Yup…the outboard’s dead again and back in the shop. Yesterday (Wednesday) the four of us went to shore for a walk-about. We hiked up the hill that overlooks Sapodilla Bay. It gives you an incredible view of both Chalk Sound, the Bay and the coral banks. There are also some interesting carved names in the rocks at the top. It seems when the pirates of old were up there on lookout – waiting for a boat to pass by that they would attack – they were a bit bored and spent hour after hour elaborately carving their name into a rock. Some date back to the 1800’s.
Where's Astarte?
We enjoyed the walk on this beautiful day. As we got back in the dinghy – it wouldn’t start. At all! We got towed back to shore by the gentleman from SV Jade. We then let Michael fume and work on it for a bit. After awhile it seemed hopeless so we walked the dinghy along the shore to the far end so we wouldn’t have to row against the wind. It was a bit of a comedy act as Dave and Michael each had an oar and argued with each other over the best rowing technique. We made it back to the boat, got the outboard aboard Astarte and Michael tore it apart (yet again). No luck.
We got on the skype phone to Yamaha customer service only to find out that there are no “official distributors” or “authorized repair” facilities in the Turks and Caicos that have “deals” with Yamaha USA (where we bought the motor). So these customers don’t feel very satisfied at this point. They tried hard to be helpful – but the answers weren’t what we wanted to hear. So it looks like this continual problem may be out of pocket (though the engine’s still on warranty). We think we may have a lemon engine. But it needs to be fixed. So the money bleeding will continue. We’ll deliver it to JPs tomorrow.
On Wednesday, this big boat arrives. It’s an older 100 plus foot vessel named “Blue Guitar.” We quickly got the binoculars out to see if we could spot Eric Clapton aboard. The guess was that he may have come down for Bruce Willis’ wedding. Or maybe the boat was simply chartered. But we’d like to believe we spent the night at anchor in the same harbor as EC.
The big one, not the inflatable!
Earlier in the (Wednesday) afternoon we invited Ian and Andrea (the Aussies) from Cape Finisterre and Robin and Diana (the Brits/Swiss) from Solveig aboard for sundowners. (We thought of inviting the folks on Blue Guitar – but we could barely fit the eight we’d have!) Barbara made “tortilla pizzas” as snacks. It was quite a party. Lots of arguments/discussions on politics, religion, boating, traveling etc. It lasted much later than it should have and we consumed much adult beverage. A good time was held by all. We were all moving a bit slower on Astarte this morning.
We got up early to once again – head to South Side Marina to get the help of Simon and Charlyn to get the outboard to JPs repair (that’s who fixed it the first time.) We also did another grocery run having decided we didn’t stock up quite enough for 16 days for four people. After all the errands were complete we headed back to Sapodilla Bay.
It’s gotten a bit rollier in the anchorage tonight. Hope everyone can sleep. We’ll head back tomorrow to hopefully get our engine back yet again and finally head out of Provo. (again please send positive thoughts!!)
Sunset on Turtle Rock, Sapodilla Bay
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