Jason left yesterday. It felt weird at first. The three of us had been together 24/7 for almost 3.5 weeks and we had developed a little family. Michael and Jason had worked together to solve many problems. Bye bye, Jason! Safe travels! Have a rum and Coke for each of us.

So, it is just the two of us. Michael spent some time installing the new battery for the generator today. We are going to go with the two house batteries rather than three because we haven’t heard that our agent can find three batteries and we want to leave tomorrow.

Here are a few sites from the berth today. Two ships (I think both from Somalia – one for sure) docked behind us for a bit. One of them stayed for only a short time. There must have been some interesting smells emanating from it because the birds were highly interested. We know for a fact that the one nearer the dock is unloading goats and cattle today.

Seeing these animals coming off boats made me curious to know the main source of meat eaten in Oman. I asked one of the guys who has delivered diesel to us before and did again today. He told me that camels are the main source of meat. I didn’t even know that people ate camel meat. Of course, I Googled it. The countries with the highest levels of camel meat per capita consumption in 2018 (a bit old) were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman (the last at 3,319 kg per 1000 persons).

We did a bit more provisioning today (many frozen ice cream treats!!) and had five more cans filled with diesel. Now we just need to wait for our agent to make arrangements to clear us out of here.

Many of our friends are not sailors so I thought you might be interested to know about the storage space for our clothes. This is where we keep our warm weather clothes – one drawer per person:

And this is the closet we use for warm weather clothes that we prefer not be wrinkled:

Those are in our cabin. We are using the forward starboard cabin to store our cooler weather clothes (again, one drawer per person) and our foulies (foul weather gear worn by sailors) and other outerwear:

If you visit us on our boat, please do not pack the contents of your walk-in closet. Hee hee.

Michael and I decided to be a bit lazy for dinner last night. We made a big ol’ salad and nothing else.

We hope to get underway before noon tomorrow. This will be our first passage with just two people. We’ll see how our night watch schedule works. . .

We started smelling a bad odor a couple hours ago. It was clearly coming from our boat because we didn’t smell it outside.

After flushing the heads a lot (even though they didn’t seem to smell), we thought the odor might possibly be coming from the sink in the galley. But it didn’t really stink either.

Several hours went by and Michael mentioned the smell again. I then realized that it smelled like sulfur. That led us to look at the house batteries. (We had been trying to figure out for some time why we had to run the generator so much to maintain a charge but hadn’t found the source of the problem.). Turns out one of the three house batteries had failed.

Our theory is that because the battery charger had been removed from the boat the voltage was drained down too much when the boat was in the Seychelles. It was just a matter of time.

We disconnected the battery cables from the battery terminals. We are now using just two house batteries. The voltage already looks better than it has.

We made it into the port! We were surprised to hear from our agent on Saturday, as it was the weekend. We were able to go to berth 26 in the port in mid-afternoon. We stayed on the boat the rest of the day as customs and the police didn’t board Seahike to obtain our documents until the evening. They were very nice.
We learned that we would not be able to go ashore but that the grocery vendor would pick us up from the boat and drive us to the store to buy groceries (and deliver to us those they don’t have in the port store). We were also able to fill our water tanks from a hydrant right by our boat. We also used the water to give Seahike’s exterior a needed bath.

In addition, another person took our jerry cans (the diesel from which we had emptied into our fuel tanks) and filled them for us.
You will be relieved to hear that I finally washed my hair and showered again. As did Michael and Jason.

So, we are sitting pretty. Well, we still need to find out if there is a laundromat. If not, we will hand wash some items.
We are currently waiting for Jason’s visa to be issued. Michael and I think we will be leaving for Djibouti on Thursday.

