Still on Grand Cayman
Still on Grand Cayman- Tuesday 7th April
I guess we were just having too much fun! And there’s always a price for that.
Yesterday morning after we enjoyed our lattes, which we can’t have on passages, we started our preparations for the next 10 dayer. Securing everything that isn’t needed topsides under the dinghy which we deflate and turn upside down on the cabin top, then cover and lash it down. Outboards are stowed on the back pushpit and covered. Fuel and water jerry cans are also covered and stowed – tied behind a plank on either side of the stern cabin top.
We called into Port Security to ask permission to go over to the dock to fill up our water tanks and check out. We put out our docking lines and fenders and Tony started up the engine – that’s when our bad day started. The engine turned over but wouldn’t stop turning over, so Tony ran down below to disconnect the battery terminals. That didn’t stop it from turning over either – Agh!! Now sparks and smoke and the engine finally stopped turning over because the starter battery ran dead – more sparks and smoke now coming from the engine area not just the starter battery. Tony frantically tried to disconnect whatever he could through the thick smoke and with our big flashlight found the source of the smoke – the harness of wires running from alternator to wherever the hell they go. He might know but I don’t. Anyway they all burned from the alternator back. We put on all of the fans and stayed out of the cabin until the smoke dissipated. And worried.
Once we ascertained that this was a pretty big problem we called Port Security to tell them that we had an engine problem and would not be clearing out right away. They said that was alright, but we needed to be out of the harbour by Wednesday as they’re expecting the wind to change to a north-wester and you don’t want to be in the harbour in one of those. Great. We reconnect our internet antennae and get onto skype. We call the only working marina we know of and ask if they have a marine electrician. The guy says “Oh yes we should be able to fix you up, just come on over”, - Tony says “Well that’s a bit hard to do when I’ve got no engine”, - “Oh right, do you have a cell phone?”, - “No”, - “Oh, ok stand by on 16 (VHF) and I’ll get back to you”, which he did later to tell us that he wouldn’t be able to get us any help today, but would keep trying. We asked if they have anyone to tow us around the North Sound which is where they are and he said no.
A person called Andrew from the SV Lady Slipper was listening to the conversation and hailed us on VHF and offered to help. We decided that there was enough wind for us to sail to the opening in the reef that leads into North Sound, which is mostly about 1 meter deep except for a narrow channel which Andrew would be able to help us through with his dinghy and 15hp engine. So we set off sailing. Not much wind, but doing about 3 knots shouldn’t take long – its only about 8 miles around the corner.
Andrew gave Tony some information on the radio that may help us to bypass the alternator and get the engine started, which Tony tried to do but to no avail, so we kept sailing.
By 4.00pm we realized that the .5 – 1 knot we were managing, still 5 miles away, was not going to get us in before dark, and we started looking for help with a little more urgency. Andrew had also spent quite a bit of his day trying to find us a tow, a spot to come into when we finally got around the bloody corner and gave on-air mechanical advice.
Port Security had no harbour boats working that day, so we couldn’t get a tow from them. Andrew called us about 5.00pm to tell us that he had located someone willing to tow us in for 200 Cayman dollars – about $300 Canadian. I gasped and got Tony to talk to him. We refused this very ‘kind’ offer and while sitting in what seemed to be a 3kn current going the wrong way as we were actually not moving overground, we unlashed, uncovered the dinghy lifted it over the side, pumped it up, and launched it.
Then we got our ‘big 6hp’ outboard motor off the perch it has lived on since we left Canada – we always use our little Honda 2hp, put it on the dinghy which was now tied to the side of Moondancer and Tony started it up. Actually he tried to start it up many times – until he was very frustrated and it would not start. He pulled the cover off and had a look at our 2 year old pristine Mercury, pulled on the cord many more times and finally it started to run but as it ran fuel was spurting out of the top of it somewhere around the carburetta – Oh my God, things really aren’t going very well. All this was happening with the dinghy being tugged back and forth in the small waves which were having their own little fight with the strong current we were sitting in.
This was all too much for Tony – he always has the ability to look on the bright side of life – but right then that was very hard to do. So instead he lost his temper, swore like hell at the ‘stupid’ motor and ripped it off the back of the dinghy, threw it on the floor of the dinghy, topless and told me to get the Honda. I was busy trying to steer us out of the tide rips as soon as possible so that this would all get a lot easier to deal with, and as we still had our full main up we were actually making progress. So I carried on steering and Tony put the Honda on the dinghy, started it up and it put its poor little 2hp heart into moving its big 15 ton mama. As we were now out of the rips and waves, we moved along at 2 – 2.5knots towards a mooring ball in about 25 feet of water, tied up for the night and enjoyed the sunset and dinner.
And here we are – its 4.00am and I’ve had as much sleep as I need so I thought I’d write all this down while fresh in my mind. I wonder what today will bring, I hope a good solution to this problem so that we can get on our way.
