The Sea Stooges Don't Give Up Easily

May 4 – 10, 2012

I have good news and bad news to report, but you should have expected as such judging from the title of this blog.  I don't want to be a complainer, but then I don't think the wanna-be cruisers out there should be led astray thinking that we travel in tropical bliss all the time.

The good news was that we did leave the Sunset Bay Marina at Stuart as planned on Friday, May 4.  We intended to rendezvous in the Lake Worth anchorage with two other boats:  ANDANTE and FREELANCE.  Then, all three of us would make the crossing together on Saturday.  When we were underway for about an hour, ANDANTE called to say that when they woke up their inverter was smoking, so they had to have that checked out and may not make it to Lake Worth in time for the Saturday crossing.  FREELANCE called when we were almost to Lake Worth to say that their heat exchanger was leaking salt water into the engine coolant and decided that they would have a new one overnighted, but that meant they couldn't make the crossing on Saturday.  So, at that point it looked like we would be by ourselves, like most of the time anyway.  Remember how I told you that trying to make cruising plans was like writing your name in the sand on a rising tide?!!

The gorilla on our back

I saw these beasts next to the pool of one of the homes that we passed going to Lake Worth.  I thought they were rather unusual to have as yard “art”, unless the owner was a zookeeper at one time.  As it turned out, I think that gorilla must have hexed us for making fun of him as we went by.

We had an uneventful trip down to Lake Worth and anchored south of Peanut Island by 2:00 p.m.  Since it was so early we had the rest of the afternoon to get some more chores done, eat and get to sleep early so we could get up at 5:15 a.m. to start the crossing.  I decided to put new line on both of the trolling fishing reels, and Wayne agreed to help hold the line while I strung it on.  It was a relief to get that job done because the guys had been complaining for 2 years that the line needed to be changed whenever we lost a fish, or so they thought.  It didn't matter that the fish were lost because of getting hung up on the transom, Eddie letting them slip off the swim platform, fish biting through the leader, lure breaking, fish swimming under the prop and breaking the line, and probably a few other things I've not listed.  The point I'm trying to make is that the our lost fish weren't due to the line being old and breaking, but that's what they chose to focus on and harp relentlessly about because they could blame that on me.  Don't let anyone ever tell you that only women are whining harpers, because I have documented proof in my journal that men are just as bad.  Gosh, I feel better already!

Maybe we should have taken the cruise ship

I took this photo on Saturday well after sunrise; I told you earlier that we had planned to leave before the sun rose, so you should guess we had another problem.

We all got up as scheduled, and went through our normal starting procedures until I got to the step of turning the key to the engine.  NOTHING happened!!  I mean absolutely nothing, as though I didn't even turn the key.  At first I thought I hadn't turned on the ignition breaker, but when I looked below on the panel, the breaker was on.  Eddie was standing up on the moonlit bow waiting to haul up the anchor, giving me that “what are YOU waiting for NOW” look, Wayne popped his head inside to ask me why I was taking so long.  When I told him I had turned the key and nothing happened, he had to jump inside and try it for himself, only to get the exact same results.  At that point, we weren't going anywhere.  It sure seemed that maybe King Neptune was trying to tell us the sea and moon weren't aligned properly for us to leave yet, but I blamed it on that ugly gorilla's hex and hoped we could beat that.  If we could solve the problem on Saturday we could go ahead and leave on Sunday since the weather was still going to be good enough to cross then too.

Room for one only

It was obvious we had another electrical problem, somehow associated with the starting system.  So, we began with what we hoped would be the easiest, a bad wire in the key switch.  No such luck.  Wayne metered all the electrical connections, and one thing that was happening was that there seemed to be intermittent discontinuity which made tracing the problem even more complicated.  You can see from the photo that the work space is limited, especially for a big person like Wayne.  We had to visualize all the ways the electricity would travel to make the engine be able to start and be able to isolate the different legs to figure out where the voltage was dropping.  After 6 hours of searching Wayne and Eddie finally traced it to the battery isolation switch.  It is really only used to isolate the starter battery if you need to turn off the power to the battery to work on something else and want to make sure no power will go your way unintentionally.  We think that we could have made the  trip without the switch at all, but since we could locate one shore side, we decided to replace it. 

Going to pick up the new switch meant that Eddie and I would have to take the dinghy and try to find a place to go ashore.  Since it was Saturday, the harbor area was so busy, and we had a dinghy ride to hell because of the wind, all the boat wakes, and low tide.  Sometimes I think I should wear one of those mouth pieces that football players wear to keep my teeth from being jarred to pieces in the bouncy water.

We decided to head to the Riviera Beach City marina since it is a public facility and would most likely allow transient boaters.  They have a tiny dinghy dock, probably because they charge $10 to land the dinghy and no one wants to pay that.  There was no way I was going to pay that either since I just had to walk less than 2 miles to get the part and told Eddie to drop me off or wait until someone came to try to collect and then leave.  When I was getting ready to leave the dinghy dock another cruiser was unloading a fuel can and propane tank from his dinghy, and I started talking to him to ask where the people in charge were located since it wasn't obvious.  He told me he had a rental car and was going to check in and then he would give me a ride to the parts store.  So, I said goodbye to Eddie and went off with this guy (another Ed!, from Seattle) I had never  seen before in my life, with no cell phone, nor weapons, just positive cruiser intuition. 

Kind Ed dropped me off at the store, but when I saw the part, it wasn't exactly like the one which I was replacing (I had taken the broken switch with me).  The clerk said it would work, but to make sure I had him call Wayne.  Wayne thought it would be OK and told me to get mounting screws since the mounting holes were different.  I told the clerk to put the 4 screws in the switch package.

I walked all the way back to the dinghy, thankful it was still daylight because the neighborhood wasn't the greatest.  I showed Eddie the part and realized the @!*% clerk hadn't put the screws in the package! I called the store and told him I was coming back for the screws.  Fortunately I had seen a public boat ramp that was less than half the distance to the store, so Eddie and I piled back into our dinghy and went to that boat ramp.  Despite being extremely busy with day boaters loading their boats back on their trailers, we found room in a spacious side alcove with nice floating docks.  Eddie could even wait in the shade while I walked back to the store for the screws.

When we got back to FLUKE, Wayne had put everything back together from the morning's trouble shooting process.  The guys didn't have any difficulty putting in the new switch.  When the ignition key was turned, the big CAT started like she was born to run, and we “knew” we were ready to make the crossing on Sunday.

I think that ugly gorilla must have gotten scared away during the fabulous Super moon rise on Saturday night, because when we went through our regular anchor up and get under way drill on Sunday morning everything went smoothly.  We had an easy exit in the dark out of the Lake Worth inlet and were met with favorable seas.  FREELANCE had managed to get his heat exchanger repaired and followed us a couple of miles behind.  Unfortunately he was having trouble with his stabilizers overheating, but it wasn't a bad enough problem to necessitate having to turn around and go back.  Having things break down is just another part of cruising, so you have to make up your mind how you want to approach dealing with those issues and can't let them eat you up.  Keep the gorilla in the closet.

Sunset at Mangrove Cay

Anchor up to anchor down took 12 hours, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset at isolated Mangrove Cay, with 5 other boats also using the spacious area for the night.  I had hoped to cook fish for our first dinner in the Bahamas, but all I managed to catch were 4 barracuda.  The guys always complain when I troll on the Banks and just catch those toothy  shiners which are a real pain to get off the hook, but if I don't have the line in the water I won't have a chance to catch anything else either.  To assuage their negative feelings about my fishing habits, I made taco salad, one of the FLUKESTERS favorites.  We celebrated our successful arrival with that yummy feast and a few cold beers.  One happy crew.

Fish mud

We had a peaceful night at anchor and were well-rested to travel another 9 hours the following day across the shallow Little Bahama Bank.  The sparkling blue water stretches as far as you can see, but periodically will be broken by fish muds.  These appear as distinct white, cloudy streaks in the water, kind of looking like a highway through the sea.  At first you think you are going to run aground on a shallow sand bore, but the charts indicate the water depth is fine.  It is said that certain schools of fish swim in the straight line, churning up the sandy bottom.  Because of how the wind and current may be in the area, the sand stays suspended for a long time after the fish have moved on.  The color contrast is striking and easily catches your eye.

On Monday night we anchored off the small settlement of Coopers Town, located on Great Abaco, a.k.a. the mainland by the Bahamian out islanders.  There was a lot of noise going on from the shore and people were dressed in red shirts and had flags flying from their cars.  We heard on the VHF that it was their election day, and it was a fierce battle between the blue shirt party (currently in power) and the red shirt party.  Around 10 p.m., the noise escalated with horns blaring and people shouting; the red shirt party had ousted out the current party in power and the out islanders were happy. 

