Back in the States

Monday, 2/18, was a lazy day in Little Harbor. We just relaxed on the boat until 11:00 and then went ashore. Little Harbour is famous as the home of sculptor Randolph Johnston, who left "civilization" to pursue an artistic vision. He died at age 88 in 1982 and his son Pete carries on the tradition. We toured the sculpture gallery and the foundry, then walked over to the Atlantic side of the island and watched the waves crash ashore. We ate lunch at Pete's Pub and chatted a while over beers with Don, Tony and Kelly. Andrew had mentioned the night before that his VHF radio wasn't working. We had a spare one and we took it to him. We went back to the boat and read the rest of the day.

Tuesday we borrowed Jeeter's hand-held depth sounder and spent an hour or so sounding the depths in the entrance to Little Harbor. We wanted to leave on Wednesday and we really didn't want to run aground again. We went ashore and walked along the beach, picking up interesting pieces of coral and shells, then met up with everyone at Pete's Pub. Pete had just returned from an art show in Miami and I talked with him a while about boats. We gathered up some hermit crabs and had hermit crab races, but the crabs weren't really into it. I met a local guy named Fred who gave me some good pointers for leaving the harbor. Fred is a diver and has been doing a lot of cave diving. He's a very interesting guy. We spent quite a bit of time and money at Pete's Pub that evening, but eventually had to say our goodbyes and head back to the boat.

Wednesday dawned cloudy and rainy, but not too bad to leave. It is nearly the time of the full moon, so the tides are as high as they are going to be for another couple of weeks. We dropped the mooring and left the harbor at a little after 07:00 and anchored just south of Bridges Cay where we had a good view of the cut out into the Atlantic. It looked reasonably calm, so we listened to the weather on the Cruiser's Net and then got underway for Chub Cay. The weather turned out to be pretty good for the trip, although there was still a good bit of swell from the previous front that had just passed through. We forgot to put Nancy's seasickness patch on until just before we left, so it didn't have time to get into her system good and she wound up getting seasick and felt pretty bad for the whole trip. I saw two Blainsville's whales on the way to Chub Cay. They look like dolphins, but much larger. That night we watched the lunar eclipse. We were making such good time that we were in danger of arriving at Chub in the wee hours of the morning. We couldn't go fast enough to make a same-day arrival in good daylight, so I began trying to slow the boat down. Eventually I had the engine off and only a tiny piece of the jib out and we were still making almost 5 knots. I wound up moving one of our waypoints so that we would have farther to go, and we still had to circle outside the entrance to Chub for about an hour before the sun was up enough to feel comfortable entering. At 07:15 we were anchored at Chub Cay.

I had only had 4 hours of sleep in the last 48, so I crashed shortly after anchoring and slept for several hours. We were both so exhausted we didn't even bother going ashore at Chub. Friday morning we got underway once again and entered the Great Bahama Bank, bound for North Cat Cay. We had an absolutely beautiful day of sailing. I put out three fishing lines and trolled them behind. It was the first time I had used all the fancy fishing gear. It is going to take some practice to get the lines trolling at the right distance and separation, so they don't foul each other. We were going to anchor overnight on the Great Bahama Bank. I thought it would be pretty cool to anchor out in the middle of nowhere with no land in sight. We wanted to get anchored a couple of hours before sunset and that time was approaching when Nancy said something had pulled all the line off one of the reels. Sure enough, the reel set on the port side was out of line. This reel has about 400 yards of 80 lb test line on it, so I had a heck of a lot of line to reel back in. We were sailing at over 5 knots and I didn't want to stop or turn around, so I just started cranking on the reel. I figured out pretty quick that I would be several hours trying to get the line back in that way, so I had Nancy reel in the slack as I hand-lined in whatever was on the hook. I put on a brand new pair of fishing gloves with rubberized palms and began hauling in line. I didn't know what was on the hook, but it was big enough to create a lot of drag. I finally got it close enough to see that it was a fish and a decent sized one. I got it alongside and it wasn't too heavy that I could just haul it aboard with the fishing line and didn't have to get the gaff, but my, what sharp teeth it has. It was a barracuda, about 3 feet long and weighing maybe 30 pounds. I've heard that a lot of people eat barracuda, but the fishing book I have says they should be avoided due to ciguaterra toxin. Ciguaterra is a substance that is toxic to humans and is found in tiny reef critters called dinoflagellates. Small reef fish eat the dinoflagellates and the ciguaterra doesn't hurt the fish, but it builds up in their tissues. Bigger reef fish eat the little reef fish and barracuda eat the bigger reef fish and eventually the the concentration of ciguaterra can build up to levels that are harmful to humans. Based on this consideration, we decided to toss him back. I really wanted to grill some fresh fish steaks, but it was a lot of fun just catching him, the very first time we put out lines, no less. With all the excitement over we got ready and anchored for the night.

