We relaxed in the morning and I ran the new Honda generator for a while to charge batteries. Today was one of those no-Sun, no-wind days so our solar panels and wind generator were not helping.
As we were not moving, I decided to do aerobics and some strength exercises in the salon. I have 10 "Total Body Sculpt" recorded and stored on my computer which are about 20 minute workouts by Gilad Janklowicz so played the first one and worked out with him. I used to do several of these a week but stopped for some reason back in May. We do stay active and have done a few workouts on the back deck but aerobics are a great way to loosen up muscles that are not used much. 20 minutes of aerobics with a set of 15 push-ups during the 3 commercials plus curls and shoulder weights at the end. I was pretty tired afterwards since I hadn't done this in a while.
Later in the afternoon we decided to take our laundry into the Marina. Almost all of our "winter" clothes were somewhat dirty from the last few weeks so we decided to do them all then pack them away. We've found that many more washers and dryers are available if we do laundry later in the afternoon and it was true this time too. Of the 6 washers, only one was in-use. We put in 3 big loads then relaxed on the comfy porch chairs. 50 minutes later we moved the clothes into the dryers.
Since nobody else was using the laundry, we figured it would be OK to leave the dryers running and go to happy-hour at one of our favorite local eateries - the Pelican Cafe. It is only about a 10 minute walk from the marina and they have "beach seating" with tables in beach sand. It's not actually on the beach. Just beach sand under the tables.
Food and drinks were good at usual and the seafood chowder was excellent. Since it was a little early for our dinner, we just had a couple cocktails and appetizers. There was a very good guitar player / singer doing Caribbean style music which we also enjoyed. Here was our happy-hour setting at the Pelican Cafe.
We walked back to the marina a short while later to collect our big basket of laundry and haul it back to the boat. Laura was going to make homemade pizza for dinner but there wasn't enough time for the 2-3 hours of dough preparation. Instead we made a big breakfast for dinner. Here was the sunset on our way back to the marina. I didn't edit this picture - very colorful on it's own.
The marina wi-fi was coming in pretty good so we watched a movie on our TV then several Cheers episodes. I didn't sleep well because of being sore from the workout. Should have taken ibuprofen before coming to bed instead of at 5am.
Sunday, November 24th (Day 59)
After the ibuprofen at 5am, I slept almost straight through to 10am. Sometimes, it's nice to catch-up on sleep instead of going through the day tired.
I was pretty energized and decided to work a couple boat projects that I had been putting off because they were going to be messy. Our LoPro bilge pump had been acting up and needed to be replaced. Also, the engine room smelled of oil and antifreeze from the past few weeks of motoring. Time to get to work!
Our bilge on this boat is very wet. Mostly from rain coming down the main mast and the dripping shaft seal. For the first several years, I used big bilge pumps (a primary and a spare) but the water level had to get to 4-5 inches before they would turn on. As we are on a boat that moves around, the water sloshes and eventually gets to the bottom of our fuel tank and water tank. After I had the fuel tank repaired 5 years ago (to the tune of $5,000), I researched and found this Rule LoPro bilge pump that keeps the water level to less than 2 inches. Now the bilge water never gets high enough to slosh up to the fuel tank. I still have a big, 2,500 gallon / hour bilge pump as a backup.
I like the LoPro because it keeps our bilge water very low but it seems to require constant monitoring and cleaning. It has a built-in water level sensor so works automatically until the sensor gets dirty. Then it either doesn't work at all, stays on all the time or switches to a timer mode and turns on every 5 minutes. As it is working in a dirty environment, it needs cleaning often. The pump currently installed was only working right for about a day. Then it either stayed on all the time or cycled every 5 minutes. I think it was a gonner.
Anyway, I have two spare LoPros. A brand new one still in the box and a used one I pulled out last year because it was only working in timer-mode. After cleaning it really well, I decided to try the used pump. That was my first job of the morning and went pretty smoothly. Once I had the pump replaced, I ran some fresh water in the bilge to confirm the operation. It worked as advertised so I'll keep an eye on it.
The oil pads under the engine had lots of oil and some antifreeze on them so I figured this was where the smell was coming from. It had been several weeks (months?) since we've replaced these pads so I pulled out the old pads, cleaned everything up and put down new pads. You might ask where the oil and antifreeze comes from? This diesel engine has over 25,000 hours and has never been rebuilt since new in 1981. It has some oil and antifreeze leaks that I just can't get to and are not bad enough for a major repair so I live with them. Sometime in the next year or two I'll probably replace it with a new main engine but I'm not looking forward to that job.
We never did make it off the boat today. After the cloudy skies in the morning and working several boat jobs, we decided to stay put. Laura made pizza for dinner which we actually ate in the cockpit for the first time in several months. It was a nice evening "outdoors" and we talked for quite a while. Later in the evening we retired to the salon where we watched a new series (for us) on Netflix called Father Brown. It's a little bit of "who done it" set in the 1950s and is entertaining but not sure we will watch all 6 seasons.