The next morning (Tuesday) we traveled another hour southward towards the settlement of New Plymouth located on Green Turtle Cay where we hoped to clear customs.  With westerly winds, we had to still had to anchor off the shore of Great Abaco and take the dinghy 3 miles across the Sea of Abaco to reach the public dock.  We wanted to get in early before the wind kicked up even more and made the ride across the open water rougher.

The rules state that the captain is the only one permitted to go ashore until the boat has cleared customs.  I decided to go with Wayne and tend the dinghy while he cleared customs.  After the normal amount of time, Wayne showed up to tell me that they had changed the procedure.   Now, they want all the crew members to sign their own immigration cards (instead of the captain, who presents everyone's passport, signing for everyone like in the past), which meant that Eddie, who was still on FLUKE 3 miles back at the anchorage, wasn't easily accessed to sign his own card himself.  That would mean having to take the dinghy back to FLUKE, get Eddie to sign and then take the card back to the immigration office and go back to FLUKE again.  Let's say for now, I will have to finish the rest of this part of the story when we are back in Florida.

When we got back to FLUKE Eddie hoisted the Bahamian courtesy flag, and we ate lunch.  After Eddie took a nap, he and I decided to go snorkel at a  rocky area about a mile away; it had been two long years since we had visited our beloved undersea world.

The minute we dove into the clear water it was like we had never been away.  I thought I could swim all the way to the other side of the Sea of Abaco.  We lost ourselves in exploring under ledges and behind rocks, always finding new creatures around the next corner.  We stayed in the water 3 hours, getting good exercise and shriveled up.  Only the waning sunlight made us think about swimming back to the dinghy, a good distance away.  In fact, a sailboat anchored near FLUKE called Wayne on the VHF to ask him if he wanted them to go look for us since we had been gone for so long and had been out of their sight.  They wondered if something had happened to both of us, so Wayne told them that that was “normal” behavior for us.  Jacqueline (as in Cousteau) and Lloyd (as in Bridges) were contentedly back in their element!

Well, you can see we never gave up and finally made it.  I wish I could say it looks like smooth cruising ahead, but we are in for a spate of bad weather, and we need to find some protection.

Thanks to all of you who have posted comments.  It is comforting to know that we have you aboard, even in thoughts only.  Feel free to offer suggestions for improvement or added interest.

Tune in again to find out where we went and how we managed to post this blog.  I'll include more photos next time!

No One Is Smoldering

April 30 – May 3, 2012

Remarkably, all of the FLUKESTERS have managed to stay mostly happy and busy while we have waited out the windy weather.  The days have blown by since we have kept busy with boat repairs, neglected maintenance chores, shopping trips, and some sight-seeing.  I will also admit that we finally got some much needed rest and conquered the fatigue that we all felt from the long days of getting ready to leave Vero and the “excitement” associated with our aborted crossing attempt.  We didn't get around to launching the dinghy until the afternoon of our third day on the mooring, which I think is a new record for us.  Usually we can't wait to go ashore and explore.

The Sewer project ended successfully, or so we think at this point.  The bilge pump got a new float switch installed, so now it should shut off and not burn itself out.  The flapper in the check valve was cleaned and turned over in hopes of making a better seal.  We won't know for sure if that works until we get into some moving seas again.  While we are at rest, the exit hole is above the waterline, so we can't make a good test run while we are on the mooring.

After the smoke cleared

The first night on the mooring we fired up the generator for some cooking electricity.  The generator ran fine until it abruptly stopped: no sputtering, no hissing, no change in r.p.m.  That was something new, and we figured it could only mean one thing – an electrical problem within the generator.

So, early the next morning, the generator area was prepped, and all the instruments laid out for exploratory surgery.  From the above photo you can see that the operating room is rather confined and you need to be flexible to perform certain procedures.  Before the battery was disconnected, Wayne reached in to show Eddie something and hit a loose wire (the one that caused the generator to stop).  The wire hit the metal box it was housed in and shorted out, immediately causing a cloud of sparks and the wire insulation to catch fire and melt.  The acrid smell was toxic, and poor Eddie was right down next to it.  Wayne ran to get the fire extinguisher, but Eddie grabbed the wire to isolate it from other flammables and started blowing on it and put it out.  The rest of the operation was not only successful, but they also discovered another problem and fixed that too.  So, there was no need to hire a “specialist” to come out to FLUKE and perform any remedial actions.  Chalk up another victory for the W & E Marine Maintenance Team.