Saturday we got up and underway pretty early. It was another perfect day of sailing. We were cruising along on a beam reach making about 5 to 5.5 knots. Whenever you are sailing, and you have a fixed prop like ours, you have the option of letting it prop free-wheel (spin freely in the water with the transmission in neutral), or you can put the transmission in gear to prevent the prop from turning. We used to just let it spin, but ever since we had it resized it has created an annoying whine at certain speeds, so we have started sailing with the transmission in gear to prevent the whine. As we approached the anchorage at North Cat Cay, we started the engine, but forgot to take the transmission out of reverse. The engine started right up, but there were very bad noises coming from the engine compartment. I looked at the oil pressure gage and it read zero. We immediately shut the engine down and I looked in the engine compartment to see a whole lot of oil floating in the bilge. Fortunately North Cat Cay is a very easy place to anchor, so we tacked toward the anchorage, sailed up to the spot we wanted to anchor, dropped the sails, dropped the anchor, then took some very deep breaths. Now what? I had read somewhere that Towboat U.S. now has operations in the Bahamas, so I tried calling for them on the VHF radio. I got a towboat operator out of Key Biscayne, Florida, which is almost 60 miles from Cat Cay. That's not bad range for a VHF, but he said we were coming in very weak and he gave me his phone number so we could go ashore and find a phone to call from. We got in the dinghy to go ashore and the outboard engine began surging and trying to quit on us. Great, one more problem to deal with. We got the dinghy ashore by giving it only as much throttle as necessary to keep moving, found a phone and called Captain Cory of Biscayne Towing. He said the closest Towboat U.S. operator in the Bahamas was probably on Grand Bahama, which is actually further than Florida from Cat Cay. He said he could send a boat all the way to Cat Cay to tow us back, but it would be better if we could sail to the Florida coast and then call for a tow. We decided that was what we would do and told Capt. Cory we would contact him again the next day to let him know how we were doing. Sailing across the Gulf Stream to Florida without an engine is not a problem, but getting through the cut between North Cat Cay and Gun Cay without an engine will be more problematic. There are submerged rocks on one side of the cut and Gun Cay on the other, and sandbars elsewhere along the path of the cut. The cut is easy enough that we could sail out of it, except for wind and current considerations. The wind is currently out of the West, and predicted to continue from the West for at least a couple of days. We can't sail directly into the wind, and the cut isn't wide enough to tack back and forth through. There is also a tidal current we need to take into account. We inquired around the island about somebody with a boat that could tow us out, but the only guy with a boat capable was currently in Bimini and not expected back for a day or two. We headed back to the boat and I decided to get a good night's sleep and then evaluate the problem with the engine in the morning. In the meantime, we pumped the oil out of the bilge into gallon jugs.

Sunday morning, I began searching for where the oil had come out. I didn't see any obvious place, so my assumption was that the rear main seal had blown out when we started the engine while going 5 knots with the transmission in reverse. The oil we had collected from the bilge had separated from the water so we carefully removed the oil and put it back in the engine. There was somewhat less than a gallon of oil from the bilge and it took almost another quart to get the oil level to the top of the dipstick. I didn't see oil running back out of the engine and we had nothing to lose, so we started the engine. It started fine and sounded very normal. We let it run to charge the batteries and watched the oil pressure gage and temperature gage like hawks. We let it run for almost two hours with no problem and no obvious leaks. When we shut it down, the level on the dipstick was the same as before starting it. Now I'm stumped. When you find a gallon of oil in the bilge, you expect to find an obvious leak. If we had blown the rear main, I would see oil coming from the bell housing, but I don't. It doesn't seem to be leaking at all. My newly revised theory is that starting the engine with the transmission in gear created a lot of pressure in the engine that forced oil out of the dipstick tube, but no permanent damage was done. We decide to pick up anchor in the morning, motor around a bit to test the engine and if it works fine, we will motor out of the cut and sail across to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. We can call Capt. Cory if we feel we need help getting into harbor once we reach Florida. Next I tackled the dinghy engine. I figured the surging and cutting out was due to moisture condensing in the fuel tank. I had bought a special transom-mounted fuel filter and water separator just for this purpose, but hadn't gotten around to installing it yet. Once I got it installed I took the dinghy for a few spins around the boat and that little problem seemed to be solved, so we dinghied ashore to call Capt. Cory and update him on our status. When we got back to the boat I was ready for a little relaxation, so I swam and snorkeled around the boat for a while and Nancy read a book in the cockpit.

