Log March 2010 Charter Fun 

A medical brigade was here from our home town of Peterborough Ontario. They contacted us through David Cain and we have arranged to do a boondoggle for them with a day aboard Spirit of Free Radical . We arranged for a party out to Port Royal for their final day here of R&R. I spent a day preparing snacks and chili for chili dogs.

On Saturday, 22 people – doctors, nurses, pharmacists, students and translators - were picked up in Oakridge by Cebert and I. We brought them through he mangrove tunnels to Calabash Bight, and loaded them on to the cat.

Motoring over to Port Royal, was a short ride and when we put down the anchor at the Cow and Calf, everyone immediately jumped into the water.  Lots of fun was had by all and much appreciation.

 I finally wised up, and after talking to Cebert, am getting his son Scotty - 12 yrs old to come in on Saturday mornings to clean the deck of the cat. It was nice. With 1200 sq ft of deck space  paying $5 is worth it.

A couple who were renting a beach house nearby contacted us to go on a day charter. It was a perfect day, with Sylvie & Sylvain from Hull, PQ, and Ken, our lawyer’s husband with 4 more besides himself. It was calm and clear and perfect for snorkeling around the cow calf.  

There is a lot of interest being generated on this end of the island from the cruise ships and some developments going on in Oakridge.  

We organized a trip to Guanaja for a couple of days. Our friends Al & Jeannette who have lived on Roatan for 20 years, have never been there. Pam & Graham, our friends went too.

 We motored to Guanaja, as it was very calm and so it was a nice trip. Except that the starboard engine overheated and blew up its head gasket and exhaust gasket, maybe cracked the head. A real bummer. But we were almost to Guanaja by this time, and we had the other engine (although we barely trust that one either). We had two nice nights at Guanaja. Al bought us all dinner at Graham’s place, a beautiful little beach resort on its own tiny private island.

Trying to keep a smile on our faces, we sailed back to Roatan from Guanaja, and dropped off our guests in Port Royal. Now we had to think seriously about repairs and possibly replacing both engines.

Frank Lee came over and took off the head. Luckily not cracked but will need gaskets. So Ed ordered them flown in and they came in within a week. Also, the heat exchanger in the same engine was in for repairs in the Barrio.

When we picked it up, we found that they had fixed up the tube bundles, and welded the radiator cap right over! They told us Luven had told them to ‘cap’ it. Luven meant put a radiator cap flange and radiator cap on it. No problem, they redid it.

Frank Lee was continuing work on rebuilding the starboard engine. He got it all put back together but couldn’t get it started due to a dead battery. So Ed went to the resort to get the battery charger but Cebert had taken it home, thinking we didn’t need it. Ed had to send him home to get the damn thing, then we put the battery on charge for the night.

The next day, Frank and worked on the engine most of the day but could not get it started. Something about the return line needing welding, so he took it away to get it fixed. Frank never came back. Ed chased down Luven and got him over here to work on the stb engine. Everyone finally decided that this engine was dead and they could not fix it any more.

It was a hard decision, but we finally we decided to cancel our charters – the boat is just too much wrong with it and is creating too much stress. All this time, we have been advertising via posters, flyers and a booking agent – we have been getting a lot of inquiries, and bookings too.

We were depressed and felt defeated. We forced ourselves to make it over to BJ’s to hear Alex playing his guitar. There was a big crowd – the gang was all there. We felt better