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On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, we move the boat into
the Old Port Cove marina to have our engine-driven refrigeration
system serviced. This expensive and frustrating ordeal ultimately
exceeds even our most pessimistic expectations. Furthermore,
the delay causes us to miss the first weather window for going
to the Bahamas. We're only 50 miles from the Bahamas, but
it seems a million miles away.
During this already stressful time, Nick develops a fever
and abdominal pain. On Sunday afternoon, we take a taxi to
a walk-in clinic where the doctor prescribes strong antibiotics
for diverticulitis, a condition Nick has had before. The doctor
says he can't rule out appendicitis and strongly urges us
to go to the emergency room and spend thousands of dollars
for full tests and a CT scan. We opt to bypass the ER and
just fill the prescriptions, but our anxiety about this decision
is high. The next day we have the refrigeration mechanic and
a fuel polishing tech on the boat at the same time. So instead
of resting, Nick is busy all day running a three-ring circus
on the boat and then works until 11:00 PM putting the engine
room back together. Despite his failure to follow doctor's
orders, the fever breaks and Nick's condition eventually improves.
Morale on Caribbean Soul is quite low during this
time, but we get through the ordeal with a little help from
our friends. Paul and Jennie on S/V Camelot, docked
in the adjacent slip also awaiting repairs, commiserate in
our mechanical woes. Dean and Nancy arrive in the anchorage
on S/V Pegasus, while Jim and Roxanne on S/V Dawn
Dancer remain nearby. Fred and Iris, local residents and
crew of S/V Windwalker, offer their assistance and
advice. Back home in Texas, Mike O'Barr on S/V Kosrae
provides his expertise by phone.
Eight days after pulling into the marina, we finally throw
off our dock lines and head back to our familiar anchorage.
We feel like we've been through the ringer financially, physically,
and emotionally. As we prepare to leave, I press the power
button on our Furuno GPS/chartplotter/radar unit. Nothing
happens. We make a note to check the connections later.
Once back on anchor, Nick determines that the Furuno display
unit is dead. Apparently a lightning strike a few weeks earlier
fried the power supply. This equipment is essential for our
safe navigation and must be repaired before we can leave Florida.
After wasting several days getting the runaround from a local
company, we overnight the unit directly to Furuno. Although
their turnaround time is usually 10-14 days, when Nick explains
our situation, they repair the unit and overnight it back
in just a few days. They even replace our LCD screen at no
charge. Kudos to Furuno!
When the unit arrives, we turn it on and anxiously watch
the screen as the radar performs a warm-up countdown. We don't
know if the lightning strike might have also damaged the radar
dome that is connected to the unit. The numbers count down
... 30, 29, 28 ... if the radar is dead we'll have to repair
it too ... 15, 14, 13 ... and we'll miss the upcoming weather
window when our friends are leaving for the Bahamas ... 10,
9, 8 ... that means spending a lonely Christmas in Florida
... 3, 2, 1. We hold our breath; concentric rings appear on
the screen. Yeah, it works! Bahamas, here we come!
The Furuno displays our GPS location on a
navigational chart.
Radar scans are also shown on this screen.
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Caribbean Soul and Camelot
docked at the Old Port Cove Marina for repairs. Condos, the
scourge of Florida, tower over us.
Paul and Jennie
Standing left to right: Nick & Deanna, Roxanne &
Jim. Seated: Jennie & Paul, Inga & Hans from Germany
Dean shows Nick how to splice braided line
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