Another case of "Sailblogs ate my post"! I've been busy this past month with friends and family and forgot to rewrite the last leg of the journey.

We don't sleep well in the swamp because it's...a swamp. Hot, humid, everything you hate about Florida except the old people crossing over 5 lanes of traffic. No fans either because we can't risk accidentally draining the starter.
We wake a little before dawn because it was THAT awful, but we know those bloodsuckers are still out there so we stay in bed and talk for about an hour. When the skies are clear of tiny black vampires, Shawn goes outside to start up for the day.

We go through our usual ritual aaaand...
She starts! YAY! Ahhh! We breathe a sigh of relief.
Except...uh oh. We're in less than 3 feet of water. The depth sounder should be going bonkers right now. But again, it looks like we don't have instruments and we're out of fuses. $#!^.

Since we just have to "follow the road, there's only one road, hip hip hooray for our only road!" of the ICW it's not bad enough for us to call in the cavalry. We steer out and begin our voyage. It's incredibly nerve-wracking since the posts are spaced out a lot here...and sometimes the ICW isn't the straightest...but we manage.

Since we're smart, we have a portable VHF radio. IF YOU ARE A SMART SAILOR, YOU WILL TOO! When we get to Ft. Pierce we find a commercial crabber with the engine cap off. Yet again, no BoatUS/equivalent membership, no VHF radio. Another one dead in the water.

GET A BOAT TOWING MEMBERSHIP AND A VHF RADIO!! There are not always kind sailing vessels willing to help you!!!

We begin towing the vessel to a nearby dock. We won't be able to get to where he docks his vessel, so we keep yelling into Channel 16: "This is the sailing vessel Sea Angel. We are towing a disabled commercial crabbing vessel. We cannot deliver him to his dock. Assistance would be greatly appreciated." Every time we keep stressing the SAILING VESSEL part of that...because we're disabled ourselves, and a sailboat, TOWING someone. This is NOT what our cat was designed for. We keep getting waked out by powerboats and with no response.

Meanwhile I'm at the helm while Shawn chats up the crabber. I use a bit of my phone power to send our location in case this guy is a pirate, and we ready the glock in the usual location. I'm scared to hell this guy is going to pull something and I'm going to have to shoot him. Something about his situation was setting off my spidey senses. Commercial crabber? No towing or VHF? Seriously? I'm going through combat situations in my head the entire time I'm at the helm. Not. Fun.

He doesn't pull anything, thankfully, and my deep fear of ever having to use a gun isn't realized. Due to lack of volunteering, we eventually have to leave the guy nearby a boat launch and hope someone helps him. We have no idea what happened to him. Maybe he swam to shore and rented a boat to tow himself in. Who knows?

We clear the Ft. Pierce bridge uneventfully, and sail up the ICW. Sailing is interesting since again, we have no instruments, so we have to feel the wind. We’re running out of things to talk about so I go below deck and start looking through our little cubbyholes and discover…more fuses! YAAAY!

Shawn replaces the fuse but it doesn’t appear any of the instruments are working. Oh well. We’re terrified by the really big fuse we find that doesn’t seem to go anywhere…where is it supposed to go? Is it just a random fuse? As of this writing we still have no idea.

We get to about where we were towed last time and drop anchor. Here we discover power is working and our anchor light turns on. Yaaaay! That’s excellent since this area looks like it’d harbor drug runners who could smash into our hull at high speeds during the night. We take a “bath” in the frigid waters and go to bed.
The next day, everything starts normally (always relieving) and we putter home on Thanksgiving. While clearing out the fridge Shawn accidentally drops a Tupperware lid in the drink. I tell him it’s ok, but he’s angry this is the second time he’s dropped one in and decides to jump in the water to grab it. Otherwise the adventure home was uneventful and after returning to our slip, we drive to Venice and have a nice Thanksgiving. The end. *gasps for air* Whoo boy, that’s a long story!