Home for the Holidays
16 December 2018

It's hard to believe we've been in this one spot for 2 1/2 weeks. The time has gone fast as we've continued doing boat chores and exploring the area. Don't forget to check out the new pictures in the gallery.
We are fortunate the mechanic we found is a Yanmar certified technician with 30 years of experience. He's not finished yet as we are awaiting parts, but we feel comfortable leaving the boat in his hands while we are gone.
We discovered irreparable water leaks in the dinghy between the rigid bottom and the sides, so we invested in a new, almost identical one. When you're a cruiser, your dinghy is your "car" when you leave the boat. Especially in the Bahamas, where the resources are limited, it needs to be in good working order.
The cushions in the salon are the originals from 1995 and getting pretty ratty. We found a woman on the Gulf Coast who does marine upholstery and we took all the cushions to her. We will retrieve the new ones when we get back in January.
Our anchor chain was showing signs of wear so we pulled it all out, took the anchor off, cut off the bad section, turned it around and re-marked it at 25 length segments. Our previous length markers had worn off so anchoring on the way down was just a guessing game. We almost exclusively anchor in the Bahamas, sometimes near other boats, so it's important to know how much chain you're putting out.
Since we're only 20 miles from Canaveral, we've taken advantage of being on the "Space Coast." We were able to watch the most recent launch from the balcony of the marina. Last week we spent an entire day at the Kennedy Space Center. Today we plan to take a long walk on the beach near Patrick Air Force Base.
We're really looking forward to going home and catching up with family and friends tomorrow.
Stay tuned for the next chapter when we return in January...