April 9-15, 2015 Marathon (yes, still here)

We heard from SALT after Curt, who was there at the shop, called Mary and she talked with Terry who’s sort of overseeing the membrane fix.  They couldn't remove the caps from the cylinders.  These cylinders are about 40 inches long and have end caps at both ends, held on by a slotted metal tab and sealed by O rings.  Seems they can't break the corrosion bond.  But they haven't given up yet.

Before all this took place I spent the day mostly taking care of email and research for the Bahamas. 

We did make a reservation at Brunswick Landing Marina for July and August.   Brunswick Landing is in Brunswick Georgia.  Our original plan was to keep the boat at Lambs Marina on the Ortega River where they have concrete overheads in case of weather problems.  Our insurance doesn’t care about that.  We must be above 30.5 degrees latitude until July 15 until November 1.  This is their hurricane period I guess.  So given that constraint and our unwillingness to fork out and additional $3600, we’re going to Brunswick,Georgia.  And then make our way north to other places we only briefly visited.

Later, Mary took a walk and when she returned I walked out on the old bridge for the first time.  Very neat.  I have a few more days to make the walk to Pigeon Key, about 5 miles round trip.

After we showered we headed over to the Hyatt to met Jeff, and Judy and Curt and Marilyn for cocktails and to listen to a band which is composed of guys from their marina.

Jeff reported he’s quite happy with the DVD’s we gave him to watch.   All those DVD’s we collected over the year seem to have found a purpose now!

We made it back to the boat just at sunset and headed off to bed by 10.  Didn’t watch any Boston Legal again.  We have to get that finished so we can give it to some friends who are watching the first four years.  We have year 5.

This morning I spent a few hours fitting the internet connection here.  It was pretty steady and slow, but usable.  Not this morning.

Mary got up about the time I gave up and was getting ready to visit SALT again with my spare membrane.  I strapped it to the bike and made it to SALT with much trouble.  I gave it to Sean as we walked back and took a quick look at our membrane cylinders.  The puller was on one but the end cap wasn't off.  I’m hoping to have this all cleared up by Wednesday next week. 

After SALT I rode down to Publix but before I arrived Curt called me.  They must have seen me riding don the rode.  I turned around and headed back towards them.  They asked if we wanted to hit the Big Pine Key Flea Market.  That sounded better than anything we had planned so they drove to the marina and Mary and I eventually climbed in their truck and off we went to Big Pine Key which is across Seven Mile Bridge.

Scoping out the white shirt things we eventually bought

It is a fun place, this Flea Market

The flea market has a wide variety of,, well, stuff.  I bought some electrical connectors, and Mary bought a hat and we got a deal on 3 white jackets.  We also consumed two oranges.  Then it was off to No Name Pub again.  Curt and Marilyn had never gone there so we figured why not!  It's a good place.  The waitress there answered Curts question about how much money is stapled up on the walls.  $200,000 is the estimate.

Curt Marilyn and Mary at NoName Pub.  Yes, those are dollar bills on the wall

After lunch we headed back with plans to convince Jeff and Judy to join us at Sunset Bar where the local Blues Brothers were playing.   The bar has a restaurant overlooking the pool where the main bar is located.  The bands all play by the pool which is right along the shoreline overlooking the ocean.

The two Blues Brothers beyond the pool

These Blues Brothers are almost the spitting image of the original.  Very talented, but no band.  Its sort of like karaoke where they have record music playing while they sing.  Wish they had a band.

Mary wasn't feeling well so we didn't stay long. And headed back to the boat.  I took a long walk while Mary digested some TV and then we went to bed.

Fought with the deteriorating internet here all morning, then spent more time trying to get a bootable usb / repair disk made.  After a while I just gave up and rode to the store.   It's our daily store run to keep us stocked for the Bahamas.  Came back and headed out to walk out to Pigeon Key over the old bridge.  Ran into Jeff and Mary who told me Rob's house inspection went well so all they have to do is agree on a closing date.  And move.  Mounds of stuff.

Entrance to Old Seven Mile Bridge

Looking down the bridge towards Pigeon Key

The trek to Pigeon Key is across the Old 7 Mile Bridge and is about 2.5 miles one way.  On the bridge itself, they used the old rails to form the railings.  All welded.  And rusting too.

On the way to the Key I saw at least a dozen rays, 3 barracuda which where much larger than I've ever seen before.  Easily 4-5 feet.  And a sea turtle.  It's an Aquarium out there!

Windlass cover

As I came back Mary finished the windlass cover she was making and was on her way out for a walk.  So I took some time to watch the Masters and then we showered, watched a little TV and went to bed with all three air conditioners running.  It was hot today.

  

After dealing with one of our investment sites and discovering the password I changed 14 months ago was rejected, we finally get off the boat at noon. 

Noon.   The ubiquitous time so familiar to us.  It’s the time when we leave to do things.  Be it errands, appointments, or play time.  Anything.  Regardless how early we get up or how prepared we are, its always Noon.   Maybe that’s why we rarely have anything scheduled in the morning because people who know us know that their 8AM is our Noon.

Before we left I did move the mattress off our bed and soaked the water maker high pressure fittings in vinegar to remove the salt build up.  I was thinking it would take several hours.  Took and hour!  So we were able to leave at noon for SALT so we could find out the status of our membranes.

We made it there and discovered Terry, the guy handling the membrane re-build was out.  We will be getting a call from him this afternoon.

We left SALT for the Post Office so I can mail in our tax payment and some other mail.  We ran into Jeff and Judy who were wandering around with Curt and Marilyn near the Publix.  When we left the post office we saw them there and talked for a few minutes.  We kept bringing up the subject of the Bahamas more than once to Curt and Marilyn who are wavering about crossing over.  I mean so the freezer at your house died and a fence blew down.  Its why we all have kids, right? 

Not sure if we can cajole them into going over with us, but it sure is fun trying.

We shopped and biked back to the boat with a good supply of stuff, but need a few more trips until we have everything.   Question is will Marathon have anything left.  

SALT called and the message was specific.  NO membranes for at least 2 weeks from all their suppliers!  Except they found some on Amazon.  2 to be exact.

So I biked over quickly they gave me the link and I ordered them on the spot.  It’s costing us a little over a hundred dollars more than the place where I had originally had ordered them, but time is getting critical.  We now might actually, really, be leaving Wednesday or Thursday!

I went back to Publix late in the afternoon to take advantage of a sale on water they were having.  Bottled water.  I know, I know we have a water maker.  Whats with the bottled water?  It's backup in case the water maker refuses to make water in some remote location.

It's almost like having a truck.

Got the last case of water but I couldn't get any Seltzer because someone bought all the LaCroix.  Damn these Marathon Seltzer drinkers.  Down here though its soda not seltzer.  I always have a difficult time ordering drinks because they say, "oh you mean soda", when I say Captain and seltzer.  I think they mean 7 up or something similar.  And they don't know what Seltzer is.  Fizzy water seems to work most of the time.

I didn't polish any fuel today.  Basically forgot.  So tomorrow I’ll have to do that, and change some filters, fuel up the dinghy and get it aboard and washed, and lay in the navigation stuff.  And also to be sure to get three $100 bills to pay the entrance fee for cruising the Bahamas.  Busy day tomorrow, but now its another one of those humdrum tropical sunsets.