April 14 - April 17 2015. Its a Marathon stay in Marathon

I took the dinghy out for a spin out in the ocean this morning and then went over to the fuel dock to fill it up.   Fuel isn't cheap in the Bahamas.   I tried to start the dinghy after and the starter just spun.  I’m pretty sure the spindle isn’t retracting correctly because it was whining every once in a while when we'd started it up.

That really is Mary in the cool shade of the laundry room

So while Mary was closeted in the laundry room doing laundry, I was trying to figure out why the outboard wasn't starting.

I finally just gave up and luckily a kindly gentleman who had a dinghy at the fuel dock towed me the 100 yards to our boat where I got out the hoisting harness and got the davit in place.  But before we pulled it aboard, I biked over to Marathon Boat Yard to see if they could repair it in a timely fashion since we're trying to leave Thursday morning.  "Maybe" was the answer.  But only if they had a new starter in stock.

A visit to the parts department proved otherwise.  $400 for expedited delivery and a new starter.  Ugh …

But one of the parts guys who remembered me from last month when we were in here with a fuel leak, slipped me a paper with a name, Mike, and phone number.  Mike it turns out is a rebuilder on Big Pine Key just south of us about 5 miles.  I called him and he was free to work on it.   Except I had to take the starter off.  He’d come by and pick it up and work on it this afternoon!

So I raced back and, interrupting Mary and her boat cleaning, hoisted the dinghy aboard.

Two gold bolts and one underneath and it was off

I pulled the outboard cover off and was able to remove the starter.  Called Mike back and he came down about 30 minutes later to pick it up.

The cause of our problem.  The missing cap nut on the shaft.  

Once he left I tried to clean the dinghy but it was so fouled with growth I gave up and just flushed out the engine with fresh water.  Once we get over to the Bahamas we’ll get the dinghy in the water and clean it there.

Mary finished up cleaning the boat exterior while I checked on our membrane order.  They should be delivered to SALT tomorrow.

A whole new head macerator, pump and motor.

I also checked in with Judy at the Marina office and retrieved my head pump.   Excitement reigns here when packages arrive, even if they are toilet parts.

I hopped on my bike then and rode back to Marathon Boat Yard to be sure they didn't complete the starter order and also made sure I knew when this guy (cant remember his name) would be working so I could take him a bottle of rum as a thank you for saving us several hundred dollars.

While I was there Jeff called to say they were coming over to Lazy Days to meet us for a pre departure meeting/cocktail party.

So I hurried back and told Mary who had just started cooking a roast in the oven. Timing is everything.  Some of us have that talent.  Others not so much.

We went back to Lazy Days and met them, including Curt and Marilyn who have the car which transports us around the area  stores and happy hours at various bars.  We spent a few hours discussing the trip and agreed to leave Thursday morning for Rodriguez Key and then leave from there to Bimini.

We said goodbye to Curt & Marilyn who are heading back to North Dakota Thursday.  They have a number of issues to deal with and Marilyn is leaving for Africa in early June.

So it was back to the boat for dinner, and then I shutdown the fuel polishing and changed the Racor filters.  But I noticed a puzzling fuel imbalance between the port and starboard fuel tanks.  Not sure why we have 2.5 inches more in the starboard tank.

So tomorrow, its one last trip to the store, drop off the rum and buy 2 quarts of oil and a filter and water separator filter for the dinghy, Home Depot for 2 more packs of TP,  Publix for lemon juice and a few other things.  And then a stop at a bank or someplace where I can get $500 in cash so we have about $2000 we can use in the Bahamas in lieu of a credit card.  Over there they usually add a 3-7 percent fee for the credit card transactions.

So we should have plenty of cash to sustain us for a few months.  Did I mention we have a safe on board?  We do.  

Mike called me around 9AM this morning and had the starter.  He dropped it off and I installed it and everything works just fine.  One success.

SALT called and said the membrane was delivered.  Not membrane(s)?  Nope, just one membrane.  Ok, now what.  I went back and traced through the order and discovered that both membranes had shipped and were estimated to be delivered by the 15^th.  Turns out the one shipped via UPS arrived.  The other via  FedEx, was still in transit. 

You know, I'm getting really tired of typing "SALT", "water maker" and "membranes".

As it turns out the tech who is slated to reassemble everything wont be starting that until later in the afternoon.  Ok, so we’re still looking pretty good since the second FedEx membrane should be delivered by 3PM.

Meanwhile I ran off to do that last of the errands.  I probably shouldn't say, “last” since it seems to never end, these errands.  Some people wake up and drink coffee.  I wake up and ride off to do an errand, chit-chat with store employees who now know me by name, and ride back with a basket full of things we sorta  needed.

First, I stopped off at marathon boat yard and purchased oil and filters and a water separation filter for the dinghy.  And flares since ours are 3 years out of date.  The Coast Guard has been imposed upon to make sure all of us cruising types have flares in case the 6 radios, two flare guns, dozen flashlights and two cell phones all fail at the same time during an emergency.  Sarcasim?  Ok, yes.  

