Last night as we sat in the cockpit drinking our evening tea I was looking up at the condos that line the ICW and coincidentally the Lake Worth anchorage and Marina at this spot, and I was reflecting at how different they seemed from close up looking up instead of from out at the anchorage when I was using them as range markers with the handheld directional compass to determine if the second anchor set was holding. On one hand they seem comfy and benign and on the other a distant waypoint that may or may not spell success or disaster. As it was the weather witches maintained their record - it was supposed to get worse last night and didn't. Oh, there were some very strong gusts but in general there was nothing like what was forecasted. I'm not complaining and I wouldn't want their thankless job, it just shows ta' go ya that you need to do your own weather forecasting. Speaking of which, it now looks like the weather will be veering around to the SE on Friday and that day plus Saturday looks like the time to make the crossing.

Mike the marina mechanic came aboard this morning and was able to get some turns on the hose clamps that I believe are the problem with the leak in the fresh water side of the coolant system. He also agreed with me that the hose has totally lost its resiliency and recommended replacing all of them, all four small hose sections on the block. I believe that I'll do that once we get back to Halifax. He has also arranged for someone to come in and recharge the coolant in the refrigerator system on board. Apparently the quick connect linkages in these self install systems are notorious for leaking so it's not just me.

Barb and I fixed the last thing that had been broken by the trip to Bermuda, the lever cleats that hold the main halyard and topping lift. We put bolts through the cabin roof and fastened them to a backing plate in the cabin. That'll be much stronger and just for giggles we 5200-ed the cleats to the deck as well. We have finished cleaning out the sump pump for the head showers and reinstalled the pump itself so that is done too.

Today was overcast and humid but with nothing like the winds as forecast at least in the forenoon. We had a couple of sun showers that were actually quite pleasant as far as cooling us off. Isn't that great!? After weeks of freezing our little weenies off we are now looking to cool off! Then, of course, in the afternoon, the heavens opened in quite a shower.

We are renting a car for overnight to do our grocery and hardware shopping. The area around the marina and indeed the entire North Palm Beach area seems to be one large shopping plaza once you get away from the ICW and the rather grandiose homes that line it. We were able to find some printer cartridges for our printer and bought a few spares for while we are in the Bahamas and we bought a couple of groceries to tide us over until tomorrow when we hope the refrigeration repair fellow will show up with the coolant fluid.
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