Another day, another part needed. After a sleepless night in a stiff breeze while rafted up, with multiple anchor checks and no real deep sleep to speak of, we breakfasted and prepared to set off.
Joke’s on us! A beat and a half into turning the ignition key and Andy had me quickly turn off the batteries: the ignition switch and wiring harness it tied into were newly as overcooked as the bacon I burned for breakfast (I’m here all night, folks). Sooooo, more parts to order, more parts to replace. Ironically the pain and suffering of these setbacks only means better confidence in the boat- soon every last thing will be outfitted with brand new parts! (Although this really is a comforting thought, our brains were a little fuzzy from lack of sleep to get really excited about that as we waved off fumes of smoking wire.)
Our main issue here is that we are essentially anchored in a residential waterway cul-de-sac, spanning off of more residential canals and streets- we’re a long way from ‘town’ or anything useful to our specific needs. With a ‘winging it’ plan in mind, we banked the dinghy across the ICW in the only patch of sand for miles (it’s metal or concrete retaining walls as far as the eye can see) and strode into a hotel across the street to beg for assistance.
Not only were they wonderful and immediately forthcoming with ways to help, but two minutes into the conversation we learned that the manager is from Hamden, Maine, and he ran a hotel in Bar Harbor for years working for the same company that he’s employed by now. He shares golf buddies with Andy (in differing seasons), and used to sail both here and in Maine. Small circles we so often find ourselves in.
Long story long, parts are en route from California to arrive at our new favorite hotel tomorrow morning at 9:30, and we only had to sell one child to pay for the overnight delivery, whew.
We played a lot of games in the cockpit this afternoon, attempted Friday night movie night until the computer died (no way to charge the batteries without the engine or solar panels in the sun), and now we sleep to hope that tomorrow has a little more mile-making promise.
(Photos aren’t loading well either, so I apologize for the word-heavy/Lily-Violet-light post.)