Vero Beach – Spring
2020
Tuesday, March 31,
2020
Cloudy this morning.
Wind SW@ 10-20, 75°. It is supposed to
reach 90°
here today.
Today we didn’t do much.
After several very long days making passages, it is nice to take the day
off. The SW wind continues all day, so
the hot day turns out to be pretty nice.
We hear that a lot of stores are still open, e.g. Home Depot. We are also seeing power boats come by with
lots of people on board. We seriously
considered going with Fancy Free to
the Chesapeake. We talked to Jim and
Judy (Tug A Long) who live north of
Baltimore about using their dock and they said Okay. Their boat is in Daytona. However, Fancy Free is planning to leave in
the morning instead of Saturday and we are just not ready to try to make a fast
paced trip to the Chesapeake.
We gave Fancy Free some of
our Parmalat milk, a big box of instant oatmeal and 2 of our diesel jerry cans
for the trip. No one is sure what
marinas, stores, etc. will be open on their trip north, so carrying as much
fuel as possible is a good thing for them.
Another “virtual cocktail
hour” with Fancy Free. Libby (Nightingale) came by. Nice.
While in the galley, Lisa was
stung by a small “bark scorpion”. They
are only a couple of inches long. The
sting is like an electric shock, painful, but not serious. It instantly became fish food. Not sure when it came aboard, obviously in
the Bahamas, because we have not been ashore in Florida yet. Google says they
are common in both places.
 |
| Bahamian "Bark" Scorpion |
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 April Fools Day
Heavy rain overnight as a
cold front moves through.
7:00am Clear, wind N@10-15,
55 degrees, chilly.
8:00am Fancy Free is off. We moved
the mooring lines to Rhiannon last
night. Normally, when you release from a raft, you allow the released boat to
drift backwards until it is clear of the other boat and the mooring (or
anchor). Instead, Gail tried to go
forward and drove right over the mooring pennants. The wind and tide grabbed Fancy Free and turned it 90 degrees, so
it was across our bow. Gail tried to
back off, but our anchor was now stuck in their life lines. Ray (Compass
Rose) came over in his dinghy to assist.
We release the mooring pennants from Rhiannon,
so now Rhiannon could drift away,
which took the tension off everything. Our anchor came loose from Fancy Free, and the tide and wind
carried them away also. We then picked
up and re-attached the mooring pennants and Fancy
Free headed out of the harbor.
Exciting way to start the day!
We are still trying to figure
out our boat insurance renewal. We
currently have New Hampshire Marine Insurance (a division of AIG). They require us to be out of Florida by July
1. The renewal is due today. If we leave the boat here in Vero for the
summer (the least complicated option), we have to change insurance
companies. The only company we have
received a quote from is GEICO, but they are now telling us we have to get a
new survey. When we first talked to
them, they said our latest survey (September 2016) would be acceptable, now
they have changed their minds.
12:00noon I went to the
office and paid for the mooring through the end of April. They do have a slip available, and we
reserved that beginning May 1. This way
we at least have the option to stay here if we decide that’s what we want to
do. We are also still scheduled to haul
out in Saint Mary’s the middle of May. Options are good.
On the way back to the boat,
I stopped at Autumn Borne to discuss our refrigeration issue. You may remember that the forward
refrigerator (the one we installed the new evaporator unit in before we left
for the Bahamas) has stopped cooling.
Dean suggested that we evacuate the system with a vacuum pump, then recharge it. He has the necessary gauges,
but not the correct freon or the vacuum pump.
I think we might defer this project until the fall.
Our HP Officejet 100 printer
has died. All it will do is flash
lights. We called HP, but because of the
coronavirus, you are directed to a self help web site. The information provided on the website was
not helpful and there is no way to talk to a real person. I may have purchased my last HP product. The printer went into the trash and we ordered
an new Epson Portable from Amazon. Problem solved.
I made dinner, pasta
primevera. Lots of fresh
vegetables. Lots of leftovers for another meal too.
We hear from Fancy Free that they made it to Addison
Point Bridge (aka NASA Causeway) and are anchored for the night.
Dalmation
(Tom and Mary Lou) spent all summer here in Vero, much of the time working on
their generator. After consulting
several mechanics, one of the boats here had an “expert” on board. He was able to determine that it was not the diesel engine that was the problem, but the actual electrical generator. Apparently, the brushes were shot. I’m not sure why that couldn’t be rebuilt,
but I guess they opted not to do that.
They left Vero headed to the Chesapeake just before we arrived so we did
not get to see them before they left.
They live in New Hampshire and will drive home from there .
Tonight they are at Osprey Marina, just north of Gerogetown, SC.
We also hear from Ashling (who we met in No Name) (John
and Alexis) and Outbound (Steve and
Deb). They are in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera. All In
is in George Town, Exumas, with about 50 other boats. Mirana (Ian
and Michelle) are still in Big Major with about 40 other boats. All are still able to get food, water and
fuel.
Cool, 50 degrees overnight.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
The Governor of Florida has
finally issued a stay at home order. Of
course, that was after several huge spring break events in Miami and Ft.
Lauderdale.
Beautiful morning, 60
degrees, wind N@10, no clouds.
We spent most of today
working on the blog. I have been keeping
up with the hand written version, but the typing and posting is way behind.
Friday, April 3, 2020
Cool this morning, 60
degrees, no clouds, almost no wind.
We started the day trying to find the oil leak with the generator. The oil is running out of the pan that the
generator is mounted in. The generator
lives in the port aft storage area. It
is in a “sound proof” case and is, of course, buried under everything else
stored there (spare parts, tools, etc.) so working on means moving all that
stuff somewhere else, then removing the case.
Once all that was done, we
checked all over the engine (a Yanmar 3 cylinder diesel) and found no
leaks. We cleaned up all the oil and ran
the generator for a couple of hours. No
oil in the pan. The only thing we can
think of is that while changing the oil, we must have spilled some and not realized it. We use a pump to remove the oil from the
engine (no way to get under it to drain the oil like you would in a car), so that does not make a mess at all.
After all the oil is out of the pan, I removed the oil filter, which is mounted
at 90 degrees to the engine block. I put
a oil absorbing pad under the filter and managed to catch 2 or 3 ounces of oil
in the pad. Voila! I think! It is possible that the last couple of times
I changed the filter, I did not catch the oil as it drained from the old
filter. This would account for the oil
in the pan. I put 3 new oil absorbent pads under the engine, mounted the new oil and fuel filter and filled the
engine with oil. We ran the generator
for a couple more hours – no oil. Maybe
we “fixed” the problem.
