Service...

We were having a great whale watch trip today... then headed north to show the folks some other fun stuff.  The engine temperature went up while the oil pressure went down.  From my pilot days, that meant: find a soft place to put this thing!!  The options are better on a boat... unless you are on the west side of San Juan Island, where the water is deep and the shore is rocky.

I made a decision to run the boat into Mosquito Pass, where I could get out of the waves and give the engine a chance to cool down.  That worked... I called the office and let them know what was going on... "I'm going to be late getting back in, and we'll be needing someone more qualified than me to figure out what's going on."

With the guests safely back at the dock (they never knew there was an issue - I gave them a "scenic tour," since we had already seen plenty of whales. ;-)  They had a guy there to change out the impeller, but when I ran the boat at higher RPMs, the problem was still there.  We moved my afternoon charter to the other boat, while a blew out all the water lines and tried to diagnose the problem.  The decision was made by the owner to get the boat to the service place they use for big stuff... which means a 30+ mile run... with a suspect boat... and some of that time in the dark.

"I'll get it there."  I looked around to see who said that.  Oh, shit - it was me.  The options were: take it tonight and spend the night in a hotel, or get up REALLY early in the morning and leave in the dark, to get the boat there by 7:30 in the morning.  The boss made the appointment while I gathered everything we had for parts (and these people are well equipped).  My main issue is handling dock lines by myself with a flybridge helm, but I'll deal with that... early tomorrow morning.  In a new place.  After a short night.

Heck, that should be a piece of cake after heading out through Cattle Pass today... with 4 to 6 foot rollers!  But, the reward was lots of good whale watching on the other side. :-)  Sure hope I don't run into any of that tomorrow... early.