En Route from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas 12/2/08
You know how sometimes something you’ve just had in your hand all of a sudden disappears? You know it was right there a moment ago. And now it isn’t.
A few days ago, back in Bahia Asuncion, Michael was putting all the parts and pieces together for the watermaker. Ours has two large filter units that together can generate approximately 45 gallons per hour of fresh water. Each filter housing requires two large O rings and two small ones to seal the end plugs. Michael had assembled the first unit and was about to begin the second when he realized that one of the large O rings had vanished. He held one large and two small in his hand and spoke in a voice heavily laced with frustration. “Don’t throw out that trash,” he said as I began separating the paper from the plastic in his overflowing bin.
His first scouring took care of the floor. Then he searched the bilges, the floor again, the desk, the table, his pockets, toolbag, the trash. Nothing.
So, he tested the unit using the one filter and decided he’d have to try to purchase a new O ring in Cabo. No problem, but very, very frustrating. Every spare moment after that was spent sifting through every bag, every crate and box, re-examining the desk, the drawers, the bilge—every place and every thing that had been in the pilot house during the installation. His bilge inspection was thorough and repeated several times using a flashlight to peek into every nook, no matter how far from the watermaker scene. He crawled under the nav station, cleared surfaces, used a headlamp and flashlight.
Nothing.
Okay. You do your best, then you leave it alone. We’d prayed, but figured either God had better things to do than hunt up O rings that were replaceable or we were just too deaf to hear His direction Fine. We’d be in Cabo by the 3rd. A search of parts stores was on the agenda. Considering that we’re water hogs and it takes fuel to run the generator to run the watermaker, he wants as much efficiency as possible from the unit.
We rose early this morning. After breakfast, I checked the Software on Board (linked to the AIS) navigation program on this computer to see what sort of shipping was out there. We got our MaxSea nav program (which is linked to our outside chartplotter/radar) set to go. Michael checked the engine oil, and we donned our outdoor gear.
I was backing into the aft cabin when I heard Michael say, this time surprise registering: “Where did that come from?” He was pointing at the nav station. On the desk top right in front of the computer at which I’d just been working, where we’ve been every day, several times a day doing radio work or navigation checks, where the deck had been cleared several times because of that nagging sense that a big two-inch diameter O ring couldn’t just vanish into thin air. We’d moved the computer—each of us at different times, lifting it, lifting the drawer under it. Picking up every single thing on the surface. But now, in the spot where my hands had been only minutes earlier sat a large O ring. All by itself, out in plain sight, where we couldn’t miss it.
I love the things of God. Even you skeptics have to admit that something unusual happened—unless you think we’re lying.
Michael just verified that he now has two large and two small O rings available. And if that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.
I think of the other times God has raised the axe head for me. Just as he did for Elisha, when the axe head flew off and into the water and God floated it to the surface, the Lord has floated lost things to the surface where I could find them. Or He has whispered to me, telling me where to look when I was about to despair. It seems this time we didn’t get silent enough to hear, so He had to float that O ring right to the top of the desk.
Glory! We serve a great God!!
12/3/08 And now the test begins:
It was a little after 6AM. Michael had just come off his watch and was about 20 minutes into a good sleep when sputter-growl-huff-huff-huff-bang-bang. The engine decided it wanted to quit. We’d been motorsailing in light winds to make it to Cabo in time to do a few clean-up projects before my mother arrived on the 8th. Now, with no engine, we’ve got to sail. Okay, not a problem. We’re a sailboat. And if we take a few hours longer–lots of hours longer–that’s fine. Only, what if we can’t get the engine fixed or find a place to anchor and try to get parts before Mother arrives? What if she gets to spend her whole vacation in a hotel because the boat is torn up for engine work?
Praise God anyway, right? Amen. He’s a big God.
We edge into Cabo among the jet skis, the tour boats, fishing boats, motoring boats of all sorts. Out of our way, folk, we can’t change course very quickly! We’re looking for the moorings we’ve read about, but can’t see any. The anchoring ledge is between 26 and 42′ wide. Deep water, then anchoring water, then beach. If we had an engine, we could drop a stern anchor, then keep the boat sideways to the beach and drop a bow anchor. With 56 feet of boat, we’ll be in the surf before we can get the second anchor over. So, we turn and lope out the bay. We’ll try a marina up the coast.
We call them. Yes, they have a place if we can get inside their jetties. They can help bring us in if we get there early enough.
We don’t. Now the wind has dropped and we’re down to less than 2 knots to go 15 miles. Michael wants us to edge up to the jetty, just to take a look, but then smartly decides that we’re way, way too tired from night watches to try anything that smacks of heroics. Instead, we head back out into the Sea and heave to. This allows us to set sails so we don’t go anywhere, except a slight .8 knots and drifting. I volunteer to sleep on deck so that M., whose job will be troubleshooting the engine, can get a full night’s sleep.
It’s lovely under the stars. Fishing boats are out there, plying their trade several miles away. I set an alarm so I can look around every so often. It’s quiet all night, though around midnight I need more than just two blankets. As dawn approaches, I wake M. and we set the sails for shore. We’ve drifted further than we wanted because the wind changed in the night from the southeast to the norhtwest. There’s not much wind now, barely enough to tack the boat, but we do and have a leisurely sail, gybing back and forth, toward shore. The dockmaster brings a fishing boat out to tow us, bringing us in easily.
So here we are at Puerto los Cabos Marina in San Jose de Cabo. It’s quite a high end marina, though still under construction. We’re the poor folk on the block, but we still have to pay big boat prices. This wasn’t in the budget, but we’re not going to worry about it. The Lord always provides.And we believe He has a purpose in all things, so we give Him praise.
As I’ve been writing this, M has discovered that we have more than a head gasket issue. One of the pistons shot a valve and destroyed a cylinder.That’s a picture of the cylinder up there. Oh, me. But, hey, glory anyway.
I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next.
