Well, I finished my time in the "emergency room" though what I had wasn't really an "emergency", I would have liked to have had my tooth reglued but it was not to be. "Come back Monday" was the response from the "on call" dentist. I guess I wasn't an "emergency" to him. Can't really say I blame him. When I got the info to just come back on Monday, I took the crown out of the plastic baggie I brought it in and stuck it back in my mouth. It's been there ever since though I have been chewing on the other side of my mouth.

Off we went when done there and headed for Cost U Less again. We've been making mini buying trips there for several days snatching up new things that come in as well as other things we knew we needed. Along the bus route out, we stopped at a combo restaurant of Kentucky Chicken and Pizza Hut to see what they offered for lunch(chew on one side Bill). We finally opted for Pizza Hut as they had salads to eat and they are rare out here. Lettuce is almost impossible to find. Cabbage isn't all that plentiful either. So we both had the personal pan pizza with a salad and drink for $8.95 each. A good value out here especially since it included a salad.

When we arrived at Cost U Less, we made the rounds and found that their meat grinder to make hamburger was broken and wouldn't get fixed till some time next week. We're trying to work it out that we want to buy their hamburger and package it ourselves(God bless shrinker machines) in 1 pound packages, have them freeze it and then pick it up the next day. The manager didn't seem to think that would be a problem at all once they got their machine fixed. People are great out here. You simply have to ask. They would also cut a frozen turkey in half so we could have half for Thanksgiving and half later. We made it back to Zephyr about 1600 and relaxed for the evening.

Today(Sunday) was a work day. I'd made a list of things that needed attention and today was the day to start in on the list. Being Sunday, most everything on shore is closed so it's a perfect day to get things done on board. To keep the engine room floor cleaner, I line it with pads especially made to absorb oil and only oil. No water. This way, the water(should there be any) will make its way to the bilge where it can be pumped out. Any oil that the engine gives off will be trapped in the pads. I found a supplier here that sold me 100 of them for just $37.95. Lots cheaper then when I bought them back in the US. Now they may be thinner, but for that price, I'll use two.

Next, off for the anchor locker to see about the forward head macerator. It worked when we left Tonga(we fixed it there) but quit a day or two after we left for American Samoa. You could hear the motor hum but the impeller wouldn't go around. As it turns out, the pounding of the waves against the through hull for the discharge had forced air and water up the pipe and rebent the impellers rubber blades. I stuck a screw drive in the end of the motor and rotated the blades(much easier than taking it all apart again) and with a couple of turns, the impeller was how it was supposed to be and when Tracy hit the switch, all worked fine again. Lesson learned--Close the through hull when you leave port!

I checked the bolts that hold the propeller shaft to the transmission and found them loose again. Way back in Mexico, we'd had the entire shaft come loose from the transmission as we were about to enter a harbor. We've learned to check the bolts every now and then. This time, since we had done so much motoring(all the way from Fiji to Tonga), it was a good time to check. Yep, all four were loose. Not bad but loose is never good when it comes to a coupling for the propeller shaft and the transmission.

Onto the batteries that start the engine. If you have been reading our blog for a while, you will remember that we had a problem starting the engine the day after we left Tonga. That problem lasted for about a day and then the problem was gone. It's worked fine ever since. To try and find out what the problem might have been, I started at the start batteries and check every connection all the way to the starter on the engine. All appeared to be fine though some had to come off to get the red paint that covered them. The batteries tested out at 12.6 so they are nice and full. The engine has been fine since the trip and who knows, maybe I found what the problem had been and fixed it. Time will tell.

Attached to the water cooler on the engine is a small shaft of zinc that's made to take away the possibility of corrosion eating out the fitting. It's called a "pencil" zinc due to it's shape. With the cost of the cooler quite high and if it should fail, we would be stuck with no engine, it was time to pull it out and check it. All was fine and back in it went. It's been about three months since I changed it so all is well still.

After lunch(nachos on blue corn tortilla chips--thank you Cost U Less), I strapped on my scuba gear and headed for the bottom of the bay to check out our anchor. Down the chain I went till I got to the bottom. I followed it along stirring up the mud as I went. Every time I moved the chain, a big cloud of mud and silt came off the bottom obscuring my vision. I picked off lots of plastic, fabric, a couple of stones and even a tire off the chain as I went. After a while I finally made it to the anchor, all but just a bit buried in the muck. Well dug in. For the first week we were here, it blew in the high teens to low 20's and even hit 30 knots at one time. Since then, we've had relatively light winds and from every point of the compass. Because of that change, Zephyr has been aimlessly drifting around at the end of her chain. From time to time, we heard the chain rubbing against the coral that's on the bottom under the mud. Well, I didn't find any coral at all during my trip. No clue as to what caused the grinding noise we've heard but I found no coral. Now the charts for the harbor show coral off to the south of us, but I found none and that's just fine. Once back on board, we rinsed off all the gear and I headed in for a shower. It's not the dirtiest water I've been in but hey, I needed a shower anyway.

While we worked below decks earlier in the day, another sailboat(Windcastle) pulled up his anchor and plunked himself right in front of us. About 125 feet away from our bow. He's been anchored on the north side of the bay since we got here and we have no clue as to why he repositioned himself in front of us. With this harbors reputation for rotten holding, I sure hope he has good insurance should a blow come in and he drags down on us. In Tonga as well as in Fiji, it's very tough to sue people and get any kind of restitution. Well we're back in the US(kind of) and I'm sure there are lawyers about that can take care of us should something happen. For now, lets hope nothing does.