While we had the oil change
pump out, we changed the oil in the main engine. We also changed it’s filter, careful not to
spill a bunch of oil in the bilge, and then changed the main Racor fuel filter
and the fuel filter on the engine as well.
The Racor is leaking a bit of fuel. I think the lower bowel on the filter is the cause. We tightened
everything on the unit again, and the leak stopped. We thought there was oil in the bilge, but it very well could have been diesel from the leaky fuel filter.
Leftover pasta primavera for
dinner.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
We her from Fancy Free. They are Jacksonville, and will head outside
(in the ocean) to Charleston tomorrow.
Dalmation left
Wynona Bay outside headed to Cape Fear, NC.
Bright and sunny, but cool,
65 degrees, no wind.
Today, we put everything back
in its place in the aft storage area.
We had our mail sent to us
from St. Brendan’s Isle (mail forwarding service). This is a great service when you are
traveling. You set up an account with
them, then have your mail forwarded their address. They notify you by email is mail
arrives. You can then go online and see
your mail. They will open it and scan it
for you if you ask. You can then have
them shred it, hold it, or forward it to you when you are somewhere you can
receive it.
I changed the spark plugs in
the outboard for the dinghy.
Dean and Susan (Autumn Borne) came by at cocktail
hour. Nice chat with them in their
dinghy and us onboard Rhiannon – maintaining appropriate social distances.
The wind came up the
afternoon, cool and dry, SE@10-20, like sitting in front of an air-conditioner,
nice!
We talked to Ashling today (John and Alexis). They are in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera.
The police there served them with a notice today that they can only go ashore
for food, water and fuel. Their visas
will not be renewed and they are required to leave the country when their
current visas expire. They cannot travel to any other island unless it is to
stop for food, fuel and water on their way back to the US. The police did not
know how long these orders would be in effect.
We haven’t been anywhere
since we arrived in the US except the marina office.
Lisa tried to make an
eye-splice in some 3/8” double braid rope we want to use to replace the rope on
the pulley system on the davits. We have done this successfully in the past, but it has been a couple of years. There is nothing intuitive about it and it
has been a couple of years since we have done this.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Lisa was able to make a
couple of eye splices, but then we realized that one of the beckets (where you
affix the eye to the pulley) is permanently affixed, which means you have to
put the rope through the becket before you make the eye. There is no way to splice an eye in this way.
It rained last night and most
of today.
I managed to get some more
typing on the blog completed.
Monday, April 6, 2020
It is still raining this morning and very humid.
We are still searching for some reliable, inexpensive
transportation to drive back to New Hampshire when we go. We are searching through the Craigslist and
Autotrader websites. We are not sure we will be able to rent a cheap rental as
we have in the past. In the past, we
have been able to rent a car to drive north for between $8 and $10 a day on a
one way rental. They usually need to get
the cars out of Florida this time of year. Hertz has not committed that they will have
the program this year. We flew down this year, but we will not be getting on an
airplane to fly back.
The skies begin to clear as the sun goes down.
 |
| Skies begin to clear at sunset. |
Tuesday, April 7,
2020
Pete has a car that someone left with him to take care of
while they are gone, and they allow him to use it as he needs it. He was nice enough to drive me down to Ft.
Pierce to look at a potential purchase.
Unfortunately, it looked a lot better in the pictures that it did in
person. Not a Florida car – it had a
significant amount of rust, had been in an accident (although not according to
Carfax) and the front end made a lot of strange noises.
The weather had turned beautiful, clear, 80 degrees, nice
breeze E@10-15.
Nightingale came
by at cocktail hour to visit in their kayaks.
Wednesday, April 8,
2020
Another beautiful day. We hear that Maryland has stopped all
boating traffic except necessary commercial traffic.
We continue to look on the internet for a car. It is amazing that people go through the
trouble to put an ad on a website, including pictures, and then do not respond
to inquiries.
Instead of a splice, I looked on YouTube and used seizing to
make the eye for the rope used to lift the dinghy. I then reeved the block (weave the line
through the triple block). It has to be
done a special way so that the two pulleys can sit a 90 degrees to each other
and still pull easily.
Nightingale came
by in their kayaks at cocktail hour. Elsie Mae did also. Pete came by to deliver packages and was kind
enough to haul all our trash ashore.
 |
| Storm coming as sun sets |
Clouded up at dusk.
Very humid overnight. Wind S@15.
Thursday, April 9,
2020
We went through Craigslist again and found a couple of
vehicles that might be candidates to drive home. Pete and I will go take a look
tomorrow. Cloudy this morning. Wind
W@10-15, still very humid.
By noon, it has cleared and its hot and humid, 90 degrees,
wind W@10-15.
The moon at night has been huge. Tides are very high. They are calling it a “pink moon”. It is visible most of the night, lighting up
the terrain.
We saw a ray swim by on the surface. His underside was pink
and white as he slapped the surface.
There is a great blue heron that comes by everyday at sunset
and roosts on either our mooring or the mooring next to us.
This afternoon, we walked to the beach and stopped at
Casey’s, a sandwich place with outdoor seating next to the post office close to
the beach. They have only outdoor
seating, but now there is take out only.
Great sandwiches. They have
stickers on the ground indicating where to stand so everyone in line (if there
is a line) knows where to stand. Lisa got a Reuben and I got a hot pastrami
that we took back to the boat for our dinner.
The folks on the boat on the next mooring (Ring of Kerry, George and Cecelia)
stopped by on their way to take Champ (the dog) for a walk. They are from Cape Cod, MA. We met them when we were here in November.
Friday, April 10,
2020
Cloudy, humid, wind SW@10.
Pete and I went to look at 3 more Craigslist vehicles. The first was supposed to be a pristine 1998
Ford Expedition. It wasn’t pristine and
it wasn’t even a Ford Expedition. I asked the guy where the car was that he
advertised. He said “huh?”. He had used 3 different phone numbers when
we were communicating, he would not give us the address until we were close and
then the address was a block away from the car.
When we left, he went into yet another house with yet another address.
Very strange.
The second car was a Honda Odyssey that was supposed to be a
private owner, but was a used car dealer.
The vehicle was very clean, but was leaking oil all over the frame and
the ground. The also had a nice GMC
Envoy, but it needed a new radio and the electric adjustments on the driver’s
seat did not work.
