Saturday was spent cleaning the boat, resting, and eating at a fabulous restaurant right here at our marina--The Fifteenth Street Fisheries. It was voted as the best restaurant on the ICW and after my red snapper, I can see why! Our marina is the oldest in Ft. Lauderdale and is owned by a former mayor who established the town's boater friendly reputation. Truly, I have never seen so many beautiful yachts and so much boat traffic. No wonder it is called the "Venice of the US."
Sunday we went for a nice long bike ride (between the storms) and had a great meal at an Irish Tavern ending with White Russians at our marina's watering hole. We were actually toasting Neptune for giving us engine trouble; otherwise, we would have been out in Hawk's Channel in horrible all-day thunderstorms, which were not in the forecast when we left on Friday.
Our celebratory mood was short-lived. Coming back to Amplexus, we discovered that the air conditioners were running hot--obviously a clogged filter, probably from storm debris. But try as we might, we couldn't clear the clog. Even disconnecting the hose and running a tube down it didn't help. That meant that the clog was on the outside of the raw water intake valve. We slept with all of the hatches open to keep cool (until the rain started), but one thing was certain, one of us would go swimming in the morning.

As it turned out it was me. Ric's back problems had flared up and it would have been a very painful experience for him. Luckily after three tries, I was able to dive down far enough and pull out the leaves that were clogging the filter.

Soon after my swim, the engine mechanic arrived. He thought our problem might be a broken impeller, but after checking things out, he determined that the impeller and the turbo charger were in good shape. He listened as Ric revved the engine and said the sounds he heard were completely normal. I'm not sure what that high-pitched whine was that we heard, but apparently it had nothing to do with an engine problem. (I have to admit that the fact that the guy was wearing a hearing aid gave me pause, though.) Anyway, he determined that it was just the heat sleeve that needed to be replaced. More good news! Maybe it was worth his $200 fee.

Since the heat sleeve is custom made, it would take several days to get the replacement made, so we decided to head on down to Key West and have the heat sleeve made there. Following the repairman's suggestion, we wrapped aluminum foil around the heat sleeve and didn't put the bed board back down on it. Our plan is to leave early tomorrow morning and anchor or dock somewhere in Key Largo tomorrow night. The seas are supposed to be pretty calm...we're hoping that prediction doesn't change.