Up

I went up the mast to replace the main and jib halyards two Saturday's ago but failed.  It was pretty scary being up there and April was having lots of problems with overrides on the winches.  When I get up there I couldn't figure out how to get the new halyards led through the blocks at the top, but I think that's just because I was too scared to think straight.

I got back up there on Sunday. I had Len tension my lines over a cleats.  There were no overrides at all which made it go a lot faster.  I'm sure glad he didn't accidentally let go.  

Sombrero Beach

Jacob got the engine running last night, with a little of my help, so we rewarded ourselves with a fun family beach day. It's the kind of day we imagined when we imagined cruising. We dinghied to Sombrero Beach for the day. It was gorgeous! The girls kayaked, we all swam and built sand towers. We continued the fun with piña coladas by the pool when we got back to the marina. 

Largo to Marathon

Key Largo to Marathon

We left Key Largo at about 7:30a and made it about halfway to Marathon by 12p.  Because of our vacuum problems last week we were keeping a close eye on the Racor gauge, which ran right at zero for the first couple hours, at which point we began to feel more comfortable.

leaving at sunrise

Shortly after noon, however, I noticed some fluctuations in rpms without anyone touching the throttle.  Something felt off so I checked the vacuum guage on the Racor.  It was higher than I've ever seen it.  I also saw that the squeeze bulb I'd added when I replaced the fuel lines in Key Largo was collapsed. 

So there was an obstruction somewhere upstream of the squeeze bulb and all the fuel from the Racor at least as far back as the bulb had been sucked out.  

Additionally, for the first time since before the fuel polishing, the Racor bowl was full of sediment and the filter was really dirty. 

sediment out of the vacuum bowl

a very dirty filter

We threw the anchor in and called Towboat and they sent a boat to tow us the last 25 miles to Marathon.  It really was a marathon tow.  

Just to keep things interesting, April spotted something a couple feet below the surface and about 25 feet back which seemed to be following or chasing us and exactly matching our speed.  We both stared at it for while until I finally realized what we were seeing.  It was crab pot we must've run over at some point.  We radioed the tow boat captain. He slowed and circled and after a couple tries was able to snag the line with a grappling hook. He brought it up and I cut it.  We were able to make another knot the rest of the way.

the remains of our crab trap

So now here we lie, tied up in a rather expensive marina, 12 hours after departing,  8 hours after throwing in the anchor, 5 hours after Towboat picked us up, and completely confused about our fuel system.

Adventures in Key Largo

We woke up early the day after pulling into Key Largo, and started making calls. Thankfully there was a diesel repair guy in town that seems to be pretty well respected. We also talked to the guy that polished our fuel in Ft. Pierce, and a fuel polishing guy here. It seems like the consensus is a bad fuel line is the primary culprit of all of our problems…well that and a clogged air filter, and a broken halyard. Jacob spent the rest of the day walking back and forth to Napa Auto Parts (about a 20 minute walk each way) for parts, and replacing our fuel line. Meanwhile we had a nice breakfast on the boat, cleaned up after all our big sailing adventures and everything being spilled everywhere (we have to remember to put up the lee clothes before we put up the sails!), and the girls and I got to check out the cool local pool. The pool was all that it was cracked up to be. It had a pirate ship, several slides, and diving boards. The girls were in heaven! In the evening, Jacob finished putting in the new fuel line and we gave it a test run while tied up. So far, so good.

Audrey giving Lark's bum a scrub

The famous pirate ship pool, with Audrey off the high dive. 

Lorelei was too short for the high dive, but she made do! 

Over the weekend Jacob also changed the oil and cleaned the air filter, which was terribly matted with Sweet Pea hair and grease! After another test run with all of that done, the engine sounds completely different! We are excited to try again for Marathon. First though, we will spend a week exploring Key Largo.

We found some really good sushi in Key Largo. Unfortunately we ordered way too much, and we couldn't bring it home to our ridiculously small fridge. 

Lorelei helping me give Fluffy Man a bath. 

My little Ukie playing the uke. 

We took a few hours to dinghy around the canals of Key Largo which was really fun. We saw some cool lizards along with some troublesome outboard issues. The engine actually quit shifting while we were in the middle of a canal. It would have been scarier except that we were in neutral at the time, so we just sort of drifted. We called a few people while floating around and trying to get it all going again. Thankfully, one of them answered. His phone had bad reception and the phone call only lasted 30 seconds, but in that short time he gave Jacob all the information he needed to fiddle with it enough to get it going. We were able to find a Mercury dealer that could take a look at the engine, so we hauled the thing into a cab and brought it over. Thankfully it was a minor issue, and they fixed it up for us and we were ready to pick it up the Friday before leaving town.

dinghying around

big lizards

While we were in Key Largo the girls and I also took a tour of Island Dolphin Care. It was such a cool place! They provide dolphin therapy for kids with special needs. We got to sit in on some of the sessions. The dolphins were truly awesome. They played with the kids, did some fun tricks and were so gentle. It was great to see the kids light up around them. It brought back lots of memories of working with Sweet Pea before I had Audrey. After the therapy sessions the girls and I sat around outside and watched the dolphins some more. They were so interested in us and kept swimming by and stopping to look at us. At one point Lorelei was waving at one, and she stopped and waved back. Such amazing animals! Audrey was so present in the moment too and I was so proud of her for it. She said, ‘Mom, I feel like this is a moment of a lifetime.'

making friends with dolphins (I also put a neat video on Facebook on 4/2 - https://www.facebook.com/april.champness)

Mother and baby (4 months)

GranMiri and Papa came for a visit while we were in Key Largo, which was fun! We went out to dinner, swam in their pool and went snorkeling at John Pennekamp State Park. Oh- and they took me to the grocery, which was a real treat. We have been walking so much that it was great to ride in a car somewhere! 

playing at John Pennekamp State Park

The snorkeling was interesting. The girls are getting really used to wearing their masks and were excited to go, but once we got there the water was sort of murky and it was really freaking Audrey out. Also, she thought she saw a jelly fish. Lorelei and I went out about 100 feet and saw some remains of a sunken ship and some parrot fish, but it was pretty murky getting there. Also, the girls had some super itchy spots on them. Lorelei’s were all over her stomach and Audrey’s on her knee. GranMiri thinks maybe they were jellyfish larvae, so we took a quick freshwater rinse and decided to have some ice cream instead of getting back in the water. 

Taking Sweet Pea for a swim. 

making new friends

boat kids

A couple of boats down from us we met some new fun boat kids too! The girls loved playing with them, and spent an afternoon playing in the water around their boat.