Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

Unit ready to go

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Gauges Connected up showing state of charge

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Tuesday rolled around finally, the fridge guys showed up at about 9am, Gerry had to transport them and the gear out to the boat before the installation began.
Gerry has to keep control of installations so he assisted by doing boat yoga and climbing into his favourite hole - the lazarette, lifting the compressor unit onto the shelf and bolting it in place. The fridge guy connected up the refrigerant lines an connected the vacuum pump to the system to check for leaks.
The vacuum pump was turned off and left for 30 minutes to check the system maintained the vacuum, this was all good. Refrigerant was then added to the system and the compressor started up. In turn the fridge and freezer then both together were run to ensure that the correct amount of refrigerant had been added. The system then had to be run in for 30 minutes, wait for 1hour then repeat over a 4 hour period. The Reefco guys left, leaving behind a gauge which had to be ferried to the dock later, meanwhile the temperatures in the fridge and freezer were gradually bought down to range over the next 24 hours.

We waited until the middle of the next morning before transferring our food back into the correct spots in the fridge and freezer and removing the now empty ice bags and discarding them. Mostly our food had survived or been eaten before dying during the lack of fridge/freezer, however I have to share with you that Pillsbury dough tubes (French sticks, cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls and biscuits) didn't do so well, they exploded in the warmer confines of the fridge despite the bags of ice (see photo). I have wrapped them all in cling wrap in the hope that I can salvage them -I have managed to successfully bake 3 of the tube contents so far, fingers crossed for the rest!

Pillsbury Dough

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[David Fox]

Well the Reefer system is still not quite right, Gerry started logging times and temperatures and putting them on a chart, which shows up descrepencies straight away. Compressor starting to run longer.
He had the Reefco out again and they have checked out everything that is bothering Gerry about the system - possible leak, rattling noise, need for a bit more gas, there has been a call to Seafrost, the manufacturer in the US, and they await their wisdom.

Any comments from you armchair Frosties would be most appreciated.

Gerry also spent time checking the space probe on the fridge side as it was loose, but managed to epoxy it to one of the cooling plates.

Another hicc up when stating the Main Engine the alternator regulator lights were not working, so the spare was fitted everything proved in working order, so regulator swopped back.
Reason for the ME start up was bad weather :Weather; variable, stormy, wind up to 30+ knots, waves white caps in harbor.
Nickys comments in colour.
The odd boat dragged its anchor and got a bit too close so Gerry was ready, ER on a moments notice. It was a chance also to check the ME out before sailing in mid June, giving enough time to correct anything.

A run ashore, nearest COFFEE Bar, not the other type so often favoured in the younger days.

Gerry & Dale - Gypsy Palace

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Bad Ass Coffee Legend

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Idylic scene in US Virgin Isle

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[David Fox]

Not all blue skies and sun

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The storm howled its way through for about half an hour and then eased away.

The ship the Rising Sun, not the House of the Rising Sun

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Rising Sun

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A cruiser called Rising Sun out of Georgetown, it's 456 feet long ( 2 feet short of the Canterbury Star 1) with a crew of 45 (about the same at a guess or more)and carries just 16 passengers in 8 cabins - not for charter so all by invite only. The owner is a billionaire who made his money in music recording companies and joint venture ownership of the DreamWorks movie company. It cost two hundred million dollars to build in 2004 - so no chump change, and one can only guess at what it would cost today. We haven't been invited on board for cocktails as yet but you never know your luck! We also haven't seen anyone apart from the crew doing their daily chores so maybe the owners haven't arrived as yet. You can get an idea of how the other half live whilst wondering what the poor people are doing -as they stare at us out in the harbour!