Child's play

Sometimes we all act like kids when we're aboard.  I think that's why cruisers as a whole tend to have more youthful attitudes and joie de vivre towards life than the our mainstream contemporaries.  The fresh air, need for self reliance, and sense of freedom and adventure cruising brings is invigorating.  As I watched this little girl playing on her boat next to us, I was taken back 50 years in time.  That would have been me, hanging upside down on the mast boom, swinging from the ropes, playing with the 3 dogs aboard, and jumping back and forth from the mother ship to the tender, barefoot and as nimble as a cat.  At least this old dog still takes delight in those memories and seeing others growing with the sea.

Stay and don't shake

I had meant to give Ursa a bath before we left home, but had never gotten around to it.  However, just because we're aboard doesn't mean that we don't maintain normal routines, even for the dog and cat.  Since we'll be going to the dock for water before we head out to sea I didn't need to feel guilty about using tank water for the bath.  Ursa wasn't too thrilled about it, but judging from all the hair that came out, she should feel a lot cooler with her clean coat now.  Wayne combed her before and after the bath too, getting rid of even more of the old hair.

Watch the sun set

Sunset Bay Marina is a beautiful facility, with a pretty West Indies style main building looking west over the picturesque St. Lucie River.  In fact, the first night here, there was a wedding on the steps leading up to the main porch.  There are places to sit on the porch and a whole row of rocking chairs waterside, facing west.  With all this wind, they rock back and forth, and I told Eddie they are holding the ghosts of sailors past, all cackling about their adventures on the high seas.

Better than a walker

Besides the 69 moorings, there is an enormous number of wide docks with protected slips.  The main dock looks to be 300 yards long and is so far from the main building, the employees use these Segway-like vehicles called GoPets to go back and forth.  They go really fast, and I would imagine there have been some wet accidents.  Eddie eyed them every time we went by.

900 feet long main dock

This shot gives you a good feel for how far out the main dock extends and how many boats slips are available.

Artsy restroom

The sea theme is everywhere, even in the restrooms, as evidenced by this colorful wall mural.  The walkways have colorful brick pavers with sparkles and a design that looks like the sand and water.

Scuba turtle

Sailors Retreat is the popular riverfront restaurant on the premises and it has an open air sitting area and bar.  It seemed like there was live music of some sort on most nights.  Steve, the scuba turtle, greets visitors at the main entrance, encouraging safe diving.

Sunset Bay Marina is the terminus point for what is called the Riverwalk area of Stuart.  You can walk along the riverfront from the marina all the way to the old restored downtown area where there are lots of restaurants, fashion boutiques, art galleries, and curiosity shops  The opposite end of Riverwalk ends at a riverside amphitheater.

Walking along Riverwalk

Many of the restored buildings have an art deco flair and color to them, and are centrally located such that you can walk both in front and back of them.  One of the largest buildings has some three dimensional mural work done in every window, with themes relevant to the commerce and history of Stuart.

Watching for her sailor

The prime waterfront lots are occupied by some restored cottages that are used for business and/or living purposes, all with island style architecture and colors.

Island style cottage

While I loved the style of this cottage and snapped the picture when I was walking by, it wasn't until I off-loaded the photo that I noticed the wonderful fish pattern in the fence.  I've decided it is the perfect design for some decorative shutters I've wanted to put up on the house.

Abundance

The statue of Abundance keeps the water flowing in Haney Circle.  She was created by a French artist for France's exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair, but never made the showing.  Kept in storage in New York for many years, she was eventually purchased through the efforts of a local woman's club as a centerpiece for the busy circle.

Even dogs are welcome

While Ursa didn't drink from Abundance's fountain, she found a cool drink from an artsy bowl outside one of the galleries.

 The marina provides free bus transportation to several local big box stores farther removed from the easily accessed Old Town area on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  They also have free bicycles, but riding around this area of Stuart can be  challenging because the traffic is very heavy.  Eddie decided to walk to Radio Shack to buy a new antenna for his radio and didn't realize how far it really was.  So, thinking he may have missed it, he stopped to ask directions from a local.  The black woman raised up her arm to point in the direction, and Eddie was distracted from the glittering white snowflakes that were sprayed onto her armpits.  I'm not expecting that we will see any cruisers with that new fashion statement, although I've had a few glimmering fish scales in my pits before!

With what looked to be a good weather window arriving, we thought we would be leaving on Friday (tomorrow) morning to head down to Lake Worth and anchor for the night to get up in the dark and make another attempt at crossing.  In fact, it appeared that two other boats were going to be following the same plan, so we would have some company.

