What’s Broken On Sava

You may be under the illusion that everything works fine onboard Sava. Not true. While our autopilot is still going strong, a lot of other boat parts don’t work. Below, a comprehensive accounting of what’s broken on Sava, and some things that broke and got fixed.

Also, I am not a handy person so my explanations are very basic because that’s my level of understanding. Thankfully Brian is at a much higher level than me. If he wasn’t so handy, we wouldn’t have made it out of Florida. Brian also recommends a good resource for these jobs, the Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual.

Freezer

We thought we got this fixed after the engine debacle, but this freezer is finicky. A couple of times we noticed it was off and we are now very vigilant about ensuring the freezer is plugged in. We also keep the vents clean – got to get rid of the cat hair.

Yet still the temperature regularly creeps above freezing. This is understandable when we haven’t been under power or it’s cloudy, but we don’t know why the freezer doesn’t work when the solar charge is full and we run the engine.

This freezer is driving me crazy. I obsessively check the temperature, which is not easy to do. Because the freezer is strapped into our salon sofa, we have to peek under the table to see the power and temperature indicators.

freezer
A view under the salon table of our freezer indicators
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Touring Puerto Rico

Visiting new places as a cruiser is different: we are traveling around islands as opposed to within them. In Puerto Rico we are trying to do both. Of course we sail, but we try to see as much as possible inland too.

Since our first weekend here, we have covered a lot of ground on this gorgeous island. We’ve been busy touring Puerto Rico.

Gilligan’s island

Just east of Parguera is another popular tourist spot focused around the small and wild Gilligan’s Island. Yes, there’s one here too!

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Our First Weekend in Puerto Rico

Our First Weekend in Puerto Rico: Thursday, April 25th – Sunday, April 28th

Puerto Rico is great! We are eating delicious food, drinking multiple fruit flavored mojitos and meeting interesting people. Plus, we are visiting unique places and speaking Spanish whenever possible. Our first weekend in Puerto Rico was a success!

The sailing here is challenging, hence the name “The Thorny Path.” Winds are strong and waves high most of the day. We’ve adopted the popular cruiser tactic of beginning to sail at or before the break of dawn. By doing this and making short passages of less than 20 miles at a time, we can avoid the worst of the elements. Overnight the sea dies down but by mid morning it roars again.

In between sailing, we enjoy downtime at the different ports and the company of fellow cruisers. Here’s a recap of our first weekend in Puerto Rico!

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