Laura made Shrimp and broccoli (with Alfredo sauce) for me and pepperoni for herself. Forgot to take a "before" picture but here are the leftovers.
Monday, November 25th (Day 60)
We were up early and eventually decided to sand then put another coat of AwlWood gloss on our teak combing. As we had 3 coats built up, I ran the power sander to get off the high spots then we put on the 4th coat a little while later. Laura started baking for Thanksgiving at the marina - a pumpkin roll. I worked a few boat projects but not much else going on with Second Wind.
Not much going on today. We read a bit, worked a few minor boat jobs, played a little music and watched TV. Pretty sunset again tonight.
Tuesday, November 26th (Day 61)
We've been sleeping well with the warm days and cool nights. Last night we closed all the windows because it was going into the 50s overnight.
Once it warmed up a bit, we put a little thicker coat of AwlWood on the teak combing to start building up volume. It's looking pretty good now. Just need to build up the coats enough so I can do one more heavy sanding then a final coat with a good tip brush.
Today was grocery day. In the late morning, we took the dinghy into the town dock which is about 3 blocks closer to Publix than the marina. We had our luggage wheelie and fold-up crate because we were going to get enough food for the next 1-2 weeks. Our freezers were still fairly well stocked so we didn't need meat or fish. This Publix is smaller than some of the others and a little more expensive.
We loaded 11 bags of groceries into the wheelie crate and hauled it all back to the city park. Living on a boat isn't all fun and games ya know...
We just about filled up the dinghy with all the groceries. Back at the boat, I pulled along side and we both lifted the bags onto the deck. Then I tied off the dinghy at the stern and we hauled each bag from the deck into the cockpit then down the stairs to the galley.
While Laura was packing away the groceries, I took the dinghy into the marina for our mail and a few Amazon packages. One of the packages was water filter cartridges for our house water system and another was a spare gallon of Rotella oil for our main engine (Yep. It does leak a little while running).
We put the 6th coat of AwlWood on the combing later in the afternoon.
Laura practiced some songs on her Dolcimer from her new songbook (thanks Amazon) and I played guitar for a bit. After sunset I cooked burgers on the grill then we watched a few episodes of the Great British Baking Show.
Wednesday, November 27th (Day 62)
Another nice sleeping night and, near morning, Laura pulled on a second blanket because it was getting a little cool in the bedroom.
After a nice breakfast, I changed the house water filter cartridge and the cartridge in the filter I use when filling our tank from the marina. Our sink drain broke a few weeks ago - the stopper doesn't come up anymore when you push down the lever. I tried pushing the rod into the drain a bit more so it would catch the stopper but it was all rotted away. I put a new sink drain on my list for the hardware store.
I dropped the dinghy then filled up it's fuel tank with my 1/2 full jug. Now I have 3 empty 5-gallon gasoline jugs to fill at the marina fuel dock when we leave here. It will be about $1 / gallon cheaper than if I wait for the Florida Keys.
We also needed more foam paint brushes so decided to take a walk through town to the Ace Hardware. Another beautiful day for a walk but it was actually getting warm. We found ourselves looking for the shady side of the streets to stay out of the Sun. It did get to 81 here today.
At the Ace Hardware, we found the paint brushes and maybe a sink drain that would fit. Don't forget, this is a boat. Usually the stuff from a hardware store doesn't fit and you have to order from a marine store which is 3 times more expensive.
On the way back, I talked Laura into another stop at the Sushi / Chinese Buffet. This would probably be my last chance before leaving here. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving (big party at the marina) and we are scheduled to leave on Friday.
Here was my (first) plate of sushi from the Sakura Buffet. It was awesome!
I didn't fill up as much this time so we had a more pleasant walk back to the marina and our dinghy. The marina is starting to get ready for the big dinner tomorrow with ovens, tables, chairs and lots of other stuff being setup. Tonight they are having music from 8-11. Might be a little late for us.
Here the plan for the cruise to Marathon. The first goal is to get to Biscayne Bay which is about 90-100 miles from here.
We've never been out the St. Lucie Inlet but I have really good charts if we decided to do it. If the weather is nice, we could do an overnight from there to Biscayne Bay which is about 100 miles. The other option is to take the ICW from here to Lake Worth which we've done several times. It's about 35 miles on the ICW but there are 7 bridges that have to open for us. The last 4 are on schedules which we can't usually make easily so it is a long day.
But, from Lake Worth, it is only 60 miles to Miami and 70 miles to Biscayne Bay. If we left early in the morning, we could be there by early evening and not have to run all night with the associated lack of sleep.
The current off-shore forecasts call for so-so weather on Saturday (4 foot seas, 5-6 seconds) which will probably be a bumpy ride but good winds for sailing down the coast. Next Tuesday or Wednesday looks like the next window with winds from the west (off the shore) and lighter seas. But, by time we leave here on Friday the forecast could be totally different. We'll just have to enjoy Thanksgiving at the marina and try to find good sailing weather.
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