The third one was also a Honda Odyssey. This was also a
private sale, but at a dealer. The
vehicle was at the back of the lot. The
rest of the vehicles on the lot had prices on the windshield, lists of equipment
on the side windows, flags and banners flying from the antennas, this one did
not. It was pretty rough (rust spots on
the hood and roof and in the corners of the windows and doors, the roof had
significant sun damage to the paint, the sliding door on the drivers side did
not work. When we opened up the vehicle,
it smelled like something had died inside.
Ugh! The guy selling it told me all the work and parts he had put into the
car (new timing belt, brakes, tires, etc.) I asked him if I could get a copy of
the invoice for all the work. He didn’t
want to do that. We left. What a wasted day.
I made George Barlow’s chicken and pear curry for dinner,
always great!
We watched Kristine Amandor’s show on PBS tonight. We aren’t usually up this late. The show was
about the coronavirus with her interviewing people from all around the
world. She was CNN’s Middle East Bureau
Chief before she retired (now living in London). The show was very interesting
and informative.
Saturday, April 11,
2020
Today is Dexter’s 9th birthday. He is the son of our previous house-sitter
(for 2 winters). We sent him an Lego
Imperial Walker.
Partly cloudy, wind E@10-20. Cooler than yesterday.
10:00am Lisa and I went for a walk around the area. It’s a
pretty residential area, but has gotten very expensive since the economy has
been recovering since 2008.
We saw a yellow-crowned night heron, very pretty.
There is a pod of porpoises in the area, with a couple of
very young ones. We see them almost
every day.
12:00noon It has clouded over this afternoon, big heavy rain
clouds, but no rain. It cooled off quite
a bit with a nice breeze out of the East.
3:00pm We went for a dinghy ride, stopping to chat with
Autumn Borne (Dean and Sue), Miss Diane (Diane and George), Elsie May (John and
Valerie) and Nightingale (Libby and Grant).
Nice way to spend a couple of hours – always maintaining the appropriate
distances.
5:30pm It still looks
like rain. Dinner on board, steaks,
scalloped potatoes, fresh broccoli. Yum!
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Easter
Cloudy, hazy, humid, 80 degrees, wind S@15-20+
We heard from John and Laura on Sea Breeze. We traveled with them two years ago. They are currently in West Palm Beach and may
come up to Vero for a few days before heading home to St. Pete Beach.
We managed to talk or text to the family. Everyone is doing well, no one is sick with
this virus. Something to be thankful
about.
11:00am We went for a walk with Dean and Susan (Autumn Borne), then checked on our mail
and packages at the marina office. The
clouds have dissipated, but it is still very windy (S@20), hazy and humid.
4:00pm We met Dean and Susan at the North Pavilion. Dean
serenaded us guitar and he and Susan sang.
We sang along with the songs we knew.
Appropriate social distances were kept. A very nice afternoon.
 |
L to R: Susan (Autumn Borne), Libby (Nightingale)
and Dean (Autumn Borne) |
We had left over chicken and pear curry for dinner.
Very windy overnight.
Monday, April 13,
2020
Hazy, hot and humid, very windy S@15-25+. Pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Much warmer than normal for the middle of
April, temperature 90+.
Our tachometer on the main engine had been acting up on the
trip back from the Bahamas. I had checked the connections on the sending unit
(on the bell housing) and made sure those connections were tight. Today, I checked those connections again,
then removed the steering wheel and took the instrument panel apart to check
the connections there. I loosened each connection on the back of the key switch
and the tach itself, then I used electrical connection cleaner and a bit of
fine sand paper and cleaned all the connections, then re-tightened them all.
During this process, I did find that the connection on the hot power lead to
the tach was a bit loose. With
everything back together, the tach is working fine. Great! Keep fingers crossed!
I ordered spark plugs for the outboard motor from
Amazon. The only way to buy them is in a
package of 10. I guess I won’t need to
buy them again for a while as it is a only two cylinder motor. They arrived today and there was one spark
plug in the package! I contacted Amazon
and they refunded my purchase. They are usually good about that sort of thing.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Another hazy, hot, humid and windy day. Supposed to again be in the 90’s.
We went for a socially responsible walk with Autumn Borne.
Noodin (Ron and
Phebe) came in to the marina, arriving from the Bahamas. Great to see them
again.
We tried InstaCart today. We did not realize that you have
to be at your phone while the “shopper” is shopping. If an item is out of stock, or the stock is
very low, you are offered alternatives.
If you do not reply, the item gets skipped. The app on the phone is relatively easy to
use, so it is easy to make order changes or additions up to the point of
checkout. We had gone for a walk while our shopper was shopping, so there were
several items that got skipped. Now we
know. From the time we downloaded the
app, then placed our order, it was less than 4 hours until they delivered. Based on what we had heard,
we figured it would be at least 24 hours. They do send you a notice when you
shopper is about to start on your order, but again, you have to monitor your
phone,.
For some reason, the app asks how many pounds of bananas you
want, but the shopper gets a number of bananas.
We asked for 2 lbs. and got 2 bananas!
We also got a rotisserie chicken and had that cut up on a
nice salad for dinner.
Wednesday, April 15,
2020 Tax Day, but not this year
Yet another hot, humid, hazy, windy day.
Pete gave me a ride to Hertz, where we rented a car to go
look a some potential cars to drive home.
In past years, we have been able to rent a car from Hertz on the cheap,
but Hertz can’t tell us whether they are going to have this program this year
or not. Interestingly, there is a field
at the airport here that is full of Hertz cars that are not out on rental.
As we were leaving to go look at vehicles, Sea Breeze (John and Laura(aka LaLa))
came in to the marina.
We drove north to the Melbourne area and looked at several
cars. We found a Subaru Outback we
really liked, but by the time we made up our mind to buy the car, it was sold
to someone else. I’ve always hated car shopping, not the actual buying, but the
BS you have to put up with in the process.
Even the so called “easy way to purchase”, really means the dealer is
asking way more money than they need to and you don’t get to negotiate. Here in Florida, a dealer can add a “fee” to
the purchase price. This can be up to
$995 you get to pay for the privilege of buying the car. In addition, the dealers do the state
registrations and tags and charge $200-$400 dollars for that “service”. Plus
you get to pay state, county and city sales taxes on the purchase (between 6%
and 11%) depending on where you buy the car. So on a $10,000 car, you could pay
and additional $2535 for the car ($995 dealer fee, $400 service fee, $40 for
the registration to the state, $1100 sales tax). So, in addition to negotiating the actual
price of the car, you have to negotiate all the fees. We are trying to avoid dealers! We are taking
the car out of state, so all we need is the car and the title!
