Adventures of Dragon Lady

We finally made it!  It seems like a marathon!  We left the marina at 6:45 just as the sky was brightening.  The ocean was like glass- not even a ripple; there was no wind.  We saw thousands of crabpots scattered along our route, right in the channel.  But we avoided them ( a crab pot on your prop can be a costly mistake unless you like diving).  We arrived at Stock Island Marina Village at noon, topped up diesel, and tied up at our slip which will be home for the next 4 months. Amen!  I am ready for a rest!

Another frustrating day!  Bryce installed the replacement part on our A/C but that did not solve the problem.  He was unable to diagnose the issue, so I googled an A/C company in Key West that advertises 24/7 service.  The technician came at noon, inspected our system, and felt the problem was barnacles in the water out-flow line.  He charged us $575 and told Bryce to buy Barnacle Buster at West Marine and leave it in the line for a few hours.  Guess what?!  Not working- we are still. Not getting outflow of water.  So Bryce Ubered to Home Depot and got a fan- not quite the same effect.  We leave here for Key West tomorrow and we will have to deal with this problem there.

Hallelujah!  The diesel mechanic fixed our main engine this morning!  Then my wonderful brother and sister-in-law came with our car so we can have wheels during the 4 months we are in the Keys.  We took them to lunch at Porky’s, then he drove Bryce to Stock Island Village Marina to pick up the part we need to fix our A/C, drove him back here to Marathon, then finally back to Key West to spend the next 3 days before flying back to NC. WOW!  Now Bryce can hopefully fix our system tomorrow - did I mention that it is summer here! Yes, about 80 degrees and very humid.  We have kept windows and hatches open day and night- and I have the mosquito bites to prove it!  Fingers crossed the A/C works tomorrow night!

Hope springs eternal!  The part for our engine arrived by UPS today at 1:30 .  Bryce and I were so excited!  The engine mechanic agreed to come install it tomorrow at 9:00 .  Fingers crossed that it fits and everything works.  It looks like we have a nice weather window to leave here on Monday for our last leg of this journey… but of course the engine has to be viable.