A few port stories:

1. We were all craving ice cream. We were delighted to purchase ice cream here. We might subsist on ice cream today. 😉
2. The berth is actually a spot by a wall. This is not surprising since this is 100 percent a commercial port. Berth 26 is the sole berth they offer to sailboats (typically sailboats in trouble).
3. All of the fees charged are based on the rates commercial ships are charged. For example, the cost to anchor is $130/day. Yep. You read that right. We were at anchor Monday-Saturday. We are paying a small fortune here. It is what it is. The berth is free. Ha! The price of groceries and diesel is quite reasonable.
4. Everyone we have dealt with at the port is *very* friendly.
5. Two boats down from ours turned out to be a boat from Somalia that was delivering goats to Oman. We are not exaggerating when we estimate that they unloaded 1000 goats. We wondered what the interior of that boat looked and smelled like – but we didn’t wonder enough to ask for a tour.
6. Men are supposed to wear a minimum of short sleeves and shorts. Women are supposed to wear baggy clothing, a minimum of short sleeves and pants or skirts that fall below the knee. While on the boat I continue to wear my shorts.  Having said all of this, we were talking to two (somewhat high up) port employees yesterday, and one of them said that Westerners dress in shorts. So I guess there is the rule and the practice.
7. There is some type of gull here that has the most adorable song. I hope to catch it on video so we can share it with you.
8. Finally, if you ever find yourself on a boat in Oman, be sure to check out with the harbormaster, customs, and the police. Just sayin’.

It is the last day of September. Michael and I have been away from the US for a month.
We are still in Oman. We are also still at anchor at Port Salalah, where we have been since last Monday. We are waiting for permits to be allowed to enter the port.

Thankfully we have not run out of food or drinking water. We are almost out of water in the tanks, however. We have been “almost out” since we arrived at the port. We use the water from the tanks to wash stuff: hands, bodies (to a small extent), hair (to an even smaller extent), dishes, etc. To make it last, we are using water from the sea to wash dishes, then quickly rinsing them with water from the tank. We use hand sanitizer instead of handwashing much of the time. And we just keep getting dirtier. 🤣🤣

Since this is a Muslim country, today and tomorrow are the weekend. We hope to get the permit on Sunday. Ready to get into the port to get water and provisions. 👍😆
Other than getting a bit bored, we are fine. We play Phase 10, cribbage, rummy, and Yahtzee to pass the time. We also read books. I complete crossword puzzles and play Quordle and Sudoku.

We also fixed the engines. Pretty much without help from anyone. We are super happy and relieved!! The fuel supply line and fuel return line were hooked up backwards on both engines. Insane!!!! Professionals were working on the motors before we left and they didn’t catch it. Yes, it took us some time to catch it, but why would we have even thought that such a thing would happen. 😳 🙄😜

Anywho . . . we are well. We are healthy. We are in good spirits. Speaking of spirits, I look forward to having a glass of wine or a G&T when we get to Djibouti. We’ve been on the wagon since Sept. 14. 😆

We are at anchor outside of Salalah, Oman. Turns out they do NOT have diesel engine mechanics. Michael and Jason think they can fix the problems, though. Jason has a couple of buddies who can advise us as well.

We are waiting for our agent (you have to pay an agent) to process our paperwork so we can go ashore. We are hoping to be able to stay in “berth 26” – apparently the sole slip reserved for sailboats at this commercial port. The agent says it can take 3-4 work days. Had we known we were coming here – and if we’d had the (literal) bandwidth – we would have sent our documents to him a few days ago so we could have gone ashore right away. Such is life. Sitting on a ⛵ at anchor is still sitting on a ⛵, so . . . .

Two more bird stories. Many days ago, a small blue bird flew inside our boat and got discombobulated in the saloon. We felt bad for it. At one point it flew so fast it stunned itself when it hit the wall. Michael picked it up and put it outside. It flew away shortly thereafter. Whew!

