Hammock Beach December 2019

We arrived here in December 21, slip H14.  Per our usual luck it was really blowing out and I ended up having to bow in to the slip which was fine.  We are next to a boat we remember sitting next to in Norfolk.  It flew a 10x10 foot Trump banner.  I have several items to tackle here before we leave so the boat is starting to be strewn with parts etc. during the "project" cycle.

Most everything we needed to have repaired, was sorted out at Huckins.  New fuel lines, injector rebuild, port engine squeak which turned out to be a belt after they tried several solutions, ice maker and aft stateroom trim work.

The insurance company was really on us about the nuisance leak Bill the surveyor had uncovered on the port shaft where it enters the boat.  It turned out to be a two set screws holding the cutlass bearing at the end of the shaft tube.   Much, much less traumatic than a rotted wood and a fiberglass job.

We waited for a propane gas pressure gauge to be delivered, and then for a weather system to pass by and took off around 8AM on the 20th.  We hit the tides just right riding down the St. Johns River and much of the way down the Tolomato River to Pine Island, an anchorage we had never used.

Marys welcoming anchoring event was in 30 mph winds and driving rain.  But the anchor held fine all night and the new knee did seem to weather the storm too.   And the new knee's owner wasn't too annoyed either.

We did the 30+ miles to Mile Hammock the next day.

In our slip, H14

Mary at the bar in Delfinos. 

After settling in the following days we did a few boat chores, went to dinner at the high end Italian place on the grounds, Delfinos, which was a good as always. 

Mary Donna and Greg at JT's Sea Food Shack

Dona an Greg stopped by for a night to see us too.  Meanwhile its been squally weather here, windy, overcast and rainy.   We were hoping to get the big dinghy cleaned up and slathered with a few coats of Liquid Rubber, but the weather is uncooperative for now.  But we still have a battery issue and water leak to deal with so there is plenty to do.

Fascination, a boat at the end of the dock is home to "Tahn:", (short for Ruth Ann).  She actually remembered us! Her bird and dog didn't seem to though, but you have take what you can get.  She told me about Gary, a guy here who runs a pump-out boat which means we can stay tied up in the slip and not move over to the pump-out dock every week.

The little folding bike we have, is still functional.  I did ride it to Publix after much greasing and oiling.  We still plan to leave here around the 15th or so.  Dave and JoAnn may stop to see us before that as they make their way down to Wayward on the Caloosahatchee River near Okeechobee.   I hope I have the boat back together before they arrive!  






 

Minimalist approach to blogging

Going to give updating this blog again.  But will this time, employ a more minimalist approach instead of the long rambling posts I was doing several years ago.  Writing is fun but carving out the time to write up gnarly details was doomed to failure.  So here we go with the minimalist approach.

We are in Huckins boat yard having some minor work done but since we are teetering on the precipice of a new insurance company, it was expected we would have av condition boat survey completed.  Bill Gladding, the surveyor did a great job.  Maybe a little too great because the insurance company latched on a nuisance leak on the port shaft Bull saw, and they wont insure us until we get it fixed.  Or at least provide proof the boat yard is in the process of repair.

At the dock after being hauled out for Survey

So thats on-going while we are still in WI where the weather continually makes us pine for Florida.  And we are facing a situation where the boat work may not be completed by the time we arrive back there next week.  Living on the edge ... in a myriad number of hotels.

We drove to MN for Thanksgiving but the restaurant ran out of Turkey, Potatoes, Cranberries, Stuffing and the final crushing blow, Pumpkin pie.  So it was roasted chicken, a veggie burger.  No desert.  We stumbled into a diet Thanksgiving... all the rage now days.