Sunday, April 3, 2022
That's right... we are currently in Ponce, PR. We left Bahia de Las Aguilas and sailed east throughout the south coast of the Dominican Republic stopping at a few anchorages along the way. On Monday, March 28th, we left Boca Chica, DR heading for Puerto Rico. We arrived just as the sun was setting on Wednesday, March 30th. Of course, nothing quite goes as planned. Once we dropped the main sail and furled in the head sail, we realized we had no thrust with our engine. "Could this really be happening again?!", we thought. We assessed the situation as we quickly unfurled the head sail to gain momentum, so we could steer the boat - a priority given we were in a channel between two reefs attempting to enter the anchorage. A quick assessment showed a working motor, attached coupler, and rotating boat shaft. Our amp draw from the motor seemed low, however, and while we could at least hold ourselves steady against the wind, we just didn't have any umph (or thrust is probably a more technical term).
After a few attempts of trying to enter the anchorage, we had to call it quits as the sun was nearly all the way set and we did not want to be in the channel between reefs in the dark. Unfortunately, it was a tight entry into the anchorage, crowded with other boats, and the entry was into the wind, so sailing in onto anchor would be a real challenge. After a quick scan of the chart, we noted a potential area outside the main anchorage that was a good depth to anchor in and allowed us to sail onto anchor (or just motor very very slowly). We finally dropped anchor and all was safe and sound for the night.
After talking it out, we suspected something may have tucked itself up in front of the prop creating cavitation (air bubbles). This would explain our low amp draw as air would create less resistance than water for the motor to spin in and we wouldn't be able to get the thrust we normally get. We've had this happen in the dinghy previously when a plastic bag caught forward of our prop... sad amount of trash in our oceans. The next morning, Keith dove down under the boat, but no evidence of anything being on the shaft or prop. We turned on the motor and put her in forward. Voila! She worked perfectly - just as normal! Perhaps, something was stuck down there after all and it had fallen off. In any case, relief! We pulled the anchor and entered the main anchorage, dropped the hook, and called it a success.
Despite the chaos of trying to anchor initially, Puerto Rico has been wonderful. A bit of reverse culture shock though for us both, as we have access to a Walmart and Home Depot! We made a huge provision run getting anything and everything we could think of that we haven't had in the last year. Postcard picture above is coming home with our prized possessions from Walmart :)
We've managed to put together a video highlighting some of our time in Jamaica. Enjoy!
We hope this email finds you all well. Make sure to send us a note to keep in touch.
Much love,
Keith & Becca
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