We were originally hoping to set sail around the 5th of June – my first vaccination came on 7th so our plans changed – I had my jab in the morning (Pfizer) and we came down to Gemini J in the afternoon. There is a bit of a back story here that we had engine problems that the marina engineer had been working on. We were hoping that the engine would be fixed that day and that we could sail the following morning. Unfortunately that was not to be – instead of a fix we got a diagnostic that there was no pressure on one or more of the engine cylinders…….probably a problem with a valve, which meant the engine needed to be taken apart. Now, obviously it’s all much more technical than that but for most of you I guess that explanation will be OK – besides which, I wouldn’t want to make any technical terminology errors here !! Anyway – the long story continues because after nearly 3 weeks waiting for that diagnostic – we were told it would take at least another 2 weeks to fix !!!!! What a nightmare – we had to complain to the office and we asked for a different engineer. We also ordered the parts we needed ourselves to make sure there was no further delay. Because the Wednesday was a bank holiday here the next engineer couldn’t come til Friday but we were just happy to get things moving by that point. So began our holiday in Cartagena……
We were determined to keep the holiday feeling and have no plans to go home since our house and cats are being well looked after. We did decide to do some boat jobs while waiting for the engineer on Friday so Skipper Nigel worked to renovate the teak decks.
Whilst N was working hard I was off enjoying the sights and cake in Cartagena with friends …..
I had of course done my own fair share of work repairing our Bimini cover which gives us shade when we are on the helm.
Thursday came and we went out for a coffee before collecting the engine parts we had ordered, along with a quick visit to confirm the engineer’s appointment on Friday. When we got back to the boat we found the water pump that gets the water to the taps from the tank wasn’t working…..cue a very awkward job for skipper in removing the old one. Luckily we had a spare new one ready to be fitted.
Friday morning just before 9 Ignacio the engineer finally arrived – right on time and with Rosa to translate too. We were very pleased, he did an assessment and confirmed the need to check the valves next which involves taking the engine apart. He went off for tools and reappeared 20 minutes later – another hour after that and he was passing the head of the engine off into the pontoon ready to take for cleaning. All of a sudden we were back in a waiting game – but at least this time there was very rapid progress – let’s hope that continues next week.
That afternoon Nigel finished his beautiful deck whilst I was out for another walk – this time up to the top of the hill where the peacocks live and the views are amazing.
Today is Saturday and this morning N installed the new water pump – a job that was completed much quicker than expected so we went out for a coffee too. We are now spending a relaxing weekend before hopefully getting an engine fix next week…..the best weather window for departure at the moment is Wednesday but watch this space – everything changes very quickly round here 😉
The Adventures of Gemini J 