So back to the Reefer Saga. The local Reefer people came back on board and topped up the gas in the system which improved the efficiency but the compressor is still noisy, so the compresor company are sending a spare as it shouldn't be making any noise. Its there should the present one fail and they will have to get local people to swop it over at another port should it fail.
Gerry is still logging temps, times and amps and is reasonably happy so far. The two refrigerated spaces are holding their temperatures for about 3 hours before the compressor starts for a 20 minute run. Most of the power is solar via the batteries. When ever the RO ( Reverse Osmosis desalinition plant ) is started the auxy generator is started and this tops up the batteries also. The auxy generator has just had a a service by Gerry so ready for the off on the 12th June. All bunkers, Grocers stores to be topped off, laundry to be up to date and rubbish ashore. Nicky has been doing some needlework on the cockpit cushions on their sewing machine after washing them.
I think they are looking for a bit of sea time now, being in port is ok, but it can get a bit old after a while as we all know from our time on the Kiwi coast, though it is probably a bit miserable going to sea now, just hours in port. "We never had it so good".

[David Fox]

How the other half live eh?

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Gerry and Nicky are doing the final jobs such as keelhauling to make sure there's no weed or marine attachments to the hull, testing machinery, full dhobying ashore, topping up with provisions and cooking up some passage dinners that just need warming up.

Nicky is so good with the Words, I will let her tell you.

11th June

18 20 N
64 56 W

Weather; changeable

I told you in the last blog about the boat called Rising Sun that had docked in the marina, after a week in the marina at a cost of close to $1800 per day, they snuck out of the marina with the assistance of a pilot only to drop anchor on the far side of the harbor from us.
Gerry was up at dawn the next morning and took a photo in a million for those of you that appreciate our take on stuff - the photo is of the Rising Sun in the West as the moon is about to set, well it amused us!
To prepare us for the coming transit Gerry has changed out the blocks for the running back stay with the headsail furling block - best not to ask why. Put the reefing line in place for the main sail - its possibly still not right but only time will tell.
We had a small issue with the gen set being sluggish to start under certain conditions so with the help of the tinker (Dale), the tweaker twins altered the original wiring which ran from the main engine starter motor to the gen set starter motor. They disconnected the wiring that ran from the main engine starter to the gen set starter and shortened the cable to run directly from the changeover switch to the gen set starter motor, leaving the original cable to main engine untouched. After much fiddling, boat yoga and sailor speak it was time to test out the new arrangement. Happily the gen set started first time with no issues, phew!
He has since re done the earth on the gen set to make sure that the earth was making a good connection - all looking good for the time being!
The single side band radio has been tried out to make sure that we can be heard and that we can hear people on it. .
Early night after a last supper.

[David Fox]

12 June.
An early start , pull the anchor up which came with half the sea bed attached which had to be hosed off, the bridle was covered in sea creatures, but was almost worn through with all the toing and throing whilst at anchor all this time, so it will be deep sixed at a suitable place.
Topped off bunkers and FW and was expecting to set off, but the spare reefer compressor had not arrived as promised for 8 am, 3 telephone calls later it arrived, stowed below which no doubt helped the gm.

Weather: sunny with a couple of overcast spells, wind 8-10Knots East/South East, waves 2-3 feet

Just to prove the things can still go wrong, the fwd toilet blocked up, so a job for another day with a rant of Anglo Saxon and Sailor Speak from Gerry. Luckily they have another one down aft, more about that later.
As the wind was foul, ie on the bow then it was a case of using the Main Engine.
It was a bit of a squally passage to St. John, averaging about 5 knots with a spurt of 6.4 for a short period. Having anchored in Round Bay, they were asked to shift ship, so they went round to Coral Bay.
After BBQ'ing some salmon, another early night, putting a few zeds away for a 4 day passage, watch and watch.

[David Fox]

