Author: Scott
Engine starting again, and the steering a little better, we were set to start off with the Baja group at 0800. We pulled anchor and headed out of Turtle Bay with our companions to hit the high seas. We were finally leaving on time with the Baja group!
Five minutes out and Pam noticed white steam billowing from the engine compartment. We had gotten our engine started but had obviously not fixed the over heating problem. Back to Turtle Bay towed by a Panga, again! The Panga owner knew we had a “tempetura problemo” and offered to come back in two hours and take a look. We anchored Tournesol and he deposited us on the dock to use the Internet café while we waited. The Panga driver had tools and said “no problemo”. We decided that a Panga driver with tools was a good start and headed off up the dirt roads with stray dogs and roosters to check email…
Email went well, we used a four year old computer with a satellite link, in a cement shack, but yes there was technology in Turtle Bay! We had even left a post on the Internet site saying that we had “minor mechanical problems”, that was an under statement. Our adventure in Turtle Bay is about to begin!
We arrived back at the dock precisely two hours later ready to meet with the Panga skipper. No Panga, no skipper, no tools, mucho problemo! We patiently continued to wait figuring that it was Mexico and time moves differently south of the border. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, Maria of Gordo’s fuel dock had pity on us and asked what was wrong. We told her that we were waiting for a “mechanic” from Annabelle’s Serviceo. Maria rolled her eyes and pointed down the beach to a red building with a white pickup truck. We set off to find our mechanic. We had to take off our shoes and wade in the surf to get under the dock. We walked down the beach to the white pickup truck and asked the occupants if they knew our panga mechanic. “No, no comprende” they said. Through a very broken spanglish conversation we were told that they knew a mechanic in town and would get him. We waited again, but for only a half hour and the white pickup returned, with no mechanic but they did have a cooling system drawing from the “mechanic” and a set of tools. Off to the boat in borrowed panga, rowing with no gas in the tank. A few hundred yards from the dock we were hailed by a man on a fishing boat who had another panga with gas; this is how we met the man who would become known as “Chicken”. We got into the Chicken’s panga and headed out to Tournesol.
Our new mechanics, or mechanic apprentices, or guys with tools set out with confidence, the time was about 1400. Before we knew it they had taken all sorts of things off of the engine including the heat exchanger, thermostat, water pump, and things we could not identify. “Yeah, yeah baby” screamed Armando, “no problemo” This was Armando’s way of displaying optimism. More spanglish and we think they decided the problem was our water pump impeller. They replaced the impeller and went to connect the water pump, but somehow they were missing a vital piece that was there when they removed the pump. No problemo turned into mucho problemo by 2030. The plan was to return the next day with a new part that they could build. We are off to bed with not much enthusiasm, our water pump lay in the cockpit looking like a piece forgotten from an erector set, and dwindling hope of catching up with our Baja Ha-Ha friends.
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