Dawn tells me some one is saying I am behind in blogging. Truth is a lot of the time there really isn't much going on. Just ask Paige.   Or....  the little bored one, as we call her.   So this posting is going to be quite random.

BTW, one comment asked how americans are received here. Quite well we are finding. In general people are very friendly. Some speak some english. I think I got a marriage proposal at the Laundromat the other day. We were at a huge mall in San Juan and didn't see but maybe 2 or 3 american looking couples. And there were roughly 3.4 million people at that mall. Paige was all giddy. I was not.

So.....    off we go

Paige in the cart for the first day of volunteering at the school here. She works in the learning lab. Did you know that aspergers is the same in spanish as english? A little trivia for ya there.

Palmas Academy. Pre-K through 12. They will graduate 17 seniors this year. Big school eh?

Whats wrong with this woman? She is spray painting her name all over the island.
La Policia are looking for her!!

The wind is back but for the last couple of days its rained about 12 times a day. Makes for some spectacular rainbows. This is the marina club house. The pool, and Dawns favorite spot, are on the other side.

So whats that, you say? Well, its what you get to do when the @#$@$$ cooling fan goes out in your 12 volt charging system. And there is not one single 60mm 24V fan in all of Puerto Rico. Its a bloody $5 item. Cost me three times that in shipping from the states. But I bought 3 so if your ever in need of one I'm the guy. I also have a stock of 3 inch 24 volt fans as well. From a previous CF on one of the other charging systems. Boating is so much fun.

So whats that, you say?    Well, its the carburetors off a honda outboard motor.    So why is it on the table and not on a honda outboard motor like it should be.    Because its a piece of @#$#@#.  

I bought the honda because its very low emission, fuel efficient, bla bla save the planet and all that crap. What they don't tell you is one tank of bad gas and your carbs are totaled. Every orifice clogged. Every needle valve frozen. And guess what kind of gas you get in third world countries like Grenada?    Yup, the bad kind!    Honda will not even provide a parts list for a carb rebuild. The service tech told me your better off buying a factory tuned set of three rather than rebuilding. That of course coming from the guy selling the $700 frigging carburetors. When I get to it I'm going to tear this old one down and make my own damn parts list and rebuild it for a spare. Which I hope to never have to use because changing out the carbs while the motor is on the dingy is like doing dental work on a horse while your riding it! Oh yeah, and I dropped the vacuum advance unit right off the back of the motor and into 18 foot deep water and shilt at the bottom of crown bay. Had to cough up $50 to get a diver to go down and find it. Would have taken a month to get a replcement for it.

So if your still on board here you must really be having a slow day. The following is a story about the dead dingy motor and the misadventures of the fine ship and crew of ViVo. I posted it on a forum a while back. Here it is.

A story, a lesson, and maybe a chuckle.

So…  the story.

Making our way up from Grenada  on our cat with the Mrs. and some good friends for crew. Were in Carricou and it’s a Sunday, so nothing, I mean nothing, is open in the small town there.  Were cruising the dink up along the beautiful beach there and spot a likely beach bar. No dock. We swing out around a reef and the breakers there and head into shore to beach the dink.  Once on the beach we wander up to the shack and get 4 cold Caribs (local beer). All is good in paradise.

Till out of the corner of my eye I see the dink getting rolled by some rather large waves that have decided to check and see how well I had beached the dink. Not very well turns out. So, beers in hand, we run down and wrangle the dink back into submission on the beach. All good. Time for another one.

Having relaxed and completed our mission we shove off on the next big wave and head toward our boat out on a ball about a mile or so offshore and downwind. Down goes the trim, key the ignition. Nada. Grrrrr. Nada. I had been working through some old bad gas from Grenada. The usually very reliable Honda 30 had been grousing about the gas and not starting very easily. (Yes I had fuel preservative in it) So I figure its just a little tough to start and I probably flooded it with the engine being full up trim and rolling around like it did in the wave action.

