One of the Best Parts of Cruising...

...Is meeting interesting people.  Today, on my way back from the laundry-mat, I ran into a young man who is on a cruise ship crew.  He works in guest services, so he is, of course, polite, intelligent, and personable.  But, I had never met anyone from Zimbabwe before, and he had never been on a small boat, so I invited him aboard, so he could compare the accommodations on my 41' boat vs the 1000' boat on which he lives and works.  As it turned out, when he came on board, he was quite surprised at the amount of room below, and said that our cabins really have the same amount of room as his cabin on the cruise ship.  It was an eye opener for him, since when you are standing on the deck of a huge cruise liner looking down at little sail boats like mine, its hard to imagine how there could be enough space inside to live!  It was truly enjoyable for me to be able to meet and talk with someone from such a different country and culture, and yet find out how much we have in common.  I'm not going to try to spell his name, but at least I did finally learn to pronounce it!

Alannastar Comes 'Home' for the First Time

  A couple of months ago (boy time flies when you're retired) we anchored for a night in Coral Bay.  I chose Coral Bay as my hailing port because it's a quirky little "town", and I had liked it the one time we stopped there while bare boating a few years ago. (Oh, wait, for my friends reading this who act like they are twelve years old, "bare boating" refers to chartering a boat without a captain, not without clothes ;-) We went ashore for the evening, and it was rather like we were visiting the nut house - the funny thing was, we fit right in!  We had a great time and met some interesting people.  The only downside was that after we took a van ride with some of our new friends and their dogs, Spike came home with a bad case of fleas.  Now that we have a year long supply of flea treatment, we'll be back!

The Nightmare Project

  I had waited until being out here a while and having a chance to look at and listen to many different brands of wind generator before deciding on which, if any, to get for Alannastar.  After observing an extremely quiet model on a boat at Soper's hole and then speaking with the owner, I decided to order an Eclectic Energy D-400.  They are known as the quietest wind gen out here, as well as being well made and reliable.  (And they are priced accordingly.)  I ordered it from the States, it came in to General Delivery on St John OK, and then I was off to St Thomas to have a mount fabricated.  After looking at the existing radar mast, which was very flimsily mounted, and at the difficulty of accessing the underside of the deck through the one piece headliner on this boat, the mechanic/fabricator I was working with suggested making an arch which would mount to the davits.  This would eliminate the radar mast, since we would move the radar over to the new arch.  I told him to go for it, and then had to hang around for more than a week, since, of course, the project took longer and cost more than was estimated.  Well, we finally got everything up and running, but it was soon obvious that the unit was making a clunking sound which transmitted through the hull and into the aft cabin.  It was so annoying that I had to secure the wind mill at night, just so we could sleep.  After a week of fruitless trouble shooting based on e-mail exchanges with the dealer, importer, and manufacturer, we finally agreed that the unit itself must be defective. So, they agreed to ship me a replacement unit and even pay for the return shipping on the defective one.

   Well, that finally came in, and I was ready to bring the boat back into a slip to make the exchange, but when I tested the replacement unit by hand spinning the shaft and putting my ear to the housing - it made the same clunking sound.  A call to England was quickly returned by the engineer/owner of the company, and he agreed to immediately ship me yet another replacement, directly from England, via DHL Express, two day delivery.  I certainly can't complain about THAT service!  So, a week later, after the Easter holidays here, I go into the marina, have an exciting time trying to back the boat into a slip in a strong cross wind, and get ready to replace the original with the new, new unit.  Unfortunately, there is just one more problem - the collar on the unit fit so tightly into the pipe that we were absolutely unable to remove it. We tried prying, pounding, twisting, and jacking, but after two solid hours of frustration, we were forced to cut three inches off  the existing pipe - fortunately, there was enough extra clearance above the arch to allow this. The problem stemmed from having to use an 1.5" pipe for the installation, and get the collar machined down to fit (it was sized for a 42mm pipe).  Obviously, it had fit too tightly, but the mechanic turned more off of it, and now it fits just right.  So, we dropped in the new unit - and NO MORE THUMPING!!!  Finally, my wind mill is installed.  And yes, it is quiet.

  So, how well does it work?  Well, when the wind blows at 10 to 15 kts, which is typical around here,  it and my little 28 watt rollable solar panel meet about half of my energy needs, meaning that I only have to run the diesel gen every other day.  When it blows 15 to 20 kts, the wind gen meets all of the boats electric demands.  Here's a picture of the new arch and installation.  After bumping my head a couple of times on the "chin up" bar, I have now learned to duck slightly when getting on the swim ladder.  If you look through some of the older pictures on the blog, you'll see the radar mast which is now gone from the aft deck.

Welcome Aboard

I've been really slipping on my blog posts. A few weeks ago, Judy's good friend Laura joined us for a week in the BVI. We all had an enjoyable time, and Judy had someone to snorkel with for hours every day!

You've Gotta Love the Islands...

Quick story - today I took the safari bus into town, and on the way, the driver pulled over at a stop where nobody was waiting. He got out and said "I be right baak", and then he walked into the brush to take a pee. No big deal, just some mild giggling from the passengers. But, it would probably warrant a newspaper article and subsequent investigation at home ;-)

A Series of Mechanical Repairs in Exotic Places...

Two days ago I got trashed in the dinghy while trying to re-launch it in a north swell on Cinnamon Bay beach. Spike and I both got "Maytaged", as my whitewater friends would say, but while we both made out OK, the dinghy came out missing the fuel line, an oar blade, and some other miscellaneous gear. Since any retry would have probably obtained the same outcome, Spike and I ended up swimming through the surf zone and out to the boat in the dark. It became much easier to swim with him once he saw the boat, as then I could let him go, since he stopped trying to get back to shore and swam with me to the boat. Poor little guy - he was scared to death. It was no big deal retrieving the dinghy in the morning, since by then the north swell had peaked and was diminishing. I had to paddle it instead of rowing, and I can tell you for sure that rowing an inflatable tub is a lot more practical than trying to paddle it single handed.

So, I'm hoping that a new fuel line will get the outboard up and running again, and since it's Good Friday in the islands, I don't even attempt to get a ride to a store. But, this morning, I promptly hike over to the dollar bus and get a ride to Crown Bay Marina, where I actually find the hose with the fittings which I need. Sweet - now all I have to do is rinse the engine with fresh water, douse it in WD-40, and then start it up.

Of course, when I remove the engine cowling, I get a big surprise - the compartment is packed completely full of sand. Sorry I didn't take a picture - I was just too overwhelmed at the time. Now, this is not merely normal sand, which would be bad enough. It is St John sand, a fine white concoction of Parrot Fish poop which some tourist council cleverly labeled as "powdery". And indeed it is powdery - it clings to every surface like over cooked rice. I finally realize that the best tool I have on board is a Super Soaker loaded with fresh water. The funny thing is that I told Judy we didn't have room for silly toys like that ;-) After several gallons of precious fresh water, it looks much better, and after almost a full can of WD-40, it looks almost like an outboard engine that is even older than my boat, because it is. However, despite my efforts, which take all afternoon, the engine shows no sign of life. The good news is that it does have spark and good compression, so tomorrow I'm probably going to have to tear into the carburetor. Anyways, I'll keep you posted.

But, the weather and the views are great, and this evening I shared happy hour with a couple whom Judy and I met at Benures Bay in the BVI a couple of months ago. This is the cruising life, warts and all ;-)