We looked at several cars, some more pitiful than others.
We stopped at Casey’s and bought a couple of their great
sandwiches to take home for dinner.
Thursday, April 16,
2020
John on Sea Breeze
came over to look at our refrigerator that is not working. He managed to get
this one working a couple of years ago when no one else could. He said there
seemed to be a blockage somewhere in the line from the compressor to the
evaporator. After two attempts at using a
vacuum pump to clear the unit, a heat gun to warm the constricted places in the
line, then recharging the unit, it seems to be working. He said the electronic module that controls
the compressor seems ok and the compressor is working as it should. After an hour, the box is down to zero
degrees! Yay! Keep fingers crossed. The cost of this service call was a case of
Yuengling.
This afternoon, we drove up to the Orlando area to look at
three mini vans, all for sale by owner.
The first was a Honda Odyssey. It
turns out they owner had given the van over to his friend. The friend (Jay) is
a dealer, but only as a sideline, so no fees!
Jay also owns a large RV dealership (primary business) and a strip mall,
where the cars are kept. All of the cars here are in very nice shape. The Honda was very clean, but the interior
was “worn”. We also looked at a Dodge
Caravan, also very clean. Then Lisa
spied a PT Cruiser and really liked it.
It looks like new. So, that’s what we bought. On the drive back to Vero, we noticed a
“noise” in the front end (clunking over bumps and when turning left). The next morning, we started to take the car
back, and the battery was dead. Our luck
with cars continues. After getting a
jump start, we drove back to Orlando, talked to Jay about the issues, which he
agreed to fix, and drove the rental car back to Vero.
On the drive home, we passed a farm stand that was open. We
stopped and bought some very nice tomatoes and peaches.
In the Orlando area, the grocery, drug and other stores that
are open all have full parking lots. We
stopped at a Tractor Supply so Lisa could get some potting soil. Almost everyone is wearing a mask.
4:00pm We are back at the boat. Another day in the car shopping saga.
I returned the rental car.
We will have to get it one more time when the PT Cruiser is ready.
It was hazy, hot and humid all day, with off and on showers.
We had left over pasta primavera for dinner.
Sea Breeze left
today for Ft. Pierce. Sorry we did not
get to spend more time with them.
6:00pm There are tornado and high wind warnings south of us.
Dark clouds on the horizon. Heavy rain overnight.
We talked to a couple of marine surveyors today. Neither
understood why GEICO will not accept the 3 ½ year old survey that we have. They suggested calling the agent and having
them try to convince GEICO to utilize the survey that we have. We called Beth (our agent) and she said she
would try to get GEICO to agree to use the current survey.
Saturday, April 18,
2020
None of the storms south of us made it here overnight.
However, the hazy, hot and humid conditions persist.
11:00am We dropped the mooring a head over to the fuel
dock. We pumped out the holding tanks,
filled the fresh water tanks and filled the diesel tank (15 gallons).
12:00noon We are back on mooring #17. I cleaned the stern, lots of diesel
soot. Both the main engine and the
generator exhaust are on the port side right at the stern.
We are still burning the fuel from the Bahamas, which seems
to create a lot more soot that diesel in the US.
4:00pm Lisa had her monthly investment club meeting via
Zoom. The technology seemed to work well.
It stormed from noon until about 4:00pm, then cleared off
and the wind went into the North resulting in a cool and dry evening. Very Nice.
Sunday, April 19,
2020
Hazy and hot again this morning. No clouds, By noontime, a
nice breeze has come up from the SE cooling this off.
3:30pm High thin clouds coming and going. Lots of power boats out for a Sunday ride.
4:00pm Social Distancing and music ashore. Dean, Sassy (SassSea), Mike G. playing. Everyone keeping appropriate distances, but still
a nice time was had.
7:30pm Very dark clouds roll in from the south.
8:00pm Rain, thunder, lightning, then clearing and cooler
overnight.
Monday, April 20,
2020
Another hot, hazy, humid morning. The local folks tell us
this is Florida summer, not spring.
We went to shore and did laundry.
While this used to be a very social activity where folks would gather,
now, like many other things it is solitary.
The marina has hired people who clean everything everyday and they have now
hired someone who cleans high traffic areas constantly. There has been only one death from the virus
in this county and she was an 88 year old nursing home patient. The have been
only 44 cases confirmed in this county.
We heard from the person we bought the PT Cruiser from. The
front end is fixed. He will put the new
battery in tomorrow. He’s not sure they
can fix the cruise control.
Dark clouds on the horizon south of us, then rain and
thunder arrive. Clearing at sunset, wind shifts to the north. Cool and dry overnight. Lovely.
Tuesday, April 21,
2020
I worked on the blog.
I am so far behind, it will take a while to catch up the typing.
Lisa painted some rocks and then put different sayings on
them (like the ones we saw at Staniel Cay) and leaves them around the area. She then took the dinghy and went visiting.
I called about the car.
The new battery is in and they are replacing the cruise control switch.
Hopefully, it will be ready today.
We rented a car to go get the PT Cruiser once it is ready.
We got take out from Sake (one of our favorite restaurants)
for dinner. Take out was set up so that
only one person at a time could go into the restaurant. Outside, people were waiting in their cars
until it was their turn to pick up. The tables were set up so there was a 6
foot by 6 foot area where you picked up your food, which they brought out when
it was your turn. Everyone working there
had on masks and gloves. You could only
pay with a credit card and they set the machine in front of you so only you
touch your card. They seem to be doing a good job of protecting themselves and
their customers. The food was great as always.
Wednesday, April 22,
2020
Cool this morning, 65 degrees. Wind N@10-15, clear.
After several tries, we were finally able to reach the folks
we bought the car from and were told the car is all set. We were almost all the
way there when Jay called and said the cruise control was not working. They had replaced the switch on the brake
(that turns off the cruise control when you hit the brake) but that did not fix
the problem. After a lot of back and forth, Jay agreed they are now going to
replace the switch on the steering column.
There is a third control on the fuel injection that controls how much
fuel is going to the engine (the speed). He will call us when they car is
ready. We turned around and headed back
to Vero.
We stopped at Casey’s and got extra crispy fries, a Rueben
for Lisa and a hot pastrami for me.
We also heard back (finally) from GEICO, who are still
refusing to accept our 3 ½ year old survey.
