After leaving Almerimar, we planned to visit Cartagena for a couple of days because we heard the city was beautiful and the marina wasn't expensive. Unfortunately, we have had to use the engine the whole way, and I am beginning to understand why people call this the "Motorterranean". Either there is too much wind or not enough.
Our first stop was to anchor off San Jose once we rounded Cabo de Gata. This is a small town tucked among some large rocks that comprise the headland where one turns the corner to head north along the east coast of Spain. Capes such as this one are often a challenge due to the fluky winds and currents in such places. It wasn't too bad for us as we powered into a stiff breeze.
The next day there was little wind, so we had to motor again. We stopped in Aguilas and anchored in the harbor. It looked like a nice town from the boat. The anchorage was fine but would be open to the southwest.
When starting the engine, I had noticed that the starter was acting up. I would press the button to start, and I would hear a click and nothing else would happen. After a couple of tries, the starter would engage and the engine would start. I am not much of a mechanic, although I am trying to rectify that shortcoming, so when something starts to misbehave my anxiety level starts to rise.
We weighed anchor and left for Cartagena with, again, no wind to sail. The trip along the coast takes you past a town called Manzarron, which is snugly situated on the west side of a headland which separates it from Cartagena on the other side. The headland consists of spectacular sheer rock walls several hundred feet tall. A few miles past Manzarron, we encountered some headwind and waves and I increased the throttle to counter them...and nothing happened.
Not being a mechanic (I sense a theme developing here), I was uncomfortable rounding that particular lee shore with a misbehaving engine in deteriorating conditions. We turned around and headed for the fisherman's wharf in Manzarron to check out the problem. We at last got to sail.....for about two miles.
Once on the wharf, I found the port captain and obtained his permission to remain there to check my engine. He was delightful, and the Spanish that I have been learning came in very handy. I suspected that the problem might have to do with the fuel filters since I have never changed them in 1000 hours of engine operation. I have redundant 30 micron Racor 500FG filters as primaries and a 2 micron 500FG secondary. They have plastic bowls that allow you to see the fuel and any contamination, like water or dirt, that the filters are extracting. The fuel has always looked clean, so I never changed the filters, but I do carry spares. The engine revved up to the maximum 4000 rpms. in neutral after the change, so things looked good for the 15 mile trip to Cartagena the next day.
The fishing fleet of Manzarron started to arrive at 4:30 and the half dozen boats unloaded the day's catch to sell at the auction house, or lonja, adjacent to the wharf. It was fascinating to watch the work and the different species of fish and seafood that was caught. Maggie and Naomi had a good look around and were enthralled.
At sunrise the next day, we cast off from the wharf in calm conditions and headed for Cartagena. This time when I tested the throttle to see if we could achieve maximum rpms, nothing happened. Not being a mechanic, I was puzzled, but we carried on in the calm around the headland and onto Cartagena, where we secured a berth in the Yacht Port Cartagena marina. I contacted the mechanic and he was onboard to check into my engine problems - the starter and lack of power - within a few hours.
The mechanic, Tomas, spoke no english, but I was just able to explain the problems. He suspected that the fuel pump might need to be rebuilt or that the fuel injectors would need to be serviced and would confirm it the next day during the sea trial in the harbour. The next morning when he and his partner, Juan Carlos, appeared promptly at 9 a.m., he informed me that, after he had slept on it, he did not think the problem had anything to do with the fuel system since there were too few hours on the engine, the filters had been changed, and the fuel was clean. We went out for a turn around the harbor, and he was convinced that it wasn't the fuel system. He now suspected that it was either something fouling the propeller or something to do with the transmission. I broke out into a could sweat when he started to ask if the transmission was still under warranty. I could see the sailing season slipping by as we waited for a new transmission and spent thousands of dollars in the process. I wanted to get a second opinion from Pathfinder Marine, who originally sold me the engine, before anything else was done, and I needed to dive under the boat to check the propeller.
The next day, I dove under the boat and found the propeller just as I had seen it a month before when we hauled the boat out in Almerimar to grease it and give the bottom a scrape. It is a feathering propeller that allows one to adjust the pitch of the blades separately in forward or reverse. When I saw that there was no rope or plastic wrapped around the blades or shaft, I was dejected because that left only the transmission as the source of the problem.
In the meantime, Pathfinder came back and informed me that the problem was likely with the propeller, as did Tomas when he arrived. He had slept on it and felt pretty sure that it wasn't the transmission. It turns out that it was the propeller. Last year while motoring down the ICW running at our cruising rpms. of 2300 and making 5.5 knots, everybody would be passing us all the time. So I figured that I would adjust the pitch on the prop the next time we hauled out so that we would make 6.5 knots at 2300 rpms. After I did that in the Bahamas, I never checked the top end to see if we could reach it and never had the occasion to because we usually only motor when there is no wind and therefore no reason to push the engine. I had misunderstood some information in our engine manual: our normal cruising rpm range is 2400 to 3200. This part of the story had a happy ending when I put my scuba gear on and adjusted the pitch back, so now it works properly again. Yay! The mechanics also got our starter fixed with same-day service. Yay, again!
After a full week in Cartagena while my blunder got sorted out, we were ready to leave with a forecast that would let us do some sailing. The next morning we left under power to go around the cape. At one point we shut off the engine and sailed for about a mile when the wind died, and I went down below to start the engine, but the starter didn't work! Or I should say, I could hear the starter whirring, but it had not engaged the flywheel of the engine and, therefore, not started it. I tried it again, and this time it got the motor started. And I wasn't going to turn it off again until we reached port - somewhere.
We decided to go to Torreviejas, which is 42 nm. up the coast from Cartagena. It's a very nice resort town crammed with European tourists. The mechanic here, Oscar Sikkens, is going to get us a new starter, hopefully tomorrow, and we will be on our way again. We spent the layover day today on the beach. The girls insisted on checking out all the topless sunbathers, so I went along with it.
Our trip to Ibizi has taken on mythical properties as it has almost become a quest - thanks to my incompetence, contrary winds, and random mechanical events.
Branko
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