13 June 2020
18 02'N:64 06'W, Caribbean Sea to Grenada
Weather; mostly sunny, wind 5 to 10 knots ESE, waves 23 feet.
After a reasonable night despite a bit or rolling it was early breakfast and crew to stations for heaving in the anchor at 9 am.
Then as Gerry was having his last twinkle , Nicky heard, "Oh No! Not Again" from the after loo. That one had blocked. " It's impossible" as the song goes, but yes two blocked loos. Well Nicky didn't get the blame for that one. Take more roughage', I hear shouted from the peanut gallery from those that have done Masters Medical. A fresh fig a day keeps the doctor away and loos easy to flush. Well after some Sailor Speak from Gerry he managed to get it to go down as it was lapping the rim.
Perhaps he tweaked the Jobby Wheecha as Billy Connoly was won't to expound on.
As Nicky said, they didn't want to resort to the ' bucket and chuck it' on a 4 day passage, as you can guarentee somebody would get their own back with that odd freak wind at the wrong moment.
So at 9am Nicky on the wheel and telegraphs, Gerry acting as mate on the focsl'e head raising the anchor, they left St. John bound for Grenada.
Whilst up forward and the anchor safely away, Gerry lowered the US VI courtesy flag and hoisted the mainsail. FAOP. Gypsey Palace the Catamaran in the van being faster.
As they cleared the land, the wind veered so it was on the bow again, not the best point of sailing, so it came down and went in the bag. Back to use of the ME running at a relaxing 2000 rpm. The reason being it had 7900 running hours on it by various owners, no point in tempting providence. They were making about 4.5 knots.
Heres Nicky again.
We decided to head East towards Saba Island, a small Dutch protectorate near St Martin/ St Marten and from there turn South towards Grenada, the reason for this is the wind is supposed to come out of the East or North East from Saba onwards which should give us some decent sailing weather, it's just the first 80 odd miles to get to Saba which sees us heading directly into wind.

Apart from a ship seen on the horizon that soon dispeared, a school of dophins, the days sailing was quite pleasant allowing a few mini naps and eating.
Now comes the night watches, 3 on 3 off.
More tomorrow.

[David Fox]

14th June
17 10N 63 04 W on passage to Grenada.
Weather: sunny with some clouds, wind 10 - 15 Knots SE to E, waves 3-5 with some horrendous ones.
Night watches started at 7pm - 7 am with 3hrs on 3 off.
Nicky took the first and as the sun went down it went to straight pitch black. No points of reference as the stars were still covered until later.
Here's Nicky.
[color=#FF00BF] The wind kicked up a notch or twenty and began whipping up the waves into monsters from the depths of hell. Being pitch black it was impossible to see them coming until they hit the boat and crashed over the deck both unsettling and frightening but I was alright as long as I stayed in my seat inside the cockpit enclosure and kept bracing every few minutes (I sure as hell ache today). The stars made their appearance and you would think that it made things easier to see, it didn't, but they sure were pretty to look at. I spotted the southern cross straight away as it was the lowest constellation in the sky to the south and managed to spot a couple of the better known ones.

After a watch below the moon came up on the port side adding sufficient light ahead to see Gypsy Palace 2 miles ahead and a couple of ships far off.

We spent the entire night pitching and bashing our way through the swell which had a very short interval, no sooner had we risen up on one wave and then plummeted down into the valley behind than we were being lifted up to the sky by the next wave, lumpy ride doesn't begin to explain it! In fact I think we could sum up last night and today's passage (I'm getting to that in a minute) as a combination of 3 Disney world rides Mr. Toad's Wild ride, Peter Pan's flight and the Magic mountain ride, I'm sure Disney has experienced an overnight sail to have the concepts for those rides!
Gerry slept through the Escape Pod check-in at 8 am, but Gypsy Palace checked them both in to say they were safe.
I believe a fellow boater whilst under quarentine in Grenada has set up this service so those on passage can call in daily or if in trouble.
Opal was making 2-3 knots under ME without sails, but by breakfast time Saba Island could be seen in the distance about 20 miles away which took until 4 pm to come alongside. This allowed the mainsail to be set.

Approaching Saba Island

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I'd like to say it was a dream getting it up but I'm not going to lie. Gerry braved going out on deck rigged out with life jacket and harness to undo the sail bag, move the lazy jack lines out of the way, attach the halyard to the sail and then haul the sail up whilst I winched the halyard in from the safety of the cockpit. He's a lot braver than I am when it comes to doing this sort of stuff in weather that your dog wouldn't go out to pee in. Any how we got the reefed main up and in position and then changed our course slightly to head more towards Grenada and putting the wind onto our beam - well close enough for us to be able to sail. Back in the cockpit we tidied away the lines and set about hoisting the staysail to help us along even more. Our speed doubled almost instantly once the sails were up and gradually crept up even further until we were honing along at just under 7 knots. The engine was switched off and we dropped back to 6 knots and continued to do 6 to 6.5 knots for the next couple of hours finally catching up with Gypsy Palace. The sailing has been a little better than the motoring but we are still being bounced around all over the place and the hobby horsing effect of hitting waves continues to be a bug bear, every movement we make has to be well planned out before making it.