I also gave the guy at Marathon Boat Yard a bottle of rum for turning me on to Mike, the starter rebuilder thus saving us several hundred dollars.  I've acquired several gallons of the stuff (rum) because of a coupon allowing me to purchase 3 bottles for $17 a piece.  I stocked up at that price the other day.  Plenty to go around and having bestowed rum on several boat yard employees in the past has paid dividends!  They all know me and can make things happen outside the normal, and sluggish process.

I did get 8 more rolls of that special toilet paper at Home Depot.  They don't have it over in the islands and its not always readily available in stores here in Florida.  While I was there I tried to exchange fifteen $20 bills for three $100  bills but they didn't have any.

Hundred dollar bills?  Am I hoarding big bills so I can join the high rollers at some casino in the Bahamas?  Ah,  not really.  There is a cruising fee imposed by the Bahamians of $300, and they like to be paid in cash.   Hundred dollar bills, is the preferred denomination.

I only bought a few essential things at Publix and they, at least were eager to fork over hundred dollar bills for all my $20 bills. 

Curt and Marilyn keeping an eye on the parking lot

And then ran into Curt and Marilyn again.  We always seem to meet at Publix.  I think they just hang around in the parking lot there to accost us frequent shoppers.

They had brought Jeff and Judy down so they could do they’re last shopping.  And judging by the fullness of their cart it was a big last hopping.

Jeff and Judy depleting the Publix inventory

Curt and Marilyn aren’t going with us to the Bahamas.  They have a number of issued to deal with back in North Dakota including a dead fridge, blown down fence, prairie fire that’s very close to their house, a lot in Nebraska which they own but their new neighbor elected to just cut down all their trees without asking.  Some of those trees were 40 years old.  Oh, and she’s zooming off to Africa in early June too.

When I got back to the boat I finished up charging the dinghy battery and came up with a plan to troubleshoot the navigation system which was doing fine until recently.  It follows a course fine but doesn't do well when fed a route from the chart plotter. 

I was going to call SALT to check on the water maker but decided to bike over there.  Got there at 3:45 which was a few minutes after the last membrane arrived.   The tech guy leaves at 4 so guess what.  Yup, another day at Marathon Marina, our new second home here in the Keys.  You cant imagine how thrilled Mary is about this.  But on the good side it will leave us plenty of time to get the water maker re-assembled and tested before leaving Friday morning.  And the weather looks good Friday and Saturday too.   

So now, after all this work we’re exhausted.  We have a clean boat, enough stored food to feed a small nation, enough booze to stock a popular bar, and no more errands to attend too.  All we can do, to combat this vacuum of activity is go to the pool with a drink and float around.

And oddly enough I ran into a guy at the pool whose blog I followed years ago, Ron,  They owned a boat, Equinox which was a Krogen 58 which we actually went on at a boat show a few years ago.  His wife, Karin has parents living in Oconomowoc of all places. Small world again,

So this morning we arent leaving!  I rode over to SALT and they were having issues finding properly sized O-rings and needed to locate some that fit properly.

All apart and just waiting for O rings

So I pretty much gave up on the idea of leaving here before noon.  I thought we might be able to sneak out of here if the we had the things in hand, but no joy on that one.  We'll hear from them this afternoon when they should be completed with everything and I can get the darn things installed.

So our current plans are now to leave tomorrow morning and join Jeff and Judy at Rodriguez Key before heading across to Bimini Saturday morning.

Jeff and Judy are anchored off Rodriguez Key and we're definitely leaving tomorrow.  Terry from SALT drove the membranes over here and I had them hooked up and flushed with water within an hour.

New high pressure washers

 I decided to just back flush them now and once were anchored at Rodriguez Key I can start the generator and run the water maker.  We have a bit less than 200 gallons of water for the last water maker run we did a month ago, so we are in good shape.

To celebrate our finally leaving this place even though we are paid up until the end of the month ...?

Wait.  What did you say?  Monthly rate?

Good bye pool until next year

Well, it turns out the monthly rate is actually cheaper by $300 compared to the weekly rate.  So since we've been here over half the month we ended up doing the cheaper monthly rate.  As an added benefit, if something does go haywire and we can't make it to the Bahamas, we can always come back here since we've paid for it already.

We wandered down to the pool for one last time and said good bye to various people we've met over the course of that last few months.

Free Banana Bread!  Alright!!

And we did celebrate by going to Lazy Days one last time.  We even got a free loaf of banana bread.

So tomorrow morning we leave the dock at 7:30 for the fuel dock for 60 some gallons of diesel.  And then make our way out to Hawks Channel to Rodriguez Key where we'll meet up with Jeff and Judy and a few other boats there.

We'll be off the grid for a few days until I can secure a data capable Bahamas phone.  

The weather looks good on Saturday when we go across to Bimini.  So it should be a nice ride!