Monday morning we fired up the engine and got a weather report via the HAM radio while the engine warmed up. The weather looked very good for a Gulf Stream crossing and the engine seemed to be running fine, with no leaks. We picked up the anchor and motored around in a circle and still no problem, so we head for the cut. We made it out of the cut easily and hoisted the main sail and unfurled the jib and set a course for Key Biscayne. The wind was light and I wanted to run the heck out of the engine, so we left it in gear and motor-sailed all the way across. If it is going to break, I want it to do it while we are in open water, not when we are maneuvering into a harbor. we also want to keep our speed above 6 knots so we can make it into No Name Harbor before sunset and not have to sail around in circles waiting for sunrise. It was a very good crossing with seas about 3 feet or less and just enough wind to stay above 6 knots with help from the engine. We made it into No Name Harbor just before sunset and got anchored. No Name is a small harbor and it was packed with boats. We were lucky to find room to anchor.

Tuesday morning I called Customs and Border Protection to clear back into the U.S., then we went in search of their office at the Port of Miami. Once cleared in, we stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the boat and got a few provisions. There is a little restaurant at No Name Harbor so we ate lunch there. The food was very good, but the service would best be called lack of service. Tuesday night a really strong storm blew through and several boats started dragging. Our anchor didn't budge, but the boat in front of us dragged a little, so we had to keep an eye on that all night.

Wednesday I checked the engine before starting it to charge the batteries and found oil in the bilge again. Bummer. I checked the dipstick and we were quite a bit lower than the previous time I had checked it, so the oil came from the engine. Once again I cleaned the bilge out and this time the amount of oil was less than a quart, maybe about a pint. We went ahead and started the engine and I called Capt. Cory, the Towboat U.S. operator, to get in contact with the Yanmar mechanic he said he knew. Capt. Cory said he would have the mechanic call us and a little later I got a call from Gerd Wunderlich, with Port Engineers. He said he could come out that afternoon and take a look at the engine. He showed up about 14:30 and I dinghied ashore to pick him up. Gerd has been working on marine deisels and Yanmars in particular for over 20 years. He crawled all around the engine checking things out and said he thought the engine was basically sound, but needs a lot of o-rings and seals replaced. Gerd's shop is in Key Largo and said if we brought the boat to a marina in Key Largo, he'd be happy to work on it. He is going to send us a quote for the work that he thinks needs to be done and we also asked him for a quote to put a new, bigger engine in. This boat displaces 30,000 pounds and almost all the boats this size I have seen have a 50 HP or bigger engine. This engine is a 33 HP and is not big enough to drive the boat to hull speed in calm water. I have wished for a bigger engine since we bought the boat, but the expense kept me from doing it. 33 HP is obviously enough for almost all situations, but there could come a time when we find ourselves out in the middle of nowhere anchored off a nice pretty coral island and a sudden storm comes up and tries to blow us onto the reef. In that situation, you would want all the HP you could get in order to motor into the wind and stay off the reef. Once we get the quotes from Gerd, we'll decide whether to have this engine fixed or put a new one in. This engine is 23 or so years old and the newer ones are much smaller, quieter and more fuel efficient. The new Yanmar 55 HP engine is actually smaller than our 33 HP and uses about the same amount of fuel per hour. There are a lot of good arguments for a new engine. Thursday is supposed to be another cold and blustery day, so we'll probably stay put and then head down to Key Largo on Friday.