One thing that can be said about Mindelo in Sao Vincente is it is HOT!!
Jilli's wondering how she is going to cope in the Caribbean and wondering if we can maybe go somewhere cold instead? However, no one has suggested going back to England - sorry guys but snow in November is not for us! The other thing that can be said about it is that everyone is extremely friendly and helpful (and most of the men that work at the marina are very good looking to add to the good atmosphere!)
We arrived on Sunday to Matt and Elise of Let it Be standing ready to catch our ropes. Within half an hour we had the whole crew of Let it Be on board for a cup of tea, and it was lovely to see our friends again! Soon after they left, Kai Brossman, the owner of the marina, turned up. He build the whole marina and trained up local people to staff it, including boat engineers and electricians etc etc. He looked at our problems and promised to have an electrician around first thing Monday morning. Extremely helpful!
We began filling the boat up with fuel again in the meantime. That evening Let it Be came round for dinner - mum cooked coq au vin, and Elise brought a rice dish and a cabbage dish. A very good meal and a great evening, despite the fact that we were all feeling exhausted! Seeing friends made us feel less downhearted about having to stop over in the Cape Verdes.
Yesterday we had an electrician on the boat all day looking at the generator. He spent the morning testing everything and finally concluded the generator was completely kaput. The next step was to take it out of the boat and see if it could be fixed. It turned out taking it out was a much easier
job than expected - it was literally in bits!!! No wonder our engine had been sounding funny, as bits of metal had been churning round in it from the generator. Although it was switched off at the time of the smoke a few days ago, we think now that was caused by part of the generator exploding - however, it was so disintegrated that the electrician thought this had to have happened over several occasions. Thank god we got it sorted, as all those bits in the engine could have eventually caused serious problems! This does mean, however, that we have to cross the Atlantic without a generator.... Our engine manages to charge up most of the batteries so we will still be able to run gps, radar, nav lights etc. However, no more washing machine or watermaker ... we brought with us enough water to drink and have filled up our tanks again so it just means showers will have to be in a bucket, and clothes washed by hand. Slightly annoying, as the whole reason we bought the watermaker and even the generator was to cross the Atlantic!
Our friends Susan and Andrew in Andromeda also turned up yesterday, and have helped us immensely by giving us a laptop charger that works off a 12V socket (we have one of these, that runs from the engine battery). So don't worry, we can still use the laptop and therefore email! We're also about to buy an inverter which changes the 12V socket into a three-pin socket so we can charge cameras etc. So not having a generator is slightly annoying, but not that bad. The most important thing is the engine is now safe!
We also had a major scare on Sunday night. I've mentioned that we thought we had a leak as we had a little bit of water in the boat. About half an hour before Let it Be were due for dinner, we looked in the engine compartment to see it was literally brimming with water. As fast as Jilli and I bailed, it
kept coming in. Mum was tracing the leak and we soon got a call from her 'is it salt water?!' It turned out not to be, and we had solved the problem. Our outside hose tap had been leaking, and turning itself on by bumping against things in its locker. This then leaked into the bilges and into the engine
compartment. So we basically had just drained our entire freshwater tank into the bilges, just to be bailed out! Slightly annoying as we're in a marina where you have to pay for water! However, discovering this , we think it has been leaking slowly and sporadically for a while! So no leak, and all
is good.
We would highly recommend Kai and his crew for all their help, and the lovely atmosphere here.
There are lots and lots of Arc boats, and most of the conversation on the pontoon seems to be about how this year is entirely different from any year before in terms of weather, the very late development of the trades, and the holes that are meant to be coming through. Seems like this will be a slow crossing!
We leave today - not much wind but we have a full fuel tank so will be motoring on in true Triple D style!!!