Off again, Dry Tortugas then Cuba

Hi all, last post for a bit. Got the Alt replaced, changed engine oil etc. Have Ken & Carol on board. Tickets booked for Barcelona, taxes paid, OK anything else??

Dry Tortugas with Dream Weaver in the am, then Habana we hope later in the week.

Bumps In the Night

Crossing from Fort Myers Beach to Key West, the weather says leave this afternoon, pull an over night. All is well until at 4 am we pick something up in the prop and rudder, the boat is shaking, I am in the engine room. We radio Dream Weaver. It takes a while, crab pot? net? Dunno, eventually we are free and carry on.  As we approach Key West the alternator burns up, we had symptoms early on but now it is serious. We grab a mooring and shut down the main.

Florida West Coast

We leave Ft. Pierce, stop in Indian Town, Mark & Emily bring us tools and join us for Gumbo "sans garlic".

On to Moore Haven, we spend a few nights, work on the tender, wait for Dream Weaver, met the folks on the Manatee "Second Star". Did Mexican at the canteena. Good.

On to Sarasota with Dream Weaver, connect with Nick & Sheri at the Peruvian Place, great place, Sarasota, too bad the dockage is so expensive so we only stayed a few nights. Sorry Nick, we did anchor out, the water is too turbid to make water, yes we saw our anchor, once, barely. Better now in the keys but still running through filters, one per week. We are spoiled I know from our time in the Bahamas.

Other than that great cruising and we need to come back.

OK, Fort Pierce, we made it.

Not a big trip but glad to be here. Harbortown, Fort Pierce. Lot's of maintenance projects before we head off cruising. The gel coat suffered over the summer, the SS fared better, buffing and polishing here we go. At least the weather is perfect, 20-25 C and our good friends Paul and Karin on Dream Weaver are here. 45 "Krogonites" at breakfast Tuesday, great to see all, especially John & Sandra on Mistic Moon.

Cheers all
K&S

Melborne, Pizza

Short day, making pizza at anchor. Always a challenge but fun, and Sammy is always receptive to my funky combinations.

Melborne, FL. Still blowing 15-20kts. NE-NE, chilly!

Rocket Launch, Nope.

Just by coincidence we plan to stop at Addison Point, Cape Cenaveral and SpaceX has a launch planned for 17:38, bonus!

Never happened, not sure why.

Daytona Beach, Seabreeze

We decided to pull over here, just North of Seabreeze Blvd. Bridge. Good holding with the Delta, 100' of chain, 15-20 kt NW-N clocking over night to NE, but finally dropping to 15 kts. Nice evening on the hook, running the genny, heat, after the cold front we are now seeing 45F.

Cheers
K&S

Back Aboard

Always Interesting on a Boat. We left Sylken Sea at St. Marys Boat Services,  GA. Rocky, Terri & staff are good folks. A very good DYI yard if you are looking for one.

Anyway, we are always in a rush (at least I am, type A). We are in the sling and the engine start BATT is dead, shows 12.5, but no AMPS, as soon as we load it 0.0 V, it's dead and my fault for only checking the voltage not the capacity. Luckily, Rocky has a brand new 4D, flooded cell start battery, his guy Bill is awesome, knows his stuff,  switches out the battery but also questions and checks the wiring, turns out all is well, he just wants to get it right. Now she starts, I run through the checks, thumbs up, all gauges "green". Then as they are about to release us an alarm, Trac, low oil level, what the F***? I just checked it, the tank was full, Oh, Oh! Hydraulic leak? Yep, very strange, the mechanical pressure gauge mounted on the control manifold for the bow thruster had a catastrophic failure, rare (I hope), spilling hydraulic oil like a cut juggular. Bill pulls the gauge, turns out the connection is not standard, 7/16-20 thread, what now? Well thanks to the course I took at TRAC (where I met our now good friend Ray Nordstrom, Cracker Jack) we have a variety of hydraulic fittings for just such an occasion. We block the port and after a three hour delay are on our way. Thanks Rocky, Bill, Jeff, Terri & team.

K&S

It Finally Stopped Raining

It has been really wet. Sometimes having your own arc is a good idea.

Home For A Few Weeks

Hi All. Sylken Sea is on the hard, St. Mary's GA. We are home a few weeks before we head off to Turkey to see first hand a real protest, back 2nd week of August. Not really planning next cruising season yet. A lot of stuff going on. How about the rest of You?

K&S