Greetings from Kestrel's Workshop,
(Les) Well, Suzi the Wonder Diesel is now out of her nest and in to see the diesel doctor. She did indeed have problems and it was a good thing we decided to pull in for a while to tend to our third crew member.
Luckily, Isuzu engines are quite common here in Costa Rica.
(Jay) After many attempts, we finally hooked up with the local diesel mechanic, Sobrino. He and his assistant, Juan, came out to Kestrel and proceeded to rip Suzi's head off. Ouch! Sobrino's first words to me after the dastardly deed: "Well, that used to be an engine..." Gee, thanks, buddy. The two mechanics then proceeded to take the engine entirely apart in Kestrel's salon. Engine parts, oil, grease and diesel were everywhere. As they were pulling things apart, there were seveal signs that Suzi was on her last legs. "Muy malo," Sobrino would say, shaking his head and pointing. The oil ring on one of the pistons was bad, and the other was going. There was an area in the engine -- I can't tell you where, exactly -- that was full of oil that was not supposed to be there, meaning the seal was shot. They finally got Suzi down to something about the size of an accordion, but weighing about 80 lbs. We managed to get the block aboard our dinghy without any disasters, but it was touch-and-go there for a while: two guys standing in a hard dingy, trying to lift a 80 lbs block of steel -- not fun.
Now Suzi is off to San Jose, and to mis-quote Phylis Diller: "She's getting her crankshaft re-cranked, her pumps re-pumped, and her pistons worked on, too." In about a week we'll get the various parts back from the machine shop, and Sobrino & Co. will put them back together again ... in the right order, one hopes. In the mean time, Leslie and I are thankful we are not living aboard at this time: Kestrel's a MESS!
(Les, again) We heard through the grapevine Jay has another article published in the most recent edition of SAIL magazine -- not sure if it is July or August as we haven't seen it yet. We believe it is a short blurb on young cruisers. Maybe you could go out and find the magazine and tell us about it! Or better yet, send us a copy, or maybe just drop a letter or postcard. We'd love to hear from you! We can be reached at the following address through September:
Leslie Fournier & Jay Fraser
c/o Hiram Hurtado
Restaurant Costa Cangrejo
Playa Panama, Guanacaste
Costa Rica, Central America
We are enjoying Costa Rica. It is now "Indian Summer", where afternoon thunder bumblers roll through about once a week, not daily like in late May. It gives you an idea what it's like here during dry season -- absolutely gorgeous.
(Jay and Leslie) We met a couple travelling from Argentina, who're backpacking their way up the Pacific coast of South and Cental America. They supplement their traveling kitty by making and selling handicrafts. Mauro has a degree in Scientific Agronomy and Sandra was a practicing psychologist and taught psychology. But they gave it all up and are hiking around Latin America w/everything they own in their backpacks. They are much, much more minimal than us. When we heard that they wanted to go to a nearby beach which is accessible only by boat, we invited them to go with us aboard Kestrel -- no hay problema. Besides, we wanted to go sailing one last time before we took Suzi apart.
It was a gorgeous day and we had a nice sail, even if only a brief one. The beach is very nice, white sand, tropical jungle down to the water's edge, a cave through the cliff which shoots out water when a wave enters the other side ... everything a tropical beach should be. Mauro snorkeled for the first time, fascinated as a child. It was really cute because he just couldn't stop talking about all the fish he saw. I wonder if we were like that a year ago? They also taught Leslie about drumming -- we may need to go out and buy a drum as our "musical instrument" aboard Kestrel.
The afternoon brought a thunder bumbler. While the squall blew through, we huddled under a thach-roofed hut -- which leaked like a sieve. There was one lightning strike so close you could see the flash and hear the crack nearly simultaneously. Needless to say, our knees were shaking! But within a half hour the tempest had blown itself out to sea and we were free to roam the beach once again. It was a memorable day and we were pleased to share it with our Argentinian friends. It was fun practicing our Spanish, even though they have a totally different accent. They said doing this day trip was a dream-come-true for them. In thanks they gave us a nice dreamcatcher they made, not to mention the beautiful necklace Jay bought for Leslie as a birthday present.
We recently spent 4 days in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. It is a clean, fairly modern and lively city. It actually reminds us of Portland, only set in the tropical highlands. It's filled with lots of shops and the sidewalks are bustling. We took a road-trip up to Irazu Volcano, but because the peak at 10500 feet was enshrouded in clouds, we couldn't see much. We'd get whispy glimpses of the lake in the crater as the fog lightened, only to be re-covered with another gust of wind bringing in new fog. It was cold, to boot! We've become weather wimps since living in the little latitudes and we chill easily these days. It was in the 40s at the volcano top. Brrrrr.
We're continually updating our new web-site and now have some scanned photos and a map included. Check it out at:
www.oocities.org/svkestrel
Do keep in touch. If you don't have any grand plans this summer, come on down to Costa Rica and pay us a visit. We'd love to host you! Hope you're staying out of too much trouble and keep in touch.
Fair Winds and Little Lightning
Leslie & Jay