I finished varnishing the cockpit grating and table this morning so that is part of the varnish job done. I'm not sure that I'll start the cockpit seats until I find out what is happening about the parts that we are waiting for. I don't want to get them all sanded down and then have to start off.

We are also giving some serious thought about whether or not we will be stopping in Charleston for the heat exchange clean out after all. Much of it will depend upon the estimated cost since we are getting short on funds and I do not want to get into the credit card overextension situation again. Perhaps we'll be stuck with babying the engine all the way back home. There are worse things to have to do. In fact with any luck the tightening of the hose lamp that JD did may resolve some of the problem. At least there shouldn't be as much of a problem with the coolant dumping into the bilge.

When we leave here, if we can make a Tuesday departure the winds should be out of the east early in the day veering about to ESE and then S and finally all the way to NE by Thursday, so we should going from a starboard close reach through running to a port broad reach if we head off the coast. We should be up to Cape Fear by Wednesday evening where we could decide to either head in through Southport for a rest or continue on around Frying Pan Shoal and head for Moorehead City where we should arrive, if we do that, by Thursday afternoon. In fact it is only 50 miles further than if we stopped off in Charleston. Decisions, decisions!

This is a nice place, a really nice place, in fact Barb has just commented that the laundry facilities at the marina are the best, bar none, of any place that we have ever been, but staying somewhere because you choose to and because it is forced on you are two different matters, so I am very much getting itchy feet, or sails or whatever the nautical equivalent is.

We have some interesting news about our mechanical issues. JD the diesel mechanic has recommended a product called Rydlyme to flush out the seawater side of the heat exchanger and a normal car rad flush for the coolant side. He says that's a lot cheaper and much less likely to damage the existing exchanger by taking it off. He also told us that the alternator is in Charleston and that it should be here by noon tomorrow. This is great news so we should be underway early on Wednesday. The second thing is that Suzuki-san was returned to us in running condition. Apparently none of the previous mechanics, who were all technically competent, I hasten to add, but none of them flushed out the internal fuel tank on the engine and that was where the problem was stemming from. That, plus the two fuel cans that we had aboard that had somehow absorbed some moisture and had water in them. Of course once you get water you also get crud, and that we had aplenty. Now we have a clean internal tank on Suzuki-san and we have cleaned out the smaller of the two cans and filled it with (hopefully) good gas and some gas additives that are supposed to remove the water and the crud.

Tonight we have been invited to join the live-a-boards here at the marina at their weekly dinner at the restaurant associated with the facility. Apparently every week they get a bunch of tables strung together and they enjoy each other's company and a meal that someone else prepares and cleans up after. As long as we aren't seated in the bar, which we are told is very smoky, it promises to be a very pleasant evening.