We decided it was time for a second opinion and called another mechanic that was highly recommended by other sailors in the anchorage. He was known as El Profe (The Professor) and was in very high demand. However we explained the situation and El Profe came to take a look. The minute he stepped on the boat our anxiety lifted and we felt we were in good hands. After five minutes, El Profe assured us that this was a good engine and he could get it started again. He made up a special mixture of oil and sprayed it into the cylinders. With a little coaxing, we heard the sweet sound of our engine running again. But we weren’t out of the woods yet. El Profe was not satisfied with what he was hearing. He looked at the video of the injectors that the other mechanics had sent us from the shop and said “that spray is not right”. He removed the injectors and took them to his preferred lab. It turns out the water that had entered our fuel tank, probably through condensation and questionable fuel, had made its way to the injectors and clogged them up. The shop replaced the nozzles that spray the fuel out and the engine sounded better than it ever had. El Profe, our hero!
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| Cartagena Christmas Decorations |
This only left the question of the water remaining in our tank. We pumped out as much water as we could into plastic jugs and replaced it with new fuel. A somewhat respectable weather window for Jamaica had presented itself so the next morning we headed hauled up the anchor and headed out. We made it about a mile before the engine died. As there was no wind and we were still in the Cartagena harbour, James lowered the dinghy and towed us back to the anchorage in shame as I steered. We immediately dialled El Profe and while he was not exactly happy to hear from us he came out right away. “There is still water” he exclaimed after spitting a mouthful of watery diesel into a plastic bottle. The ghetto solution that followed was to buy a big plastic fuel tank that would sit in our bathroom and be filled with good diesel. The engine would be connected directly to that tank and we would refill it with our jugs on deck. Doing the math, this gave us about 33 gallons to burn, about half of what we usually had.
So when the next weather window came along we were hesitant to say the least. But we started out with the external tank working well. After about five hours of motoring we started to get close to the part of Colombia which is notoriously windy. And, unlike our weather forecast, the 20 knot wind was directly on our nose. Our speed slowed to about 3 knots and James furrowed his brow. Once we got an updated weather forecast (which had changed, and not in our favour) we realized that our meagre 33 gallons of fuel was not going to get us to Jamaica in these conditions. We turned back and entered the Cartagena harbour yet again.
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| Gazing north towards Jamaica |
Just as morale was at an all-time low, we discovered CineColombia. In what can only be considered a miracle of capitalism, CineColombia can show the same new releases that we pay $15 to watch at home for as little as a dollar. In English. In an air-conditioned theatre. This was our salvation. While we watched all the matinees we possibly could we waited for better weather and brainstormed how to improve our odds. (BTW, if you want to confuse a Colombian, make him wonder why we are spending every afternoon of our vacation watching the same movies we could see at home…) We followed up on one of El Profe’s contacts that might be able to polish (clean) our fuel. This is a procedure where the fuel is sucked out of the tank, filtered, and put back in and, in case you were wondering, in spanish is more appropriately known as “dialysis”.
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| Boxing Day Spread, Colombian Style |
After our first round of dialysis did not suffice, we opted for the ultimate solution. The bad fuel would be removed and disposed of (in Colombia this means it would just be sold again at a discount) and we would start from scratch with all new fuel. We would also have the external 33 gallons as a backup. After numerous tests, we knew we had solved the problem! All that was left was the weather. Cartagena is lovely around Christmastime, all lit up and with parades and fireworks. We enjoyed it even though we had wanted to be in Jamaica for Christmas. Our best Christmas gift of all was the updated forecast with the gale-force winds in the Caribbean calming down to something a little more manageable. It finally looked like we could head north!
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| Merry Christmas from Cartagena! |
