What were we "sinking" about

CRUISING IS........

Cruising is sitting in your deck chair
Resting your legs on the life lines
Looking at the reflection of the anchor lights
Above you see twinkling stars
And all you can think of is
How lucky you are

Manuela Olshefski Grenada August 06

It feels so nice to be sitting at anchor again, being awakened by the cry of roosters, when the sun comes over the mountain and lights up the bay. Skimmers are scooping up plankton of the water's top. Watching the sun disappear on the horizon leaving a trail of reddish colors in the clouds and at night the drumming of the fisherman against the hull of their fishing boats chasing their pray into the nets makes you drift into a different dream land. This is what we like best and definitely do best. We left the Redonda marina two mornings ago at 4 am, not a breath of air was present and a gentle roll guided us through the Mochima Islands. Once leaving the protection of the islands the swells increased a bit, so did the wind but it staid fairly calm. The wind of course came right on the nose again and so we motor sailed our way into the Golfo de Cariaco. Max the autopilot decided to give up and so we manually steered the boat. I sat on the bow reading a book and watching occasional dolphins play in the wake of the boat as Sid called me asking me if I heard an alarm. Sure enough an alarm sounded which we thought was the Autopilot again, but clicking the buttons didn't turn it off, so I went down below to turn the Autopilot off and the alarm still sounded. I smelled something funny, like hot rubber mixed with overheated water and wondered about that. As I got back in to the salon with horror I noticed that lots and lots of water was pushed through the crevasse between the engine cover and the cabinet, spilling onto the floor. I screamed as loud as I could for Sid to stop the engine, which he immediately did, the spray of the water stopped. While Sid hurried inside I ran for the bilge pump and opened one of the floor hatches to discover that the bilge was filled to the top of the floor. It took a while to empty the bilge meanwhile Sid was inspecting the engine but couldn't find any problem. Then Sid realized that earlier he tried to run the water maker but it didn't work, and figured that it was the valve he had opened. Sure enough the hose clamp came off the hose and by opening the valve it started filling the bilge. We tried to sink the boat, what were we "sinking about"; watch this clip, it's too funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vBn2_ia8zM&feature=related.

The rest of the trip went with no further problems and 11 hours later we anchored in beautiful Medregal. First thing in the morning I emptied the bilge (wine and rum cellar) washed off all the bottles and Sid cleaned out the bilge. Our batteries are down there as well and he was hoping that they were not harmed. We also had an old alternator in the bilge which needed to be rebuilt that was submerged in the saltwater and is a goner. Luckily our refrigerator pumps are all sealed so no harm done there. We are all cleaned up now and settled in and are enjoying this peaceful anchorage and I'm sure we'll relax for a while before thinking of heading on.