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No electrician as expected at 7:30 AM so we waited a while then walked to the office for details on what was happening.  You know the answer — the part is not here yet!  The part arrived after lunch and the initial problem we came here to fix was fixed.  The chart plotters work just fine now.  The electricians did identify another issue that should be addressed on the starboard engine so we have decided to wait to install a new engine reset solenoid tomorrow morning.  Once it arrives and is installed we’ll be underway.  We’ve rearranged our schedule so we now only need 11 days of travel to make Virginia when we planned.  We’ll stop first in Colonial Beach and then make it to Annapolis to see Lauren, Cynthia, and the grandkids by the 18th.  Got some grandkids’ baseball and soccer we’ll get to watch and Lauren’s birthday will be celebrated.  Really looking forward to those parts of our visit!

We again enjoyed The Cove Restaurant for lunch and then retired to the back deck of Apolonia for the afternoon.

No pictures today as we’re sitting in the same spot, but know we are enjoying being back around the boating community.

Up early to meet the electrician Josh.  He arrived at 7:30 AM and after more investigation discovered the problem with 12V power to the chart plotters was a breaker.  The good news is that a long time of cable pulling would not be required.  The bad news is the breaker had to be ordered.  It should arrive Wednesday and be installed early.  While investigating an engine reset switch issue came up, but that should be no problem.  I need to get out before something else happens.

Carey and I relaxed for the day while the electricians plugged away.  We also started planning a couple of ways to gain back one of the two days we’ve spend here.  It’s relaxing but we are anxious to get moving.  At a long, relaxing lunch at The Cove Restaurant at the Marina we enjoyed the views and watched a big Hatteras Power Boat get hauled from the water.  A couple of pictures follow of the day.

 

Sunday we moved aboard Apolonia, after having loaded the boat.  Ready for the adventure — a boat trip to the Chesapeake Bay.  We’ll been away from long boat trips too long — since 2017.

Easy under way from Fort Pierce, but chart plotters were not working.  I figured I’d work on them a while, but just 10 miles later said, no way — must have help.  Pulled into Harbor Town Marina, back in Fort Pierce, and asked for a bit of help.  After some investigation, we determined plotters were fine but boat power to the helm station was the problem.  Batteries ok, so it is a cable issue.  Still working to determine which cable is not carrying the required 12Vs, but hopeful this will be fixed by tomorrow noon.  This has cost us 1 of the 3 weather or mechanical down days we had planned for the trip.   We’ll see what’s up as we move forward.  Now planning a 12 May arrival in Colonial Beach, VA, well before our 14 May deadline.

Even with the issue, Carey had a great day.  Several people stopped by and said, “nice boat,” then in conversation she discovered we had common friends and experiences with them in the long-range boating community, particularly in the Bahamas  She was enjoying being back on the water, as was I.  I determined our new dinghy was riding nicely on the new Hurley swim platform davits we chose to haul the dinghy. Looking forward to anchoring out…our favorite.   We ended the day with dinner at The Cove Restaurant, located at Harbor Town Marina.  Maddy loves being back on the boat and is snoozing as we end the evening watching Beverly Hills Cop and Operation Petticoat.  So nice being old folk!

Tomorrow we hope to be off to Titusville.  A few pictures below.

 

Well, we’re in February and Polly came to stay for a while.  She has moved out of her place in St Petersburg, rented a home in Tucson, AZ near some of her relatives.  She will be leaving for Tucson in early April.  She’ll stay will us until then.  As she is still a Florida resident she will get her Covid 19 vaccine shots here, before leaving.

As I mentioned in the last blog we had Paget painted up nicely and finally decided to sell her.  She sold quickly to a middle-edge couple with children in Miami.  The wife’s parents are from Norway and they have at least one antique boat.  This couple wanted one to day boat around Miami.  It all worked out and they are now the proud owners of Paget.

Carey and I have cleaned up the Nr 2 Apolonia, the 37′ Maxum and we are planning our trip to Virginia and the Chesapeake.  We’ll be leaving on 26 April.  Now we are planning our trip and doing the necessary check out of Apolonia.  And just to make sure Carey can see well, she took care of a cataract issue with her eyes and also had new lenses placed in the eyes.  She doesn’t need glasses any more.

It is still slow around here but in our local area people are behaving by wearing masks for the most part and being serious about the Covid virus, even though the news media seems to indicate Florida is miss-behaving.  We’re lucky to be in a spot that has reasonable people.

Take care.  More to follow as we get ready for the trip north on the boat.

 

When you label large blocks of time on a post, like I just did, you know things are moving slow …

We spent most of this winter isolating due the COVID virus.  I could not take the symptoms and Carey was making sure I did not get the virus.  We stayed in.

We had planned a trip to Annapolis to see the grandkids, which we canceled.  Our friend George (Cajigal) was losing his battle with cancer so we went to see him and his wife Polly.   A short time after our visit he passed away, which was just before Thanksgiving.  Polly and her son Jackson came over to our place for Thanksgiving.  Hopefully relaxing for Polly.  We enjoyed each others company.  After that visit Polly decided to settle up in St Peterburg and move out to Tucson, AZ. near her brother.  She needed to get the vaccine for the virus and move our of her apartment by early February.  We made plans for her to move in with us in February until she was able to receive the vaccine, find a place to live in Tucson, and move out of St. Petersburg.  As that was all in the works, Polly and her son Jackson came over again for the Christmas holidays.  We had Bonnie Scanlin, a good friend, over for Christmas Eve dinner.  Sort of breaking the rules but all five of us have been very serious about isolating so we took the risk.

Now January, we’re putting a fresh coat of paint on Paget.  We think we’ll put her in the market.  And we are also getting Apolonia ready for a summer cruise hoping that the virus gets under control.

Here are a few pictures of the holidays.  And we report we’ve had our first Covid vaccine shot and will get the second one 19 Feb.