Day 193 Sun, Sun, where fore art thou Sun?

Since Blue and Snowshoe love grass so much, we have started growing our own so they won't have to explore the dock(like this will actually stop that?) looking for some.  It comes in a nice plastic tray and grows easily on board.  We just have to put it up where the kids can't always get to it so it has a chance to re-grow after they are done munching.

  
Yesterday was another overcast day.  Relatively calm which was nice.  Still rainy and dreary but all in all pleasant. 

I called some marinas in the islands to see what their Winter rates are.  We have VERY limited cell phone service out here but at least we do have service.  Most are FAR cheaper than the rates that we will be paying at Point Hudson if we end up staying there.  The dredging has been postponed till early December so they are in absolutely no hurry to have us come into their dock.  Most are about 1/2 the fees plus some free perks that Point Hudson doesn't offer.  Point Hudsons big advantage is the availability to more city services(provisions, etc.)  We plan on visiting the marinas to see what they have.

The mind is a horrible thing to waste and I was doing that yesterday.  I'd remarked about having to charge the batteries using the engine.  I had totally forgotten about the 3000 watt Honda generator we have sitting on the stern.  I threw a cover over the top of it and fired it up.  The charge going to Zephyr was just like the charge that we get off of shore power.  Our battery charger came on line and started the charging.  A few hours later and we were just about all set when the light on our main circuit board inside Zephyr began to blink about "reverse polarity" on the line coming into Zephyr.  I placed a call to Jack the electrician.  His recommendation was to shut it down at least for a while.  Apparently, unless the generator is connected to the "ground" on Zephyr, there may be some problems with the polarity.  If I hook the generator up via a wire to the ground on Zephyr we would be fine.  The worst we could expect would be a mild tingle or shock if we touched something that was using or getting power as the generator ran.  Since the only thing that is getting power is the charger and it's under the settee, we don't think there will be any problem using it.  Meanwhile, we boosted the charge in our batteries from 12.25  to 12.75--back to just about a full charge.  We will fire the generator up again today for a while just to keep the batteries topped up.  We're forced to do this till we install the wind electric generator.  The last of its components will be at the dock on Monday.  Once it is installed, every time the wind blows, the batteries will get a charge.  Since we're currently experiencing 15-30 knot winds, if we had had it already installed there won't be a problem keeping them nicely charged.

I read and Tracy stitched.  She's finished three projects just since we've been at anchor.  All were ones she had started much earlier but had never gotten back to.  You stitchers out there know how that goes don't you?

As the day passed, I went out and scrubbed the deck to get all the dirt and bird poo that has come on board over the Summer off.  With all the rain, it washed off easily.  I just kept dunking the brush on a boat hook in the water and scrubbing away.  It had stopped raining at that time so it wasn't all that bad.  Still no Sun but at least no rain.

We played dominoes for several hours to while away the time and then I cooked a nice spaghetti dinner.  The movie of the night was the "Chronicles of Narnia".  Both Tracy and I had read and enjoyed the book series while in college so it was nice seeing this rendition.

The night passed with a bit more rain and lots of wind.  As I said earlier, we are in gusts of up to 30 knots as I type this.  The anchor is holding well but I still get up to check our position regularly just in case.  While we have anchored many times on Sloop to Nuts(our Laguna 26) this is our first time on Zephyr and every little sound will evoke a response to check it out.  The last thing we want to have happen is for the anchor to slip and we end up on shore(yuck).

I actually saw my first star this morning since we anchored.  The clouds appear to be breaking yet the forecast is still for more rain.  I guess we will see what happens as the day passes.

We will be heading back to Point Hudson probably tomorrow.  The new transmission has a problem keeping itself in neutral when the engine is running.  The prop just keeps wanting to turn.  Slowly but still turn and no matter where I place the gear selector switch, it just keeps on revolving.  We need the boat to stay in neutral while at anchor so that we don't go riding around endangering other boats that may be in the cove.  Larry at Sea Marine had adjusted it just before we left the dock but I guess we will need to have it looked at again.

Several years ago when Tracy, Matt and I were chartering a boat in the British Virgin Islands, I had gone a shore in the dingy to pay for our stay.  Matt and Tracy had stayed on board to get cleaned up.  The engine was running to keep the refrigerator running.  Suddenly I looked out at the boat and she was swinging around and around  on the mooring buoy.  She had slipped into gear with no one above deck.  I jumped into the dingy and headed out.  The other boats in the anchorage had scattered all in fear of getting hit.  As I motored out trying to figure out how I was going to get on board a moving boat, Matt came above deck and put her back into neutral.  He had been in the shower and looked out the porthole and saw the beach passing  over and over again.  He knew that was not supposed to be happening.   For the rest of the trip, if the engine was on, someone was on deck keeping watch just in case.

Well, the Sun is up and I do see some blue sky!!  It's still blowing but that's fine as long as we have a blue sky.  It will be nice to see the Sun again.

Have a nice weekend!