In the morning, Ludovic from Inboard Diesel Services comes over to Jeannius to attend to our generator. He climbs into the black hole and is so quiet down there for nearly an hour that Mike eventually goes out to see if he’s still in there. He is.
He discovers a couple of problems. The exhaust to the generator has been installed in such a way that sea water can get trapped and run back into the engine. This, he believes, has caused corrosion to the valves and cylinder head. They don’t have the parts to fix this immediately so he cuts the exhaust to make sure that water always runs downhill away from the generator. We end up with a new exhaust manifold and a bill for nearly 400 euros. And this is just the start. We have to go back in a few weeks to have the cylinder head removed and the damage repaired. And so the money pit continues!
While all this is going on, I walk around the little village again as there really isn’t anything else to do, and take more photos.
We leave Case Pilote in the very early afternoon, heading for Saint Pierre. The sea is like a millpond – so still and flat it’s unbelievable, but there is enough of a breeze to make it a comfortable journey, although not enough to get the sails out.
When we arrive in Saint Pierre there is quite a swell and Jeannius rocks uncomfortably and is very exposed. Having just put the anchor down we haul it up again and move to the north end of town. It seems slightly calmer here, and as the afternoon goes on it calms even more until in the evening it is dead calm again. From the boat we sit and watch the goings-on on shore. Thirteen or so teenagers amuse themselves for hours diving off the floating pontoon and throwing each other in, shrieking and screaming. The light as the sun sets over Saint Pierre and the volcano is fantastic.
I cook another vat of dhal and some coconut rice. We find some fish in the freezer which we defrost and fry. It turns out to be the end of Burhan’s barracuda and is very good.
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