It’s Sunday and Pandora is in St Maarten, where we have been working feverously to prepare Pandora to begin her run to Spain via Bermuda and the Azores.
There have been a number of weather briefings and get-togethers and the group is getting excited. Last night a few of us got together at a local bar to celebrate the pending departure, now expected to be Monday morning.
Dave, second from the left and George, on the right, are my two crew members, heading to Bermuda.
The marina is new, having been built to replace a facility that was destroyed a few years ago by a hurricane. The new facility is built to a very high standard, designed to survive a category 5 hurricane. It’s built like a bunker, albeit a bunker with a pool on the second floor.
And the docks, substantial concrete. Pandora’s on the left about half way down.
So, there you have it, here we are and we are about ready to go. But I can tell you that it hasn’t been anywhere that simple. Let me explain.
About two weeks ago I met my friend Ken in Trinidad to head the near 500 miles north to St Maarten with the plan of arriving here about 5 days before our planned departure for Bermuda.
Before I left Trinidad I asked to have a mechanic check out Pandora’s engine and to pull the injectors to be sure that all was in order. I had noticed a bit of smoking and wanted to be sure that everything was right before heading out on a big run.
He pulled all four injectors, had them tested and declared that they were in very good shape and running at nearly 90% efficiency. I wanted to be sure that all was well and in case I had to order new ones, that there was time to get them to one of my crew so he could bring them with him on his flight to St Maarten.
Well, the tech that re-installed the injectors really messed up the job and I can not begin to describe the leaking mess that ensued and several days that it took to try and stabilize things. I tried to get the leaks fixed along the way and finally determined that the tech had damaged part of two injectors when re-installing them and now they needed replacing.
It was a mad rush but I was finally was able to order new ones and get them shipped to my crew member Dave who brought them to St Maarten. After that installation, a few days ago, all was still not well as other problems had cropped up. I learned that the original work not only messed up the injectors but other related parts and the mess got much worse and while some of the original leaks were gone, new ones had cropped up.
It has been two weeks of torment and as of yesterday I began to fear that the whole trip might have to be called off when I learned that there might be a problem with the high pressure pump. If that was the case, it would need to be pulled off and sent to the “factory” to be rebuilt, a delay that would have kept me here for at least another two weeks, a delay that would have been fatal to my entire plan as we would be into the hurricane season. Remember hurricane Beryl last June?
I was very anxious, as you can imagine, but after yet another day of work from now two mechanics, the problem was finally solved. Well, I hope…
No leaks now. Whew…
And the engine is just part of it. as it has been a crazy couple of weeks on a number of levels as a few months ago I had a major tooth issue and thought that I needed a root canal. But after two visits to my dentist at home, we determined that a simple replacement of the filling would do the trick. Oops, bad decision. Root Canal needed!
After leaving Trinidad the pain came back with a vengeance and now I HAD TO DO SOMETHING! And so began a mad search for a dentist that could fit me in. I won’t go into all of the gory details but I finally found a clinic on in French St Marten and they agreed to do the procedure on Thursday, two days ago.
I was very pleased with how things went. Well, as pleased as anyone can be with a root canal. No, it wasn’t fun but was clear to me that the facility and the dentist who worked on me were top notch. After the procedure I was feeling a bit shaky and a bit run down and treated my self to a very French chocolate mousse because I was such a “big boy” during the procedure. No lollypop for me. Not in France. And to add an even more surreal moment to the whole affair, when was the last time you went to the dentist BY BOAT?
I have friends that have had dental work done in the Caribbean with good results and when Brenda and I have had medical issues over the years have been happy with the care we received. And it is always way less expensive than in the US.
It is worth noting that my root canal was $500, about a third of what it would have cost in the US and the clinic was huge, with a dozen dentists and the latest equipment. I was impressed. I am always amazed with how much less treatments cost here than in the US and friends that have traveled in Europe have also said that medical treatments there are way less expensive, and very high quality, when compared to the US
So, perhaps I can take solace in the belief that the savings on my root canal partially made up for the “pain” of having so much work done on the injectors. Now, there’s a first rate rationalization.
Back to getting ready for the run to Bermuda.
One of the issues that we face for our run north is a lack of wind. Recent runs from Predict Wind, shows the large band of virtually no wind that awaits us. We had a weather briefing last evening by Chris Parker who suggested that we’d be motoring about half of the 850 miles to Bermuda unless we are willing to wait a week or more before departing, which we aren’t.
The course shows beginning in St Maarten and ending in Bermuda. The blue area is no wind, green, perhaps 15kts and yellow, not much. That’s a lot of motoring.
Yesterday we trussed up the dink on the cabin top and filled the fuel tanks as well as did some provisioning. And don’t forget the hours that the mechanics were on board but there is still lots to do to get Pandora ready to head out so today will be very busy. A few days ago I went shopping with Dave and purchased a load of stuff, canned, frozen and fresh but today will bring another round of provisioning, mostly for fresh food.
So, it’s looking like we will depart on Monday as part of the Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores and I will continue to post along the way. If you want to get a message when I post, which I plan to do regularly, sign up at the top of this page.
You can follow the fleet at this tracking map or follow Pandora alone on my Garmin page.
I guess that’s about it for now. Still lots to do so I’d better get on it.
Let the rally begin…
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