We left Thunderbolt Marine at 10.30 hrs this morning for a leisurely jaunt
in beautiful sunshine to this old marina, where we arrived at 14.30 hrs. All systems seem to be working well, so we
are dithering tonight as to whether to head for the open ocean out of St. Catherine’s Sound or whether to stay
inside and brave the vagaries and treacherous waters of the Little Mud River
(aptly named) . My preference is to head
for the ocean and either stop in St Simon’s Island to see Melissa or head on a
further twenty miles to Fernandina Beach , the first stop in Florida
So how did we get here and what have we been doing since we
arrived in Thunderbolt. Well, we drove
our new car down the 401 across the 1000 Islands
Bridge and then down Highway 81,
stopping in Carlyle Pennsylvania Savannah
The boat had survived the summer heat and rain well, she
smelled fresh inside and was all polished up and ready to go pretty much,
except the deck and cabin top were decidedly grubby. Both Monday and Tuesday were spent getting
her ready to launch with little excitement, until we found that one of the
blades of our fancy propeller was jammed tight and was refusing to move. The yard machine shop came to the rescue and
freed it to where it was working properly and our launch was not delayed.
The launch on Wednesday was effortless and without a hitch,
and “Miss Becky” started at the first push of the starter, with a small puff of
blue smoke and then settling down to her usual steady rumble. Soon after we were alongside what has become
our regular berth, astern of “Blue Moon” .
Now to switch the new refrigeration system on……… air and water cooled … the best !!! The only problem was that it didn’t work !!
Fortunately the yard had George, thirty years in the air
conditioning and refrigeration business, he quickly had the problem pinpointed
and solved and since then we would say that the fridge/freezer has worked to
spec. Long may it last!! As many of our more faithful readers will
recall the fridge has been an ongoing battle for four years which we have not
won until, hopefully this year, we shall report on the success or otherwise at
the end of this cruise. Whilst aboard
George also got our air conditioning and heat pump working …. finding the
outlet absolutely plugged with a mud daubers nest. N B
next year remember to plug all inlets and outlets with something to
prevent these pesky little critters from getting into our overboard discharges.
Whilst George was doing his thing we also had Mike replacing
our galley tap. We had bought the exact
same tap and I did have thoughts of changing it myself, after all how hard can
it be? Well thank goodness I did not
attempt it, for Mike had a real battle to get everything fitted properly and not leaking. He had also cleared our shower sump and head
sink overboard discharge, which had been giving us problems last cruise. The cause….
yet again, mud daubers which had gone way up into the drain system.
Another thing that had decided to give up the ghost over the
summer was the fresh water pressure pump, which I changed out. For the first time, I had help from the chap
that stores our sails over the summer in re rigging “Solitaire 1”. I really
must be getting older but they do seem to get heavier every year !!
It does seem that we had a string of failures and problems
this year in getting the boat ready but that’s how “Boat” became an acronym for
“bring out another thousand” isn’t it?
With the fridge working and freezing as it should Madam took
off and provisioned, so now we are not going to starve for the next four or
five months.
The harbour at Thunderbolt Marine was quite busy , so just before we left we thought that we
would take a couple of snaps of our neighbours … impressive are they not ? You can have one with nine of your nearest
and dearest for anything from $250,000 to $500,000 per week plus expenses!!!! We can introduce you if you want !
So, here we are, Catherine said to me this evening “at last
it really feels as if we are cruising again “ and she is right. It’s a marvelous feeling and besides it is
getting cool at night here in the Georgia
G’d night from Kilkenny Creek.
