Success! We managed to get out of our Fort Pierce slip and underway at close to our desired start time of 9:00 a.m. Sunset Delight has a two-person bench seat for piloting on the flybridge, so we can sit side-by-side to enjoy the ride, share the steering and navigation responsibilities, and monitor the instruments.
After 17 years on Sea Moss I knew exactly where to look on the instrument panel to find what I needed to know - like the water depth beneath the hull. Not so on Sunset Delight! We both have to learn where to look and how the instruments operate. For instance, I piloted the boat today while Clark ran to get the VHF radio manual, so he could figure out how to get the radio to scan only a few channels (9 / 16) instead of all channels. Everything is a learning experience / opportunity!
It is now the time of year when a lot of boaters are heading to the Bahamas for a few months. While traveling south on the ICW today, we came across several large sailboats who were most likely headed that way. As we listened to the radio calls, I was amazed to hear one come from a sailing vessel called Five Flip Flops. We met the owners of that boat almost a year ago when we were in the Abacos in the Bahamas. When we came upon them today, we haled them on the radio to tell them we intended to pass them and also told them that we had met them when we traveled on Sea Moss. I am not convinced he remembered us, but I was excited just the same.
Overall, for our first real voyage, the trip went well and we even got to see two dolphins along the way playing in the water in front of us. I have given up worrying about running them over, they know full well what they are doing - frolicking out there! I was excited to see them.
We had quite a bit of wind today - enough that we got pushed to the edges of the channel quickly if we lost focus on piloting. I discovered that the flybridge area acts something like a wind tunnel. Luckily I noticed that the case for our binoculars had blown out onto the deck and grabbed it before it flew off the boat and disappeared altogether. Later I spotted a throw cushion moving across the bench seat. Before I could grab that, it took off. Clark was in a better position to chase it, so he did and managed to catch it before it blew overboard! We need to find a way to secure items up there; otherwise, we are sure to lose something as it flies off into the sea!
Our journey today took about four hours, so we arrived in Stuart around 1:00 p.m. Immediately upon docking I grabbed the hose to wash off the layer of salt we acquired on the hull along the way. I had bought a new hose at Home Depot last week, and this was an opportunity to try it out. With the length of our new boat, we need to connect several hoses together. I connected the new one to two older ones so I had plenty of length, turned the water on, and got a big surprise. The connector on the new hose flew off under water pressure!
The connector remained connected to the other hose, but the hose itself flew across the dock! Well, so much for that one, I showed Clark the two parts, and he said, "Return it!" That turned out to be easier said than done. I did not have the packaging as I discarded that back in Fort Pierce. I did have the receipt but most of the SKU was illegible or terribly faded. The clerk at The Home Depot said she could not give me my money back without a SKU. The Home Depot in Stuart does not stock this particular hose, so I could not find any comparable product to get the SKU in the garden department.
Just when I thought she was going to send me away as an unsatisfied customer, she decided to look online for the product. While she searched her version, I searched mine on my phone. She did not find the product, but I did, and better yet, I got the SKU, so I got my $30 back! We were both happy.
I got the ride to the store with Brenda, the woman who took care of the boat when she was called Wilhelmina. She had offered to take me to her local marine supply store. We went there and I bought a new boat hook then she took me to the Home Depot. We always seem to meet the nicest people while boating.
When I got back from my little excursion with Brenda, I found Clark on the boat with a fire extinguisher inspector. Clark scheduled an inspection with him to get the fire extinguishers certified for insurance purposes. They spent a lot of time going over the boat and testing the equipment. All but one passed as I understand it, so we ended up buying one new one for the boat. One more thing off the checklist!
Surprisingly, since there are so few of them, we were pleasantly surprised to meet the owners of a sister Krogen Express 52 called Easy Water. We are docked on C dock and their boat is on B dock! Karen from Easy Water came over to introduce herself to us and said she would come back after dinner with her husband Skip, so we could meet him too.
As promised, they came after their dinner which was just after 6:00 when I was getting ready to start cooking ours. Their timing could not have been more perfect. I had asked Clark how to get the propane to work on the stove so I could use gas to cook tonight. He had no clue. I had no clue. When Skip appeared, Clark grabbed him and pulled him into the boat and asked him how the propane works! They happily went off together to work it out. While they were gone, Karen and I had a nice long chat talking mostly about our children and grandchildren!
Eventually the guys reappeared and the good news is that Clark, and therefore, I now know how to light the stove. Every little thing is a challenge! We are getting there one small step at a time!
Clark spent most of the afternoon - when not certifying fire extinguishers or learning our propane system - working in the engine room on yet another problem that he discovered on today's trip. The battery for the port engine is not charging from the alternator. Clark noticed that the battery charge continued to drop as we progressed on our trip. This should not happen.
Finally, after hours of working on the problem, he hopes he has put a workaround in place to charge the battery from the starboard engine as a temporary solution. He said it is a very hard problem to test when docked, so I guess we will find out on tomorrow's leg of our journey to Fort Myers.
My photographer has been too busy to do his job for the blog since we left NJ, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found he had taken time to capture some sunset pictures this evening.
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| View from the bow of our boat at dock in Stuart, FL |
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| Christmas Boat next to us in Stuart, FL |
The boat next to us is all decked out in Christmas greenery and has a lighted snowman on deck as well! Clark said his favorite snowman is one that he can enjoy when the temperature is in the 70s!
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| Patriotic Snowman in Stuart, FL |
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