"Quick, come look. Have they hooked our anchor chain?" James, who is no doubt delighted to respond to my distress call, pops his head out of the aft stateroom hatch where he has been hurling a steady stream of explicatives at the dripping hot water heater. A boat, powered by two 125 HP engines at full throttle, is madly careening off our port bow in tight circles, slowing down while the three young men peer over the side for a second, and then back to its full throttle dance. The performance moves to just abeam of us, so we are confident they haven't caught our chain, but what and where is the demon they are battling? Midst whoops and hollars the stern light post is pulled from its stanchion as we watch all three men crush towards the steering station, the boat lurches forward counter clockwise this time, they hang on while whacks are aimed at the stern. The boat lurches to a stop, heads tentatively search the water. . .thwack! " Did you kill it? " Thwack! Thwack!" I think I got it." Another spin around at full throttle and finally a relaxed stop to catch their breathe. "It was a RAT" they call over to us. "Wouldn't want it to swim to your boat!" "Thanks, appreciate that," James shouts back, as he disappears back down his own rat hole.
|
Comments [0]
Or. . .Why I'm not a believer! We woke up this morning patting ourselves on the back. Refrigerator cooled all night long, hot water heater problem appeared to resolve, bilges were dry, just a few minor things and we will be checking out. I started in on my laundry, a bucket in the shower with my feet as agitator gives me a pedicure and clean sheets in one go. Morning showers were just about due to stop, but didn't. The water did stop, however, just before rinsing. James replaced the water pump with the one he had just taken off the fridge. I finished the laundry, but the rain didn't stop, so now our sheets and underwear are dangling from lines strung back and forth across the cockpit. We sit down for lunch and Carib when it becomes apparent from the squeal that we have a pig stuck under the galley sink. "Did you see it come aboard?" Turns out, the water pump was unhappy. Then the port bilge pump turns on. That would be the bilge we mopped dry as a bone yesterday after fixing" the water heater. The rain, at this moment is rinsing my laundry again, James is back at the poorly named "Budget" marine, Ah, the joy of the carefree life of cruising!
|
Other sailors complained of no wind but we simply sat back, relaxed and enjoyed our cat that delivered an average of 6 knots for our 35 mile crossing to San Martin. . .smooth seas, no rolling or slatting of sails, with the wind playing in the range of 8 to 12 knots. We loved it! Tomorrow begins the real work, checking out refrigeration problems along with our fix it list for a duty free port with lots of yacht supplies.
|
