February 9, 2013

I know it’s been a long time since I wrote. We were stuck in New Orleans for 5 weeks getting our engine fixed. It was quite frustrating in that the mechanics did not surround the problem, but slowly worked their way through it one item at a time. They tested and cleaned the heat exchanger (1 week), then found that that was not the problem, so tested the second heat exchanger (another week), then decided that it was the sea strainer (20 minutes). When it all got put back together, they found that in cleaning the second heat exchanger, a hole was created (2 weeks).

But all hasn’t been miserable. New Orleans is a pretty fun place to be stuck.

For the last 5 weeks we have been parked at an RV Resort that also has a few slips. We met some wonderful people from Phoenix, Penni & Jay, on their Nauticat 36 called “Love & Luck.” They have previously cruised in the Sea of Cortez for 4 years and are now on their way to the Bahamas. We learned so much from them about what to expect and how to fix stuff.

They “hopscotched” their car from Phoenix, so we were able to get around New Orleans with them, which was really important since the RV resort was way out of town and New Orleans is huge. With Penni & Jay, we saw quite a few Mardi Gras Parades & went into the French Quarter several times. Great fun, a lot of craziness and Mariah is all “pimped” out with Mardi Gras beads (see picture). And no, Mariah did not have to show anything to get them. They just fling them off the floats into the crowds who beg, plead and run into the street to catch beads, stuffed animals, hats, shoes...all sorts of collectibles…and junk. I even got a yo-yo once. While at the RV park, we also met up with some friends that we met in Galveston, Karen & Mark on “Sea Vu Play.” They stopped off and spent a week with us and we had lots of fun in the evenings, gathering on each others’ boats for BBQ’s and games of cards, dice and Dominion.

One afternoon the 3 guys decided that they would move Mariah (now without her engine) to another slip closer to their boats and further away from the canal and the surge. They got their dinghies out and attempted to use them like tugboats. All was going well until the canal current took hold of Mariah and chaos ensued. Mariah had to be fended off and in the process, John got flipped overboard right into the brown “Mississippi Mud” water. Yuck! To top it off, he lost his glasses and decided to test the “Snuba” gear to try to find them. No chance, but lots of laughs and a few hot toddies followed.

As soon as our engine was repaired we prepped to depart for Mandevile, across Lake Pontchartrain to the North Shore to have a Dodger/Bimini (windshield & awning) installed on Mariah. We motored across the lake, about 25 miles, as the wind was on our bow and we could not sail. We had a lovely trip with the sun shining and the lake calm. The motor worked without a hitch. Whoo hoo! What a lovely little town! We are side-tied at the City Dock (free for 4 nights) and right across the street from the Pontchartrain Yacht Club which was totally rebuilt after Katrina. It’s a beautiful little club, built 20 feet off the ground, with about 350 members. We were completely surrounded by their graciousness and hospitality. Oh, did I mention that they have a great bar. Probably the most redeeming quality. Most of the area has been rebuilt since Katrina but there are a few signs of the damage. New Orleans was covered by a 37 foot surge of water while Mandevile got about 11 feet. I have included a picture in my email of a sign at the entrance to the little bay that we are in that shows how the water bent the sign as it rushed back out after the hurricane. It’s hard to imagine water that high. We have ridden our bikes to breakfast and to dinner and to the local Walgreens. There is an awesome bike trail, the Tamany Trace, that goes for miles along the old railroad track. If the weather behaves, we will try for a nice long bike ride in the next few days. They also have their own Mardi Gras parade on Tuesday, so we won’t be missing the actual day of Mardi Gras. We expect to be here until Friday (Billy promised to have the work done by then), at which time we plan to begin our trek toward Key West…again.