I guess we were just having too much fun! And there’s always a price for that.
Yesterday morning after we enjoyed our lattes, which we can’t have on passages, we started our preparations for the next 10 dayer. Securing everything that isn’t needed topsides under the dinghy which we deflate and turn upside down on the cabin top, then cover and lash it down. Outboards are stowed on the back pushpit and covered. Fuel and water jerry cans are also covered and stowed – tied behind a plank on either side of the stern cabin top.
We called into Port Security to ask permission to go over to the dock to fill up our water tanks and check out. We put out our docking lines and fenders and Tony started up the engine – that’s when our bad day started. The engine turned over but wouldn’t stop turning over, so Tony ran down below to disconnect the battery terminals. That didn’t stop it from turning over either – Agh!! Now sparks and smoke and the engine finally stopped turning over because the starter battery ran dead – more sparks and smoke now coming from the engine area not just the starter battery. Tony frantically tried to disconnect whatever he could through the thick smoke and with our big flashlight found the source of the smoke – the harness of wires running from alternator to wherever the hell they go. He might know but I don’t. Anyway they all burned from the alternator back. We put on all of the fans and stayed out of the cabin until the smoke dissipated. And worried.
Once we ascertained that this was a pretty big problem we called Port Security to tell them that we had an engine problem and would not be clearing out right away. They said that was alright, but we needed to be out of the harbour by Wednesday as they’re expecting the wind to change to a north-wester and you don’t want to be in the harbour in one of those. Great. We reconnect our internet antennae and get onto skype. We call the only working marina we know of and ask if they have a marine electrician. The guy says “Oh yes we should be able to fix you up, just come on over”, - Tony says “Well that’s a bit hard to do when I’ve got no engine”, - “Oh right, do you have a cell phone?”, - “No”, - “Oh, ok stand by on 16 (VHF) and I’ll get back to you”, which he did later to tell us that he wouldn’t be able to get us any help today, but would keep trying. We asked if they have anyone to tow us around the North Sound which is where they are and he said no.
A person called Andrew from the SV Lady Slipper was listening to the conversation and hailed us on VHF and offered to help. We decided that there was enough wind for us to sail to the opening in the reef that leads into North Sound, which is mostly about 1 meter deep except for a narrow channel which Andrew would be able to help us through with his dinghy and 15hp engine. So we set off sailing. Not much wind, but doing about 3 knots shouldn’t take long – its only about 8 miles around the corner.
Andrew gave Tony some information on the radio that may help us to bypass the alternator and get the engine started, which Tony tried to do but to no avail, so we kept sailing.
By 4.00pm we realized that the .5 – 1 knot we were managing, still 5 miles away, was not going to get us in before dark, and we started looking for help with a little more urgency. Andrew had also spent quite a bit of his day trying to find us a tow, a spot to come into when we finally got around the bloody corner and gave on-air mechanical advice.
Port Security had no harbour boats working that day, so we couldn’t get a tow from them. Andrew called us about 5.00pm to tell us that he had located someone willing to tow us in for 200 Cayman dollars – about $300 Canadian. I gasped and got Tony to talk to him. We refused this very ‘kind’ offer and while sitting in what seemed to be a 3kn current going the wrong way as we were actually not moving overground, we unlashed, uncovered the dinghy lifted it over the side, pumped it up, and launched it.
Then we got our ‘big 6hp’ outboard motor off the perch it has lived on since we left Canada – we always use our little Honda 2hp, put it on the dinghy which was now tied to the side of Moondancer and Tony started it up. Actually he tried to start it up many times – until he was very frustrated and it would not start. He pulled the cover off and had a look at our 2 year old pristine Mercury, pulled on the cord many more times and finally it started to run but as it ran fuel was spurting out of the top of it somewhere around the carburetta – Oh my God, things really aren’t going very well. All this was happening with the dinghy being tugged back and forth in the small waves which were having their own little fight with the strong current we were sitting in.
This was all too much for Tony – he always has the ability to look on the bright side of life – but right then that was very hard to do. So instead he lost his temper, swore like hell at the ‘stupid’ motor and ripped it off the back of the dinghy, threw it on the floor of the dinghy, topless and told me to get the Honda. I was busy trying to steer us out of the tide rips as soon as possible so that this would all get a lot easier to deal with, and as we still had our full main up we were actually making progress. So I carried on steering and Tony put the Honda on the dinghy, started it up and it put its poor little 2hp heart into moving its big 15 ton mama. As we were now out of the rips and waves, we moved along at 2 – 2.5knots towards a mooring ball in about 25 feet of water, tied up for the night and enjoyed the sunset and dinner.
And here we are – its 4.00am and I’ve had as much sleep as I need so I thought I’d write all this down while fresh in my mind. I wonder what today will bring, I hope a good solution to this problem so that we can get on our way.
Comments