Not Quite Yet

After checking out of Aruba around 8:30 am on Monday, April 9th we started our 3 1/2 day trek to St. Maarten. We were about 3 miles outside of Aruba when Jeff noticed a strange noise and we all noticed a strange smell. Sure enough, the transmission was failing and then eventually we lost gears, meaning we couldn't move forward or backwards (well we could move slightly backwards but not good enough). Jeff mentioned he has seen this before and said sometimes the transmission comes back but we had to do something, so we called the Coast Guard/Port of Aruba to let them know the situation. We were like sitting ducks, couldn't go anywhere and the seas weren't being friendly. The Coast Guard said they could get a tow to us in 2 hours which meant a very uncomfortable situation for everyone. Furniture that wasn't strapped down was now in a different place and the dogs were clinging on to me in the pilot house. The dogs did much better than I did.

After about an hour, Jeff was still determined to keep trying the transmission and eventually he got it back and we were moving again, the seas calmed, the dogs fell asleep and I could actually move around the boat without feeling nauseated. We called the Coast Guard to let them know to stand by. They were very helpful and very friendly. We went about 5 knots back towards Aruba, slowly checking the transmission temperature every 10 minutes. It held steady. We had to check back in the country, so we headed back to Barcadera, all the while with the Search and Rescue team following us, as you can see in the above photograph. We successfully were able to shift forward and reverse into Barcadera as well as right back into our slip at the marina.

As of now, Greg and Jeff are going to do some work on the transmission and see what the problem(s) could be. Since we are missing a weather window to St. Maarten we decided to go to Bonaire first, that way if we encounter a problem we will be in close distance of other islands. Stay tuned........

Sam, Greg and Jeff

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