Day 375 It just won't start!

We lowered Puff back into the water and added Dragon since we were headed over to Nanaimo for a few more things before we set off tomorrow.

It was all fine until Dragon wouldn't start.  I pulled and pulled and pulled some more.  Nothing!! A sputter here and a sputter there but it just wouldn't catch and run.  So out with the oars and over to take the foot ferry to Nanaimo.  We had things to get.

First stop--get a new spark plug for Dragon in case it was bad.  Next--the used book store.  We'd stopped in some earlier this week.  All seemed a bit expensive--$5 to $6 per book.  We paid $3 at the last shop we were in.  With no TV, we have been reading a bunch.  We found a charity book store today that sold used books for a lot less.  Amazingly, it is right next door to another used book store.  There--hard back books--$3.00 and $3.50 to 4.50 for virtually all the rest of their paperbacks.  They have problems getting rid of hardback books apparently.  We picked up a good 20 books.

Off to another used bookstore that sold used charts.  Since we had virtually none for North of Vancouver Island, we felt we needed to pick up some for safety sake.  I've got four different computer navigation programs on board but if the computer crashes--I have a back up computer(not stupid--prepared) with all the programs backed up.  If it fails, I have a Garmin chart plotter in the cockpit with all the charts  we need to at least the North end of Vancouver Island and will be getting the unlock codes for more early next week.  Unfortunately, we only found one decent chart.  So off to the chart store.  Now here is the sad part.  For what we spent on charts today, we could have taken a 7 day cruise ship (inside cabin) tour for about the same price for both of us.  If we had bought all the charts that we might have needed, we could have had an even better cabin on the boat.  If you add in supplies(food, etc) and diesel that we will use to get North, we could have had a LARGE stateroom with a balcony on the boat.   But that is not what we are here for.  It's for the adventure.  Sure we had discussed taking a cruise to make it faster and cheaper but where is the fun in that.  This is for the two of us.  Besides, if we took the cruise, it would put us way ahead of schedule for heading South.  We can't get to  Mexico before early November and while there are some nice places along the Pacific coast, there aren't that many.

We needed some onions for future meals.   We have found that they are a very important part of many of our meals and we didn't have enough to make it through the upcoming trip.

Back to the ferry and back to Puff and our bad Dragon.  Pull and pull and pull.  Still no good.  She refused to start.  Out with the oars and back to Zephyr.  Off with the motor cover and out with the spark plug--oops--she needs TWO and I only bought ONE!!  Rats!!.  So out came the rags and I cleaned one as best I could.  There was the look of either gas or oil on the plugs.  Once dried, back in they went.  Pull-pull--pull---Nope, still won't start.  Frustration was pouring out of the pores of my skin in bucket loads.  I don't handle things like this well.  Never have.  I finally gave up and got back on Zephyr.  Hey, what the heck, is there a service store in Nanaimo?  Out comes the computer and google looking for a Mercury dealer--yep, right in downtown Nanaimo.  We'd almost walked past it today--over one block.  But that is what cell phones are for.  I called and a nice guy answered.  I went through all that I had done.  He finally said to turn the throttle all the way wide open and pull the cord with the choke closed.  Back outside and down into Puff.  One pull and varoom, she started right up.  I called them back--their explanation--she was flooded!  It operates just like a flooded car.  Push down on the accelerator pedal and turn the key.  It will normally start and that is exactly what happened.  

Once I calmed down, we took of for Newcastle Marine Park, right behind Zephyr.  With the Sun out, it was a great time for a walk.  Time to relax.   We headed back to Zephyr for dinner.

While I had been working on Dragon, I saw another dingy heading into the cove and motioned for them to come over.  Maybe they knew about starting outboards.  Turns out they were from Illinois and had been up North where we are headed over the next few days so we had a really nice chat.  Steve and Sue off S/V Seaquel II, if you're reading this, it was great talking to the two of you.  Thanks for the information on where to go.  They couldn't help with the motor but it was fun talking cruising with them.

A nice dinner of left overs and wine and watch the Sunset.  A nice end to a partially frustrating yet fulfilling day.  We are now ready to head out tomorrow.  Currently, we expect to be in Boho Bay at Lasqueti Island.  A day or two and then over to the mainland and up to Princess Louisa Marine Park.  It is supposed to be one of the "not to be missed" places all along the coast.  We're chomping at the bit to be out again and tomorrow is the day.  Stay tuned--there is more to come. 

Oh, as to the pictures, they are all from our walk on Newcastle Island.  The one with the boat in it(Zephyr of course) is Mark Bay.  The one of the log with all the holes in it--that log is probably 50 feet long and it is all covered with holes--big holes and little holes.  I have no idea what caused them but if someone out there does, let us know in the comments section of the post.