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My nephew Brian Payne and his dad, Bob, came down for a week the first part of March. Our first problem was getting the engine in the boat fixed. The morning they were to arrive, I tried to start the engine so I could motor into the marina at Moho Cay near Belize City. It just went rrrrreeeerrrrr, rrrrreeeerrrr, but never kapatapatapatapata. Their introduction to sailing in Belize was a two mile, water splashing over the tubes, slow, wet dinghy ride out to where Malakii was anchored. The next day we got her towed into the marina. I thought about sailing her in, but the entrance is a shallow, narrow slot, and we would have a heck of a time stopping because there is no maneuvering room once inside. I didn't like the prospect of smashing the bow or ploughing into someone else's much more expensive boat. The first time I went in a few weeks before, we dredged the mud channel bottom a bit with the keel. We had a great mechanic, Bill McKenzie, who got the engine running in short order. It was a real treat to watch an expert at work.
This was a pretty stressful trip...
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It's a tough life when the wind is light. |
Watermelon never tasted so good! |
Hiding from the heat under the makeshift bimini |
Bob had brought down a new depth sounder and a new transducer. I didn't know which one was broken, and the folks at the factory said there was no way to tell short of testing with a known good unit, so I had asked Bob to bring one of each, making sure the new instrument was compatible with the old transducer, and vice versa. I hoped it was the instrument, not the transducer, as replacing the transducer involves a lot of work that needs to be done just right. We removed the old instrument, plugged in the new, and magically some numbers appeared. They were even close to correct. I cheered.
Bob also brought down cargo nets for the vee berth, a welcome item. Up until then, every time Malakii heeled over very far, stuff slid off the shelves.
We spent an afternoon on Rendezvous Cay snorkling. It's a picture postcard perfect Caribbean Isle.
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During the next few days we sailed down to Colson Cay, Tobacco Cay, and Southwater Cay, where we had a nice meal at International Zoological Expeditions (IZE). The next day the wind piped up as we headed back north. Everyone seemed to be hunkered down in a hidey-hole, but we had a great time. We covered 59 nautical miles in 9 hours; our top speed was 7.4 knots. We anchored at Cay Caulker at dusk, then took the dinghy in for a little souvenir shopping and a great dinner,
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Our short trip ended kind of like it started. On our way back south to drop the guys off for their trip home, the cotter pin on the prop shaft broke when we put the engine in gear to work our way up a small arm to anchor for the night. The castle nut spun off the shaft, and the propeller followed it out into the muck.
After Brian and Bob left, our trusty mechanic, Bill McKenzie, located a new prop for me. I snorkeled under the boat and put it on, being very careful not to drop anything.