Bora Bora

We had a good downwind sail to Bora Bora yesterday, although half way there, the wind became light and the waves lumpy, and then the last leg around the coral reef was a flat, fast broad reach looking over to the majestic magical mountain of Bora Bora. As we entered the pass, I noticed black smudge along the cabinets closing off the engine and freaked. I opened the doors and the engine was coated with a layer of oily shit. We cut the engine, investigated and it appeared that the valve cover oil leak had resumed, once again. We started her up again and headed inside the pass for a mooring in front of the funky little yacht club, not too far from the major town. 


Today after a dinghy run around the point into town to check out of French Polynesia, do a store run and check out the marine store, we returned to Sidewinder and began troubleshooting the engine issue. David replaced the gasket, we cleaned the engine as best as we could, cleaned the air filter that was full of gummy watered down deisel exhaust residue, and then tried the engine again, thinking the leaking valve cover was the problem. Lo and behold, David discovered a major leak in the exhaust pipe as well, and now, once again, work on Sidewinder's engine is the focus. David and I are so frustrated and bummed, but David feels it so much more because he is always the one who has to delve into the problem and try to fix it, even though he doesn't feel like he knows what he's doing half the time. Of course, after a major shitfit,  he dove into trying to take the exhaust system apart and was quite successful by the time it was dark. The situation that Marc is facing, though, has taught David that life could be much worse, so.....tomorrow he is off to the parts store with hope that they have what we need. Fixing the problems on a sailboat in exotic places is so often what cruising is about; thank goodness our last few days have included spectacular snorkeling and yucking it up with new friends! Hope all is okay at home.