The previous evening I could see the boats in the main anchorage rocking and rolling around in the swell and winds, but here it was incredibly calm and smooth, with a strong current keeping the boat from swinging too much at anchor; so I slept very well indeed. I woke up late (7AM) for the boat and after looking at the previous day’s pictures and having a coffee I attacked the impeller change on the generator. I use an Excel sheet for my inventory list and according to my entry there was one impeller spare in a storage box in the main cabin, and when I checked it was gone; I assumed that I’d used it and not reflected that change in my inventory spreadsheet. One cup of coffee later I decided to check forward with the box that had oil filters and engine belt spares and found 2 impellers for the generator that I’d purchased and neglected to add to the inventory list.
The impeller change went quite well, it took about 45 minutes and a large part of that was trying to see if I could pick out impeller bits using my dentist’s tools from the outgoing portion of the raw water pump. There was nothing to find and I got the whole assembly put back together and running without a leak the first time around! The generator is running and charging the batteries plus making fresh water as I write this and it is chugging along merrily and without complaint. I’m surprised that the replaced impeller was so toothless, I wonder if it was running with just a few teeth before it stopped working, or if it was working well and then a broken impeller blade tore the others out, i.e. it went from good to disintegrated in just a few minutes. Nevertheless, the generator is now hopefully happy for a while with a new impeller and a recent oil change.
I had heavily reefed both the mainsail and the genoa before leaving the shelter of les Îles des Saintes for the notoriously rough waters between the Saintes and Guadeloupe, but the conditions were much more moderate than I thought, but each time I came close to letting out more sail a gust would hit or I’d look at the dark clouds ahead and changed my mind. Once around the southwestern tip of Guadeloupe island the waves died completely and for a while the wind remained strong and sped me along at almost 10 knots, but then it got weaker and weaker until, at 2 knots boat speed, I turned on the engine and motored the remaining 15 miles to Deshaies, my destination at the northern end of the island.
There were a couple of calls for a MAYDAY RELAY from the MRCC Fort-de-France regarding a missing snorkeler off Pigeon Island and I detoured a bit to be close to the island and scanned unsuccessfully for the missing person, then went so far as to motor in close and take a line which the wind and current drift might have taken him – but again to no avail.
The anchorage at Deshaies was quite full upon my arrival and I had to anchor quite far out in 40 feet of water and gusts of 25 knots; but at least I could be sure that my anchor was holding. I put the dinghy engine, oars and tank on and wanted to head ashore to clear in, but the winds picked up even more and was whipping froth on the water, so I opted to postpone my shore trip despite the relative state of emergency aboard – I had run out of happy hour beverages and only had hard stuff and some good Bordeaux left. The Bordeaux was opened and accompanied a pasta meal (food supplies are at an ebb as well) and I read a book until overcome with sleepiness.
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