Waking to a blanket wrapped warm and cozy around you is one thing but to wake up early for what you know will be a long day on “the road” to a blanket of fog is no fun. We watch as the moments flee away from us and try to decide if we hang here in West Palm and leave in the afternoon with an overnight to Key Largo or give it a few more moments. I watch Marine Traffic and see that boats are leaving the harbor but they are much closer to the inlet (escaping from the marinas) than we. Some calculating of mileage and sunset, tide and currents and we make the decision to make a run for No Name.
It took a while for the fog to clear but thankfully with the help of radar we could navigate when out on the open ocean. After lunch we are headed for the mouth of the Miami Shipping Channel and low and behold there is only one ship and we happen to be on a course that will take us too close for comfort. Thank goodness there is no fog now as this would have scared me to death had it emerged from the fog.
We are within five miles now of our destination……No Name Harbor. If you look at AIS or Marine Traffic you would think there is no one in the harbor, but that was far from the truth. There were at least seven sailboats anchored inside with another possibly twenty in the outside anchorage. We will sit outside and enjoy…….no wait for it……..the call comes from the captain. “The generator sounds funny”. No water spitting out the back end. YIKES It is 80 degrees and we have not had dinner which requires an oven and the list of possible uses of power escalates. The captain is quickly pulling things apart. I act as Sous Mechanic Extraordinaire and hand tools as needed. The boys are both sleeping upstairs oblivious as to what is going on except for the strange noise here or there that requires a bark.
Anyone that knows me know that being is tight quarters is not my idea of fun but then again I know the captain is far from enjoying the sweat rolling down his face. Suck it up Glenda…..you can do this. And while I was worried we would be dead in the water till we could call for some help, my captain has found a pretty nasty impeller.
With the installation of the new impeller, he found a large leak when we restarted the generator. By this time I have turned off all freezers, fridges and any unnecessary breakers. We are using power that at this point we need to be saving so the prudent thing is to eliminate as much draw on the batteries as possible. For the next couple of hours Greg would chat with the prior owner and dig into several schematics to make sure the installation he was doing of a raw water pump was performed properly before once again trying to operate the generator. It is 9:45PM and while he has been at it for hours, the captain has shown such patience and diligence in this process. With the flip of a switch, it is running…..not leaking…..and kicking water. SUCCESS!!!!
Let’s call it a night……after an egg sandwich and a bite of key lime pie for the captain.
