The wind never really materialized but then nor did any of the forecast rain and thunderstorms. The lack of wind made our minds up for us. We would wait for their expected return before moving on.
In the morning we dinghied ashore with John’s kayak in tow. We met Alison and a few others at the shore. John was not around so we gave her a few DVDs we’d burned for John. Feeling a little restless we went for a walk along the road that joins the various villages on the island. With the lack of wind, the sun beating down on us and the air somewhat humid from the front going over the novelty soon ran out so we turned and returned the way we came.
Back on the beach we collected our kayak and returned to the boat. We then decided to cool off by going for a snorkel on the reef. We stayed out a while exploring the reef. We found some pipe fish, relatives of sea horses, which we’d never seen before. I didn’t have my camera with me so can’t exactly identify them. Next time.
In the afternoon I took a look at a few problems that have been niggling us. The port bilge pump has been going off from time to time and not stopping. This is the new one I recently put in with the parallel backup bilge switch. This happened a few days ago and I assumed it was the shaft seal gone again. Then, we lifted our bunk, removed all the stuff below to access the seal only to find out it wasn’t leaking.
Each time the pump goes off, automatically or manually, the bilge as refilled more than it used to. It make be the one way valve letting water back in so I drained the bilge using the hand pump. The bilge didn’t refill so that supports my guess with the valve. I left the pump on and even with the bilge more or less empty, it went off again.
Sometimes when this happens and I disconnect the parallel bilge switch the pump stops so I decided to completely remove it. It’s an electronic switch permanently powered with a third line delivering power when it triggers. Perhaps it was causing some sort of interference even with the trigger line disconnected. I cut the wires to it and rewired the primary pump (with built in switch) an reconnected it in isolation. It still went off a few hours later with no additional water in the bilge.
Along side all this I’ve recently noticed a big difference between the two different voltage measures I have on the house battery bank. Often up to half a volt. All the voltage drop turned out to be from the plus/minus breakers. I turned the whole thing off, cycled the breakers a few times, then turned it all back on again. The voltage drop had improved significantly. This is not the first time I’ve had to do this. Perhaps I need better breakers.
Clutching at straws I wondered if the voltage drop had anything to do with the electronic water sensor on the bilge pump going off prematurely. We went to sleep with it all connected. In the night it went off again. Arghh. I disconnected the pump for the night. This morning there is no extra water in the bilge so I know there is no leak. Next step is to examine the pump for debris. While I’m doing this I can access the one way valve and clean it out.
This morning the winds have returned so we will be moving on later this morning. We are heading to the far north of the Yasawas to a village called Yasawa-i-Rara. We’ll stay there a few days before beginning our return trip back down the Yasawa island chain.
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