Ensenada Dakity

[Kevin's Post]We saw Margaret off early Saturday morning and took advantage of the rental car for the rest of the day to go shopping. Home Depot, Super Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. Puerto Rico is great for shopping. Then it was back to the boat for more marina chores. We did 6 loads of laundry before turning in for the night.

Sunday we tried to hit a grocery store for some last minute items before returning the rental car and checking out of the marina, but amazingly none of them open here before 11AM on Sunday. After trying 4 different grocery stores we gave up and returned the car in defeat.

We left the marina early in the afternoon and made a short trip over to the lovely Isla Palominos. We were a little worried it would be packed with power boaters enjoying the last bit of the weekend, but were pleasantly surprised to find that even though there were a lot of them there was still plenty of room for us. We picked up a free mooring at the northern end of the anchorage away from the bulk of the power boaters (sometimes referred to as the Puerto Rican navy). The island is the largest private island in Puerto Rico and is owned by some wealthy family. They have a large house on the north end of the island. The southern half of the island is leased to the El Conquistador resort and they ferry hotel guests over all day to enjoy the beach. We were moored at the north end of the island near the house. As the sun set, we were amazed to see floodlights come on from the island lighting up the whole anchorage and much of the island like a baseball field. I'm not sure if the residents are just trying to discourage overnighters like us (it certainly would, I doubt we'd go back), or if they're just scared of the dark. I guess being isolated on a private island would make you paranoid, it's not like you can just dial 911. But what's the point of owning a private island if you have to light it up like Fenway Park. It was pretty rolly anyway, so that's another reason we probably won't return to Isla Palominos.

Monday morning we moved on to another spot we'd never been, on the southwest corner of Cayo Luis Pena, a place called Lana's cove. It was a beautiful cove with a white sandy beach and some of the best snorkeling we've encountered anywhere. Amanda spotted a big lobster but wouldn't tell me where. We had a wonderful afternoon there, until the tide changed, then it became very uncomfortable. The boat was rolling so hard, it knocked our lamp over onto the floor. It was already dark by the time it started to roll, so we decided to stick it out and leave first thing in the morning.

Tuesday we were underway at pretty much first light and headed 5 miles to Ensenada Dakity where we are now. Entering the anchorage, we were motoring between the reef to port and the mangroves to starboard. As we were motoring in, a charter cat was motoring out. I had turned to port (left) to pick up a mooring, and common sense would dictate that the charter cat would go behind us and continue out the anchorage. Well, he didn't. He kept coming towards us and appeared intent on going between us and the mooring we were trying to pick up. Not knowing his intentions, I tried to just stop the boat and maintain our position until he was out of the way. After he was a safe distance, I tried to head back towards the mooring we were originally trying to pick up when I noticed something strange. The boat wouldn't turn to starboard against the wind. Crap. I tell Amanda, I think we just lost a propeller. Meanwhile, the wind is blowing us towards the mangroves. You can turn with engines alone by putting one in forward and one in reverse, but only with two propellers. Otherwise the boat has to be moving fast enough for the rudders to do their thing. I put both the engines in forward and try to steer us away from the mangroves with the helm. We came within about 20 feet before we were going fast enough to maintain steerage. We limped over to another mooring and picked it up using only the starboard engine. After the boat was secure I jumped in the water expecting to see a saildrive with no prop, and was briefly pleased to see it was still there. My glee was short lived when I came to the realization that something less obvious was still broken with the saildrive. I had Amanda try to run the engine in forward and reverse while I watched with a mask and snorkel from a safe distance. The prop didn't move. Not good. With the engine off but in gear, I could easily spin the prop in both directions, so something is clearly broken in the transmission between the engine and the propeller. We're going to need professional help on this one.

There's a Yahoo forum for Manta owners that is fairly active, so I posted an inquiry there explaining the symptoms and asking for recommendations on boatyards in the Virgin Islands. By the next day I had two emails from two other Mantas that had similar problems in the past. In both their cases it was a vibration dampener that connects the engine crankshaft with the saildrive input shaft. So I ordered that part in the hopes that it is the problem. Unfortunately, it is coming from Sweden (Volvo) and won't be here for 2-3 weeks. So, we are going to try to continue east on one engine and get to competent help in the British Virgin Islands. I spoke with a mechanic there this morning and he thinks it can be repaired in the water if the problem is the part I think it is. We're hoping he's right, because we don't really want to haul again after only being in the water for less than a month.

It's blowing pretty hard right now in Culebra and we need to go straight into it to get to St Thomas and Tortola. So, we're planning to stay right here until the middle of next week when winds are supposed to be lighter.