However, when we woke up this morning, we found out that the freezer temperature was reading 9.4 degrees, instead of its usual 4-5 degrees.  To make matters even worse, it was rising more as we watched it!  Wayne shot into diagnostic mode to try to figure out what could be happening.  His best guess was that our battery voltage had dropped below what was acceptable to run the compressor, and it had kicked off.  Further electrical measurements indicated we had over a volt and a half drop with the way the wiring went to the compressor.  After a couple of phone calls, to the manufacturer and installer, it was determined that undersized wire had been used for the installation.  That coupled with low battery voltage and an extra leg in the wiring circuit just didn't give much of a margin for the voltage to drop.  So, Wayne spent the afternoon taking out the extra leg to eliminate some voltage drop.  Plus, we started the generator to charge the batteries, and the compressor kicked right back on.  However, I think it is puzzling why this has never happened before this incident.  We will rewire the whole circuit when we get back and, in the meantime, hope that this initial “repair” will get us through the trip.  We sure had some anxious moments wondering what we were going to do with a freezer full of food if couldn't get it to cool properly.  It's not like many boaters around here would have any extra precious freezer space.

Plate size jellies

I thought I was going to have to spend another few days watching these big jellyfish squish themselves through the water.  As it is now, this post should be the final one from Florida.  But, like the water changing the sand patterns along the shore, our plans may be altered again should another problem be discovered. 

P.S. We never have discovered the source of the mysterious green slime on the floor of the machinery space.

Here We Go Again!

April 28 - 29, 2012
On a mooring at Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart Florida

Welcome aboard to those of you who have vicariously cruised along with us on our other adventures and to those who may be trying out the lifestyle for the first time.  My writing style will be the same as always: telling it like it is, good or bad.  Of course some of the information is “slanted” from my viewpoint and if you ask the guys for their version it may be a little different since they don't always want the “truth” to be told.  I take no shame in admitting, that despite all the thousands of miles we have under our keel, we still manage to do some really stupid things and get ourselves in trouble or a state of misery.  We are lucky that our lovely vessel, FLUKE, is mostly very forgiving.

Sunset Bay Marina mooring field

I am writing this from up in the pilothouse, with the fumes from the forward bilge area (a.k.a. The Sewer) wafting up the stairs, kind of burning my eyes.  The guys are down there working on one of our newest problems.  If you remember from past adventures, I always feign needing to do other projects when it comes to having to do anything in The Sewer.  In this case, I mentioned that I thought it would be a good day to do some dessert baking after I work on the blog for a while.  Any kind of food production is usually a good ticket to get me out of Sewer work.

I'm also hoping for a rain shower to get the boat wet so I can go out and wipe off some of the salt deposits left over from our ill-fated attempt to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas yesterday.  The fact that we are in a marina should give you an idea that all may not be well with the Flukesters.  In fact, I just heard Wayne asking Eddie what all the green stuff was on the floor of the machinery space (the compartment aft of The Sewer), so it sounds like there may be another issue added to the Work List. Now I'll back up and tell our newest story from the beginning.

We were working steadily to leave the Vero Beach Municipal Marina dock in time to catch a nice 4-day weather window for crossing that would end yesterday (Saturday). 

The first thing that happened was discovering that our home air conditioner with a 19-year-old compressor wouldn't cool (should we be surprised?!).  Of course waiting until a week before we wanted to leave to turn it on for the first time since last October wasn't the most brilliant of moves.  Finding out the problem on a Friday didn't help get it taken care of any sooner either.  We were lucky to have a new compressor and air handler installed by Wednesday afternoon.  At least we would have a few days to see if the new installation was hooked up well enough not to burn down the house.

While the guys had done some extensive patch work on the dinghy after the first of the year, they had never bothered to actually launch it off the trailer and give it a wide open test run out in the river.  They had started it up and ran it in a bucket and felt that was “good enough”.  I will remind you that last year we had not taken this big dinghy to Canada with us, meaning that the dinghy had not been used since August 2010.  Duh, is that REALLY important?

So, when the dinghy got launched into the river on Thursday to be run over to FLUKE to get loaded up, it had a dead battery.  Fortunately, a nearby helpful boater towed the guys from the launch ramp over to FLUKE's dock.  After getting a new battery installed, Eddie took it out for its “final” test run.  He came sputtering back to the dock on only 2 cylinders.  Preliminary inspections indicated that a Honda mechanic was needed to fully solve the problem.

