Saga Isn’t Over – Palm Coast Marineland, FL, USA – October 28. 2022   

Ron started asking himself – what’s my time worth? We spoke too soon, and our chart plotter isn’t fixed. We have tried multiple cards, Sailing Hubby has taken it apart multiple times, and it still only works intermittently. Not good when this is what is driving our auto pilot and keeps us from not only running aground but also hitting other boats. It’s time to cut bait and invest in a new one. Sadly, if we get a new chart plotter, we must buy a new radar too. Ugh! This is a multi-thousand-dollar expense we were hoping to avoid but it we are spending cash, at least it is on the stuff that keeps us alive and this is it. The hitch is the charts for our new chart plotter are sold out everywhere…great. We finally found one to purchase with the charts included and although it was a bit more, we really had no choice as the charts are not optional.

And since the fixing never ends, the engine on the starboard side has had difficulty starting.  Sailing Hubby has figured identified the issue and it’s a doosey.  Our starter was only attached with one bolt since it had fallen out and it broke the bracket!  At least we had a spare of this already and he was able to fix this pretty quickly.  Now that we have one that actually attached it works just fine.  Insane.

Then we tested the dinghy engine and of course, it needs parts too.  It needs a new fuel filter after nearly getting stranded in the middle of the intercoastal.

At least we got a break one of the days and got to drive up and see a couple of Caribbean Friends we had met this past season to have lunch which was awesome to see them again.  They are getting ready to launch from a boat yard in St. Mary’s GA.  In addition, Ron found a guy selling very reasonably priced scuba equipment.  He got a weight belt and a new mask, and I got new fins and a new mask.  He hopes to do a lot more spear fighting (as we hope to head to the Berry Islands) for actual fish this year and not just lobster so this will help him.  He also bought a longer spear on Amazon to make this easier as well since you can’t get as close to them as you can the lobster.  We both struggled with our equipment last year and knowing it’s something we really like to do and want to do more of it will pay off having better equipment.  Hopefully this will also lower our grocery bill since Ron won’t need to buy much meat if he catches more fish.

Over the next few days, we finished up our provisioning, Ron scrubbed the entire boat with the power washer, I got all our provisions repackaged (cardboard = cockroaches so it had to go!) and put away on the boat, and as he installed the new radar and chart plotter, I learned how to hoist him up the mast! 

Our list of project is quickly coming to an end and now we just have to get gas for the dinghy, refill our propane tank, and we found out one of our hatches on the starboard leaks so we get to fix that. We are also waiting on a couple Amazon deliveries (read into this spare parts) and we are out of here on Monday!