Snorkeling Cousteau National Park … Fri 23rd March

Snorkeling Cousteau National Park   …   Fri 23rd March

The pigeon Island anchorage was awfully rolly, with Cotinga getting into periods when she acted more like a metronome than a sailboat. Having said that, the snorkeling off the islands was amazing. This area is part of the Cousteau National Park and as such fishing and anchoring in the protected areas is forbidden ad it makes a huge difference. We jumped in the “dumb dog” and motored over to Pigeon island and tied up to one of several dive buoys provided. There’s a fair bit of traffic as snorkeling / diving tour boats operate from the mainland. Right off the mooring visibility and the wealth of coral and fish were excellent. It was interesting to be able to see divers in the deeper water, but for once I didn’t feel being under the water, as opposed to on the surface, offered any great advantage. We probably spent about 45 minutes to an hour swimming around and then called it a day and motored the dinghy back to Cotinga. In the afternoon we sailed up the coast about eight miles to Deshaies and anchored peacefully on the southern shore of the bay.

If you are interested in mechanical things then keep reading, otherwise you may want to skip the next section … !

This afternoon, whilst checking on a few things to do with the engine and drive train, I found a problem that could have been serious. You may recall that we had some issues with our engine blower repeatedly burning out its fuse. (this unit simply vents hot air from the engine housing). I attributed this to a faulty thermostat and replaced it with a manual switch, which seemed to solve the problem. Today it fused again as I was playing around under the “aquadrive*” and I found that the pair of wires were rubbing on the “aquadrive” and were part worn through and shorting out. Of more concern were the hoses that supply raw water to the shaft seal and antifreeze to the heat exchanger in the hot water heater, both of which were substantially worn through. I was able to make some temporary repairs and solve the immediate problem, but these hoses really need to be replaced. It made me think about unintended consequences and the need to really understand the cause of problems when they arise.  This is what I think happened ...

In 2014 we hit a rock in Maine and damaged (amongst other things) the support for the “aquadrive”. This was repaired but unbeknownst to us the shaft was now not aligned correctly, causing excess friction and wear and the ultimate collapse of the shaft seal last summer, resulting in us having to be towed out of the Cape Cod Canal. We replaced the shaft cutlass bearings and the strong-seal and the engineer repositioned the “aquadrive” to ensure proper alignment with the shaft. At this point the bundle of hoses and cables that pass under the engine housing (out of view) probably weren’t secured adequately and over time have slumped onto the “aquadrive” which has acted like an angle grinder as it rotates to wear through them. These hoses and cables are now properly tied up, but the big question in my mind is whether the engine and “aquadrive” are still correctly aligned since we moved the latter … and on inspection I think the answer is no. Obviously it is working and we’ve done hundreds of miles under motor since last summer, but the longevity of the unit is compromised if it’s poorly aligned. The reason I was inspecting the “aquadrive” in the first place is that our drive train sounds louder and more “rattly” than it used to and the aquadrive itself seems to get quite hot (which may just be conduction from the engine). I will try to adjust the engine alignsment, but Gloria suggests we wait until we get to Antigua where there should be more support if we need it.

(* The “aquadrive” is essentialy two inter-connected universal joints that connect the drive shaft from the gear box to the propeller shaft, reducing vibration and noise and compensating for slight mis-alignment)

16^o 18.29 N,  61^o 47.92 W

 Fellow cruisers sailing up the west coast of Guadeloupe

Our friends Ted and Shan (Northstar) anchored off Deshaies, north west Guadeloupe