1/11/17 to 1/13/17
One would think that two cars full of supplies would be
sufficient to provision the boat, but alas, that turned out not to be the case.
Of course we needed to buy groceries. I got a lunch out and one
more restaurant dinner on Tuesday because “Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard” was quite
beyond bare. We got the lunch special at the Publix supermarket. Instead of $5.99
for a half a sub each, we could share a whole sub for the same price. The only
catch was that we both had to get the same meats and cheese. For a “free”
lunch, I decided I could eat what Clark ate which meant turkey on whole wheat
instead of ham on whole grain – disappointing but edible. Publix provides a
dining area, so we could eat right there and then do our grocery shopping.
I only wanted to buy a few essentials and seriously shop on
another day when I had a grocery list, but Clark wanted to stock up. I guess
dinner out three nights in a row is more than he can handle. On my aisle-by-aisle trip through
the grocery store, I picked up a family pack of chicken breasts. When we got to
the checkout, the clerk said, “These are buy one get one, so you need to go get
another.” Knowing the chicken was at the furthest point away from the cash
register and that I had already picked up the family pack, I politely declined
the offer, but she and the bagger both insisted that I needed to go get the
free chicken. I left Clark checking out and made the trek across the store. I
hadn’t noticed on the first package, but the second one I picked up showed a
price of around $22 – quite a savings! Thankfully this new boat has a
full-sized refrigerator and freezer, so I can actually store that much chicken!
Besides the food provisioning, we came up with a list of
other items we had either forgotten to bring or didn’t know we needed until
talking to the boat broker (John). John came to visit us and give us training
sessions on each of three consecutive days – Wednesday through Friday. Each
time he came Clark had a list of questions that he had compiled while exploring
the boat and reading through the stack of manuals that come with a boat this
complex. The first night on board, just turning on the lights turned out to be
a significant challenge. I looked and looked and could not find a light switch
for the pilot house. Later, I noticed the lights on in there and asked Clark
where the switch was. His response, “… the obvious place”. I have yet to see
this obvious light switch though, to be honest, I have not looked for it a
second time.
Clark was fascinated by the lights in the cockpit. He found that they never completely turn off with the dimmer switch. The work around he found is to turn off the circuit breaker for the salon lights which has this cockpit lighting on it as well. That works well until we need to see in the salon area at night! He found that out himself when he tried to turn on a light in the salon in the evening, and it didn't work!
On Thursday, Clark took a break from the boat to go in
search of an immediate care medical provider. Right after we got back from
Colorado, we both got sick with a cough and congestion. That was ten days ago. Although I still have a
bit of congestion, mine eventually, mostly went away. Clark had asked if I
thought he should find a doctor, but given I was getting progressively better,
I thought he would be fine. By Thursday morning we both knew this was not the
case. He sounded awful – hacking and coughing.
I have no idea what the doctor thought was wrong with Clark’s
health, but he must have thought it pretty serious. He gave Clark a shot of
something there in the office and then prescribed a chest x-ray and four different medications.
When I saw his stack of pills, I called him a “walking medicine cabinet”. He now
needs a personal secretary to schedule his pill taking. I cannot believe how
complex the schedule is for one of them – it changes every day for five days
regarding how many pills to take and when to take them – with dire consequences
of side effects should the patient not adhere to the precise schedule.
Later that day, the broker came by as promised to
go out with us on the boat just to get a feel for how it handles. We did not go
too far. Clark did most of the driving. Thankfully he did not take the
medication that said in bold print “do not operate heavy machinery while taking
this medication”. I would say the boat qualifies as “heavy machinery”.
Clark did well handling the boat and even gave me the
controls for maybe 5 minutes on a straightaway. Then he asked me what I
thought. I’m not sure what revelation he was expecting. I told him, “It drives
like a boat.” I am sure I would be a lot more intimidated by it if I had to
steer it in close quarters. When we got back to the slip, Clark backed her in
like a pro, and then since he wanted to “play with the dinghy” later, he turned
it around and docked bow in.
