Salinas / Barahona - Empy fuel tank - Someone managed to steel our disel
Sans Peur
Grete & Fred Vithen
Wed 9 May 2018 12:23
18 12 93N 70 32 65W Salinas. at anchor
Salinas 8/5 - 10/5 Night sail from Boca Chica
We are still in the Dominican Republic.
We managed just to out of Boca Chica and Mr Perkins just stopped, again. A horrible feeling.
Getting out from the marina/lagoon was a very rouhg and tough ride in narrow and shallow waters, the wind in the nose and a really big swell.
If the engine would have stopped when we where fighting our way into open water we would most properly been in very very deep shit. Scary.
It was a night sail ahead of us and we covered the distance to Salinas by sailing all the way and where lucky that the wind angel made it possible for us to enter the bay safely at Salinas just using our sails.
Took as most part of a day to try to figure out what the problem was. Filters checked, removing fule pipes, sucking with fuel pump and using our dinghy pump to use pressure.
We didn't find any blocking the fuel flow. Hum???
At last we dismantled our master bed in order to get to the fuel tank.
Maybe there would be some nasty stuff in there. Yes there was a bit although we used disel bug treatment all the time.
But there was ... no fuel!!!!????
According to our calculations there should be at least about 300 liters left.
So at some point some one emptied our fuel tank steeling. When and where??!!
Naive as we are we thought our fuel instrument at some point went berserk.
Yes it went basically from full when crossing the Atlantic (we sailed the whole way except 10 hours) to zero shortly after our arrival to Caribbean.
And we thought it was something wrong with the instrument. (Idiots!)
So started to count the hours running engine and generator instead. BIG BIG mistake.
Happy we survived and Mr Perkins is in proper order (he actually never failed us).
In Jamaica we will fill up with proper fuel and check everything again.
Barahona next (last port in the Republica Dominica) then Haiti (still Hispaniola but a new country).
Internet is not always available in this part of the poor world. And when available pretty slow.