While Wayne was dealing with the mechanic, Eddie and I were supposed to take FLUKE over to the fuel dock to get diesel fuel.  The engine hesitated to start upon turning the ignition key.  It has never done that before; the Caterpillar engine is born to run.  So, we figured we must have a small leak in the fuel line that was letting in air.  We did get to the fuel dock and back though with the idea of discovering the problem later.

The Honda mechanic discovered two problems with the dinghy engine:  some bad spark plugs and fouled carburetors.  When he went to adjust one of the new carburetors, he broke one of the needles and had to spend several hours acquiring another one. 

On late Friday afternoon, the guys took out the dinghy again for its new “final” test run.  The engine seemed to run fine, but there was an intermittent beeping sound and warning lights came on that indicated low oil pressure or overheating, but we knew they weren't really an issue.  While the beeping did stop, the warning lights wouldn't go off.  Another call to the mechanic and some telephone diagnostic advice seemed to indicate a sensor issue, rather than mechanical problems. 

So, the FLUKESTERS loaded the dinghy up and set out at 5:40 p.m. (our cut-off time had been 5:30 p.m.) to head to the Ft. Pierce inlet with the intention of anchoring for the night and getting up at 4:00 a.m. to head out to sea.  We knew if we couldn't leave the next morning we would not be able to try to cross for a minimum of 5 more days because of a new weather system moving in.

The Ft Pierce port anchorage

By 8:00 p.m. we had safely anchored in the “scenic” area of the commercial port's turning basin near a couple of rusty scow barges.  There were a lot of lights and noise coming from a small island freighter being loaded.  I put in my earplugs so I could try to get some sleep.

We awoke as scheduled on Saturday morning and headed toward sea.  Since there was some wind out of the east and the tide was going out, the water in the area at the mouth of the inlet was pretty bumpy and FLUKE was hobby horsing into the waves.  Visitor managed to throw up before we even cleared the inlet.

While the waves were only running 2-3' high for the most part,  we were going straight into them, bouncing quite a bit, and it looked like it would be that way for the whole day.  The bilge pump light in the forward bilge (The Sewer) kept coming on and wouldn't go off.  So, Wayne had to go done there regularly to make sure it would go off and not burn itself out.  Plus, he discovered that the check valve that is supposed to work one-way only, to let the bilge pump pump the water out and keep the sea water out, was failing.  When the FLUKE's bow plunged into the sea below the level of the through hull for the bilge pump, sea water would flow back through the hose and into the bilge.  Going down below like that can make you pretty green, so Wayne wasn't feeling very well after about the 6th trip below.

When we were about 15 miles offshore (2 hours out), Eddie threw up too.  I would love to post a pic, but not only would Eddie not speak to me the rest of the voyage, I would regret what payback might lay in store for me at some future date.  Since I was at the helm and could guess that the guys would pretty much be down for the count the rest of the day, and I didn't feel like getting slammed for the whole day, I turned FLUKE around and headed back toward the inlet.

The relief was immediate as we were taking the seas on the stern, and FLUKE rides very well getting her BIG bottom pushed from the stern.  All our spirits were uplifted, and we all wanted something to eat (funny how that works).  Plus, we didn't need to feel any shame in our aborted crossing attempt because the hoards of weekend day boaters and people fishing on the jetties would just assume that we had crossed over from the Bahamas during the night.   They wouldn't know that we were just a bunch of sea weenies high tailing it back to calmer waters.

Then, we all felt good enough to get into an argument about where we should go until conditions were right for us to make another crossing attempt.  Wayne wanted to go back to Vero Beach because we would have a vehicle available to get around.  I remarked that we didn't need a vehicle because we already had everything we needed to make the trip and it would involve traveling 4 hours in the wrong direction.  Eddie and I outvoted Wayne to go to Stuart since we hadn't been there in a number of years, and we wanted to see what Sunset Bay Marina looked like since it had undergone extensive renovations.  Plus, even though it is about an hour from the ICW, we could use it as an intermediate stop before moving down to Lake Worth inlet when the weather improves and stage ourselves for a more favorable crossing angle than what we would have had going out of Ft. Pierce.

So, now while you don't know the whole story, you know why I'm writing this from Stuart.  Next post I'll tell you about how the Sewer project ended up, the mysterious green stuff, and how Eddie put out the fire.  My life is NEVER boring!