Moving On!

We finally left Cabo Rojo on Thursday, December 21 in the afternoon. Went to Boqueron for the first night to check on systems and functionality. All seemed well so early Friday we started motoring around the Cape and around the southern side. Ended up at Coffin Island on Friday night (11 hours with the last 4 hours VERY difficult with swells, head winds and bashing!). Saturday morning I went below to check on the fan belts as we hadn't added much power all day and found a small diesel drip coming from the fuel polisher (port engine side). Turned the diesel off above the polisher and decided to remove the polisher and see if I could tighten the drain valve enough (where it appeared to be leaking from). The manual called for plumbers dope to seal the fitting which,of course, we didn't have. So I tried silicone. Reassembled and waited. No return of the drip! Relaxed on deck for the rest of the morning and around 1 PM decided to fired up the engine to add some charge to the battery bank, and the drip began again! Damn! Decided to head on over to Ponce harbor for the night in hopes of getting some pipe dope to properly seal the valve fitting. Had a roaring good sail across from Coffin Island and into the harbor. Tried to start the engines to assist in anchoring but only the starboard engine would start. (We think air in the port side from the leak.) Got her safely on anchor around 3, with some difficulty maneuvering with only one engine. Tried to start the dinghy to go ashore to try to get to WalMart for plumber's dope and the dinghy motor wouldn't start. Finally got it to start but only run at idle. By now it was 4:30 and we were exhausted.

Mojito's in Walmart! Thought we'd wait until Sunday morning to go ashore, rowing if necessary!) Sunday morning, the dinghy still only runs at idle but will propel us shore. We get to the inner part of the harbor and find workers rebuilding the docks and they assist in allowing us to dinghy dock off one of the still functional docks. One of the workers was from PR, now living in Connecticut, was very helpful in offering to have his Dad (who was sitting watching the workers) drive us to WalMart for our necessary stuff. We took him up on it and drove through Ponce to the local SuperWalMart which was right next door to the local Home Depot. We decided to try Home Depot first and get what we needed for the fix it plan (as well as parts for the back up fix plan of removing the polisher completely from the system). They had everything we needed plus I got to do some needed tool buying s we found that nearly everything toll-wise we needed to do the job was inadequate. Returned to the car and decided to head next door to the WalMArt to get a few groceries since we were there. We had a lovely return trip to the marina through old Ponce where the Dad did his best tour guide impression in broken Spanglish. Was delightful! Arriving back at Ponce Yacht Club, we gave the driver $20 for his time, which he reluctantly accepted!) and was talking with the guy who set us up with the ride. He offered the services of anyone at the club who might be of assistance to us. We mentioned we might need some mechanical help with the dinghy motor. He pointed out a guy in the depths of his big fishing boat as the "go to guy" for anything mechanical, and took us over to introduce us to him. I explained the dinghy idle problem and he said he would look at it. I said what time should I come in to meet him and he said let's have a look now. Within 10 minutes, we had the cover off the Yamaha, some of my new tools in use disassembling the carb and parts all over the floor of the new dinghy. He immediately diagnosed the problem as a probable air leak in the carb. He discovered that the newly installed, brand new, carb had been put in without a necessary gasket on one side of a spacer. Since he didn't have another OEM gasket, he proceeded to cut one from some old rubber dinghy material he had. When he finished cutting it (with a razor blade from a carpet knife) it looked just like the original factory made gasket. He then reassembled the carb, explaining each step to me in his wonderful Spanglish, and WHAM! up she started. Problem fixed in only one hour. Asking how much he wanted, he said "oh, nothing, it's Christmas". I said I would not feel right accepting his generosity without paying him something so he said how about $20. I agreed and gave him $30. These people have a heart of gold. So now we sit, on Christmas morning enjoying a beautiful day on the hook in Ponce harbor. (Previously this had been one of our least favorite places to be, having been stuck here for two weeks in 2008 awaiting parts). We will be here until at least Wednesday as we have put out a call to the mechanics from Marina Pescadaria to come fix some things that we thought they had done3 while we were there, but evidently weren't. Have not heard from them as when we sent the message to the shop it was Saturday and they were closed. Hopefully, they will come on Tuesday morning and take care of those fixes. Hopefully we can then continue on around PR and down through the Leewards and Windwards as planned. UPDATE TO FOLLOW!