Gerry did the escape Pod check in at 6pm and then it was time to get some dinner on the go, I am not the best doing stuff down below when its rough but I had just about managed to get dinner on the plates when we were hit by a large squall, somehow we managed to keep the food on our plates and then eat it

So coming up to sunset but no green flash as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Coopers Quest is to photograph to Green flash.
Have any of our readers seen it during their sea going days? Please add a comment here if you have, and where abouts.
Do we hve any other yachtsmen reading this that would like to add any comments of their experiences under sail? Please feel free , even a bit of encouragement to two OAP yachtsmen.
With the going down of the sun blackness and night watches.

[David Fox]

I have added a few images, so ring for Slow Astern and don't run over them.

A couple for you Navigating types

Nav Station

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Chart, heading roughly South for Grenada

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15th June 15 25'N 62 38' W
Weather; sunny with occasional squalls, wind 10 20 ESE, waves 3-5 with some huge ones.

Up to now Gerry has had his fare share of problems on Opal of Queensland, but unfortunately Dale on Gypsy Palace has had some misshaps.
I will let Nicky relate the story.
Last night followed the same pattern as the previous night except that I went for the first sleep period and we reverted to our usual pattern of watches. The night was pretty similar to the previous night - pitch black until the stars came out and then they disappeared behind cloud cover. The moon appeared a little earlier but didn't seem so bright last night. We managed to sail all night with the reefed main and the stay sail out with speeds averaging 5.5knots but reaching the dizzy heights of 6.5 and the gut wrenching low of .9 for a while. Whilst we managed to continue our course with no issues Gypsy Palace didn't fare quite so well as they got hit broad side on by a wave and it broke a catch on one of their portlights. They had to slow down in order to try and MacGyver a solution, we slowed down to try and stay in sight and it wasn't too long before they were back underway and going ahead of us. Unfortunately for them the "fix" didn't last and once they had some daylight they had to slow right down again and come up with a better solution to stop water coming in through the portlight. At this point we only had Dale's version of how it was going to play out - he was going to hang over the side of the boat, Lorie was going to tie a rope around his ankles and he was going to seal the portlight from the outside. His only concern at this point was that Lorie had also tied a large rock to the line attached to his ankles! When we radioed them after the "fix" was completed we only got to speak to Lorie - weren't sure until we asked if all 3 of them were still on board, happily they are and the fix seemed to be holding the water out. Phew!
Could have been rather nasty that one. Glad that a more permanent fix was made.
Problem 2.
Over to you Nicky.
As the wind was at a constant speed of 18 - 20 Knots we had put a reef in the staysail to try and slow us down enough to keep within sight of them, by the time the fix was done we were about 6 miles ahead of them , easy enough for them to catch us up. As the afternoon turned into early evening we lost sight of them on the horizon behind us and when the guys checked in with Escape Pod at 6 pm Dale said that he thought they were 10 miles behind us now. We were a bit surprised as we had slowed our speed right down to around 3.5 knots and expected them to catch us up. So here we are at 7.45 pm and Gerry has just radioed them to see how they are doing, it seems that they have had more problems as Dale said they have had to reset their navigation and auto pilot systems (we think) the radio reception wasn't particularly good and it was difficult to make out exactly what has been happening with them, it's a story for once we arrive in Grenada. The concerning thing was that Dale said
they were motor sailing but only making around 2 knots Ð they must be getting some weather that we have managed to avoid this afternoon.
The stars have just made an appearance but the pitch black is totally surrounding us for now, it really is very unpleasant not being able to see anything and we can understand how worrying it is for Dale and Lorie to have had an issue with their navigation system as night falls. We will just keep in radio contact as much as possible until they are within our line of sight once again.

