Nolhivaranfaru and More Boat Woes
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Tue 8 Mar 2022 07:10
Just as we were settling into the Maldives and motoring down to our next anchorage the engine coolant high temperature alarm sounded and we had to shut down. Further investigation revealed that the heat exchanger had no or very low coolant. There was no obvious external leak, no water in the bilge, no other indication of an overheating engine such as white smoke in the exhaust and no hot or burning smell from the engine.
So, we refilled the coolant and ran the engine to see if we could gently motor to our anchorage. After half an hour we switched off, topped up the coolant and………. the engine wouldn’t turnover more than a little and restart. Several reasons why this could be but potentially serious and clearly we no longer have a functioning engine.
We tied the dinghy onto the port quarter with spring lines, fired up the outboard and pushed Vega 8 miles down to Nolhivaranfaru where we are anchored in 5m on sand in the most beautiful anchorage! So much so that Annie would be happy to stay here for a few days. However, 7nm to the south is the island Kulhudhuffushi that has a main Yanmar dealer and service centre. Our agent is working on getting us a tow down to there as reefs and strong currents make reliance upon our dinghy unwise according to the locals. Also he could get an engineer up to the boat but it seems we are going to need on hand support for any work and may have to go down to the island anyway.
So not quite paradise at the moment for us. Truth to tell if we’d known what was in store for us getting Vega back to Blighty we might well have reconsidered our plans. This is all much more of an ordeal than we could have imagined. Still, we are where we are and will get sorted. Endorphin and Hecla will catch up when their own tribulations have been resolved, which at last seems to be happening. Then we can cruise through paradise together and, please, without any further problems.
