Sunday, April 4, 2004
Marina Bay, Fort Lauderdale
26.05.52/80.10.29 -  View Pictures

I didn’t think I would be posting any more entries to this log when I left the boat in Atlantis after our sad saga of visiting the Bahamas! I’ll have to say that at times I am definitely a loser, but at least I’m not a quitter so here I am, alone, back on the boat at Marina Bay, soaking up the 80 degree wx and getting the boat ready for another round. Time heals all wounds, they say, and now in reviewing my last log entry on January 17 I see some humor in all of the boat problems that befell us, although they weren’t very funny at the time. Anyway I think (hope) that maybe I have everything working that wouldn’t work six weeks ago and we’re about ready to answer the bell once more and head north to explore the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, probably late April or early May. I’m not really sure why the Intracoastal seems more attractive as a cruising destination than the Bahamas, but I am definitely spooked by the shallow water and multitude of coral heads in the Bahamas and every time one of the wizened old skippers hereabouts scoffs at my troubles navigating there and brags “… why hell, boy, them damn instruments and gee gaws you got ain’t no good in the Bahamas. You got to read the water!”, I wonder if it’s worth the trouble. I don’t mind having to “…read the water,” but the water seems to be writing in Sanskrit or some other foreign tongue! The thing is, when you see a dark blue patch of water it could be (1) a shallow patch of grass, (2) a deep hole, or (3) a reef. For me these alternatives give me about one chance in three of guessing correctly, not very good boating odds, so I have decided not to think about going back to the Bahamas until I can sort out how to do it with some moderate competence.

I have lately met pretty much every repair guy in south Florida so far as I can determine. My boat agent, Tim Johnson, has been of inestimable assistance getting good people here to do the work and, if you look at the attached Lauderdale punchlist, you can see that of the cumulative total of 95 items to be addressed, only a few remain to be completed. The air conditioning guy, who works for the distributor, says that the AC problem was a malfunctioning $3.00 sensor that thought the inlet water was too hot when it wasn’t. Doesn’t explain why the AC works perfectly at the dock and only quits when the main engines are running, but what do I know? We’ll see. The new diaphragm pump that pumps out the holding tank seems to be OK with its’ new oil mister and de-moisturizing trap, and the mechanic says it will run forever, but I’m carrying a spare anyway and now have an emergency manual pump aboard in lieu of the buckets we found so useful in Mexico. Actually, in terms of cruising the Intracoastal, the only important remaining task is the computers. Although they all deliver some information, they do not yet all deliver all of the available information and we have learned that a backup navigational computer is more than just a toy, most recently in the Bahamas where “…them damn instruments and gee gaws…” left us in the lurch. Captain Mary Ann, of course, insists that we can’t leave the dock until the satellite TV is working, but I’m going to have to hire a monkey to get it going because the satellite antennae is located on the uppermost, 42 foot high, portion of this vessel. Apparently it’s stuck on the wrong satellite. Somebody has to climb up there, give it a kick, and squirt some lubrication at it, but as most of you gents will recognize, this task, like so many others these days, including some more personal I will not enumerate, is a job for a younger man … or maybe a monkey.

I’m going home tomorrow to see if I look any younger to anyone. Stay tuned.

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