Monday, January 11, 2010

A Day of Errands and Laundromats (yes, plural); And A Lost Cell Phone

Well, we're in Marathon in the Keys for another week due to the winds and weather forecast. The boat has been rocking and rolling with all the gusts. It seems to have died down a little this evening, but will likely pick up again at midnight, like it does every night here.

The riding sail seems to be taking out some of the swing. We're swinging about 40 degrees now, compared to the 70+ we were swinging before.

We've been having trouble with our tank monitor. Every time we get condensation from the cold, it goes flooey and we're not sure when we need pumpout. Our friend, Ron Pence, in Annapolis, made a suggestion to try a stud finder. And it works. Great idea, Ron! It's not easy climbing into the lazerette to check it, but it works!

Patti and Wayne left with Joe McConnell and his son, Joe Jr., this morning to go to Everglades National Park. We had too many things we wanted to get done today, so we stayed behind.

I spent most of the day in laundromats. Yes, that's plural. First three loads at the marina laundromat, where we already purchased credit for four washers and four dryers. They don't use quarters here. You have to purchase credit on a card. It's $2 for washers, $1 for dryers (45 min.) Two of the dryers are out of commission here, so the morning was a long one waiting for dryers. Chuck ran errands to Home Depot and the local Yanmar dealer (that's another story). When he got back, I gave him the laundry to take back to the boat and I walked Jazzy while he went for his sleeping bag and quarters for the other laundromat.

Then I walked about 1.25 miles to the other laundromat to wash the sleeping bag. I needed a front loading washing machine for that. Someone gave me misinformation and said it was across from Home Depot (a much shorter walk!) While it was washing, Jazzy and I walked across US 1 (again) to the McDonald's for a bottle of water and a hamburger. It was after 3 p.m. and I hadn't had lunch yet!

Chuck picked me up at the dinghy dock around 4:30 p.m. or so with the sleeping bag and a tired Jazzy. While he changed the oil in the generator, I made pork medallions, home-fried potatoes and baby peas for dinner. Meanwhile, while climbing back onto the dinghy to get his measuring cup for the oil, one of the lines popped his cell phone off his belt and it's somewhere deep down in the harbor. Bummer.

His day started out on the wrong foot (it was 48 in the cabin when he woke up!) and ended that way too. Oh well, tomorrow we'll take Dave's Island Taxi to the local Verizon Wireless dealer (Office Depot) to buy him another cell phone. Just bought it a few months before we left too. And I don't think I backed up his contact list online when I backed up mine. Damn.
So, the Yanmar dealer...yesterday when he changed the belt for the water pump, it was still a bit loose with no more adjustment left. So we looked at the old belt and the number is M-19. The three new ones he purchased online that they say is for our motor are M-20. But it has too much play in it. He found one M-19 at the dealer today and they ordered more in and will switch the other two. Murphy's Law at work again.

Tomorrow, I hope to get to Publix and re-provision. We're about out of water and I have a long list. Guess I'll take the taxi back again. That worked great last time. Dave's Island Taxi only charges $5 a trip. It's worth it!

No pictures today. Will try to do better tomorrow.

No comments:

Post a Comment