When you can't sleep, you blog...

I've been trying to sleep for 5 hours now and decided it just wasn't working.  So I got up, edited photos and decided why not write a blog?

We are hopefully heading farther south tomorrow morning.  Perhaps my nerves are up I do not know.  We have tried to leave Monterey Bay a few times already and found our engine was not working.
We've worked  a lot on the engine ourselves, trying to bleed the air out of the fuel lines after an oil and filter change.  We've enlisted the help up 3 mechanics.  Each one contributed something to the  dilemma.  Finally the third one hit the nail on the head.

Mechanic #1 

Mechanic # 2 - Eric - Monterey Boatyard

Mechanic # 3 - Kevin  - Blue Water Marine

I've already talked about mechanic #1 in a former post.  Eric from Monterey Boatyard came and worked on the engine.  He was good, methodical in his approach but finally said it was a bigger problem than he could tackle.  He called Kevin from Blue Water Marine and gave him the scoop.  We called Kevin who suggested a new copper washer on the bleed valve of the secondary air filter.  Immediately, Dan and I hopped on the bikes and off we went to find this little "copper" washer.  We went to 4 places with no luck.  We bought something similar but not the real deal.  We installed it, and it worked better.  The next day the engine still would not start.  Dan decided, we needed to ask Kevin if he could stop over.

Kevin put together a few washers he had kicking around in his truck, he adjusted a few things like the idle and worked magic on the engine in only a few minutes.  He preferred copper washers however did not have any, but it worked.  He really knew what he was doing.

Dan and I went off on our bikes again in search of these "copper" washers, to eventually find them at a motor cycle shop.  We went back, Dan switched to the copper washers and the engine has run well since.

Thank you to all you mechanics that helped us out.  In the meantime, we learned a lot more about our engine.  Needless to say, I am glad it is working.

We took an early morning walk along the beach and the Pelicans were going crazy feeding on fish.  They were amazing to watch them dive into the water.  I really could not catch it on my iPhone.

The Pelicans were very happy after their breakfast.


















This morning,Dan and I took a great bike ride on the bike trail that heads south of Monterey into a town called Pacific Grove.  The waves were up and the coast line was stunning.  I continued on a little farther on my bike, as Dan turned back to protect his deteriorating knee.  Here are some photo's from that trip.

Dan is happily resting after the engine problems and a nice bike ride.  The boat and crew is ready to depart in the morning.  Now perhaps I can go to sleep.