They say they will not even issue a binder on the boat unless we submit
an acceptable survey. They will then
issue a binder/policy within 48 hours. We would like to leave the boat here for
the summer and that requires we change insurance carriers. Our current insurer will not insure a boat
for any price if it is in Florida between July 1 and November 1. Our agent is overwhelmed with requests for policy changes and additions. Peoples' needs are different as they deal with the coronavirus. Boats are being left in the Bahamas, the Carribean and Florida where they normally are not. People are flying home and the boat is left behind.
We called Matt Hoxie @ Complete Marine Surveys (who is
highly recommended) and he has a cancellation on Friday and can do the survey
(in the water) then.
Thursday, April 23,
2020
8:00am We returned the rental car.
Partly cloudy. Very windy and humid, 85 degrees. A cold
front is heading south arriving tomorrow. Because of the snarly weather
forecast, we talked to Matt and postponed the survey until Saturday at
11:00am. I spent all day working on the
blog.
Lisa went visiting in the dinghy.
There is a person here selling a boat. Our son Jeff might be interested. It is very hard to buy a boat long distance. Look at all the issues we are encountering trying
to buy a car, and we are physically able to go look at, inspect and drive the
potential purchase. We suggested that
Jeff talk to Pete and Dean. They are
both here, would give him their honest opinions and are familiar with the boat
and its owner. We also said he should
get a thorough survey, a mechanical inspection and a rig inspection before
buying any boat. The bank (if financing) and the insurance company are going to
require these anyway.
Lisa spent considerable time cleaning the bilge. When we
changed the Racor fuel filter, it leaked a bit of diesel into the bilge. This is always messy and no fun to clean up,
but if you don’t, it really begins to stink after a while.
4:00pm Jay called and said the PT Cruiser is ready,
everything is working., Yay! We will get yet another rental and drive up and
pick up the car tomorrow afternoon.
These folks are Muslim and tomorrow is Ramadan for the Muslim world.
Friday, April 24,
2020
8:00am Pete gave me a ride back to Hertz to pick up a rental
car so we can drive up to Orlando this afternoon and get the PT Cruiser. We are
now on a first name basis with the guys working at Hertz.
9:00am Dark foreboding clouds, wind S@15-20, then West, then
North as the front passes. A couple of rain squalls. A good day for typing the blog or other
inside projects.
2:00pm We leave to drive to Orlando. It rained off and on all the way. The PT Cruiser is ready, the noise in the
front end is gone, the new battery works, and the cruise control works! Jay also put new brake pads on the front. I
drove the car back to Vero Beach and it drives nice.
It rained all the way back and when we got to
the dinghy dock it let up for a bit. The
dinghy had about 6 inches of water in it!
We bailed it out and then dodged rain drops on the ride out to
Rhiannon.
 |
| Vero Beach City Marina office |
Saturday, April 25,
2020
Cloudy, wind SE@10, very humid.
9:00am Matt Hoxie, marine surveyor arrives at the marina
office, so I take the dinghy in to pick him up. He is going to do an “in-water”
insurance survey so we can satisfy GEICO and get insurance changed so we can
leave the boat here in Vero for the summer.
The whole process took about three hours. Matt was very thorough and explained what he
was doing as he went through his survey.
Very informative.
He said Rhiannon was “well above average” and the valuation
we were looking for “was certainly in range for a boat this well kept”.
12:00pm We called the Goodyear Store and made an appointment
to put new tires on the PT Cruiser. The
front tires are just ok and the back ones have almost no tread left. They would probably get us home, but they
will not pass inspection in NH. Florida
does not do vehicle inspections.
Dinner was grilled pork chops, baked potatoes and fresh
zucchini.
Sunday, April 26,
2020
Heavy rain overnight.
Wind SW@5-10, very humid, cloudy.
It rained all morning and most of the afternoon. Lisa worked on some craft projects (encasing
shells in clear epoxy). She made a
lasagna, which we will have for dinner.
Smells wonderful.
I spent all day typing.
Catching up slowly.
We left the water tank inlets on the deck open and blocked
the scuppers (where the water drains off the deck). With all this rain, some significant amount
of water should be directed into the water tanks.
It began clearing at dusk.
The wind goes into the North.
Clear and cool overnight.
Monday, April 27,
2020
Clear and cool this morning. 65 degrees, wind N@10-15. Very
comfortable.
I dropped off the PT Cruiser at Goodyear. I checked prices at Discount Tire and Tire
Warehouse and Goodyear said they would price match.
Lisa and Dean (Autumn
Borne) went over to look at Memento
Mori, a Pearson 424, that is for sale.
Our son Jeff is interested in possibly living on a boat. The boat is
cheap and will probably need a significant amount of work. Not sure how much of a project Jeff is
interested in.
4:40pm Music at the north pavilion. Autumn Borne and Second Wind provided the music.
We were there for a bit with Nightingale
– everyone maintaining appropriate social distances.
We received the survey on Rhiannon from Matt. There were a couple of corrections, which we
emailed back to him.
Tuesday, April 28,
2020
8:00am Pete gave me a ride over to Goodyear to pick up the
PT Cruiser. They had gone over the car
pretty thoroughly. Besides the new
tires, the front end got aligned, they checked and refilled all the fluids
(they actually test fluids like transmission fluid, brake fluid , power
steering fluid, etc.) to make sure they are at the proper level and still
viable and haven’t broken down over time.
They replaced a broken motor mount and windshield wipers. They cleaned the fuel injection system and
replaced the spark plugs. The car is running great! We are very happy with their service.
11:30am We went for a walk with Nightingale. Once we got to Ocean Blvd. where most of the
stores are, we all put on our masks. We stopped at Cravings and got ice cream
instead of a sandwich for lunch and a lemon cake to take back to the boat. Libby bought Grant a box of saltwater
taffy. Everyone in Cravings was wearing
masks and they had two “wash stations” where you could wash your hands before
entering. There were marks on the floor
indicting 6 foot distance. If you ordered food, they would bring it outside to
you so people were not waiting in the store (it’s not very big).
We then walked over to the water front park to eat our ice cream, again
maintaining distance. We took a look at
the beach. Several people out walking
and a few small groups sun bathing. Life
Guards are back in place. The beach has
been raked clean, so not much sense in looking for shells or sea beans.
We walked back through the side streets. We did not see anyone else out walking.
4:00pm We got the survey back from Matt. He had made the few corrections we sent
him. The only issue he found was the
hose that runs from the sea strainer to the main engine water pump is beginning
to show aging and should be replaced. He
also suggested that we replace the wood pad that the main engine muffler sits
on. We forwarded the survey to our insurance agent, who then forwarded it to
GEICO. She said we should hear from them
Thursday or Friday at the latest.