Out come the paddles as I continue to try to sweet talk her into firing up. Now the rowing thing is somewhat less than popular with the gals. My buddy is on the bow yelling stroke stroke and the gals are not amused. We are blowing offshore and have our boat in our sites. If we run a straight shot we get right to the boat. Its blowing about 15-20. Going to take maybe an hour. If we drift port we blow through the channel and next stop is Mexico some months later. If we drift starboard we get to cross the reef. I can see egrets standing in about a foot of water on the reef so this is not a very viable route either. So the gals take turns overpowering each other and were going this way and that. While I crank away on it. No go.

We get about ½ way back and a couple fellows swing by and ask if were doing this for fun or do we need a tow. The gals didn’t think it to much fun and opted for the tow. I’m just ticked at my having tried to run off the old gas rather than giving it away. My buddy in the bow is kind of bummed that he doesn’t get to yell stroke stroke anymore. Anyway, made a couple new friends and shared a beer once we got back to the boat.

Then I tear into it. Convinced its flooded and bad gas I proceeded to start tearing down the engine. Got the air intake all opened up while my buddy is looking for some starting fluid that I’m sure I have in the stores. (Didn’t) By about this time I figure even if it did want to start I have probably run down the battery to a point where I am going to have a problem. The motor has an emergency pull start arraignment on it where you wrap a spare line on it and yank it till it runs out and you almost go overboard. No go. Because, of course, its flooded with bad gas.

Did I mention that I am 3 months into rehab for a torn rotator cuff repair of my left shoulder? If you have been through that one you know what I’m talking about. Being in excruciating pain is no excuse for the eventual outcome here but I’m using it anyway.     So….  Tug tug swear swear, no I don’t need any F#$%^ng help I can do it myself!      I’m the friggin captain!

So I drag out the old battery charger that I have buried on board and plug in the dink. Then it starts to rain. So I’m looking at an extension cord running down my wet deck into my wet aluminum dink floating in salt water when it occurs to me that I may in fact be violating some OSHA guidelines for safe operation of something or another.

So back into the dink to pull the battery for an overnight charge onboard. Now it’s dark and still raining. Let it sit overnight I declare. I’m sure it will start in the mooring. I’ve got it all opened up so it can air out some fumes. Into the Carib I go.

Next morning we put the battery back in and I sit down to try it again. It’s a jockey console setup with the ignition key on the right side of the consol. Turning the key I look down and have a flashback from the going ons the previous day.

Oh my good and gracious lord I declare out loud. Actually quite loud. The French boat next ball over looked over to see what the heck was going on. What, says the crew? I want you all to remember that I didn’t have to say anything about this I said. I could have just started up the motor and said that I fixed it. Y’all remember that. I didn’t have to say anything.

The dang key has a habit of dropping out of the lock under the weight of the float that I have attached to it. When it drops out you cant kill the engine. Unless you pull the lanyard with the kill clip on it. So were surfing onto the beach and I’m just about to kill the motor and full up trim when I looked down and….    No key.    So I quick yank the kill clip, trim up, and hit the sand.

So when I sit down and put the key in I notice that I am standing on the kill clip lanyard as it sits IN THE BOTTOM OF THE DINK. Where it has been resting happily since I yanked it the day before. I put the clip back on and vrrrrooom, she starts right up.

Made a couple new friends. I think the crew has forgiven me. Well one or two of them anyway. And RE-LEARNED an important lesson.

So…..   The lesson

START WITH THE SIMPLEST AND MOST OBVIOUS SOLUTION FIRST!!!

And I will never, ever, ever, make that mistake again.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. And if I provided a chuckle or two then my work here is done.

That should about do it for now.

peace

M

And now a word from my lovely partner.......

Mike is an excellent blogger...as you have notice Paige & I let him do most of the blogging. (all of it)

Just wanted to share my experience at Walmart. It was my 2nd trip to the local Walmart. I was feeling like I knew my way around. Mike and I get up early, 9, (ok not so early) on Sunday to make the trip. All I needed was some Valentines stuff. Mike drops me off I'm just going to run in. We notice people waiting to get in...its 10am. Go figure they do not open till 10 on Sunday. I find everything I need. Even found a magazine in english for Paige.


I get up to the check out and, no big long line, WOW! That never happens here. Then the checkout girl explains, in spanish of course, to the guy in front of me that although they open at 10 they cannot check anyone out till 11. Takes a while before they get someone with enough english to fill me in. But like they say down here.....   "hey, its Puerto Rico!"


D