Camachee Island Marina 29.55.051N 081 18.446W
Saturday May 19th, to Wednesday May 27th, 2009
Charlie was astounded when we went to pay our marina bill this afternoon to find out that we had been here in the country's oldest city for twelve days! Yes we arrived on a Saturday...was that the 19th? and today is the 25th? oh dear, where did the time go?
Well, we seemed to have one technical issue after another. Charlie had discovered water in the Racor filter for the port tank when we were in Fort Pierce. During our trip from Fort Pierce, the engine would not go more than 2300 rpm, no matter how far we moved the throttle. We contacted First Mate and put our name on the list for a mechanic for Monday, possibly Tuesday.
This seemed like a good time for me to make a quick trip back to Tulsa, cuddle Anna Louise and bring back the cat that escaped April 30th as we left for the airport.
I also went out to watch IV and his friends race their model boats, and was invited to be Race Committee, but was dismayed when one race ended in a dead heat and I could not determine which boat was first!
Charlie met us (me and Sooty) at Jacksonville airport on Tuesday; we landed in pouring rain. He reported that it had rained all day Monday, even blowing up to 40 knots at times, and the rain was not forecast to end soon. He had rented a car.
The mechanics had investigated all possibilities with the engine on Monday, with Charlie even taking a dip to check that nothing was wrapped around the prop, and had finally removed the regulator and injectors and sent them off to a lab for testing and calibration.
Our friends Debbie and Craig Roser from Charmed took a road trip to Saint Augustine and we had breakfast together. Craig is crewing for John Dinsmore on Jay Sea Dee as they cross the Atlantic. The "extra-tropical" storm we were experiencing had delayed their departure.
Meredith and Dick Schwarz from Distant Druminvited us over to their beautiful condo in Ponte Verdur for a meal. We met their friends Ann and Mike McDougal from Night Flight, and the six of us had a grand time talking about ports of call.
With so much rain all week, we finally were able to find a movie theater and watched the new Star Trek movie, which was enjoyable.
With the continuing rain, trips to the grocery store (first American store for provisioning Lady in about five months) and to West Marine separated us from lots of money.
When the engine parts returned, Bo and Spanky worked on getting the Yanmar working properly. Success at last! Except for the fact that the gear shift would not
go into the neutral position. They ordered the part, and after we moved our bed, they were able to remove the water from the port tank.
We relaxed for the weekend, getting the new jib sheet cars installed. on Sunday, the rain stopped for a while, and Ann and I went out to the local outlet mall, and each of us were able to purchase a new tool for the galley (I got a shrimp peeler and deveiner) and a new pair of pants.
Over 20 inches of rain fell during this days-long rain event.
I spent an hour in the lazarette on day, laying on my back, removing wire ties from the gear-shift cables.
By this time the microwave was no longer working. This was getting spooky. Although the only time we use the microwave is when we are in a marina...so it could have gone wrong some time ago.
Tuesday we were up bright and early, waiting for the mechanics. Charlie looked overboard after he heard the bilge-pump go off (not unusual when we run air-conditioning), and noticed a sheen of diesel on the water. We pulled up floorboards, and on no, we can see diesel in our bilge! We tear the boat apart looking for a leak, and just can't find it.
Bo of First Mate, arrived quickly, and soon established that it was coming from the generator. We had not run the generator in at least a couple of weeks. While I did laundry, he managed to put a new hose on, and by mid-morning all the diesel was cleaned from the bilge and the new gear shift was installed and working properly.
We took a few hours off, while the sun was out, and went in to downtown Saint Augustine. We had lunch out, and browsed some of the cute stores.
There are some manatee swimming around the marina, but all the rain has made the water so muddy, they are difficult to see. Camachee Cove is also home base for some of the Homeland Security Department's vessels.
Today, Wednesday, we are finally off, just as soon as there's enough water under the keel for us to float out of the slip. Next stop Cumberland Island.
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