We have often read that the definition of cruising is “fixing boats in exotic places”. The first year we were out everything was new and worked perfectly. This year is another story. Things are starting to wear out. As much as we try to keep up with the preventive maintenance, there are things that just go wrong sometimes.
At 5:30 sharp Elvis arrived with his water taxi to take our guests back across the harbour in the dark where they would share a taxi to the airport for their flight home. We began preparations to deal with our water pump and drive leg issues.
Masters Harbour Marina, formerly known as George Town Marina and still displaying a sign as such, is located south of town in an area commonly referred to as Red Shanks. It has a travel lift (the only one we know of in the Exumas) capable of hauling Polar Pacer. Arrangements were made with Nockey to be lifted out of the water and dropped on dry land for a day. We may have been able to beach her on a sand bar at low tide to do the job but did not want to risk having complications.
The route in to Masters Harbour is scattered with shallow coral heads. Dave, from Texas Two Step, met us in his dinghy as we made our way in and joined us on board to help “read the water”. The coral heads were surprisingly easy to indentify. They appear as a very dark patches surrounded by a ring of white sand. Once they were located it was a matter of weaving a path between them Tom set a track on the chart plotter as we went so we could follow the same route on the way back out.
Steer clear of the dark spots.
The Masters Harbour lift.
On the hard in an exotic place?
Dave generously offered to help out with the dismantling and rebuilding of the drive leg. It is always nice to have an extra set of knowledgeable hands and moral support at times like this – even more so when a broken c-clip appears and you are not able to identify where it came from!
Thanks for being there for us, Dave.
With the removal of the upper part of the drive leg the original home of the errant c-clip was located. The next hard part was to find a replacement for it. Cookie Monster and Tortuga to the rescue! Corbett and Bill took a long dinghy ride from Volleyball Beach to the NAPA store at Goat Cay, north of Georgetown, to see if they could find something that would work. They then took an even longer dinghy ride from Goat Cay to Masters Harbour to tell us that yes, they found the part and to help put the drive leg back together. The part arrived by car later that afternoon. I won’t embarrass anyone by explaining why they had to come by car. The reassembly process was quick and easy with help from Corbett and Bill.
Thank guys, for all your help and for adding a bit of humour to an otherwise unpleasant situation.
By evening everything was back together with the drive leg filled with fresh fluid and we were ready to go back in the water first thing in the morning. A small added bonus was hot showers (boatyard style) and an unsecured wi-fi signal.
Next on the repair agenda was replacing the water pump. Returning to crowded Georgetown (the boat count in the harbour was nearing 300) while we waited for a new pump did not appeal to us. As we were not far from the Red Shanks anchorages it made sense to tuck in among the low, rock islands for a few days. There were only five other boats in sight – just enough for a pot luck party when the tide went out and exposed a small sandy beach. Robin’s cherry pie cooked over the open fire was a real hit.
The swimming pool at Red Shanks.
As I snorkeled around the boat one afternoon I crossed paths with a large southern stingray that. From my perspective it looked to be about six feet across but then everything looks larger in the water. When it sensed my presence it settled on the sandy bottom until I swam by. I did not linger.
The small boat route between Crab Cay and the main island of Great Exuma from Red Shanks to Georgetown is preferable for a dinghy trip to pick up supplies or go in to J&K to use the internet. Besides being more protected in unsettled weather, it is more scenic. The route passes over a deep blue hole and under an extravagant bridge that joins the two islands. Our 2006 Explorer chart book contains a full page ad for the Crab Cay Resort showing a marina with 100 feet of floating docks, a spa, a restaurant, botanical gardens and dozens of villas.
The only part that has been completed is this bridge.
The development has been abandoned for several years, the stacks of construction materials and idle equipment being the only evidence of someone’s dream.
In researching the never ending overheating issue that was getting steadily worse Tom determined that it was probably a faulty water pump. This was confirmed when we started experiencing increased difficulty in getting good water flow when we started the engine. When we had our new (2009) Yanmar YM30 serviced back in the boatyard in Deltaville the original water pump was rebuilt. Apparently those pumps are not re-buildable and it should have been replaced. An order was placed with JAS Marine in Florida for a replacement pump plus a spare. Forbes Enterprises in Georgetown recommended that we use Bimini Shipping out of Ft. Lauderdale who would bring the package directly to Georgetown without having to go through Nassau. Forbes could act as our broker and there should be no import duties to pay as the parts were necessary for the operation of a vessel in transit. Everything seemed to be in order and it looked like we would receive the new pumps by the end of the following week. When Tom checked the status of the shipment on the day the freighter was to leave the US he was told that they had been unable to put the package on the ship as they did not have a copy of the invoice stating the value of the contents! They needed written permission to open the package and look at the invoice inside. Tom sent the appropriate email but by then it was too late to make that week’s sailing. After the horror stories we had heard from other cruisers trying to get parts brought in to the Bahamas from the US we were not entirely surprised at the delay but still disappointed that things did not happen as planned. Once the package did arrive it was only a matter of minutes until the new one was installed and we were back in business with a properly working engine. At the time of this post, about 6 weeks and many hours of motoring later, I am pleased to report that we have not overheated once!
Out with the old and in with the new.
Oh, have I mentioned that our Raymarine chart plotter has stopped reading charts? While we were waiting for things to happen with our other repairs Tom took the opportunity to start planning for our upcoming trip to Cuba at the end of March. Lo and behold when he removed the electronic chart chip we had been using for the Bahamas and put in the one that we would be using for Cuba it would not display the detailed charts consistently. After much experimenting with other chart chips and discussion with other cruisers and the Raymarine help desk it was determined that the plotter will need to be returned to the manufacturer for repair. Something else to be added to the ‘to do’ list.
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