Missed too many days to catch up

Finally back on Shawnee after Thanksgiving with the grands in New Hampshire and a trip to Cuba. At home the grandkids' bedroom holds a new (removable) swing hanging from the rafters.  Very popular and it's able to hold lots of kids at once. (Wish I had a pic.)

Before we went back to New Hampshire we sailed from St. Augustine to Florida over 3.5 days into Dinner Key, Coconut Grove mooring field.  It was a nice gentle trip with many windy, windy days before and after Drew's perfect weather window.  Nice and easy in the cockpit.

The old log book is filled so we purchased a new, different log book for 2015-16:

Some of the check offs at the top are neat.  It doesn't have sections for maintenance, fuel, or marinas, so I'm not sure I like it as well.  It's with us for this season, and I'll use the old one for the maintenance and fuel records.


Drew continues to add to his boat "to do" list.  Pretty long and he constantly talks about how he hasn't gotten enough done each day though we chip away at it; replacing, fixing and maintaining and talking about it.

We had some nice sunrises and sunsets:

 It was calm when we arrived so we rode the dinghy into the new office.



We arrived in Dinner Key to check into the brand new marina office; new showers, new laundry, new smaller lounge - no weather TV.

There is a newly constructed huge park, Regatta Park, on the back side and the waterfront piers to the left.  Free parking included.  The town of Coconut Grove we love with Coco Walk, a shopping area with a good cinema in the center, Bice (Bee-che) for our happy hours, and 2 roof top bars for nice views at the Sonesta and the historic preservation designated Mayfair.  Drew joined a 24 hour gym with a trainer for a few sessions - a first!

We arrived to 4 days stuck on the boat because of high winds in the mooring field, 20 to 25 K.  The launch won't run if it's over 15, the waves are just too high.  Our dinghy could do it, but chances of having a problem are great.  I spent hours reading a good book -- my book lay on the cockpit teak in the rainstorm -- it's our little sun/rain room, fully enclosed.

So many good quotes about the ocean from this book of short stories by great authors (Dickens, Stevenson, Verne, Defoe) set on the sea -- I'll share with you later.


Saw this great poster in the bathroom of a local hotel.  Then we prepared for our trip to CUBA with the Garden Club of America through the People to People tour of Fundacion Amistad. 

We packed lightly for Cuba having read that it's a third world country and casual was all we needed.  Mazu stayed in the pet "hotel" for the first time.  It has a TV and cot, no less.
 Luly Duke and Michael Conners (author of Caribbean and Cuban books, The Splendor of Cuba) were our incredible guides who led us through amazing places without many English speaking American tourists.  Gia, was the required government friendly guide who translated and gave the "hail all heroes" history of Cuba as we traveled through the countryside of Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Veradano, Mantanzas, and Havana.  We didn't see the far east or western provinces.

The stone work on the column top connection to arches and below the chair rail is exquisite.  The intricate iron work on stairs is everywhere in Havana and can't escape notice.  I took many, many photos. When I download them from Drew's phone I'll share some on this blog.  We wanted to go to Cuba before it changes.  Paying the big bucks for a small group guided tour was totally worth it; learned and saw so much more than if we'd been on our own.

Sunday Nov, 8 water pump fix, rain

I missed the VHF channel 72 Cruises Net because I didn't switch it off "tri-watch" (didn't know how) and the program was incessantly interrupted with boats calling Lion's Bridge for an opening.
  Cooked a good breakfast before starting on the water pump replacement of the rubber diaphragm that we just replaced last year.  The symptom was water leaking as the pump worked filling up the bin with water over time and then bailing out the bin.
   First: take apart the whole salon area to reach the water pump in a bin below the port seats.
  2nd:  Go upside down in the bin and unscrew the motor pump and unhook electrical wires.

You can see the motor is right up against the wall and very hard to remove the 4 screws.  

 Drew decided he'd drill new holes (went upsidedown a no-no)

and place it where it's easier to remove, and he also put the works vertically.

The damaged diaphragm:

The motor setup vertically

Water pumped screwed back in and ready to go.  It now does work without leaking.

This took most of the rainy day to complete.  I also read Incredible Tales of the Sea, a short story collection including Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island  when Long John Silver finds the treasure with Jim on the island, Daniel Defoe's description from Robinson Crusoe's  dangerous sail around his island on his home made boat with a sail., Victor Hugo's "An Imprisoned Thunderstorm" describing a terrible lose cannon on a ship after its rolled around and finally captured.  Jules Verne's "An Unknown Species of Whale" about Captain Faragut on board the "Abraham Lincoln" frigate out to capture a narwhal.  The book also has Homer and Charles Dickens.

The next day, MONDAY NOVEMBER 9, was bright sunny and warm.  We took some walks around the historic downtown where there may be as many as 50 historic homes and places to tour.  There are horse and buggy tours, trolley tours and guided bike tours.

  From the mooring field we see Flagler College spires poking the blue sky and crenellated tops of the original architecture for the hotels.