Trouble...

 

Sunset at sea

Our good friend, John, arrived in Lanzarote on the 16th of November.  On Friday the 17th, we rented a car and all of us went to check out of the country.  Fortunately for us, they give you some time to leave the country after you officially "check out".  So on Saturday I cooked us all a big Thanksgiving dinner and on Sunday we departed.  It took us a bit longer than John, as we needed to fuel up and the marina had several boats tied up in front of the fuel pumps.  We had to wait for folks to move their boats before we could pull up to the pumps.  

Sunrise at sea

Fueled up, we left intending for our next stop to be Martinique.  But that was not to be.  We were motor/sailing as the wind was light when the engine suddenly died.  Michael thought the fuel filter was dirty, so we changed both the primary filter and the pre-filter.  Once the filters were changed we started the engine back up but after about 15 minutes the engine died again.  He changed the filters a second time and we decided to divert to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to have a Yanmar mechanic take a look at the engine.  Las Palmas has all the resources a boater would need, however accessing those resources is trying.  The marina is packed with no room for boats that need assistance.  The marineros were unbelievably rude.  If it weren't for the Yanmar fellow that I had been communicating with I don't know that we would have received any assistance at all.  Fortunately, he called the marina to let them know a mechanic was coming to assist us so reluctantly they let us tie up at the reception area.

The pre-filter with pump

The mechanic came over within an hour and diagnosed the issue.  On the pre-filter there is a little pump with a membrane.  If the pump malfunctions fuel is unable to get into the pre-filter and the engine is starved of fuel.  Sadly, they thought it would be a couple days before they could obtain the part.  As we were contemplating what to do regarding this setback the Yanmar guy called and said he found the part in his shop!!  What a stroke of luck.  The next morning the mechanic came and replaced the part.  We were on our way before the dust settled.  

Mindelo, Cape Verde

Again our intention was for the next stop to be Martinique, but yet again that was not to be the case.  After departing Las Palmas we got our sails set and went to shut off the engine.  And then we heard the navigational warning over our VHF:  "Extreme navigational hazard" near our position.  There were several migrant boats between the coast of Africa and the Canary Islands and they were all adrift.  Meaning no-one was in command of the vessel.  Those vessels do not have navigation lights making them impossible to see at night.  We had no choice but to run the engine and try to put as much distance as possible between us and the migrant boats.

Cape Verde

Concerns about our fuel consumption and the sudden failure of our solar controller forced us to make another stop that we had not intended to make.  Seven days after leaving Las Palmas we arrived in Cape Verde.  Our goal was to get fuel and replace our solar controller.  We had another bit of good luck in that there was space at the marina for us.  We were uncomfortable with anchoring as we would have felt unsafe leaving the boat unattended.  Safely tied up at the marina, we set out to obtain a new solar controller.  Unfortunately, the solar controller did not get replaced as quickly as the engine was repaired but we did get it done.  Two days were spent in Cape Verde and then we were once again on our way.  This time the next stop is definitely Martinique!  There is nothing but miles and miles of ocean between Cape Verde and the Caribbean, 2066 nautical miles to be exact.