[David Fox]

16th June On passage to Grenada. 14 00' N 62 16' W
Weather; sunny, wind 18 - 25Knots ESE, waves 3 -6 feet

A smouldering sunset

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or is it a sunrise?

From our reporter in the middle of the Caribean:-
We had reefed our staysail overnight to try and give Gypsy Palace a chance to make up some ground and catch up with us, the reefing brought our speed down to around 3 knots which we were quite comfortable with, it meant less pitching and hobby horsing but of course the slower we go the longer it's going to take us to get to Grenada. We couldn't see Gypsy Palace behind us overnight but we hoped that was because they were going up at the same time as we were going down behind the waves, it turned out that wasn't the case. Just before the Escape Pod check in this morning we got a radio call from Dale, we could just hear him but he was having difficulty hearing us - the transmission was breaking up too much so the guys switched to the single side band and had a conversation about what was going on with Gypsy Palace. It turned out that they had a failure of the navigation instruments which Dale then did a reboot on, it didn't work totally. My understanding is that they have the chart plotter back in operation but the connection between the chart plotter and the auto pilot isn't connecting, not good news as this means that they have to hand steer all the time and with about 200 miles to go before they reach Grenada that's a lot of tiring work for 2 people. The guys discussed possible fixes but to be honest neither of them are electronics nerds so it was a case of checking the cables for anything that has shaken loose with the pounding and switching off and back on again.

When electronics are working they are ok, but soon as they go wrong you are in the lap of the gods. Hard wiring you might see a problem, but software is White Mans Magic, but no logic.

At this point Gypsy Palace was some 10 miles behind us and motor sailing to keep up some speed, Dale was going to shake the reef out of his main to give them a bit more speed over the ground but we don't know at this point if that has happened or not. As of now we aren't sure how they are going as the next arranged time to check in isn't until just before the 6 pm radio schedule with Escape Pod but we can't pick them up on AIS as that is part of the navigation system that has gone down and radar isn't picking up a signal from them but that may be just because they don't have a radar reflector.

After the Radio check in Gerry decided that we would make the most of the wind and shake the reef out of our stay sail for the daylight hours it's seen us increase our speed to around 5.5 knots average which is comfortable as the sea has calmed down a little and we aren't getting the pitching quite so badly for the moment.
Well looks like Gerry has a job for the worklist on arrival Grenada, which is 14 days of quarantine, so something to keep him amused.
Last night with the gen set start up, it just wouldn't fire so the guy's "fix" for sorting out the wiring wasn't actually the fix after all. Gerry had another look at it and now thinks that the solenoid is to blame as he can get the gen set to fire up if he manually manipulates the solenoid to open
It pays to have an Engineer on a yatch plus a Nurse which Nicky is, luckily her skills haven't been needed apart from the nutrition side to stop them getting scurvy, Rum & Fruit Punches.

A bit for you navigators.

As we sailed along this morning we managed to have a cross track error (meaning that we are going in the right general direction but the boat isn't staying on the direct track line that is plotted, it has veered slightly to the right of the track) and we had trouble working out why but eventually came up with the thought that there is a counter current running between some of the islands which is pushing us off track as we pass those islands. We have managed to get back on track and hopefully will be able to stay there now we are aware it's happening.

As the seas had calmed down Nicky tried a bit of fishing as a change of menu, but when something did catch the hook, by the time it was reeled in after putting Gerry on the shake, it had got off the hook, though it could have been a vegan dinner as Nicky thinks it could have been seaweed. Plenty of salty idiodine tasting spinach which supports thyroid function, think not, take a rain check on that, stick with the menu.

Well that's it for today, I hope to have better news of Gypsy Palace tomorrow. We have 120 miles to go before we arrive so with continued good wind and speed I might be writing this from Grenada next time.

About a days sailing with a good wind in the right direction.

