Our plan yesterday afternoon was to leave at slack water and as expected the two boats rafted up to us (we tie to the dock and they tie to us) duly engaged their bow thrusters, pushed the fronts of their boats out and left.
Yippee for them, we don't have a bow thruster. Our plan was that Justin would tow our bow out with the dinghy and we'd pick him up in the harbour. In the event our 8hp Yamaha and non-rib inflatable against a 15kt side wind was about as effective as him swimming out in a rubber ring with the tow rope between his teeth.
After keeping lots of boats and people waiting the helpful marina staff found us a powerful tow boat that tied to our middle cleat and pulled us out sideways until we could engage our engines. Although there wasn't actually applause as we left I am sure we irritated at least a couple of Germans and a Scotsman.
Finally we were out in the bay when a little tug boat came right at us hooting a horn and gesticulating past the breakwater where we could just see the superstructure of a gas tanker heading our way. As there was nowhere else to stop we had to hang back and wait for half an hour until it had swung around and docked before we could anchor and hoist in the dinghy.
The crossing from Horta to Pico was charming with fantastic views of the mountains and both shores as well as yet another pod of very large dolphins. Louise laid in the sun on top of the bimini (roof at the back above where we steer from and eat) while the rest of us sat and watched the amazing volcano on Pico until sunset when we ate our supper of mushroom soup, crackers and cold cuts around the outside table.
As night approached the generator gave an odd little hesitation and when I checked felt hotter than I remember it around the oil filter and V-belt. I had already checked the oil level and belt tension after it had run for a couple of hours, but an instant feeling of guilt - what have I done wrong kicked in. I had switched to a theoretically correct STP S16 oil filter that was noticeably smaller than the previous one and set the V belt tension (10mm stretch at 10Kilo pressure between the pulleys) with the engine cold. Should I have rejected the filter? Could the belt pulleys have expanded? As we had a sailing wind for a while I let the generator cool and moved our indoor/outdoor thermometer so that the outside probe was against the side of the engine cabinet so we would be able to monitor at least its relative temperature. We have the option of either stopping at Pico tonight or San Miguel tomorrow night if there is any trouble.
I started the timer on my watch and we ran the generator a half hour on and half off for two hours. This seemed OK so we went back to constant running (there is no wind so we need the engines). The problem hasn't repeated and the maximum temperature no longer seems out of line but I have slightly loosened the V belt just in case. The prudent thing to do is stop at San Miguel overnight tomorrow, refuel and try to get a filter from the generator manufacturer or call them to OK the one I am using. This will also mean that we have enough fuel to motor all the way if necessary as we are expecting a lot of light wind days.
I woke up during the night, looked at my watch and seeing 5:50 got dressed and ready to relieve Louise at 6. On my way from the cabin I realised it was still dark out and looking again discovered that the 5:50 was the stopwatch time and it was in fact 3:20 - Duh, back to bed.
Lunch time, Jim made cinnamon rolls to go with Justin's Tuna and fruit salad. We also had our daily dolphin visit.
For dinner Justin is making sweet and sour chicken and Flan which Americans (or at least Justin) pronounce "flahn". The Flan is a bit of a risk as:
Justin has never made it before; the instructions are in Portuguese which none of us speak and we have no ramekins so he is using coffee mugs. I think the English equivalent is crème caramel.
We are one hour from San Miguel now and might just make the fuel dock before it shuts. Time for me to re-read the pilotage ready to take her in.
Saturday 27 June 2009
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