6:00pm I made
hamburger patties, eggs and fresh tomatoes for dinner. Lemon Cake for dessert.
After dinner we had a long telephone discussion with Jeff
about Memento Mori. He seems to be going about this the right
way, using it as a learning experience about boat purchasing.
Cool and dry overnight.
Wednesday, April 29,
2020
Partly cloddy, hazy, wind SE@10, 80 degrees.
8:00am Nightingale
came by we traded some 70% isopropyl alcohol for some our aloe gel. The formula
for hand sanitizer is 2/3 cup isopropyl alcohol and 1/3 cup aloe gel. Now we
both will have more.
8:30am Pete came by and did a quick once over on the bottom
before we move to the slip on Friday. He
also cleaned the prop, shaft, strut, etc. and put on new zincs. He said the bottom looked to be in really
good shape. We changed bottom paint from Interlux ACT II to Sherwin Williams Seaguard
1083. The product is used by the US Navy with good results and last year
Nightingale used it. While our bottom
was pretty clean (some scum and small barnacles) when we hauled out last
season, their bottom looked like it had just been painted.
9:30am We called Peter Hayward at Winter Island to check on
the size hose we need for the main engine.
Neither the service manual or the parts manual provide that
information. Peter cared for all out
boats in Salem, MA, until we started cruising.
His daughter used to babysit our youngest two boys. It snowed there 2
days ago and today is 40 degrees and raining.
Too soon for us to head in that direction.
10:00am I called NAPA here in Vero and ordered filters to
replace the ones we used from our spares inventory and the hose we need to
replace. I will pick up the order tomorrow.
Thursday, April 30,
2020
Rain overnight and into this morning. Wind SW@10-20, very humid, 80 degrees.
We are trying these different grocery services. We placed an order to be picked up at
Walmart. We were assigned a pick up date
for Saturday and a time of 3:00pm-4:00pm. You don’t get a choice here.
We also tried to place a pick up order through
InstaCart. However, they assigned the
order to a store in Port St. Lucie, which is 30 miles away. I tried to call InstaCart Customer Service,
but could never get through. I wound up
with a chat session instead, but the person I was chatting with did not understand the issue and could not help
and then just quit responding.
In the meantime, we were getting emails from Walmart about
items on our order that were out of stock.
Walmart does not give you the opportunity to select an alternative item,
nor do they allow you to add items to the order. If your pick up time is 2 days in the future,
and an item is out of stock today and deleted from your order – and the item is
restocked tomorrow, it does not get re-instated on your order. Once removed
always removed. Not the best order
system. InstaCart allows substitutions
and additions as long as the order has not yet gone to check out. You can also text message with your shopper
while they are shopping. By the time our
order at Walmart was ready to pick up, 8 items out of 27 had been removed.
Because we kept getting assigned to the Port St. Lucie
Publix for InstaCart, we finally just had them deliver the order, then we don’t
care where they fill it. We ordered the
items deleted from the Walmart order and had them in 2 hours – and the order
was filled from the store 2 miles away, which is where we were trying to do the
pickup! Go figure. We later found out
that when the InstaCart system is overloaded, the location reverts to Port St.
Lucie because that’s where the Publix warehouse is.
3:00pm The skies clear and the wind goes north.
7:00pm We tried to attend a virtual town hall meeting set up
by Senator Shaheen’s office. We tried
online and via the phone and could never get connected.
8:00pm The weather
front finally completely passes. Clear
and cool overnight.
Friday, May 1,
2020 May Day
Clear, 75 degrees, wind N@10.
There is supposed to be a large “essential workers” strike
today, protesting low wages, lack of testing and protective gear.
9:00am The pump out
boat came by and we emptied and flushed out both holding tanks.
1:00pm We went to the
locksmith to get and additional key made for the PT Cruiser. We got only one
with the car and Jay promised to mail another to our house. I had called Benson Locks to see if they
could do this particular key and they said they could and to come at
1:00pm. The sign on the locked door said
they were closed until Monday, May 4.
Bummer.
I went to Napa and picked up our filters. They were not able to get the needed hose, so
we ordered it from Amazon.
2:00pm We dinghied
over to check out the slip we have been assigned. It was in pretty bad shape. The finger was slanted (not level). The pilings were well worn. Much of the hardware was rusted. Most of the wood on the cement and wood dock
was rotted. We have been told for
several years now that the docks are all going to be repaired or replaced, but
that has not happened. We talked to
Shawn (Harbor Master) and asked if that is the only slip available and he said for our size
boat – yes.
So now we have reverted to Plan A, which is to take the boat
up to St. Mary’s, GA, and leave it at Rocky’s for the summer. If this virus flares up in the fall, it may
be there longer than just the summer. There it will
(hopefully) be safe from hurricanes and not sitting in the water.
We still have not heard back from GEICO about whether they
will insure us in Florida this summer.
We contacted St. Mary’s Boat Services and were told that
they are still planning on us being there.
Yay!
3:00pm Lisa gave me a much needed haircut. Afterward, a nice
long hot shower.
 |
| My first covid haircut |
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Cool, clear, dry, 60 degrees this morning, wind N@10, a bit
chilly!
The cruising boat traffic has picked up, boats coming and
going again. Timschel was here for a couple of days. Ring of
Kerry departed for Buzzards Bay. Kathryn
(Dave and Jane) comes in a picks up a mooring. Kathryn is a new boat for them.
The previous one was So Far, So
Good.
Today is grocery pickup day at Walmart. I stopped on the way there at the UPS Store
to send some stuff back to Amazon (shade cloth, tarps, tie downs, dehumidifier
– we will not need them as we are going to Rocky’s and have all that stuff
stored there from last season). As I let the car idle, it began to buck and
then stalled. It did this twice. The third time, I raised the rpms of the
engine and I got blue smoke from under the hood and the smell of burning
rubber, not good. When I looked, the a/c
compressor was not turning which is why the belt was smoking. I turned off the a/c.
When you are on your way to pick up groceries at Walmart,
you go onto the App and click the button that you are on you way. When I did that, I got a message that I had
missed my assigned pick up time and the order had been cancelled. It was 2:30pm, and my assigned pick up time
was 3:00pm-4:00pm. I called Walmart grocery
pickup line and talked to Kevin, the manager on duty. I told him the issue. He checked and said the order was there and
ready to pick up. He did not know why I
had gotten that message, but he said they were “overwhelmed” with pick up and
delivery orders.
