Thursday, January 20, 2011

Boat maintenance in exotic locations, once again!

Well, after our excursion through the Old Town of San Juan, we returned to the boat and did a lot of needed chores. Ron did an oil change on the mains, put in fresh pencil zincs in the engines and hydraulic tank reservoir, while I did a major cleaning of the cabins and heads, and handled a few loads of laundry before documenting all the engine room work in the maintenance log. We also post the information on bits of tape in the engine room with date completed, engine hours and the next due date in the cycle. We put the next maintenance due date at the helm as well, so we know at a glance how close we are to needing another routine oil change. Granted, not very high-tech, but it helps quite a bit! 

Then, just to make the day interesting, the master shower sump pump died, and when we went to pull out the spare, we found that the unit that we had on board was the wrong pump! Great...clearly we should have double-checked, but we assumed we were given the correct model. Ugh! Oh well....anyone need a 12V DC water pump? We immediately went to work, scouting out the internet for replacements (should we need to ship one in) and then calling the two different chandleries here in San Juan for possible availability. Thankfully, CEA Industrial Supply is a Jabsco dealer, and not only had the correct 24V pump in stock, but said they had 40 of them in stock!! (How amazing is that, to find a 24V general purpose shower pump on island when we can't even find fresh vegetables here??) Seriously, the IGA in Provo was positively gourmet in its vegetable stocks compared to the Pueblo we found near the marina where we went to re-provision a bit. Amazing! Nevertheless...we were more than happy to find the pump, as we can always make do for a bit on the vegetable front! Even more happily, Ron took out the old pump and installed the new one without any issue. 
The correct 24V DC pump for our shower sump
After all our work, we treated ourselves to another bicycle ride to Old Town San Juan in the afternoon for a leisurely ride along its avenidas and calles, stopping for lunch at a little tapas place. It's such a cool part of the city here; as we said, it has a very European atmosphere in the midst of the Caribbean. 
Narrow one-way streets, with elegant buildings
Intricate detail on railings and cornices
Ornate mosaic tiled storefronts
The blue glazed cobblestone of the Old Town Streets
Some of the colorful buildings
Our luncheon spot on the left, where we feasted on ceviche and tostones
After a warm sunny afternoon of bicycling,we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the local cuisine. Mixed ceviche (octopus, shrimp and mahi mahi) with tostones (twice fried green plantains) were delicious! We returned to the boat in time for sunset, and to enjoy a quiet night aboard, watching as the full moon rose in the eastern sky. It's been a great stop here; one we certainly didn't anticipate, so we're valuing the experience all the more. We will be heading out in the morning; hopefully the weather will be as predicted with light winds and relatively calm seas! 

1 comment:

  1. Hi! Just found your blog via the Two Gringos blog of the TCI. Looking forward to following your adventure. Cheers!

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