November 13th... Vero Beach, Fl

Side note: When we were offshore on our way to Fort Pierce, we had a little bird hitchhike on the back of the boat for a while. He/she was good company and we forgot to mention it the other day. We actually forgot until we downloaded some pictures.

Our main task today was to replace our bilge pump...probably the single most daunting task that we had to deal with in the last 16 months of traveling. The aft 6 feet of our keel is hollow( it's about 10 inches wide) and at the very bottom is the bilge pump, about 3 feet beyond my reach when I am crammed sideways into the basement of our boat. Through the hollow area, from front to back, runs out prop shaft.

After about an hour, I was able to work the old pump up and past the prop shaft by pulling on the discharge hose with one had and turning the slimy pump upside down with the other.

By then I was filthy and had to get cleaned up before taking the bus to West Marine for a replacement.

I was back at it by about 1:30 and got all the wiring in place.... but try as I may, could not get the pump to sit upright in the bottom of the bilge area. I tried everything I knew but failed. Nancy was supposed to be picking us up at 3:30 so I quit and we headed ashore for showers and a load of laundry to do at their condo.

The condo was really nice and we had a great time with Jim, Nancy, Jay, and Di who joined us for dinner also.

When we couldn't eat anymore without pain...and the laundry finished, Jim and Nancy drove us across town to the marina ...