Outboard Woes

Capt Chris, 80's, winds East 15 to 20 knots
01/10/2009, Coral Bay St John

Pictured is my new Yamaha 4 horse four stroke outboard purchased today in St Thomas. The passed 3 days have swirled around outboard troubles. I've been trying to shake off the troubles with the Honda 2 horse which was less than five years old. I had a fuel leak deriving from a rusted carb bowl which was masking the fact that I had an oil leak as well. So after spending nearly 100 boat dollars to have the carb fixed, the very next day much larger problems developed. Oil was leaking into the exhaust somewhere which killed it. It likely can be fixed but at great expense. I just bought a new engine. I had been thinking about upgrading anyway as the two horse was not cutting it.

For the folks back home having an outboard go out is tantamount to having car trouble but worse. You see, if your car breaks well you just drift on over to the side of the road. If the outboard craps out your really in a bind. Most dinks are terrrible for rowing and your generally left adrift which is just what happened to Janina and I. I had to swim a very long way back to Christa while Janina nursed her fresh bee sting. Why a bee is out on the ocean still is a mystery. But I got back to Christa and got her fired up and slipped the mooring to go rescue Janina in the dink. Since we now had no way ashore I decided to anchor down in Coral Bay which is less isolated than Johnsons Bay.

So with this trauma I flew into action and made my way to St Thomas and Offshore Marine. I am so thankful for Wandering Dolphin as they were their to help me with the whole thing. I picked up the new motor and spent the night aboard Wandering Dolphin after they bought me a big juicy steak at a nice hotel overlooking the harbor. Next day we shared a breakfast and Christopher dropped me and the new motor at the ferry dock. All in all the mission was complete in less than 24 hours which is amazing to me. But I am now shy $1380 dollars.

So I spent sometime breaking new motor in today. Ran like a champ. So tomorrow, weather pending Janina and I are going to make the sail over to the north shore and grab a mooring at Maho Bay.

More later

Capt Chris

Maho Bay Eco Lodge Trip

Capt Chris
01/07/2009, Maho Bay, North Coast St John USVI

Things have been quite busy the past few days with limited time for me to write up a blog entry and Internet has been limited. So please forgive my lack of entries.

So as of the moment I'm jamming out this entry on my MacBook sitting in the Maho Bay Eco-Resort over looking the gorgeous Maho Bay. It really is a sight to behold. I fear that I may sound like a broken record with all my enthusiasm for the views. I would not want to mislead anyone. While the beauty is substantial nothing is easy here on St John. In fact I have come to call St John "The Island of inconvenience." It really is inline with the paradox of the cruising life. While the rewards are quite substantial the level of effort required to realize said rewards can grate on you. Please keep in mind that I am not a normal tourist. For someone who may come to St John and stay in The Westin or Caneel Bay you would see little of the inconvenience hat I complain about. However you will pay through the teeth. These resorts have set up whole processes to circumvent the lack of infrastructure and frankly avoid the local population who are less than thrilled about the tourist invasion. But the cruising life is all about soaking into the local population so you can learn about them. I'm finding I love my American culture very much. Onward.

Janina has a friend visiting so we have been all over the place. The past two nights we stayed at the Cinnamon Bay Campground. While once again the surroundings were just beautiful the campground itself, run by the National Parks Service left much to be desired. We didn't see any rangers so I think it is all contract labor from the local population and unfortunately it was administered like many other things on the island. The tents were okay, but the beds were circa WW2 and even I, the guy who has been sleeping on cushions for years awoke many times longing for the Doans pills. I don't want to continue to gripe, just suffice it to say the cots were just the beginning of a disappointing stay. However....

As mentioned before we are not at the Maho Bay Eco-Lodge, run by a non-profit conservation deal of some sort and is a purring operation no doubt. We are very pleased thus far. These cool wooden lodges sit on stilts that surround the hills overlooking Maho Bay, has a well stocked mini-mart, restaurant, yoga, glass blowing, sailing tours and good coffee thank god. For four people the cost is $160 a night. A definite step up from the campground. But for those looking for max comfort in the vein of a Marriott you'll need to...... well look for a Marriott.

So tomorrow Janina a crew head back over to St Thomas for the night to get her friends safely back on a plane. I'll head back to good ship Christa who I miss. I will also swing by Coral Bay Marine to pick up the outboard motor which I repaired. The carburator bowl rusted through and was leaking fuel. So some JB Weld took care of the situation. Future plans and intentions should see Janina and I leaving Johnson Bay ASAP. Since Maho Bay has been so nice I'm thinking of coming over and lashing up to a National Parks Mooring ($15 a night) and hang out for a day or two. But soon we'll head to Jost Van Dyke and start our sojourn to the British Virgin Islands.

Something I did fail to mention awhile back was my termination for captain's duties aboard Sadie Sea. The boat was constantly breaking down and since I am not a mechanic capt Ben had to keep coming out to repair his boat. After awhile it just was a waste of his money to have me running the boat. So he took the boat back over with no hard feelings between us. Just a business choice.

Well that is it for now. Keep checking My Google Photo Album as I keep updating pictures to the Virgin Island Folder.

Capt Chris