We returned to Grenada on January 7 after 9 months at home. This is the longest we have left Avventura since we bought her so we were concerned how she had weathered the time "on the hard (land)". Here she is being pulled out at the end of March.
We asked the boat yard to splash her and bring her around to Port Louis Marina the day we arrived in Grenada. Avventura was there at the marina when we arrived but was not able to get her backed into the slip. Captain Rob took over and expertly backed her in. She was in good shape with all systems working so we settled in for a week of planned repairs/provisioning/getting ready to sail. We met up with old friends and new, enjoyed the pool and the marina restaurants.
On Monday January 14 we departed Carriacou. After an easy motor sail traversing almost the entire length of Grenada Rob went below and discovered our bilge was overflowing. This is every sailor's worst nightmare, we had to work fast. Rob immediately had me shut down the engine so he could try and determine where water was getting in. Neither of our bilge pumps - one of which had been replaced the day before - were working, and the rubber on the built in hand pump had split, rendering it useless. We had one turkey baster type bailer we used to pump water from the bilge into the sink, but the sink was draining very slowly. So we rigged a bucket on a rope and I bailed while Rob lifted the bucket up to the cockpit and emptied it. After a short time we saw that no more water was coming in, so even though we didn't know what had caused the bilge to fill up, we felt a little safer. We called for help and a boat joined us within an hour to escort us back to the marina. We sailed most of the way but had to be towed into the dock. WHEW.
Next day diagnostics commenced. No leakage from the engine or cooling systems was discovered, but the sink hose was split. We guessed that when we heeled over the split had let seawater in since it is below the water line. We spent a day replacing the bad hose and making sure that all our bilge pumps were working properly. We then enlisted a friend from the dock with a very similar boat to take her out for a sea trial, running the engine hard to see if we could re-create the problem. No recurrence so we felt more confident of our theory.
So on Thursday January 17 we left Grenada once again, checking the bilge every 30 minutes and this time we made it to Carriacou. The bilge remained dry, as it did the next day when we motor sailed on to Bequaia. We are still checking the bilge much more regularly than in the past, but we think we have solved the problem.
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| A bit of a rocky, rolly passage, but the bilge stayed dry! |
Beautiful Bequia
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| Bequia harbor |
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| This guy paddles around the beach balancing three beer bottles on his head |
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| Almost full moon over Bequia
Next morning we left Bequia at 6:15 am headed for St. Lucia. This was a calmer passage with some rough water between the islands, but manageable. We wanted to stop at Marigot Bay but they did not have any mooring balls available so we continued on to Rodney Bay where we have stayed many times before. We are holed up here now waiting for a predicted north swell to pass before continuing our cruise on Saturday or Sunday. Lots of waiting for the right weather window in this sailing life!
This marina has many amenities, including yoga by the pool, several restuarants/shops and easy access by dinghy to a large shopping area. Last night we had a delicious Indian meal at one of our favorite St. Lucian restaurants. There are a lot worse places to hang out for a few days!
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