As the mate, I have a lot to learn too. I paid close
attention to the instructions on how to drive the boat. The controls are
nothing like what we had on Sea Moss, and Clark said they are very sensitive.
The lever for Forward/Neutral/Reverse easily slides into reverse from forward
(a definite no-no) if the driver is not very careful when aiming for the neutral
position. Of course this boat has a totally different set of navigation systems
than either of us are used to. We had Simrad on Sea Moss; now we have Raymarine.
Mostly I drive the boat when Clark needs to visit the “head”
or he needs to check on something. I remember being near terrified when I thought
I was going to have to take Sea Moss into a lock while on our Great Loop trip.
I can only imagine my level of terror if I have to do anything even slightly complicated
with this one!
This new boat is nominally 17 feet longer than our old one –
35 versus 52 feet. In actuality, this vessel is 57 feet long overall – that’s a
lot of boat. Where Clark, sitting at the helm, could hear me just about
anywhere I stood on Sea Moss, I now have to position myself within hearing
range. Thanks to my son and his wife, we do have radios for communication on
board. I expect them to get a lot more use on Sunset Delight.
With a bigger boat, the lines are fatter (3/4” instead of
5/8”), longer, and heavier. The fenders are bulkier. I could see the swim
platform on Sea Moss when standing on the top deck. Neither Clark nor I can see
the swim platform on Sunset Delight
from up there. I will need to be below and be his eyes to tell him how close he
is to the dock as he comes in. With Sea
Moss, he just knew.
In the process of moving onto the boat, we compiled a list of
non-food items we needed. The broker, John, recommended that I go shopping in
Vero Beach instead of Fort Pierce since Vero Beach has a better selection of
stores. I left today (Friday) before 11:00 and didn’t get back to the boat
until after 4:00. I went to Michael’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, Lowes, CVS, Home
Depot, West Marine and Walgreens. I haven’t tallied up my total cost of my
shopping spree, but I am sure it’s not pretty.
I am not a shopper by nature. Some folks love to shop; I
would be very happy to forgo this activity. First I had to find each of these
stores and then I had to navigate within them. At least for the former, I had
GPS to assist. Once in the stores, especially Lowes and Home Depot, I was on my
own and inevitably found myself at the wrong end of the store whenever I asked
a clerk where something was stocked!
While I was trudging up and down the aisles of stores, Clark
was learning how to deploy and use our new dinghy. We have a crane on this boat
to lower the dinghy into the water. He had to learn the idiosyncrasies of that
procedure, and then he went out for a ride. We had a 4 HP motor on
our old dinghy. The outboard on this one is more than ten times that! Clark
said it goes “scary fast” when opened up to top RPM. Sorry I missed that ride;
sounds like it might have been fun.
After our three days of instruction and the broker patiently
addressing all of Clark’s questions, we are now on our own. I am very glad we
went out once with the broker as it did take the edge off the nervousness of
the first time out. I’m just thankful that I am not the captain!
Tomorrow we have a diver coming to scrub the bottom of the
boat. Sitting at dock for the past few months, it has grown a green beard on
the bottom. We are also expecting someone to come with some touch-up paint to
cover a couple of nicks on the bow of the boat as well as the woman who took
care of the boat for the previous owners. The painter shows up first at 8:00,
so that means an early morning for us.
Things are slowly starting to come together. We are getting
things in order and stowed in a more organized manner. As we get more familiar
with the boat, we find better places to “hide” things. I am more than a bit
worried that we will “hide” things so well they won’t be seen again for months
or years. When we first moved on board, for example, I found a place for the
vacuum cleaner. Two days later I opened a cupboard and was surprised to find
the vacuum there. I expect I may encounter more of that, but it is better to
find something unexpectedly than to lose something on the boat forever due to
its “perfect” storage place.
One might ask, “Are we having fun yet?” The answer to that
question would have to be no. Besides being sick, we have been extremely busy.
Neither of us have really had the time yet to sit back, relax and enjoy this
experience. One thing for sure, I have no trouble sleeping at night. I pass out
almost as soon as I turn the lights out!
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