Losing a Propeller and Keel Damage

Nothing like watching the sunset while out at sea.

We stopped back by Montenegro for the duty-free fuel, at the Porto Montenegro/Tivat office. As we had just been there about a month earlier, we planned on a quick stop. Check-in with customs went quickly but when it came time to get the boat stamped in, the lady denied us? What?!? We showed her the Montenegro cruising permit, stickers, and entry/exit sheets as we had just been in her country. She said it was no good and that we needed a 'plastic card' to show our competence as captains. She would not accept any of our documentation, licenses, and did not care we had already been there. As she turned to chastise some other sailors who had just entered her office without shoes (she made them go buy shoes before she would talk to them), the customs guy came over to us. He said, 'I'm sorry for this, but just go to Bar (a port south) and you'll get checked in. This lady is crazy'.
We then asked him to stamp us back out as we would just leave their country. The lady then came back over and said 'oh, you can stay and spend the night if you wish'. 'No,' we replied. We would just get a little fuel at the regular price and leave. She then tried to get us to stay. By this time, we had had enough of her craziness and after a little fuel, we set sail for Greece around 5pm. So, if you go to Montenegro, go check in at Bar, the first southern port. Checking out at Porto Montenegro is fine, but checking in (if that lady is on duty) is going to be a bit more challenging.

We pulled into Lefkada, Greece after a 3 night sail from Montenegro. Greeting us at the dock were our friends from a few other cruising boats. After settling the boat, we had a wonderful reunion at a local restaurant and later that evening gathered on our boat for wine, loukoumades (Greek donuts with various toppings--sooo good) and catching up.

We spent the next few days getting boat jobs completed and sailed down to Argostoli for a couple of days to check out the sea turtle sanctuary. We had a discussion on the negative impacts of the fishermen feeding the turtles, as the jelly population is constantly increasing, due to the lack of predation from the turtles. If the fishermen stopped feeding the turtles, what would happen? It was a fantastic discussion about how eventually the turtles would return to their natural hunting instincts. There is a turtle research group based there and each day you will see them in their aqua colored shirts taking data and informing the public about their cause. If you have the time, they would love volunteers.

Observing the sea turtles in the harbor.

Going up the mast in their rock climbing harnesses to spot the sea turtles in the harbor.

We met up with some fellow American cruisers for drinks and to watch a local futbol (soccer) game.

As a big blow was coming, we sailed back north to meet another kid boat and explore some waterfalls. The following week found us back in Lefkada, as we awaited a package delivery. We enjoyed exploring the town a bit more and made some new friends along the way, which we find is one of the best things about this cruising life.

The fished every single day and fed their friend's boat kitty. They also ate some of their catch.

Waterfalls near Nidri.

The morning of our departure, as we were pulling away from the town quay, all hell broke loose. Jared was up front dealing with the trip-line on our anchor (Lefkada quay is known for all sorts of crap left at the bottom and we feared fouling our anchor on that stuff), when I lost steering ability on the starboard side. I felt a sort of shudder and that was it. We maneuvered as best we could, avoiding all the other boats moored around us, while finishing hauling up the anchor. The water was super dirty, so we figured we would motor out beyond the bridge to a beach area with clear water. Navigating on one engine was challenging with all the other boats in the vicinity, who also wished to transit beyond the bridge and traffic was heavy in both directions. We managed and dropped the hook off a nearby beach. Jared jumped in and came up a few seconds later with 'its gone'. 'What's gone, the stuff around the prop'? I replied? 'No, the prop, it's gone", was Jared's answer. I immediately felt sick to my stomach. Now what were we going to do and how long would this delay us?

Underwater pic of the starboard prop shaft and broken off stud.

We decided to go into the marina in Lefkada, as the boat would be secure with the impending bad weather and since our anchor windlass was dying (it actually had quit on us a few times before), it was just safer. Some friends came to the rescue with a recommendation of a local repair guy and after sending him some underwater photos, we had a haul-out date for the following week (we tried but could not get in sooner). One family who was still in the area came to our rescue and over drinks we hashed out a plan: they would help us maneuver over to the dock using their dinghy and then take our kids for the day.

They are expert cruisers and suggested we go ahead and test the starboard shaft to see if it rotated. Might as well determine if we needed to order extra parts ahead of time if it didn't rotate.

Fortunately, the shaft worked in both forwards and reverse! Whew, the shaft looked to be in working order and not as damaged as we'd thought. We ordered folding props with expedited delivery timed with our haul-out date. Jared also changed all the brushes in our anchor windlass and it seemed to work a little better. Zach turned 11 during this time, so we invited our friends back over to help us celebrate. It was a great way to help pass the time and take our minds off the stress.

Taking apart the windlass to clean and change out the brushes for the motor.

Excited birthday boy!

Haul out day went badly. Getting over to the haul-out dock was fine. We had the assistance of our
friends in their dinghy as well as the repair guy's dinghy, both helping to steer Roundabout into place.

First, we had to insist several times about the proper placement of the slings! Jared removed our transducer shortly before lifting, and I am so glad he did!

Hauling out in Lefkada.

Not only did our new folding props not show up, the travel-lift crew set our boat down without the proper sized blocks.We were standing there showing them the manual and telling them what Roundabout needed and they did not listen. Upon setting her down, both keels cracked! Of course, I called attention to his and they agreed they would send a repairman over as soon as possible. I consulted with a surveyor just to double check that nothing else was damaged. We also requested Roundabout be lifted back up in the slings for the remainder of the haul-out. About 10 minutes later, a guy showed up and he said that we were the 34th boat this season he had to repair due to this incompetent crew! Wth?! As you can imagine, we were quite upset about this. The guy did a great job though and we are grateful for his expertise. Later on, after hearing about our day, another cruising boat told us they had a similar experience a few months prior. Seriously, this marina crew needs training. Although it keeps the fiberglass repair guy happy due to all the extra business...

Keel repairs in progress (we have a TON of photos of each step, but that would take up more room in this blog post.

On a side note, Lefkada marina would not refund our 'propping up' fee despite their staff causing the damage. Their response to us was, and we quote, 'well, your boat is in the slings and that costs more, so what would you rather pay'?. No apologies, just plain rudeness. We also witnessed rudeness to nearly every customer that came into their office. The staff at Lefkada Marina need desperate training in customer service. One customer had a death in the family and was asking if he could pay for a certain amount of time, but if he returned early could he get a refund for the over payment. They said NO and would not work with him at all. I felt so bad for the poor guy, who had just suffered the loss of a parent, with no compassion displayed for him at all. They would not refund anything back on the power and water account either, so if you placed a little extra on that to be cautious, you'd not get it back. What a crooked operation. We do NOT recommend this marina to anyone, and as there are several other marinas nearby (Preveza area) that are less expensive and have much better reviews from sailors, we would definitely point you to go that direction!

Before and after broken stud removal. 

Our propeller guy was able to determine, along with all of Jared's research, that the stud holding the propeller had failed due to metal fatigue. Apparently, this is a common problem! The guy was able to cleanly remove the broken stud and we decided to just put on a new standard propeller to get us by until our folding props arrived. We figured we might as well change the oil in both sail drives, while we were at it.

Repairs completed, we were relaunched early that evening and went back to anchor near the town quay (decided not to tie up there, as we wanted to avoid the fouling area).

Finally, after stalking UPS for a few more days, we received both our folding props and were soon on our way to Italy. Cadence turned 9 while on this passage and we caught a tuna for dinner on her birthday! We would install our folding props in the next calm and clear bay we came across. That is all in our next post, so stay tuned!

Leaving Lefkada via the rotating bridge.

We caught a tuna halfway across on passage!