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THE
ON-GOING
SAGA
Day
1 or is it Day 30? Thursday July 3rd
After
a very busy and (very sore) week we are ready to jump in the
rented SUV and
navigate our way across Alligator Alley to rescue Salty the boat.
It was after our wonderful baby/dog sitter friend Sandy offered to
rescue Salty the dog from another harrowing experience that we thought
it best to take her up on her generous offer to stay with him,
spare Salty from "whatever" and let him be at home with
her, his pool and his house. Even though he had a great time and
handled everything in stride over the last three weeks, he was
quite happy to be home and it was a VERY good decision, as it turned
out. We arrived at Riviera Beach Yacht Center at 1:00 pm to
pick up the boat… well, there's the boat on blocks with no drive
shaft, no prop, no mechanic and no answer on the mecahnic's cell phone - oh
my, here we go again. Phil, the mechanic, finally calls back to
say he is just getting the shaft fabricated as we speak and says
"don't worry, go have lunch and I'll have you out of here by
5:00 pm". Well, he wasn't far off as we were getting put back
in the water about that time, however (and there is always a
however), it seems a disabled Yacht named Sarabeth is docked right
behind the launch dock, so Captain Bear has VERY little room to
maneuver between this mountain of fiberglass, the inner concrete
pilings, the outer wooden pilings and the low-tide shoal that is
rearing it's ugly head - did I mention the high winds and current?
Oh my, here we go again (and again and again). Phil the Mechanic
and the boat-yard worker get on the boat with Barry (thank you
Lord) and the guys on Sarabeth are positioned on their bow so they
can "hand-walk" the boat around the Sarabeth so we can
get Salty the boat to the other side of the dock, pack it up and
get outta there! Phil, left but then came back - don't know why,
he'd already been paid (we won't even discuss that bill or the one
from the boat yard) - but he fixed the generator (remember it
wasn't talking to the A/C) in no time flat and "for
nothing". So, you see, every time you think things really are
not going your way, there may be a small chance that something
good will happen. Did I mention Phil's Company name is
"PMS"? Now, I don't know, I begin to think about the
"T & A Rentals" and now this? He assures me that it
stands for Professional Marine Services and has absolutely nothing
to do with the fact that he grew up with seven sisters! We finally
head off into the wind and current with slightly loosey-goosey
steering but that's not a deal, it's probably just the new shaft
and the memory of fighting a non-cooperative wheel on the way back
to Sailfish Marina the week before, right? We believe we will be
able to make it to Northside Marina in Stewart, but as the sun
starts to lower quickly in the sky and the head-way we've made
seems marginal, another great decision is made and we head back a
mile or so to a Marina we KNOW is there and where we can dock
before it gets dark. This is a part of the Intercoastal Waterway
you do not want to travel at night - shoals everywhere - zigzag
channel - no, definitely not what you want to do at night. It was 7:30
pm when we docked at Starfish Marina in Jupiter at the gas
pumps because the dock master and crew had gone home.
On-going
Saga Day 2, Friday July 4th
Happy
4th of July! As the gas dock at the Starfish Marina is "right
there" to a very popular Inlet out to the Atlantic, the boat
traffic started around 6:00 am to flow by like a swarm of
mosquitoes and the guys were just as smart - these
"fishermen" are all looking at their poles, obviously
telling each other "fish stories" (they've got their
arms wide out as if to say - this big - and not watching where
they are going). We left Jupiter around 7:30 am It wasn't very long into our cruise up the
channel that we were aware that the steering is more loosey than
goosey but we continued up the Intercoastal watching life along
the shore go from slightly barren to having nice waterfront
restaurants and beautiful homes. We finally hit the St. Lucie
River where we approached the St. Lucie Lock at around 10:30 am -
good timing actually. However, we were on the "back end"
of the lock loading which means we will have to wait until they
load the East-bound boats before we, the West-bound boats can get
into the lock and on our way. I'm not kidding…. we got out of
the lock at 12:05 - that's an hour and 5 minutes to go through a
lock - now that makes the Chiquita Boat lock going into Southwest
Cape Coral sound like a quick trip to heaven! Once through the
Port Macaya Lock, we are finally on our way out to cross Lake
Okeechobee - and just on the other side of the Lake is Clewiston
where we will dock for the night. Of course it starts to
"sprinkle" on us in the Lock and we're sure we'll be
able to beat the rain, right? Once we made it through the Lock and
out into the Lake, Captain Bear puts Salty the boat up on plane
and we try to out-run the storm… alas, alac we find ourselves on
plane with NO steering at all and the storm quickly overcoming our
weak attempt to (yet again) scramble, zip, snap, scramble, zip,
snap, scramble, zip, snap our poor worn-out bimini top extension
into submission to protect us from another downpour. Oh well….
never lasts long. We weather that storm (excuse the expression)
and after bobbing around in Lake Okeechobee for awhile we head off
using Captain Bear's amazing skills to get us into Clewiston….
which he did. I always thought the Clewiston Lock was a
"real" Lock, when in fact it is a hurricane protection
Lock, wherein if there is ever a hurricane, the Lock will be
closed to protect the town of Clewiston. We get in there with no
problem (and Bear's skills) to find a wonderful spot at Roland
Martin's Marina! Can't even remember what time we got there
it was such a scary trip (for me) with no steering, wind and
rain! We met a lot of great people, "another"
great mechanic (you can never have too many) and had a fantastic
Prime Rib Dinner (served on plastic plates no less) but still
fantastic. Best of all was they have "floating docks"
here - I love floating docks, then you are always at the same,
even height to get on and off the boat - great when we have Salty
with us. We watched the fireworks and fought off the bugs -
"Oh what a night" (didn't they write a song about
that?).
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