In and out
28 September 2011 | Neiafu Harbor
Partly cloudy and humid
Well, we're back in Nieafu having left anchorage 16 on Monday morning. We wanted to check with Westpac Bank and see if we were going to get our money back plus restock our supplies with fresh veggies and snacks.
We started upping the anchor about 0900 on Tuesday. With my foot on the power button on the windlass, and my head looking over the side watching the chain come up, there was a sudden CLUNK on deck and the chain stopped coming on board. I took my foot off the button and looked down to see a big pile of chain on the deck and a jam in the pipe that leads the chain into the anchor locker below decks. Apparently, it had stopped going down the hole and then had gotten jammed when more chain piled up at the hole and filled it with the links. We were stuck with 60 feet of chain out but luckily the anchor was still hooked to the bottom giving us time to try and figure out how to get this solid mass of chain links out of the hole so we could get all the rest of the chain up along with the anchor. We hooked one of our anchor snubber hooks to the chain and led the line aft to one of our winches in the cockpit and tried to pull it out. Tracy cranked while I got a hammer and started pounding on what exposed links I could get at. No luck. Next, we grabbed a big screwdriver and put the end in one of the links and pounded on the end of the screwdriver. It moved a bit but the chain showed no sign of coming free. The sounds of my pounding resounded through the anchorage. About 20 minutes later, Bill off Dilligaf dingies over with what is called a "Spud wrench". It looks like a crescent wrench only the end of the handle comes to a point. I jammed the pointed end into the links and slowly wedged it out of the end of the pipe. Problem solved. All it takes is the right tool. It's now on my list of things to get when I get home in November.
With the chain and anchor up, out we headed for the 9 mile trip back to town. About two miles out, the engine slows down and quits!!!! Yep, it had happened again. We'd been fine since I found the problem of the leaking hose way back in the Marquesas in early May. We had gotten the sails ready just incase something like this happened or we actually had wind in the right direction so we could sail back. So we pulled out the Genoa sail at the bow so we could be under control and down below I went to try and find the problem. I pulled off the doors to the engine compartment and all looked fine. I grabbed one of my wrenches and some rags and headed for the "bleed" screw on the injector pump. With our small auxiliary fuel pump running, I loosened the screw and air(along with diesel fuel) came pouring out of the screw hole. Once all the air had been flushed out, I tightened the screw, turned off the small pump, turned the key and the engine started right up. Problem solved. There are only so many things that will stop a diesel engine but the most common is air in the lines. It stops all the fuel from getting to the injectors. With the engine started, Tracy rolled in the Genoa sail while I stayed below and cleaned up my mess and inspected all the hose connections for leaks. I checked all the hoses and found every connection nice and dry. No leaking fuel anywhere. The only strange thing I found was that the fuel vacuum gauge I had installed a while ago was now reading a different pressure. It had been reading about 3 pounds of pressure. Now it was reading about one pound. No real idea as to why and neither does any of the other cruisers I have talked to. But the engine was up and running and we made it safe and sound into Nieafu about an hour later.
We grabbed a mooring buoy and got settled in. Puff was launched and we headed over to the dock and walked over to Westpac Bank. A short time later, I walked out with my $300 Pa'angas. Problem solved. They had gotten all the paperwork straightened out and I got my money back from the double dipping the ATM did to my account. We headed next for the local laundry as we had won wash a dry service for two kilos of laundry and we figured they could do our towels as they are the hardest thing to do with our little washing "machine". We dropped them off and were told to pick them up about the same time on Wednesday. Off we went to a restaurant we wanted to try that had advertised a $5.00 Pa'Anga(about $2.70US) lunch of fish and chips. We placed our order and I walked down the street to one of the markets and bought two cokes as the restaurant doesn't sell drinks of any kind(go figure). I got back just before our order came. We each got four large pieces of breaded fish(bone in) and a nice pile of fried plantains on the side. This fish wasn't filleted, it was just chopped into sections, breaded and fried. We ate slowly and carefully picking out the bones as we went. The fired plantains tasted quite a bit like real potatoes. Neither of us could finish our meals so the wait person wrapped the rest in foil for us and off we went for the veggie market looking for some lettuce. We'd been out for a few days. None was available so Tracy put in an order for a couple of heads so we could pick them up on Wednesday. We walked around for a while hitting some of the markets. We stopped in at one of the local shops that sells hamburger or as they call it "minced beef" and found they were out but expected a shipment on Wednesday. Any more, if you see it, buy it because they will run out and then you have to wait for the next shipment. We then headed up the hill for the Ice Cream store to get a cone for a treat. They had run out of ice cream(they only carry one flavor) so no luck there. They told us to try again tomorrow. Every one was waiting for the ferry boat that brings in supplies. With most of our errands done we headed back to Zephyr for a quiet night.
Wednesday. we headed back to town and picked up the lettuce and revisited the Chinese Restaurant for lunch. Tracy had spring rolls and rice while I had chicken fried rice. We'd had the spring rolls on our first time at the restaurant a few weeks ago and she had really liked them and I was hungry for some fried rice. Including drinks, our bill came to just $20.00 Pa'angas(about $12.00US). We left quite satisfied. Up the hill we went heading for the Ice Cream store. This time we got lucky and we each got a cone of Vanilla that was on the verge of melting. They had just gotten their one tub in and it had not had a chance to get hard in their freezer. We ate it quickly as it melted into the cone. Tracy headed for the bakery for some "brown bread"(bread with small pieces of dried fruit in it). While I continued to shop for other things around town and picked up our laundry, all nice clean and folded. They did a great job. On the way back to Puff, I ran into Lene and Henrik off Dana(friends we originally met in Naniamo Harbor clear back when we were on our way back from Alaska. They invited us over for drinks that evening. Tracy meanwhile could only get one loaf of brown bread(they'd run out). I stopped in and picked up our "minced beef" that had come in on the ferry and we climbed back into Puff and headed back to Zephyr.
Earlier in the day, on our first trip in, we'd stopped at the Aquarium Cafe to have entry documents emailed to Fiji as they require advanced notice when boats are coming to their country. The internet service was down(not uncommon here) and they had not been able to get the emails out. Tracy started defrosting the freezer since it was quite well covered in ice. That's one of the scary things to do on Zephyr as sometimes the compressor won't start after the defrosting is done. We finished out the day with drinks and snacks aboard Dana with Lene and Henrik.
This morning we headed into town early as Tracy had found a store that sold New Zealand apples. We haven't seen an apple in months so she bought a few yesterday and they proved so good that we had to get more. At $5.00 Pa'angas for five apples, that puts it to about .67 cents US. Not a bad price out here. We hit the bakery and got our bread as well as some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. You have to get in early to get those as they sell out by late morning. Back to pay for our mooring and we expect to be out of here in a couple of hours. Since we have to check out of here by October 5th, our time is running out.