We had another nice night on the hook. Although, I am getting to be like Matt. I was awake for a couple hours last night trying to figure out the dinghy engine problem. We were up by 8:00 and working on the dinghy engine by 8:30. Matt removed the carburetor and tried to clean it again.
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It was a very comfortable night at anchor. It was another quiet night at anchor. We were awake by 7:30, had breakfast and were pulling up the anchor by 8:30. Noel (from Kismet) had called and filled us in on the fleets plans. We had heard that Forever had to unexpectedly return home yesterday, but reports were that they had everything under control and were heading back out today and would meet up with us. It was a still and quiet night on the boat last night. We both slept well, so well that we didn't get up until 8:00. We're not to sure where we are going tomorrow. Waiting to hear from the fleet on their intended destination. I do know more dinghy engine tinkering is on the agenda. Last night, the gentle rocking of the boat developed into a more severe jostling motion. It was one of those rare uncomfortable nights in Pelican Bay. The wind was blowing straight into the anchorage at 15+ knots and the current was unusually swift due to the extreme tides. This caused the boat to turn slightly so that we weren't facing directly into the waves. Which caused the waves to slap against the hull and jolt the boat throughout the night. Which caused us to be awakened every 5 minutes or so. That is until we took Benedryl. By 10:15, Blue Moon was fully loaded, the house was closed up and we were pulling away from the dock. It was a gorgeous day to be on the water. The sun was shining, a nice breeze was on our stern and a strong current was pushing us down the harbor. It was a pleasant 24 nautical mile trip. From the high vantage point of the flybridge, we saw a huge sea turtle and several manatee as we chugged along.
We arrived at Pelican Bay at 13:30. We spotted JourneyOn and dropped our anchor close to her. Once we were sure that our anchor was securely set, we lowered the dinghy from the davits. Matt attempted to start the dinghy engine, but It wouldn't even try to start. He had cleaned out the carburetor bowl at home a few days ago, but he thought that the carburetor was again the problem. So we lifted the dinghy back onto the davits. Matt removed the carburetor and noticed that there wasn't much fuel in the bowl. He tried to blow into some hole on the carburetor but it was clogged. He kept blowing and banging on it. Within a minute or ago, he was no longer getting resistance when he was blowing. Whatever was clogging it was no longer there. He put the engine back together. The dinghy was once again lowered to the water. This time it started up...it was peeing and life was good. With our dinghy engine working, we went over to visit JourneyOn . Bob and May didn't bring their dinghy this weekend, so they jumped into ours (with some tasty treats) and we all returned to Blue Moon to visit. We enjoyed an early Happy Hour with food and drink. Mary had made fresh guacamole dip on the boat this morning and it was delicious. Soon, Sandi and Chuck on Forever came into the anchorage and joined our Happy Hour. The cards came out and we played a game of six handed Pig It/Hog It. It was a very close game, but the gals prevailed. Sandi and Chuck returned to their boat for dinner, and the four of us played a couple more fun games of Pig it/Hog It. The sun was getting ready to set, so Matt dinghied Mary and Bob back to JourneyOn. Matt and I enjoyed dinner out in the cockpit as the sun was setting. The sky filled with stars and a gentle breeze was blowing. It was a nice night to be out on the boat. Tomorrow, JourneyOn returns to Punta Gorda. Forever is going to stay here and await the other boats in our fleet. Blue Moon is going to go up to Englewood and will reunite with the group in Sarasota on Monday. Blue Moon has had all the necessary pre-cruise projects completed and is awaiting our departure.
Yesterday, we finished the the shopping and today, I faced the challenge of getting all the perishable food into the dorm sized refrigerator. I complain about the small size of the refrig, but I love it so much more that the big icebox which we had on Gettinair. I really don't miss those days of delving head first into it in search of that item on the very bottom. Once everything was securely stowed, Matt and I went to work preparing the house. The pool was cleaned and super chlorinated and the outdoor furniture was brought inside. Although no hurricane shutter are needed to be put up for this trip. It is officially hurricane season until November 30th, but our first cold front recently went through. This makes the chances of a hurricane forming pretty slim. Also, if there is a hurricane coming, our cruise will be shortened and we'll head home. Like I mentioned, our first cold front of the season went through a couple days ago. The air temperatures are now a pleasant 75-85 degrees and no humidity. It is suppose to stay that way for the next week. We leave in 3 days!
We have spent the last several days in the "preparation mode". Blue Moon is being maintained, cleaned, loaded and provisioned. Matt has done the routine engine maintenance, and I have done the routine cleaning. On Monday, we put the dinghy on the davits and Matt decided to check the dinghy engine to make sure it would start. It started, but it wasn't "peeing". After some research, I found a video on YouTube demonstrating how to drop the lower unit of the engine to replace the impeller. After Matt accomplished that, he went to a local marine engine shop (Ingman) to buy another impeller. He had it installed in no time. We put the engine back on the dinghy to test it out. Now it was peeing, but wouldn't start up. Matt cleaned the carburetor. On the next attempt, we had a running and peeing dinghy engine. Matt has a couple more small boat projects that he would like to get completed before we leave including installing a 12 volt receptacle in the flybridge. This would allow him to use our Toshiba Tablet with the Navionics app as the GPS in the flybridge. We still would use the Garmin GPS in the lower steering station. We have most of the non-perishable food stowed and we make our final shopping trip tomorrow. From past club trips, we know that there will be a lot of dining out, and there is no need to bring a lot of "meals". We are bringing lots of Happy Hour snacks and beverages. |
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