On another day, another seagull-like bird (I don’t know what any of these are) decided to rest on our boat. This one struggled for a bit as the previous one did, but this one got smart and settled on the edge of the trampoline at the bow of the boat. The bird stayed with us for at least 30-45 minutes. For a short time, I felt like we had a pet. ❤️

Two more fish stories. As I mentioned in a previous post, we see lots of flying fish or remnants (scales on the boat) thereof. A day or two ago, there was one on the front of our boat that was still alive. Jason decided to save it so he grabbed one of the long wing-like fins in an attempt to toss it overboard. That caused the fish to flail wildly. Jason’s reaction was lightning fast: he swatted it with his hand when the fish was in midair and the fish flew across the trampoline into the Indian Ocean. I was pretty impressed, largely because I am quite certain I would just have screamed a girly scream and ran back inside.

Warning: vegans, please skip the next paragraph.

We caught a mahi-mahi. That makes three fish thus far, which has enabled us to make our provisions last much longer. We are looking forward to eating mahi-mahi for dinner tonight.

It is nice to have access to Facebook, email, and text again. It took me some time to catch up! We are still sticking with text for our seahike.com posts. We will eventually resize some of our pictures and post them.

We’ve started a long list of things we need to do or buy for the boat to make it habitable and safer. Buying the boat is just the *beginning* of the “spending money” part. 😆😀

We finally affixed the boat’s name and home port to the boat today. We listed the home port as Castle Danger, MN. We like the name. 👍

Ta ta for now!

So . . . with one engine working with our rigged fuel supply, we started motoring. Luckily, the wind picked up about two hours later. We have been sailing ever since at various rates of speed, often quite fast.

Let’s talk about our route. We had originally planned to go by Socotra (with a possible stopover) on our way to Djibouti. But with two engines not working properly, we were advised to sail to Oman instead. They apparently have competent mechanics who should be able to fix what ails. So that is what we are doing. We *need* two fully working engines to get to Djibouti and up the Red Sea. We don’t know how long we will be in Oman.

We have followed the same night watch schedule the entire trip. Michael takes the helm from 9-12 p.m. I am on duty from midnight to 3 a.m. Jason takes the 3-6 a.m. watch. We are each happy with our schedule. I am concerned about the watch schedule when there will only be two of us. Sleeping is my favorite pastime. . .

We caught another tuna two nights ago. 🙂 We got it on board just as the sun was setting. That was last night’s dinner.

Speaking of dinner, the only “real meal” we eat together is dinner, which typically occurs at about 5:30 p.m. We have had all sorts of stuff: chicken, pulled pork, tuna (five meals so far), pork chops, pasta, veggies (fresh and frozen), fruit (fresh and canned) cheesecake, yummy bread, hamburgers (tonight). We also brought a lot of snacks. Not many of those left. Jason has been making some yummy food for breakfast that he and Michael usually eat before I wake up. I wouldn’t be hungry at the time they eat, even if I were awake. 🙂 In sum, we are eating well and not going hungry.

You are now up to date on our passage, which has had more issues than we ever could have predicted, is taking us to an unplanned location, and will take longer than expected. But all is well. Speaking for myself, I have learned *a lot* over the past several days. I am happy about that.

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When we last left you (which was actually a few days ago – they all run together, so maybe three days ago?), we had no working engines, little wind, a current going in the “wrong” direction, and my hair was so dirty it pretty much stuck to my head. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I – Cindy – update our blog.)

Michael and Jason did all of the thinking and I did what they told me to do in our attempts to troubleshoot and hopefully fix the engines. As electricians, they are able to fix just about any electrical problem. The problem wasn’t electrical. They determined that. Neither are mechanics or diesel engine experts, but their work has forced them to use mechanical skills as well. In short, we could hardly have been in better hands. They just kept trying different things to isolate the problem.

The problem with the port engine = still unknown. It is thought to be the fuel/water separator. We tried various things on that engine to no avail (including checking the filter from the diesel tank, bypassing the fuel/water separator and feeding diesel directly to the engine, and trying to prime it manually with MANY hand pumps – about 400 by yours truly).

