So, we departed Vero Beach and motored 35 miles south to anchor in Manatee Pocket. Then the next day we motored south past Palm Beach. There are a lot of bridges on this section of the ICW and each one has a restriction on when it can open so you have to time your passages between the bridges so you don't arrive to early and then have to motor in circles waiting for the opening. Most of the time it's a chance to take a break while waiting for a opening however when we arrived at the Lantana Bridge things got "interseting". While keeping Makana in one place using both engines I noticed a strange sound coming from the port engine when I would engage the gear. In short very soon the engine would not engage the prop, so now I have only one engine to use. We made it thru the bridge and dropped the anchor out of the channel. I checked the linkage to the transmission while Katie dove under to make sure we didn't lose a prop. Both the linkage and prop were good. We decided to find a marina to try and tie up to as the forecast was for a front to pass that evening and trying to navigate Makana with one engine is not very easy. Hoku said she saw a marina to the west before we went under the bridge, that kid is sharp. A quick call had us securing dock space and a scheduled visit from a Yanmar tech the next morning. We contacted the bridge tender and informed her of our situation and pulled the anchor to try and bring Makana to the marina. Bringing Makana into a dock with wind on the side and only one engine was far from relaxing but we made it and found the marina had a pool to boot!
The next morning a visit by the mechanic had us calling Yanmar for info with their reccomendation that we needed to haul out to fix the transmission. Hauling Makana is not the easiest as we are 23 feet wide with most lifts only able to accomodate boats 21 feet wide, not to mention the associated cost. The mechanic suggested we pull the cover on the transmission to see if anything was "off". And indeed we discovered a small pin had sheared off the clutch. No need to haul out, however it's amazing how expensive a small "pin" can be. We hope to be back in "operation" by early next week. Oh the cruising life nothing like fixing your boat in exotic locations. That's it for now.