So here is an unusual post! No pretty pictures. Instead you will be interested (or bored) to read a bit about diesel. This stuff is a necessary evil aboard a cruising sailboat. Yes, it's a SAIL boat! But it needs wind, and when that doesn't happen, a sailboat needs an engine and propeller - or a lot of patience.
What I insist on calling "The Wuhan Flu" prevented our return to Spain until September 2021.
So what? Simple: when we left, Adventuress had about a third of a tank of diesel fuel: call it about 50 gallons, or 190 litres. And that diesel fuel has a shelf life! It gets gummy after about 6 to 12 months: and as they say in Wuhan: "Engine no likee gummy!"
The ship's engineer/cook/bar tender/captain was nervous about the diesel: and his misgivings turned out to be correct. The engine said "Enough of this crap food!" Now engineer John had a dozen fuel filters aboard: but three were soon used up, full of gummy crap. Nancy spotted a safe haven just five miles away, and, with no usable breeze about, and an engine gummed up and able to go at less than half speed, we turned Starboard 90 and at 2 mph we limped into Caleta de Velez.
There we waited for a weekend and a Spanish Holiday (seems like Holidays are once a week in Spain), and then we had excellent luck! We were berthed literally right next to the boatyard, and along they came with pump, hoses, and 200 litres' worth of jerry jugs. We emptied the tank into the jerry jugs using a sucking hose, and then we rinsed out the tank (with rinsing diesel put back and stirred up with an air compressor - attached to the boat's pick-up tube.)
Then off they took me in a van to a fuel station where I purchased 200 litres of fresh diesel in 8 jerry jugs. And into the empty tank it went, with quite a few prayers. So the happy ending is: the Yanmar diesel engine is purring, so is Admiral Nancy, and therefore: happy am I!
John: Estepona, 25 October, 2021
