Today, we left that heavenly place for Shawl Bay Marina(50 50.895N 126 33.582W) just around the corner. It is only 200 yards from where we had been anchored across an isthmus yet it was 9.1 miles by boat!! We were so close but worlds apart in the feel of the two places. There are floating houses all around Shawl Bay. The coast is too rocky for any construction.
I radioed in as we approached the marina but got no response. It looked closed as there were no boats at any of their docks. As we got closer, a young man came out to greet us. He hadn't been listening to the radio. While they are technically open, you would never know it. Just about everything here either is in repair or doesn't work. There is no power to the docks(I used our generator for power). The water has been cited by the province as unsafe for drinking without boiling. There is no hot water for showers let alone doing the laundry and only one of two washers sort of worked. It was having a hard time dissolving the detergent. Tracy changed over to a liquid on the second load. Oh, they were $5.00 per load!! Apparently, their season doesn't really start till July 1 and ends in mid August. Six weeks total is what they plan for. We are just really early.
The ad for the marina reads: "The meeting place". Lorne & Shawn Brown welcome yachters to their famous daily pancake breakfasts. Their small store features fresh baked bread & cinnamon buns. Pure spring water, ice laundry make Shawl Bay a "must visit" marina.
Now that is what the ad reads. Sorry, no pancake breakfasts. The store is closed. No fresh baked bread let alone cinnamon buns and the pure spring water has been deemed unsafe for humans with out boiling and I already told you about the laundry. All I can say is I hope it gets better by July 1st when their season actually opens. Lagoon Cove Marina was way ahead of the curve if this is their competition.
Tracy did get the laundry done. At least sort of. It was done in stone cold water in a machine that didn't really agitate the clothes or dissolve the detergent. I stayed on board and changed the oil as well as the transmission fluid. Both had to be sucked out of their dip stick holes as there is no way to pull the drain plugs. It take a long time to suck out 8 quarts of oil and two more of transmission fluid but it needed to be done. I poured it back into the containers that had held the new oil as there is no place to dispose of it here. We'll store it till we find a place that takes used oil. The current theory is that oil should be changed every 100 hours and the transmission every 200 or once a season. My owners manual says to change the oil every 200 hours. I think I'll err on the side of caution and do it every 100 hours or so. Better safe than having to replace an engine.
The propeller shaft seal started throwing out water again this morning as we were leaving Simoom Sound. We slipped it into neutral and killed the engine. Once the prop stopped, I checked it out(after draining the bilge) and all appeared to be fine. We started up the engine and started off again. No problems but I stayed in the stern cabin for about 30 minutes just incase. There were no more leaks the rest of the way to Shawl Bay Marina. I read and reread the owners manual off the internet and it advised pushing the metal ring that seals the fitting just a bit down the shaft to tighten the seal. I unscrewed the ring and slid it down about 1/8". We'll see if that makes a difference tomorrow. We can't have this problem down the road as we are about to enter some nasty waters over the next few days and that is the last thing we want to be worried about. Mother Nature will keep us busy enough.
We're off again tomorrow early in the morning. I expect by 0600 to try and beat the weather and the winds that are expected. If you don't get a blog for a few days, don't be surprised. We are pretty much off the beaten track. I'm using the marinas wifi($5.00/day). It's got some decent speed to it where as mine won't connect at all.
Look for more of our continuing adventure when wifi returns to a neighborhood near me.
Enjoy your weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment