To wrap up a few things I’ve left hanging:

First, my brother asked for a photo of the new arch. This picture of our stern shows the new arch with the dinghy on the davits. When we travel the dinghy will be pulled up tighter and tied forward to keep it as still as we can. For open water crossings we’ll still put the dinghy up on the foredeck. You can see our new propane tank, too. That’s strapped to the stern pulpit and the wind generator mounting post and is quite secure. Just in front of that is one of the folding bikes. Those are staying in the car in St. Augustine. Since we’re at anchor most of the time in the Bahamas, we can’t easily get the bikes ashore, so we’ve decided not to take them this season.

Fuzzy is doing pretty well on Prozac. Bud is advocating that I should also be taking it, and I admit, some days it’s tempting. Fuzzy’s appetite isn’t great, but he’s eating enough to stay healthy and we think his appetite will recover. The generic Prozac is only $4 for 30 tablets and he is only taking a half tablet a day, so far. Target will give us all 6 refills on the prescription, so we should have enough for the season.

I lucked out on the fresh water pump. The local supplier had it listed at around $450. I went on line and found it for a bit over $300, so we ordered it. Once I placed the order it came up on backorder, so I cancelled that. Looking around on line I found the base assembly available for a bit over $200. I tried to order that but the ordering program on that site wouldn’t accept the zip code as a valid code for St. Augustine. I sent them an email. Then I decided to look up the part number on line and found it from Defender Industries for $149. I placed the order there; so even with expedited shipping it was about $165. Now that might seem like a lot to you non-boaters, but compared to the $450 we first looked at, and as boat repairs go, that’s a great price. Bud was able to get all four of the base screws out of the mount (he thought he would have to grind them off and re-drill) so the new base will screw right in where the old base was. I clipped, tinned and crimped quick connect ends on the wires, so when we install the new pump those can be connected and sealed with heat shrink and we should be good to go. We found a big pin in our hardware that plugged the water line, so we are able to use the foot pumps in our water system. No hot water, but at least you can wash your hands and brush your teeth.

Oh, and the pies are great. I’m having my usual after Thanksgiving breakfast of pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

We hope to leave here by the middle of the week. It all depends on when the pump base ships. We’ll be staying on the ICW down to Lake Worth again, so won’t have to worry too much about the weather until we look for a window to cross.