Fixing things in exotic locations

Paradise Fishing Lodge, El Salvador

Lack of progress report for October, 2013

Considering we have been here for over two weeks now, we have accomplished surprisingly little.  One of the first items on my to-do list when we arrived was to get the dinghy launched and the outboard motor serviced.  Until we have this done, we are really stuck here at the marina - there is very little of interest within walking distance (at least in this heat and humidity), and we cannot go far by boat without a reliable motor because of the tidal currents that flow up and down the estuary.

After procrastinating for the first week, I finally got the dinghy in the water and got the motor out of storage (they have a small, secure building where they kindly keep the small engines).  When we left last June, the motor had been running a bit rough, obviously in need of a thorough cleaning - that has always been the answer when I have had any problems with it in the past.  So, with that in mind, I set up the motor in the cockpit and proceeded to clean the carburetor - I'm actually getting pretty good at this now.  It was very disappointing when we put the motor on the dinghy and attempted to start it, only to find that I have again worked my magic and turned a badly running motor into a completely non-functional one.  Not even a hint of trying to start this time.

Two days later, and two more attempts at taking everything apart and putting it back together again, I decided the problem must be "bad" gas.  So, I borrowed some fresh stuff from another cruiser and re-cleaned everything and was able to get a few unenthusiastic sputters and backfires out of it before giving up for the day.  Note: also replaced the fuel filter and checked for spark, etc. etc.  No luck!

I finally enlisted the aid of one of the mechanics here at the marina.  Together we spend many hours doing everything I had already done, all over again.  We did get it to run once, but it was not happy.
The old fuel hose was definitely bad (very stiff, and the squeeze-bulb no longer worked), so we rigged up a replacement on the slim change that this was an issue - still no luck.  Our best guess at this point was a faulty fuel pump - not good news as I do not have any spares for that.

An ACE outboard specialist was due to arrive on Wednesday to work on some monstrously large outboards on one of the power boats in the marina, so I was able to book his time to look at my problem.  When he got to my little engine, he dicked around for about 10 minutes, managed to get it started, listened to it for a few minutes and announced that the spark plug was bad.  (No, I did not have spare).  He left and returned later in the day with a working plug, albeit not the right one for the engine, and got it to work fine.  Woohoo!

The next day, Susanne and I took a trip into San Salvador, courtesy of Jose, our favorite taxi driver.  We went to three different supply places and were finally able to find the correct spark plug (Yes, I bought two), all the pieces I needed to create a nice new fuel hose for my gas tank, and a few spare fuel filters.  While in town, we did some provisioning at the grocery store, and visited the Claro store to buy some more time on our phone and internet dongle.  The phone was not a problem, but the internet stick was no longer active and we were forced to get a new simm chip and phone number for it - a process that took over an hour and required more paperwork than buying a house.  In the end, it turns out the chip is free.  I had to buy enough time (2 days worth) to finish off the month of October, at a cost of $3.00.  Supposedly I have also purchased data time for the month of November for $28.00, but that does not seem to have shown up anywhere as yet, so we may or may not have any internet after today.

Tomorrow, we are scheduled to move the boat out of the marina and down to a mooring field closer to Bahia del Sol, where most of the other cruisers are hanging out right now.  It should be a lot less lonely up there.  We took the dinghy up there yesterday to check out the mooring and had lunch at the resort - the motor behaved itself admirably.

As for the weather here, it has become a little less predictable.  We have had the occasional nights with no rain at all, leading us to believe that rainy season may be coming to a close.  Then yesterday night, we had an extremely scary storm - lots of lightning all around us, some big gusts of wind, and an incredible amount of rain.  The pictures here were taken just before it got to us - it would be pitch dark out except for the lightning, which often makes it look like daylight.  Today we had blue skies, and not a drop of rain.

Regardless, it is still hot and humid all of the time.

Right now, we have no plans to leave the estuary for a while.  With all of the almost nightly storms, we are not eager to be out on the ocean if we don't have to be.  Checking our cruising guides, it appears that rainy season is not officially over until December in Costa Rica.  Possibly a little earlier here?  Who knows!  Meanwhile, life is still good.

El Salvador revisited

Paradise Fishing Lodge, El Salvador

Baby, it's hot out there!

Three days ago we gave up our beloved transportation (the van so kindly lent to us for the summer) and our comfortable lodgings at Sue's mom's house in Edmonton, flying to El Salvador via Houston, Texas.  It was early morning when we took off, with a temperature just a few degrees above zero.  When we landed in El Salvador, around 7:30PM, it was pitch dark and about 27 degrees outside, and very humid.  We were met at the airport by George, one of the marina staff, who whisked us to the marina in his little, air-conditioned, pickup truck.  We were back on board Sine Timore by 9PM.  We have traded fall for summer.

