A short stay with our friends at Coral Ridge YC

We have been at the Coral Ridge YC here in Ft Lauderdale since Saturday. While here we have checked off a couple of things that needed to get done prior to going down to Miami on Friday. Minnie got a trip  to the vet for a wellness exam  before we head to Havana. Bette has been busy working on race meals. The winds have finally calmed down and its a perfect morning here in Sunrise Bay. The hospitality afforded us by the CRYC is wonderful. Dingy access, showers, trash and all within walking distance of the buses and Uber. All in all this is a great stop.

Minnie's point of view:

CRYC, photo below:

Cooking up meals for the overnight runs coming up between Miami and Havanna:

Minnie the cat

Conversation today: Minnie is getting more frail all the time. We think this will be her last sea-ward crossing to other lands. This trip to Cuba from Miami in March, will likely be her last sailing hurrah. She needs to retire from rocking and rolling pretty soon. Our sweet Minnie is just getting older.

Look who we found

Stopped in at a Fort Lauderdale staging ground, staging for a trip Outside down to Miami. We like Sunrise Bay next to Coral Ridge Yacht Club. SJORN, a Pearson 35, swung by while waiting for a bridge opening, hailed us cause they saw our homeport on the stern of Iemanja. Turns out it was Dave L and Pam from LCYC!They dropped an anchor and we got together for awhile catching up on everyone's news.

Here we are:

What a hoot that we met up with them!

Heading South

With a mixture of Intercoastal Waterway days, and a couple overnighters on the Outside, we keep heading south. The ICW does offer cool views of swing bridges, and bascules. Great when they open on request, and not so great when they have a schedule and you missed the opening by minutes.

Sometimes the wind and current are not forgiving and yesterday was like that, a long day of bascule bridges and Florida powerboat wakes. One such West Palm Beach bascule bridge had lots of armed Coast Guard boats. Yup, they ran right up next to us for a looky look and a short escort. Ernie didn't get to his camera fast enough for a picture, but at least we didn't ruffle any feathers taking photos of the monstrously big machine gun and operator.  There was a crowd by the roadside, some protestors, and some fans, and a freeze on the scheduled bridge opening. We were late to the bridge so the delay worked in our favor, even if it was a political motorcade we would have preferred to skip.

But nevertheless, I love the swings:

But even moreso, I love sailing on the Outside at night with sunsets and sunrises on open horizons:

And visiting some favorite stops along the way. Here's Ernie in front of St.Augustine FL's oldest house:

What a great day walk that was. Looks like he bought a few things too.

Solbian panels

Our Solbian solar panels clouded over and so through Bruce Schwab, Solbian shipped us new ones. I love company's that stand by their products. Solbian indicated that they had a bad batch and were happy to oblige us with replacements.

Here's Ernie on-board, sewing the new panels to the flexible poly underlayment that were then attached to the bimini with velcro:

Hoot hoot, new panels!

So far in Vero Beach.....

.....we have accomplished a bunch.

Yesterday our friends Chris and Mary joined us in the afternoon to talk boats trips etc and we had a great time comparing notes. They also have a great vehicle that is set up as a do all transportation/mobile shop that they let us use for running errands. Will likely do it again here before we leave later in the week. Heading over for dinner at their house later today.

Under close supervision.....

Also a couple of big projects worked on that have been nagging.

We had a slight catch in our steering that I noticed on the overnight. It turns out that with the help of the Passport Owners group, I figured it out and have a small part on order. The roll pin that helps to hold the gear mechanism to the wheel shaft had worked its way our over the years so no longer was flush with its housing. It was sticking up by 1/8" or so. It was then catching on the steering brake as the wheel turned. Could still steer but with that slight hiccup. I removed the old pin and ordered a couple of new ones from my friends at MacMaster Carr. The real help came from one of the guys on the forum that sent along a manual for the now obsolete Merriman pedestal and in it was my clue hidden in the parts drawing. I found the pin and realized immediately that this was my problem. UPS will deliver tomorrow and I hope to be all set.

Changing the prefilter on our outboard motor was next. Prefilters to rid fuel of junk and water are a must.....especially in the Bahamas where the fuel is not always top quality. I install the prefilter last year before we left and it has been a savior to keep clean fuel running into the pinholes of the carburetor on the Yamaha 2 stroke. I fashioned a container to catch the old fuel and filter as I unscrew it out of a soda bottle. The Listerine bottle serves as a holding tank for the fuel that comes out of the old filter. It is usually clean so can be reused to prime the new filter. On goes the new, prime the bulb and off we go. Works well.

Ernie's birthday in Wilmington NC.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

at Front Street Brewery.

Also headed over to the USS North Carolina - well worth the trip: