We wished them a safe trip home, they wished us a safe cruise, and we were just the two of us again. |