The problem with the starboard engine was that it was not getting fuel. When we placed the fuel line from the motor directly into a jerry can filled with diesel, it worked. Voila!

But, the issue now was that the fuel that wasn’t being used by the engine was being returned to the fuel tank, the very same tank from which the engine was not getting fuel (yes, we had already checked the filter). So, the next step was to drill a second hole in the jerry can cap and put the return fuel line into the jerry can as well.

So, now we had one functioning engine. We still strongly preferred wind because we wouldn’t have to fuss with replacing the jerry can in the engine compartment if we could sail.

Thankfully, the wind picked up.

Here are the highlights of the past few days:

1. Port engine stopped working
2. Starboard engine stopped working
3. Light winds
4. Unfriendly currents
5. I washed my hair (that actually happened this morning)

Okay, here are some details.

Both engines worked when we left the Seychelles. We tried to start the port engine several days into the passage and nothing happened. It attempted to start but never turned over. Not good, but we still had the starboard engine. Plus, we had crossed the Atlantic ocean on another boat with only one working engine (and monohulls only have one engine), so we didn’t worry too much.

But then the starboard engine started having rpm issues. It got progressively worse over a period of two or three days (we cannot recall). First, the rpms would slow down then recover on their own. The next step was that we needed to slow the rpms to keep the engine running. Then it would die even if we reduced the rpms. It gradually got worse, until it wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes.

So now we had no engines, an unfriendly current, and next to no wind. We were still more than 300 nm from Socotra, our first waypoint.

In addition to the problems with the motors, we mentioned before that we sailed far off course in an attempt to avoid a southbound current (we are going north). We never never seemed to avoid the current (?), so we only made about three knots speed over ground (SOG) *even when the starboard engine was still running*.

So, here we were farther east than we had intended to be when we started the journey, no motors, yucky current, and light wind.

More in the next post . . .

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Approximately 5:00 p.m. Seychelles time (UTC +4).

Vegan friends, you might want to skip this post (at least the first three paragraphs). And perhaps ignore the pictures.

We caught a fish! I was sitting at the helm two days ago and heard the fishing line move on the reel. I yelled, “fish!” and Jason grabbed the rod. After reeling in the fish for about five minutes (?) we had a yellowfin tuna on the boat. That was our main course that night and will be again tonight.

We couldn’t find a gaff with a handle in the Seychelles, so we duck-taped a hook to our boat hook. Looks kind of silly but it does the trick.

We caught another fish today, but we accidentally released it. It looked like a bluefin tuna.

The line is back in the water.

Other than fish tales, we have a short bird tale. One lone bird was flying around and around and around the boat and it eventually landed a couple of different places on the boat, presumably to rest. It was having a difficult time balancing though (we rock a lot), so it flew off pretty quickly.

Back to a fish tale that even a vegan can read: we have seen schools of flying fish . . . flying. It looks very odd.

The trip continues to be enjoyable, with a bit of boredom thrown in. The generator didn’t start last night, which was not at all cool, but we made it through the night on the existing battery power by turning off everything except the navigation instruments and auto pilot. There is clearly something wonky, but it started this morning and again this afternoon (but only after running the starboard engine for many minutes the second time).

The lazy jacks on our port side became extremely loose. We hadn’t planned to hoist the mainsail so it wasn’t an issue. It was finally calm enough to check it out today. We discovered that the cleat to which the line had been affixed was broken. We tied the line elsewhere on the mast and now we can raise and lower the mainsail when needed.

We succumed to motoring about two hours ago. The wind dropped and we need to move in a northeasterly (actually an *easterly* direction, but we want to make some progress toward our goal as well, so NE) direction to avoid a current that is flowing the “wrong” way right at us. We want to get out of its way. Hope to be sailing again sometime this evening. Sadly, we are going way out of our way to do this.

That is probably enough for today. For our non-sailor friends, you might have a few terms to look up. Enjoy!
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