The actual pickup was painless. There is a canopy to park under for the
designated pickup parking spaces. There
is a phone number posted there and the spaces are numbered. When you call, you give them your name and
the space number and someone brings the order out and puts it in your trunk.
Easy.
We may try this again at home.
InstaCart is quicker – 2 hours instead of 2 days – and they
allow you to make substitutions and additions right up until checkout. They also allow you to text back and forth
with your shopper.
Walmart is supposed to be setting up the same kind of
service. I guess we’ll see.
There were a lot of people coming and going at Walmart. They had it set up so you went in only one
door and out through only one door.
About half the people were wearing masks.
Google says the compressor on the a/c is “seizing” caused by
a bad compressor, or too much Freon in the system, or overheating.
Nightingale (Libby
and Grant) came by in their dinghy for a virtual cocktail hour. Their land home
is in Alaska and they are trying to figure out how to get there. Grant does not want to get on an airplane (me
either) and they are not sure they want to drive. A conundrum. It’s going to be a challenge no
matter what. They left Nightingale in St. Mary’s last summer,
but are not sure what they are going to do for this hurricane season.
Lisa has a pot of herbs that she has been using and cultivating since we left Vero in January. She is taking cuttings and then sharing the new plants.
 |
| Lisa's garden |
 |
| Sweet potato startings |
 |
| Basil cuttings |
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Beautiful morning. No
clouds, 70 degrees, no wind.
Lots of small boats out.
They governor has opened the parks and boat ramps. There is a softball game going on at the ball
diamond next to the marina. It seems
many people believe the politicians and are back to “normal”. At the ball game people are congregating and
having a great time. I hope the
politicians are right.
I made ham, cheese, onion and mushroom omelets for dinner.
We heard what sounded like knocking on the hull. We went on deck to look and there were no
people, but there was a pod of porpoises.
Lisa was on the stern, hanging over the water and they kept coming up
right where she was. This went on for
several minutes. Sometimes, they were spouting right next to her getting her
very wet. When I went below to get the
camera, they left. Camera shy, I guess.
Catalpa (Brian and Lynne) came by to say they are leaving in
the morning heading north to New Bedford, MA.
We met them for the first time here in Vero last fall.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Another lovely night for sleeping, cool and dry. The morning
is clear, no clouds, wind N@10-15, 70 degrees.
8:00am I called and make an appointment for tomorrow at
Goodyear. I think the air conditioner
compressor is seizing (stops turning) and when it does, it makes the engine
stall. Eddie, who I talked to on the
phone assured me that they have the technicians and can get the necessary parts
to fix it.
We then called Hertz (again) to rent a car so that when the
PT Cruiser is fixed, we can drive it up to St. Mary’s (where we will haul the
boat) and then drive the rental car back to Vero.
1:00pm I drove the PT Cruiser over to Benson’s Locksmith and
had another key made and programmed for the PT Cruiser. We only got one key when we bought the
car. The seller is supposed to mail us
the other key, but we don’t want to count on that and I don’t like having only
one.
On the way back, I stopped at Rhonda’s Seafood and bought
some beautiful sea scallops for dinner. Rhonda only allows 2 people at a time
into her store, you have to wear a mask and she only takes credit cards for
payment, which she doesn’t touch. She
has beautiful seafood, but it is about twice as much money as anywhere else.
Lisa took the dinghy over to Kathryn (Dave and Jane) to see if they want to go for a walk. Dave
is having some health issues, so they passed.
3:30pm Lisa and I walked the area around the marina. It is all residential and very pretty. We only saw 2 other couples out and about.
5:00pm Back to the boat.
Lisa made a salad and I sautéed the scallops in garlic and butter. Very nice.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
7:30am Lovely morning, clear, dry, cool, 70 degrees, wind
E@10-15.
We took the dinghy in to shore and drove over to Hertz,
picked up the rental car and then drove to Goodyear and dropped off the PT
Cruiser.
9:00am We are back at the boat. Florida and Georgia and some other states are
letting businesses reopen even as the number of cases continue to rise. There
are still not enough test kits available, scary stuff.
4:00pm We picked up the PT Cruiser. They found that the
engine cooling fan (which is electric) is not working. When the can is moving, air is forced through
the radiator and the air conditioning cooling coils. When the car is not moving, the electric fan keeps air
moving. When the a/c coils get too hot,
the pressure in the high side of the system goes up shutting off the compressor
(which then stalls the engine). They
also found that the system was overcharged with freon, which would cause the
same issue. Goodyear changed out the
cooling fan, evacuated the a/c system and vacuum checked it to make sure
there were no leaks, then correctly recharged the system and then tested
everything. All now OK.
5:00pm Gertie (Dan
and Dawn) and Last Boat (Nelson and
Mary) came in from Marathon. Lisa took the dinghy over and helped Gertie on to their mooring. We haven’t
seen them since November.
I made steak and potatoes and fresh broccoli for our dinner.
It was very warm, 94 degrees, this afternoon, clear, but it
was dry and windy SE@15-20.
The porpoises came by, but only made one pass at Lisa on the
stern.
We talked to Elsie Mae.
They are anchored off Rocky’s in St. Mary’s, GA, waiting to be hauled.
They don’t fit into one of Rocky’s cradles, so he has to use jack stands and find a spot for them
where he won’t have to move them again.
Wednesday, May 6,
2020 National Nurses Day
8:00am 70 degrees, murky, no wind. We drove the rental car and the PT Cruiser up
to St. Mary’s (Rocky’s). We saw Rocky and reminded him that we would probably
be there next Friday. The tide is late
in the day, so if we make it there, it would be nice to be hauled then. We had
parked the PT Cruiser with the other cars “stored” there and gave Rocky a key
in case he has to move it.
We saw Rhonda (who does the glass work, waxing, varnishing,
etc.), said hello and told her we would be there in about a week.
Ron and Phebe (Noodin)
are there working on their boat. They
have a motor home and are staying sequestered working on the boat and living in
the motor home for a month, until it warms up in Montana.
On the way back to Vero Beach, the Florida State Police have
a check point set up in the weigh station at the state border on I95. They ask us where we have been (Georgia) and
because the car has Florida plates, we were waved through. We hear that if you are from NY, NJ or New
England, they ask you to fill out a questionnaire and they take your
temperature. Interesting for a state
“opening up”.
