Tuesday, February 17,
2015. We are still at Nixon Bight,
although the wind is supposed to clock around to the southwest, west and
northwest and it will get very uncomfortable here as there is no protection
from those directions. We talked to
Ilene, who is just around the corner in Hurricane Harbor, but we also heard
from Outbound, who is in No Name Harbor, which is only 2 miles away. No Name is also very well protected and there
is shore access there. It is part of
Bill Biggs State Park and you can get to town.
The anchor is up at 10:30am, it is 75 degrees and sunny, the
wind already in the southwest 10-15. The
anchor is back down at 11:30am in No Name Harbor. Besides Outbound (Steve and Deb Crane) who we
met in Swansboro, NC, when we could not go past Camp Lejeune because of the
live firing, we meet the Konoscos (Marc, Jen, Cam (8), Joe Ellen (10) and Maria
(3)) on Adagio. They are headed to the
Bahamas also
Part of the entertainment in No Name is watching people try
to anchor. It is a very small space and many
people just can’t get the anchor down safely with enough swing room. Many try and then give up and go
elsewhere. Every now and then someone
comes in who is going to “do it their way” no matter what. Almost everyone only puts down one anchor and
50-60 feet of anchor rode. However tow
boats came in and put down 2 anchors so they would not swing at all. Not good when everyone else is swinging a 100
foot circle! Shortly after we arrived
someone in a 56 foot Hylas (sailboat) came in a put down 100 feet of
chain. That made his circle 156 feet, so
he was constantly getting very, very close to everyone around him. He refused to change his anchor, so
eventually the boats around him moved away.
3 SM, 2.4NM today. 25°40.64’N 080°09.79’W
Wednesday,
February 18, 2015. The winds clocked around as promised and the sky looks
ominous. Winds out of the NW@25+.
Thursday,
February 19, 2015. Winds are still North to Northwest at 25+. We are seeing gusts of 40. It is clear and cold – 45 degrees. Our
generator has decided to act up. It is
showing the same symptoms it did a couple of years ago. It will start and then immediately die. At that time the problem was the solenoid
that controls the throttle (that we discovered after replacing almost every
other electronic control component). I
have spares, but nothing seems to help. If I disconnect the throttle control
solenoid, the generator runs and puts out electricity. That is the way we will
have to use it until we can get a technician to look it over. Every time we come to No Name, something
breaks (as you may or may not remember from 2 years ago). We made three trips to this harbor then –
ready to cross to the Bahamas – and something went haywire every time. We finally gave up and went to Marathon. I was able to catch the service people at
Atlantic Marine before closing and they promised to have someone here first
thing on Monday.
Friday,
February, 20, 2015. The wind has let up a bit, but still 10-20 out of the
north, making a passage across the Gulf Stream impossible. Today, Steve (Outbound) rented a car to drive
to Fort Lauderdale to pick up solar panels he ordered. When he got back, the
panels were too large to fit on the frame he had built – back to Fort
Lauderdale. I asked Steve if he would
keep the car an extra day and I would pay for the day so we could get
groceries, go to West Marine, the hardware store, etc. So tomorrow is errands day. We had Steve and
Deb for a game of Mexican Train after dinner.
Saturday,
February, 21, 2015. Errands day – and it took all day. Miami traffic is awful! But we got everything done we wanted to. We also picked up some packages at the local
UPS store (generator parts, and Amazon order).
Lisa has been crocheting blankets for our friends (Ember and Peter)
three little girls, and we get those mailed off as well. It is cold today with the wind still out of
the north.
Sunday,
February 22, 2015. Outbound’s new (downsized) solar panels are connected
and working. Yeah! There is a yacht club
cook out at the park today and the club told everyone here they would have to
move to make room for the 50 “members” boats coming in. Right. No one moved. It was a big affair tho’. I especially enjoyed the great jazz band they
had and seeing all the current and future officers (25 of them) marching around
in their uniforms. Why do yacht club
officers wear Navy-type officers’ uniforms?
Pomp and silliness in the extreme! Gone at 3pm and replaced with
partying folks from Miami. Loud and
loud!
Monday,
February 23, 2015. There are three
boats here trying to get repairs completed.
Adagio is having issues with their water maker and a technician is
coming today. John and Joanna on Kachina
are waiting on water pump parts, and we hope to get our generator back in
business. The weather window to cross
has arrived and it will last until Wednesday.
Quite a few boats left this morning.
The wind is South at 5-10, perfect as soon as the seas calm down.
Nelson (the technician) from Atlantic Marine in Fort
Lauderdale arrives at 10. Believe it or
not, he has never been in a dingy, always working at boats tied to a dock or on
the ground. I had called their office
and asked if I needed to bring the boat in and they said no. Turns out Nelson loves boats and thoroughly
enjoyed the dingy ride. He first
replaced what we thought was a defective relay, but that did not correct the
issue. We concluded that the solenoid
was again the problem. However, after
checking the throttle linkage between the solenoid and the throttle, he
determined that the linkage was incorrect.
One, it had come loose, and two it was too long. Because it was too long, the solenoid could
not hold it open, so the engine would die.
The only reason it had worked for the last two years was because it was
adjusted all the way down, but it was hitting the stop every time and that
eventually worked it loose and parts must have fallen into the Bilge and
disappeared. This linkage came with the
solenoid we installed two years ago, but it was for another model generator. Weird,
huh? Nelson actually shortened the linkage (using my Dremel to cut and shape
it). It worked like a champ! Yeah
Nelson! He checked the generator output and everything else on the unit and
declared it perfect! Bahamas tomorrow!
Lisa did our laundry today and met more folks at the
laundry (seems to be the cruiser’s meeting place). When she got back from the laundry, Brittany
and Jonathan came over to give us information on their trip to the Bahamas –
they had just returned. We raised the anchor at 3pm and motored over to Crandon
Park for fuel and water. Back at No Name
at 5:30pm. At 6pm, Kachina (John and
Joanna) is rafted alongside and we are talking about how to make the crossing
tomorrow. At 7pm, Marc and the kids
(Adagio) come alongside in their dingy.
Their water maker has finally been fixed, after the technician had to
make two trips back and forth to Fort Lauderdale to get the correct parts. Great service all around today! Departure time is 5am.
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