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[David Fox]

17th June. 12 '02 N 61 '45 W
Weather; wet and windy, wind 10-30 knots ESE, waves 5- 8 feet
Got a bit of catching up to do.
Overnight followed the same pattern as the previous 2 nights, it was pitch black with increasing winds and waves. We had tried to slow right down to give Gypsy Palace a chance to catch us up but they never did, no great surprise when you realize how difficult it is to continuously steer by hand. The 6pm Escape Pod check in showed us that Gypsy Palace was further behind us than we had previously thought, there was no chance they would catch us up all we could do was keep in touch and keep moving forward at a reasonable pace.
We flew the main by itself for the first part of the night until the wind dropped our speed down to less than 3 knots, it was then that Gerry decided that we would fly the staysail as well to give us a bit of a boost. Of course as always as soon as the staysail went out the wind picked back up and we were then flying along at 6 knots, we kept going at this rate until once more the speed dropped right off and it was time to try flying the jib as well, it didn't last too long as there was just no happy medium, either we were ripping along at break neck speed or we were wallowing in the mire. Away went the jib and we continued on with the reefed main and the staysail.

As we got closer to Grenada we were hit by a series of heavy squalls which saw us having to reef our staysail, the wind hit 30 plus knots and we were barreling along with speeds hitting 7.8 knots and it was a very lumpy ride as the waves were knocking us all over the place. We had to close up all the curtains which made it quite hot in the cockpit. For the last 20 miles of the transit we were hit by one squall after another but we were making good speeds and finally were in sight of the St George harbor. We called in and got the instructions to proceed to the quarantine dock with our quarantine flag and Grenada flag flying and our fenders out on the starboard side. We arrived at the dock and were helped to tie up by the dock masters then we were told that the health inspector had just gone for lunch and we would have to wait for an hour to see him.

The health inspector appeared after his lunch and was very efficient, had our paperwork to hand, took our temperature and gave us instructions for the quarantine period and then sent us on our way to the quarantine harbor where we will spend the next 14 days. We had a little difficulty getting away from the quarantine dock as they had instructed us to pull in starboard side to which we had done, unfortunately the wind (howling gale) was blowing us further on to the dock so getting back off of it was no mean feat but we eventually made it and motored around to the anchorage. The anchorage is quite large and is filled with boats in quarantine, it was just a case of pick a spot and try to get the anchor to set. We tried 2 spots before Gerry was finally happy that we weren't drifting but we still sat on anchor watch for the first hour or so to make sure that we didn't drag into any other boat. Gypsy Palace have made it and are just outside the anchoring area, they won't be able to do their health check in until the morning as the official has gone home for the night. We are going to have a lot to discuss over a few adult beverages once we clear quarantine.

It's the first "long" passage that we have done in 10 years and we have realized how much slower and more careful we have to be when we carryout what seemed easy tasks on our previous trip, but we obviously learnt from that trip too as some things were so much easier for us this time around. Right now we are looking forward to a hot meal in a boat that isn't rolling and pitching and a long hot shower and a decent night's sleep.

Made it. St. George (Quarantine ) Harbour , Grenada

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18 June 2020 | 12 02'N:61 45'W, Quarantine harbour, St George, Grenada
Weather; overcast with late showers
From our reporter Nicky in Grenada
I just sat down to start this blog and the old, fat French guy on the boat directly behind us has appeared in his cockpit stark naked with a bucket and begun to have a shower - it's not a pretty sight! To add to the mess the sky opened up and it began bucketing down and as we scrambled to close the cockpit curtains I was so discombobulated that I knocked over Gerry's adult beverage covering the cockpit table, half the seat covers and most of the floor, unfortunately the glass was almost full and he had only had a couple of slurps out of it! Gerry had ducked below to close the hatches and I scrambled to hose off the mess I had created by knocking over his drink, we really didn't need the stickiness on the covers and floor. Our French guy was a little bit too premature, if he had waited another few minutes he could have just applied soap and stood out in the rain to rinse off!. Now that everything is closed up the rain has gone away again. This is probably the most exciting thing that has happened to us today!

