Another day of planning. Last night I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep thinking about the next few days and planning just what we were going to do. The weather forecast, to put it mildly is - shitty! Just outside the inlet the winds will gradually increase to between 40-50 knots sustained for a period of nearly 24 hours so you can imagine what the sea state will be. Even if we chose to go along the ICW the wind will be slightly milder but the affect on water levels will be quite remarkable. If it was to make things deeper, hurrah, but half the time it will probably make things shallower since the prevailing direction of the wind will be along the axis of the channel. Staying here initially did not appear to be attractive as it is $72/night for us, plus power, and the weather won't settle until next Wednesday, but as it turns out there is a weekly rate which is much more attractive and which we can squeak out of the bank account. So, Nelleke has become a short term dock barnacle once more. But at least by the end of things she will be in one piece unlike the December 3rd storm in 2009 when we were tied up in Whittaker Creek and suffered about $11K in damage.

On the plus side for staying here longer, there is no pressure on getting the various boat jobs done. Indeed I started one today and discovered the source of the fresh water leak in our boat's pressure water system. When the boat was built the builders used what in the day was probably the right stuff for the pressure hot water lines, a sort of reinforced foam covered stuff that you clamp onto the various fittings. Trouble is it is now almost 35 years old and is beginning to deteriorate. At one spot they had put it through a bulkhead and the hose initially had a small leak but then by today there was a substantial break in it. Sigh. Tomorrow we will be off again to West Marine for a length of hot water pressure hose. I sigh and say again because we had only been out there just today to get a new cartridge for the head vent filter and some more stuff to flush into the holding tank to help with the odours and to aid the decomposition. If I had thought to do my examination of the system before the trip I would have seen what I needed and would have included it in the one trip. Oh well.

Barb and I took a walk along the boardwalk and saw that some of the businesses that were here last time are still here, some had closed and there were a few new ones including a place that sells vinegars and olive oils. They would let you do a tasting which we took advantage of and bought a small bottle of herbes de province olive oil. Pricey stuff but different and really good. We popped into a couple of gift stores and I think that I have discovered a couple of small thing to get for Christmas gifts when I can go back on my own.

The marina will be full for the storm so I am going to see if the marina will host a pot luck storm party one evening in their club lounge. All they can say is "No!" Right?