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We had a very calm night with the winds from the SE at 10 Kt. After listening to the cruisers net we pulled up the anchor, pulled out the jib and sailed up Elbow Key and over to Marsh Harbor. The wind was from 10 to 15 Kt and we did 3-4 Kt. The sky was overcast and hazy. The net said that forest fires in Mexico were causing the haze. Shortly after setting sail Jill reported that the head was not working. We pumped on it periodically while sailing but could not get it to work. We arrived in Marsh Harbor at 12:30 and found a place to anchor among many other boats. We had been listening to the radio all day and heard that things were very busy and slips were hard to find. I decided to anchor out for the benefit of breeze while attacking our plumbing problem. We found a relatively open area in the western end of the anchorage. We had lunch and fortified ourselves for the task to come. Since I could not sell the boat in its present condition I broke down and attacked the problem with all the implements at my disposal. The last time the head clogged there was some give when pumping, this time there was none. The last time it was the anti-siphon valve that clogged so this time it must further up stream. I turned the Y valve and the head was still stuck so the problem was not the anti-siphon valve but between the head and the Y valve. I thought that with no give the problem must be right at the head and disassembled the joker valve. No problem there but there was still considerable pressure in the pipe leading from the joker valve. I disassembled the pipe going to the Y valve and found the clog. I really hate plumbing. I know if I have lived a bad life I will come back as a plumber. Around 3 PM we finally put everything back together and clean the boat up. We have rum drinks to celebrate the fact that we do not have to abandon ship yet. A little later we dingy in to town. The dock master at Harbor View says he may have a slip for us tomorrow, we should call at 9 and see. The phone booth is busy so we walk to the Conch Inn and try to buy a phone card at the store there but they are only sold at the Batelco office and that is too far to walk today. We head for Sapodillas to have some drinks and ask about their email service. The drinks are great but the lady who knows about the email leaves just as we start our drinks. After a few drinks she returns and we find we can either write our email out and they will type it in or we can come back later and she will phone the email guru and ask about submitting our email on a floppy. We walk over to the Tiki Hut and their specials sound interesting so we have dinner there. Their special drink is the Sneaky Tiki and we have their Hog Snapper special. The food was great and the drink almost put me under the table. We were the first ones there for dinner and got the table for 2 at the outside corner of the place. The Tiki Hut is a floating restaurant and has a great view of the harbor and the sunset. While we were eating Jill saw several dolphin and a turtle to the W between us and the next marina, Triple J. We also saw a number of fish around the Tiki Hut. I said that the dolphin should come over here for diner and a few minutes later one surfaced just 10’ from our table. After dinner we took our life in our hands and walked back across the main road to Sapodillas for a nightcap. They phoned their computer guru and we talked for a while. Their floppy drive is currently broken and until they get a replacement they can only take email messages on paper. We talked to Captain Dan, a pilot who is flying tomorrow. He and his crew were drinking virgin margaritas. He has been coming to the area for quite a few years. As the sun set we hurried back to the dingy but it was already pitch black as we cast off and I had not put out the anchor light. We could see lots of anchor lights and lots of lights ashore. Someone must look after drunks for we found the boat without much problem although I still wonder if this is not some other Phoenix that we stumbled onto in the dark.
Memorial Day: This is the first memorial day that I haven't heard even one piece of the Indy 500 race. :) We read and rested after listening to "the net". Planned our Marsh Harbor Shopping trip.
I woke up with the second best hangover of the trip. At 9 I called Hubert at
the Harbor View Marina but they did not have a slip yet but somebody was going
to leave later. At 11 I called and they directed be to slip 6. We prepared the
fenders and dock lines and motored in. The dock was on the W side with lots of
room and we had no difficulty docking in a light SE breeze. The sky was overcast
from a front to the S of us that is supposed to bring rain to Florida but not
disturb us. At least it cuts off some of the sun because it is hot in town.
After lunch on the boat we take showers and head off to do our errands. We stop
at the liquor store and get 3 cases of beer, they have Coors light! and 4
bottles of rum. Then we look for powdered milk at Solomon’s but no luck. We
order 3 cases of soft drinks and 2 gallons of water from Sawyers and then get a
$1000 cash advance at the CNB bank. They said travelers checks would be too
difficult and cost more. We stopped at several places trying to find Gully
Roosters music but no luck. We did have luck at the post office which had the
package of magazines and the letter from Punta Gorda. The package was delayed
going thru customs. We dropped off a package of flea market stuff at the Trauma
One building which is having a yard sale at the end of the week. In the same
building as the post office was a barber and I got my hair cut which was getting
too long for the temperature. We dropped one disposable camera off at a 1 hour
photo place and bought a loaf of bread at the bakery. On the way back we tried
several marine and hardware stores for a stiff brush to scrub the bottom and
replacement cane tips for the boarding ladder. We found both at the Downtown
Hardware store. The last stop was the Golden Harvest grocery store for a few
items and then we dragged on back to the boat. We had asked for the beer and
soda to be delivered tomorrow but when we got back to the boat the beer and
booze was sitting there on the dock. What service! We stowed everything and then
opened the letter and package and spent the rest of the afternoon cooling off
and reading. The clouds kept the sun from being too hot and a little breeze was
blowing at the marina. By dusk it was getting pleasantly cool and we had a nice
dinner in the cockpit.
