Outboards and mangroves

Published by Robin Bobo,

I'm back in Grenada, and now the real tests start. The last month has mostly been on Bev's luxurious catamaran, serving as peon. The only real questions I've had to sort out have been: can I handle salt water as part of my shower routine, and can I avoid sea sickness? The answer to both of those questions is Yes.

Now, after 5 days of shuffling it out in the airports at Bonaire, Curacao and Trinidad, I'm back on my boat. And it's quickly becoming clear to me that perhaps the cruising life will not involve delightfully ping ponging between beautiful islands; rather, engine grease, commuting to repair shops, and schlepping water and things.

Namely, here are some of the initial challenges I'm facing:

  • The outboard engine on the dinghy sat for a good year without being started, and it seems some water got inside. It remains to be seen whether I can get it working again. I wish I could trade it in for a good row/sail dinghy, but those are not easy to find. Most people build their own.
  • The boat engine needs some coaxing to stay on. I think this will be more easily solved with some routine maintenance. The caretakers have turned it on every few weeks, but it otherwise has not had any maintenance. Soon I'll bleed the fuel line for air....
  • I'm tied to the mangroves, which means there are biting gnats, especially from dusk to dawn. The caretakers were able to move the boat here, so it'll be very doable to move out.
  • I need to fill up with water.
  • Need to get some basic groceries and things like trash bags.

Of these, not having a working outboard is the biggest problem.


Right now it feels like it'll be weeks before I do anything so exciting as going sailing. And let's not even mention normal life kind of things like structured exercise, going out, etc. In any event, i hope by the end of this month to have things sorted, and I feel like that's a reasonable timeline.