All of the flights were on time and we were even treated to a complimentary dinner on the flight from Houston to San Salvador (yes, that does still happen in some parts of the world).  Customs and Immigration at the San Salvador airport were quick and polite and we are now in possession of  brand new 90-day visas.  In fact, the only mishap on the entire trip was when we were carrying our bags to the boat through the marina yard - Susanne failed to notice a step up in the dark and fell on the cement floor, dropping her glasses and then promptly picking herself up and stepping on them - ouch!  Fortunately, the lenses were not broken (one just popped out) and I was able to unbend the frames and all is well again.

The boat appears to have weathered our absence quite well - just a small amount of mildew in the forward cabin - otherwise dry and dusty.  From what the marina staff has said, it has rained a lot since we left.  As you can see from the pictures, there appears to be lots of room in the marina right now.  At least one boat that was here when we left last June has left.  The other sailboats are still here but I think a couple of the power boats are missing.

One thing that did not happen was the bottom cleaning that was supposed to have taken place every 3 weeks while we were away - it looked pretty grungy so we immediately hired the guys to do it now.  When I asked them about the status of our sacrificial zincs, they said "What zincs?"  Yesterday we had them dive again and put on all new zincs - better late than never.  There is one other boat here whose owner came back the day after us - he had scheduled a lot of other work to be done as well as cleaning the bottom - none of it was done, and he had paid in advance.  Needless to say, Isabel, the manager, is no longer employed by the marina, and they are scrambling a bit to find out what work was owed, etc.  Welcome to Central America.

Another casualty.  Yesterday, while walking down the dock, I managed to slam my toe into a cleat.  Now I have one of those unsightly swollen toes again.  Note: This is not a new experience for me - with my large feet, I am forever stubbing a toe on something or other - this time it is just a different one than usual - the next to smallest toe on the right foot.  And before you ask, Yes, I was wearing sandals at the time!

Since we did not have much food on the boat, we have taken advantage of the fact that the restaurant near the entrance to the marina is actually open in the mornings for breakfast.  For a flat 4-dollar fee, you get a choice of some simple but good fare.  I think we are virtually their only customers - this morning our waiter took our order, then quickly got on his bike to ride to some nearby tiendas (stores) to get the ingredients.  As a result, service was not quick, but we are not exactly in a hurry either.

Later, we got George to give us a ride into the town of Zacate so we could visit the supermarket.  We did a minor re-provisioning so we can eat again.  We will have to make a trip into the city of San Salvador sometime to get the things that we just cannot find locally.

Meanwhile, we are trying to work on a list of boat chores that need doing, but are having a hard time getting motivated.  It is really hot and humid.  Every day, the sun comes out in the morning and heats things up to around 32 or 33 degrees, with almost no wind at all.  In the afternoon it usually clouds up a bit but does not really cool off at all - just seems to get more humid.  Every night, around midnight, the thundershowers start - really impressive lightning and thunder, followed by torrential rains, followed by more lighting and thunder - usually over in under two hours.  The worst part is having to close all the hatches during the rain.  After the storm has moved through, the temperature drops to the very pleasant low 20s and it is really nice for sleeping, so we tend to sleep in.  If we want to get anything done, it is best to do it in the early morning before it gets too hot, but that is when it is so easy to just sleep.

 

In spite of the heat, we do believe it is somewhat cooler that it was when we left 4 months ago.  Since the thunderstorms are still pretty active, we may have returned a bit earlier than we had to.  Oh well, there are a lot worse places to be.  Life is good!


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Baby, it's cold outside

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

 

It is becoming increasingly obvious that winter is coming. It is almost mid-October now and here in Edmonton this means we are rarely seeing temperatures in the double digits any more. Sometimes there is a bit of frost In the mornings as well. What does this mean you may well ask. For us, it means we have overstayed our welcome and it is time to be on our way back south. 

Rainy Ucluelet

In the last month, we have had the good fortune to do some travelling to BC where the season is not quite as far advanced as it is here in Alberta. We were able to visit with friends and family and really enjoyed our mini vacation.

We visited Nanaimo, Ucluelet and Victoria on Vancouver island, and various places in the sunny Okanagan valley. Having the use of a vehicle for our time here in Canada has been nothing short of wonderful. A big thanks goes out to our friends Bruce and Gayle for their incredible generosity - hopefully we can make it up to them somehow in the future.

Our current plan is to fly back to El Salvador on the 15th of October. We can hardly wait to see how Sine Timore has weathered the last 4 months without us. With any luck, the worst of the rainy season should be over and we can look forward to lovely, hot, humid weather for the foreseeable future. Just exactly what we are going to do when we get back on board is not really clear as yet. Most likely we will spend some more quality time in El Salvador before we consider leaving the estuary for points further south. We will take it one day at a time for now.

Victoria never disappoints 

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