We stopped at a Race Track Gas Station in Sebastian. There were about 10 people in the store
(where the bathrooms are located). Lisa
and I were the only ones wearing masks, no social distancing going on here.
We stopped at Casey’s to pick up our take out order (Lisa
ordered a Reuben and I ordered a hot pastrami).
The last time we were here, everyone was wearing masks, no one was at
the outdoor tables, and the few that were wearing masks were also maintaining social
distance. No so this time. Most tables are full of people and there is a
line waiting. There is a separate window
for pick up orders, no line. So that's where we went.
6:00pm Back at the boat. No wind, partly cloudy. 85 degrees,
cool overnight, but humid.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Cool, north wind at 15-20, partly cloudy, 65 degrees.
We returned the rental car. Then Lisa and I did our laundry again.
We pulled all the stuff out of the aft storage locker where
the generator lives. Last night it just quit after running about an hour. We
checked the sensors and the fuel pump.
One of the leads to the electric fuel pump was loose and that could be
the issue. These are just “snap on”
connectors and can come loose with normal engine vibration. I also pulled the raw water pump, which if
not working properly can cause the engine to overheat, which will shut down the
engine. The water pump looked ok, the impeller is in good shape. After putting
the engine back together, it stared right up and ran fine for over an
hour. It might have sucked up something
in the raw water intake which blocked the water flow, causing overheating and
shutdown. Once the engine shuts down,
the suction stops and whatever is blocking the flow drops out. Not definitely
sure about what caused the issue, but we have had this blockage issue before
when something like a plastic bag gets sucked into the raw water intake.
Another boat puzzlement.
The wind has gone into the north at 15-20+. A cold wind, clear, 70 degrees.
The boat on the mooring next to us (Alizarin (Brad and Julia)), broke away from its mooring, dragging
the mooring ball with it (apparently the chain or some connector below the
water came apart). The boat finally stopped when the anchor on the bow of Alizarin caught the mooring pennant of another boat, Alizarin swung around and settled next
to the other boat. No damage to either
boat, both owners lucky. There was no
one on board either of the boats except for Sangamo, a black lab on Alizarin. Shawn (the harbormaster) went
out in the marina boat and retrieved Alizarin,
towed it to the fuel dock and got the boat secured with the help of Lisa and
Dave and one other person in a dinghy.
Nice job! This is the second incident of moorings giving way that we know about since
January.
Dinner was salad with rotisserie chicken. Yum.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Lisa’s Dad’s 80th Birthday
Sunny, cool, wind W@10-15+
We talked with Saint Mary’s Boat Services and confirmed that
we still are planning to arrive there next Friday – also that we will need
electricity while we are stored to run the battery charger and the dehumidifier
over the summer.
Lisa spent time on the phone with her Dad and family. It’s her Dad’s 80th birthday.
We went ashore for showers and a shave. Nothing like a hot shower with unlimited
water.
Saturday, May 9, 2020
It is supposed to rain and storm today and tomorrow, but
this morning it is cool, partly cloudy, wind NE@10.
We dropped the mooring and when we did, we noticed that the
loop on the end of the pennant is chaffed all the way through the outer layer
of the double braided line. In addition
to the obvious issue, because of the way it is chaffed, the loop splice could
come out, which would allow us to just float away. The loop is where we attached the lined to
the boat.
We went into the fuel dock and filled with fuel (18 gallons)
and water. We told Shawn about the issue with our mooring. He said they were going to check and repair
all the moorings this summer. I
suggested that they might want to do this one sooner rather than later.
When we reattached the boat to the mooring, we tied the
mooring pennant to the cleat on the bow, and then also ran another line from
another cleat to the actual mooring. This arrangement should hold Rhiannon secure until we depart Vero.
Nightingale (Libby
and Grant) went to Rhonda’s Seafood by dinghy.
They were good enough to bring us some fresh flounder.
We placed our second InstaCart order. This time we were able
to “chat” with our shopper (while she shopped) which made the whole process of substitutions much easier. We were able to get everything on our list,
including 6 bananas!
JAZ (Chris and
Margaret) came in. We haven’t seen them
in a couple of years!
5:00pm Very windy, N@20-25+, cloudy.
Nightingale (Grant
and Libby) came by for a dinghy virtual cocktail hour. They stayed in their
dinghy tied off our stern and we stayed on board Rhiannon.
 |
| US with Grant and Libby (Nightingale) |
A bit later JAZ
(Chris and Margarret) come to join us.
They also tie off our stern, but on the other side of our empty dinghy,
so everyone is maintaining appropriate social distances.
 |
| Margaret and Chris (Jaz) tied off Rhiannon's stern |
After a few minutes, Ricardo (Tumbleweed) shows up and ties next to JAZ’s dinghy. These folks have been traveling together for
a few days, so we guess they are comfortable being close. Then Ohana came over and tied up next to
Ricardo. Aboard their dinghy are Ray,
Stephanie, her sister Evelyn and sons Dominic and Sebastian. Now there are 8
folks all together off our stern, none of which we have traveled with. The folks from Ohana have not traveled with any of the others here. Two months ago, this would have been a nice
gathering, now it is a bit overwhelming and even possibly dangerous. Luckily, everyone is about 10 feet from us. Nightingale
was also a nervous at this aggregation and bid us goodnight. Soon after, everyone departed, Chris,
Margaret and Ricardo heading to shore for showers and then to Riverside Café
for dinner and drinks, restaurants now open with limited capacity in
Florida. Too much close social contact
for today.
I made potatoes and peas to go with the fried chicken we got
today from Publix for dinner.
Sunday, May 10,
2020 Mothers’ Day, Lisa’s Birthday
8:00am Cloudy, no wind, starting to rain, very humid.
10:00am We checked out at the marina office, took showers
and then back to the boat.
12:00noon JAZ came
by to say hello and sang Happy Birthday to Lisa. They are moving to a different mooring up at
the north end of the mooring field.
Rain on and off most of the day.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Clear and cold this morning with a cold wind @15-20 out of
the north. We decide to wait another day
to depart.
Nightingale came
by, they will be leaving in the morning also.
We spent the day stowing stuff and getting Rhiannon ready for departure tomorrow
morning at 7:00am We lifted the outboard onto its second home on the stern
rail. Then we lifted the dinghy onto to
davits and checked all Rhiannon's instruments.
The tachometer is acting up again, not sure why.
We had left over chicken stew for dinner.
Early to bed for an early morning departure tomorrow.
The wind dies off completely over night.