We had agreed that today wasn't going to be a "doing jobs" day, we needed a bit of recuperation time. Gerry set about putting the awnings up over the front hatches and I washed out the swimmers we had worn during the passage before they took off and walked away from the boat.
Well it didn't take Gerry long to get bored relaxing.
After a lot of manouvring, diving on the anchor to find a decent anchorage he found himself a job.
Gerry did one small job today, he put some non-skid tape on the places he has to climb up to reach and attach the main halyard to the sail - it's always been a bit of a treacherous area to be climbing on to and is made even worse if the area is wet, with any luck the non-skid tape will prevent any mishaps.

20th June 12 '02 N 61 '45 W

Weather: Overcast with showers, wind 5 - 15 Knots gusting to 20,

We had breakfast and then decided what job was top of the list for the day. Unfortunately for Gerry it was fixing the forward toilet ( remember when just about to leave US VI and about to go on Stand By), it's most definitely a boy job and not one that I want to swap with him!
Lets just get you in the mood, a picture saves a 1000 words.

This is not porridge or last nights dinner , but Bubbling Muriatic Acid

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The process for clearing the toilet blockage began with draining the overboard line into the holding tank, then the hose was disconnected from the 3 way valve and huge amounts of scale was removed from the valve and as far up the 2 inch pipe as could be reached using a screwdriver. The 2 inch pipe was then beaten with a hammer severely to beat it into submission and to try and dislodge even more scale. A fish tape was inserted into the pipe to try and determine where the blockage was located, it seemed to be about 4 feet up the pipe. The hose was reconnected to the valve and once more pressure was applied via the hand pump to try and dislodge the blockage without success. The cunning plan was to see if the movement of water backwards and forwards would dislodge the blockage, it didn't - so much for a cunning plan! The next step after removing the hose again was to attach a manual bilge pump to the hose and see if it was possible to suck the blockage out, there was no apparent success but it did move some water down the hose. The pump was disconnected, the hose reconnected and seawater was again pumped into the line which cleared the blockage. Owing to the amount of scale that he had seen in the pipe it was decided to add muriatic acid in via the toilet bowl to try and dissolve the scale buildup. There was much bubbling and gurgling and the pipe became clearer and easier to pump. The muriatic acid wash was repeated a few times and if the gurgling and bubbling are anything to go by a fair amount of scale has been dissolved and removed. Additional acid washing will be carried out to make sure that as much scale as possible has been removed. It was then time to clean up, sanitize the tools he had used and discard the bucket load of yukky gloves, kitchen roll and effluent that had been generated during the process. It was a very unpleasant job but Gerry did a great job and we now have a fully functional forward head once more. It's a darn good job that his sense of smell is somewhat diminished as the smell was bloody awful from where I was sitting and I wasn't too close!

With the job of the day completed it was time to check the boat movement once again, this time it was me that wasn't happy, we had most certainly moved backwards a fraction. Out came the head sets and windlass remote control, on went the engine and chart plotter. The usual routine of me on the helm and Gerry operating the anchor retrieval took place and we began to motor through the anchorage looking for a likely spot to drop the hook once more. As I have mentioned previously the holding here is terrible, the seabed is just coral and rock so it really is pot luck if you can get your anchor to stick.
After 'much biding in the marsh' a place was found.
Gerry dove the anchor again and was satisfied that it was going to hold - thank goodness! We are now anchored next to a boat from Switzerland that has my admiration.

Swiss Yacht

Swiss Yacht.jpg (13.02 KiB) Viewed 33456 times

I think it is madness to do what we are doing in a 52 foot fully equipped boat, this boat is a sail boat, about 28 foot (not sure of the exact size but it's not much more than that) and has a couple on board who are a lot braver than I am in that they have come across the Atlantic to get this far - I just can't imagine doing the trip in a boat that size. We are curious about what facilities they have on board and how they deal with living on a daily basis on a small, (hopefully fully equipped) boat on such a long trip. If we were allowed to socialise with other boats in quarantine I would love to go across and have a chat with them about their experiences, I'm sure they would have a few tales to tell but we aren't going to risk the wrath of the Grenada border patrol and a huge fine or worse to find out!.