Day 24

Today was back to normal cruising mode. We got up at 6:30 and was pulling anchor at 7:30.  It was a really pretty morning and quite comfortable, as long as you weren’t moving.  As we started moving the air had just a little bit of coolness to it so we put on lightweight jackets just to be comfortable.  By 10:00 the jackets were off and the temperature was rising into the 70’s.  I think the high today was 77 degrees, and quite warm when you were directly in the sun.

We didn’t have any fog this morning, but boy did we have heavy dew.  There was so much dew it was literally dripping off any vertical surface, just like a light rain.  Once we got underway, I started wiping down things on the bridge so we could have a place to sit.  Everything was just wet, and it didn’t dry very quickly either.  There was just a lot of humidity in the air.  Eventually we did sit down, even if the seat was still slightly damp.  It dried, and so did we.

So far the makeshift repair we did on our pressurized fresh water system is working just fine.  Still no hot water, but that will be corrected in a few days hopefully. I checked my e-mail this morning and saw there was a notice that the water heater had shipped.  I then clicked on the “track package” icon and saw that it was out for delivery today.  Today?  I only ordered it yesterday.  I didn’t expect it until maybe tomorrow.  I guess that means it will be there waiting for us when we get to Titusville.  Then the work begins.  If you have ever worked on a boat, nothing is easy and usually doesn’t go according to any plan.  There is usually some work around necessary to solve a problem.  I already know one that is just waiting to hit me up.  The plumbing on this boat is all copper tubing with flared fitting joints. (For all you plumbers or home improvement experts.)  The inlet and outlet fittings on the heater that is coming out match up.  From the picture I saw, the new one does not have flared fittings.  Looks more like a hose fitting.  So that means I have to build a transition from a flared copper fitting to a hose to a hose clamp fitting on the heater.  All without having access to a vehicle to run to the various stores for parts.  This should be interesting.  Who knows what else will happen.

Anyway, back to today’s leg of the journey. Actually it was pretty uneventful.  We saw many dolphins surfacing and diving ahead of the boat most of the day.  We also noticed the color of the water changing to that beautiful blue green you see in all the pictures of Florida.  Quite pretty and a welcome change from the various shades of brown that we have been seeing so far.

We are here in St. Augustine, and old town is quite nice and old looking as you might expect.  We took a mooring ball in the anchorage, put the dinghy in the water and headed out to see the dockmaster and settle up.  The dinghy started right up and ran us over to the office.  Afterward, I took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock so we could tie it up and see a little bit of the town.  On the way over the motor started to sputter and died.  All I could think of was here we go again.  Thought we had all this behind us.  I tried and tried to restart the motor with no success, so I rowed over to the dock where Rousby was waiting.  Just as I got to the dock I looked at the motor and said to myself “you moron”.  I forgot to open the breather on top of the gas cap creating a vacuum so no fuel could get to the motor.  I opened it up, gave the starter rope a yank and it fired right up. Duh!

After all that excitement we took a riding tour of the town to various sites so we could decide what we might want to see tomorrow.  We are staying here an extra day to do some sightseeing, and the old fort is first on our list.  Maybe that is second on the list.  First will be using the showers at the marina for a nice hot shower, then the fort.

Our trip today was 58.6 miles for a total of approximately 1018 miles.  Travel time was 6hrs 57mins.

I think that is enough excitement for one day boys and girls. So, Until tomorrow…

Beautiful sunset in St. Augustine.  Taken from the back deck of the boat.