Although we're seeing great new places, meeting wonderful people and making new memories, there is a very stressful side to this kind of trip; as the name of the this post suggests - it hasn't all been 'palm trees and rum punches'. Keeping Lazy Bones in constant working condition has been a challenge! People joked before we left that cruising was simply
'fixing your boat in exotic ports', I laughed it off, not really taking it seriously but we've literally seen the inside of
every chandlery and hardware store in the island chain.
After having some minor problems with the generator in Dominica, we set sail for St. Lucia and had planned on ringing in the New Year in Rodney Bay with a lovely dinner, wine and fireworks. With beautiful sailing conditions we were making great time for our planned overnight stop on the west coast of Martinique. Unfortunately as we've quickly learned - things don't always go to schedule when dealing with boats... At about 4:00pm, as the sun was setting and as we were motor-sailing in the lee of Martinique, our starboard side engine died.
A quick check that a) nothing was wrapped around the propellor b) there was enough oil in the gasket and c) that fuel was reaching the engine had us both confused and concerned. Aside from the engine itself not working, our 25kg anchor and 130m of galvanised chain were set to work on an electric windlass, however, it was wired so that it would only run while the starboard engine was running (something that Mike had to change on his to-do list, but hadn't yet got to). So if the engine wasn't working, neither was the anchor. Thankfully we had a second anchor on board but it's light in comparison - only 15kg and only has rope as rode so we weren't as confident in its holding us.
With the wind dying and the prospect of not having a working engine to enter St. Lucia at night, we decided to anchor in a little cove (Casse Pilote) on the west coast of Martinique. This very small bay was chosen because it housed "one of the best mechanics in the Caribbean".
After manually dropping our second anchor, we disconnected the windless and let our primary anchor fall to the shallows, hoping that with two anchors set, we would be secure enough to look at the engine and figure out the problem. Mike quickly established that the engine was not getting enough fuel to it. We disconnected all of the fuel lines to check for a blockage and even cleaned and replaced the fuel filter. Miraculously - at about 9pm, the engine started working again, hooray! We fell into sleep and were looking forward to getting up and out of the anchorage at first light.
We rose early and prepared to set sail. We raised the main anchor with the engine running, however about 10 minutes later the starboard side engine died again. Stress levels peaked. We were in a tiny bay with only one engine working and very little wind, with a swell running counter to the wind that would push us onto the nearby rocky point!
Mike went ashore to talk to "the great" mechanic, but he was most un-helpful (it was 31st December) and indicated he wouldn't have any technicians free to help out for over a week! Thankfully, a local fisherman filled one of our jerry-cans with diesel so we had some spare fuel for Mike to play with while he tried to figure out the problem. There was fuel coming from the tanks, he would "bleed" the air out of the lines, the engine would run, then after 15 minutes it would die again and there would be an air-lock in the primary filter. Changing the filter & seals had no impact. Finally, we decided to sail for St. Lucia without the engine so that we could arrive in daylight and try to anchor without engine/windlass, again.
Leaving the anchorage in Martinique was was extremely nerve racking because it was difficult to manoeuvre out and get away from the approaching rocks - the port engine was turning us into the rocky point without enough steerage to turn to port, so we put only the jib out and without the engine had to manually back it a number of times to catch what little wind there was swirling down off the hills above to get free of the land and catch the true wind - but we did!
Once again in open water - we gained our composure and decided to continue sailing the 30nm for St Lucia, where we hoped to find a diesel engine mechanic who could help us.
Approaching Rodney Bay, St. Lucia - a package holiday tourist mecca - we were confronted with zooming jet skis, several parasailing boats and a flotilla of yachts, all anchored and ready for their NYE celebrations. It was very stressful sailing into this crowded anchorage, even more so with one of the para-sailing boats cutting us off not once, but twice, - the line to the para-sailors passing perilously close to the top of the mast and the crew having the nerve to yell at us for coming in under sail ("You should drop your sails in here"). (It is very hard to manoeuvre a catamaran under one engine only, much safer & more controlled to operate under sail). Megan was at the point of breaking and screamed back at the crew that we had no working engines - but they seemed to care less. (The para-sailors are definitely a hazard in this crowded anchorage, zipping between boats with their lines just above the masts.)
We finally dropped our sails and headed to wind in the spot we had chosen to anchor, but with the sun setting behind us (it was 4:30pm), we were not able to tell the difference between the sand and the rock bottom thinly covered with sand, which was what we were over. With the help of a dinghy from a neighbouring boat (Mike had gone to ask them where there might be a more sandy bottom), we managed to re-anchor (hauling in our primary anchor & chain by hand, then casting off again). This time the anchor chain was caught
in a rock. With night falling and our engine problems being more of a concern, we decided to leave the anchor caught in the rock as it gave us comfort we would not drag and would be held in place.
Exhausted - both physically and mentally from the previous 2 days, our NYE ended with tears (Megan) and two boxes of kraft dinner (delish). We were both asleep by 7pm and slept through the fireworks.
As the 1st and 2nd January were public holidays, we had little chance of getting a mechanic to help us out. Mike got to work, trying to solve the puzzle and with a bit more probing, he....
Found the problem!
Despite fuel coming from the tank when Mike had siphoned on the hose (sucking diesel into his mouth), the problem was a severe crack in the fuel intake pipe (the pipe inside the fuel tank that reaches the bottom of the tank). This crack was allowing air to bubble into the primary fuel filter, eventually causing an air block and cutting off the fuel supply to the engine!
We both felt a huge sigh of relief because we finally understood what we were dealing with - not an engine problem at all but rather a fuel problem. We visited numerous marine chandleries and hardware stores the following day, but no one was able to provide a piece similar to the pipe above. The solution was to buy some stainless steel piping that was slightly too small and have a machinist drill out the ends to be able to connect to the fittings and reattach it. Voila - it worked! Mike highly recommends "The Chinaman" (how he refers to himself) who operates a machine shop within the Rodney Bay Marina.
With our engine/fuel problem solved, the only thing left to contend with was our anchor, which was well and truly embedded and stuck
in a rock. The chain had passed through a small crevice in the rock, then pulled tight so the anchor shank was in that crevice. After several failed attempts at trying to move the position of the boat hoping that it would dislodge the anchor (which only managed to flip the rather large rock and cut off the only method for the anchor to escape), we decided to buoy the chain and release the anchor and all the chain from the boat so that Mike could dive on it and work it loose without any tension on it. (Our secondary anchor wasn't holding in the rocky bottom, so we were dragging with both anchors out and a massive rock skittering along the ocean floor!)
We re-anchored with our secondary anchor while Mike took the dinghy to where we let off the anchor and chain.
Mike diving down to try and flip over the rock on which our anchor was stuck.
Good news - after several attempts at diving down the 5m depth repeatedly trying to flip the rock he managed to wiggle the anchor shank back out of the hole in the rock and free it. But he also had to manually pull up the 25kg anchor and the 130m of chain. Great workout!
Coming back to the boat with a laden down dinghy - successful but very, very tired!
Our windlass and anchor roller - where the anchor and chain are usually located.
About to reattach the anchor and chain to Lazy Bones
With both engines working and the anchor back in place, we agreed that the priority was to re-wire the windlass so that it would work independent of both engines. Best thing we ever did!
With everything working, (for now), we headed south to Suffriere and The Pitons in the hope of actually enjoying some of our time in St.Lucia. Although we both know that it's only a matter of time before something else needs attention and we're back in problem solving mode. But that's the nature of the beast we've chosen!