Lovely sail into Marsh Harbor. #6 slip. Supper at Tiki Hut - Hog snapper - delicious. We watched a turtle and then a large dolphin came in. We were joking about him coming right next to our table because we were 1 foot away from the water. Then this huge dolphin was right by our feet! :) We stayed after supper and watched a glorious orange sunset. Tomorrow we go to town for shopping.
We got a lot of things done yesterday but we still had a lot to do today.
After listening to the net Jill took the dirty cloths to the Laundromat at the
head of the dock. They mentioned a weekly festival at Yamaha Park which is
across from the Golden Harvest food store. They would also have Junkanoo there.
We decided to go and see what it was all about. Shortly after our soft drinks
were delivered. The conch salad man who works at a small booth at the head of
the dock was using the dock cart so I carried the drinks to the boat and
rearranged things to get everything to fit. I found that one water jug had
leaked and I removed everything from that compartment to let it dry off. Since
that was next to the autopilot compass I checked each can and put all the steel
cans somewhere else. I got out the water hose and cleaned the boat. When Jill
returned with the laundry it was time for lunch so we walked to Mangos just E of
our dock. After lunch we pulled the dingy up onto the dock and cleaned the
bottom and rinsed the sand out from inside. The bottom had a little bit of scum
and a very small amount of grass, it was doing much better than the bottom of
Phoenix. There were no beginnings of barnacles as we had at Dinner Key. The tow
line was badly chaffed and I went to Triple J marine and bought a new length of
rope to replace it. After re-launching the dingy we filled to water tanks and
then collapsed in the cockpit to read our new collection of magazines. We went
for showers and were much refreshed.
A little after 6 we closed the boat and
headed for Yamaha Park where the festivities were supposed to start at 6:30.
When we got there the booths were still being set up but a large sound system
with 4 massive speakers as in full operation. We had to hold our hands over our
ears when we went in front of it but one guy stayed there the whole time we were
there with a beer in one hand dancing to the music just 6’ from the speakers. We
sat on a small stone wall for a while with a group of other sailors waiting for
the booths to start serving. After 15 minutes most were operating and we walked
around again to see what looked good. A truck towed in what looked like a large
beach ball which opened up horizontally into a beer booth. We started there.
There were booths for chicken, fish, conch fritters, shiskabob, burgers and a
gin and coconut water booth. We sampled a little of each and ended with a cherry
cheese cake. At 8 the Junkanoo arrived, several people in colorful paper
costumes and playing drums, horns and cowbells arrived and danced around. The
audience joined them and I got some good videos of the festivities. We walked
back to Sapodillas and submitted our email and had a nightcap and then walked
across the street to our boat. We sat in the cockpit in the cool night air and I
thought my ears were still ringing from the loud sound system at the park but no
that is the park, it was 9 PM and the next Junkanoo performance was going on. We
could hear it just fine from the boat.
We left a bag of books and cloths as donation for Trauma 1. Rich got a nice haircut at "Hair Affair". We put our film in 'one-stop - 1hr'. Same as US prices. (But 5x enlarges are $3 each! - not $2 for whole roll :{ ). Oh, take me back to Tuesday... The HEAD clogged up! Rich worked on it for a couple of hours. Fixed it right after we anchored in Marsh Harbor Tuesday after noon. We then went on a nice pub crawl. I was the "driver" but Rich came back to the Phoenix with my help. It was SO dark :).
Wed. AM we came into Harbor View, cleaned the boat, did laundry, scrubbed the dingy and had lunch. Took showers. Went to town and got cane tips for the ladder and bought a boat brush. After cleaning up we went to the Wednesday evening party - cook out across from Golden Harvest Grocery. They had a Junkanoo!! Rich took movies. We had banana bread, coconut brad, benny cakes (like a sesame seed with peanut brittle candy), Fish shiskabob, fried chicken and cherry cheese cake. Also beer! And Rich had a hamburger with vegetables sautéed. We shared most of it. Oh, yes some conch fritters! :) It was loud music and there were about 150 - 200 people attending.
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