 Stinkpot hauled out for a quick inspection in preparation for our big trip. So it begins…. As I commence typing, we are at anchor just off Cumberland Island in Georgia after nearly a week underway. Last time I wrote here, we were still in Sanford, Florida, with nearly three months to go until we dropped lines. Boy, did that time seem to just crawl along. I continued to play gigs, order and install boat parts, improve systems. I also spent 10 days in Seattle for the Seattle Boat Show with Argo in early February. We have been nothing but busy, and the last three months feel like three years! Back on March 5 and 6, we stowed all the tools and parts and had a short “shakedown” cruise, spending the night at anchor in Butchers Bend to try out our new systems aboard, and all worked perfectly. We even dropped the dinghy in the water to make sure the outboard still ran (spoiler: it does). The week before St. Patrick’s Day was full of gigs at both The Sullivan in Sanford and McK’s Tavern in Daytona, finishing with my finale gig on Paddy’s Day proper (Sunday, March 17) in the street outside of McK’s. They closed the street and turned it into a bit of a festival; it may be one of my favorite-ever Paddy's Day gigs—very cool! Also that week, a dock neighbor, Jimmy, a trained diesel tech, helped me tune up Stinkpot's engines in exchange for some work I did on his boat's electrical systems. She hasn't run this well in years! Monday, March 18 started with me packing a small overnight bag, getting in the car, and driving all the way to Aberdeen, Maryland where I spent the night in a Red Roof Inn. Early the next morning, I got back in the car and drove to my friend, Jeff’s house, in Havre de Grace, Maryland, where the car will be parked for the next couple of months while we transit the east coast. We plan to spend much of the months of May and June docked in Havre de Grace, so the situation couldn’t be better. I spent most of the morning with Jeff, enjoyed lunch with him at a tavern in Baltimore, and then he dropped me at BWI so I could fly back to Orlando. I was rescued from the MCO terminal by Technomad, Chris, with Stacey in tow, and was spirited back to Sanford where co-Technomad, Cherie, kindly had a wonderful Instapot dinner waiting for us all. Wednesday, March 20, we finished preparing Stinkpot to get underway. I had a chiropractic adjustment to clear the cobwebs from the driving and cattle-class flight. The evening had us enjoying an ad hoc party in Stinkpot’s cockpit with dockmates and friends wishing us well. Thursday morning arrived and we dropped lines and didn’t look back. Our first “port of call” was in Astor, where we were docked for our first two months back in Florida following our 2022 cruise north (and, obviously, south). We anchored outside the marina and dinghied in. We were treated to dinner at the nearby Elks Lodge by our friends there, Chris and Cherie (a coincidence, not the same Chris and Cherie as in Sanford). When returning from dinner, I noticed from Astor Bridge that our anchor light lacked the brilliance that I recall it having. Upon return to the boat, I determined that the lenses were too cloudy and deemed it ready for replacement. I ordered one, along with a couple other less-crucial necessities, to an Amazon locker in Jacksonville that I would get when we were to be on the free docks there.  Corky Bell's, a very worthy stop! Pay no attention to the man in my beer. Friday morning we weighed anchor early to get ahead of the winds that were to chase us across Lake George, anchoring for the day among the Seven Sisters Islands. Wind forecasts were for relentless winds for days, so we continued down river Saturday morning, after a leisurely start. It was a relatively short hop to tie up at Corky Bell’s for the night, but worth it for the excellent food (we both ordered the shrimp and ribs off the lunch menu). We also trundled ashore and made a quick trip to the local market, nearby. Sunday morning we got off the dock at dawn and ran in a very brisk wind as far as we could stomach with the NE winds, ending the cruise on the early side in Palmo Cove/Trout Creek to avoid taking seas on the beam were we to go further. Monday, with another dawn anchor weighing, we continued down river to Mandarin Holiday Marina, where we fueled, and then on to the downtown docks in Jacksonville, which we found to be closed for construction, but docked anyway. Realizing all too late that the dock gangways were impassable, I canceled my Amazon order, and we decided to wait just long enough for the tide to turn. Around 2:30pm we dropped lines, and enjoyed a favoring current to our next stop, which we figured (incorrectly) to be the Sisters Creek free docks. To wit, while underway, we noted via available online sources that Sisters Creek had at least 5 boats docked and at least one in the nearby anchorage. This told us the dock was “full” so we diverted to a known “good” anchorage just east of Blount Island, a bit off the river. We had thoughts of dropping the dinghy and going ashore for a walk and, and perhaps even dinner, but the relentless winds kept us from doing so. We’d have likely been fine, but discretion being the better part of valor in an 8’ boat, we didn’t. Instead we rose with the sun, and pointed the bow north up the ICW, stopping once for a pump-out of our blackwater tank and a fill-up of our potable water tank at Fernandina Harbor Marina, before proceeding, unbidden, to the anchorage by St. Marys, GA where we intended to go ashore and enjoy the local delights. We had the hook down by early afternoon and decided to wait until the predicted lull in the winds the next day to enjoy some time ashore. The winds did lay down whilst we were sleeping, but came back with a vengeance the next morning, which was not at all in the forecast. It was a dark overcast, chilly, and not at all pleasant. Looking at forecasts around us, we determined that the winds were far less to the north, so we decided to weigh anchor and forego our trip ashore. I began preparing the boat to move. We had been using the generator all morning to charge our batteries, heat water for showers, and have a little heat in the boat. As I powered up the inverter, which we run most of the time, I could hear the transfer switch in the engine room struggling to shift back from the generator to inverter position, and it was failing to complete the connection. Into the engine room I slithered (it’s a tight space). It took seven or eight good “Fonzie taps” (AKA “percussive maintenance”) before the transfer switch finally came over, but it finally did. We started out of St. Marys enjoying a nice favoring current, which I knew would be on the nose as soon as we made the turn north onto the ICW. When we made it to Cumberland Sound, the winds were far less there, and with the 3 knot current on the nose when we made the turn, we decided to overnight at anchor by Cumberland Island, where the blog post began. The water was flat calm, and there was plenty of room in the anchorage. It seemed like a good place to just “relax,” which we did.  A couple hours after we had anchored by Cumberland Island, the sun came out, and I went out for a therapeutic row around the anchorage in Li'l Stinker. So, destination in mind, Thursday morning, March 28, we weighed anchor with a howling northeast wind chiding us, made our way out of the anchorage, and pointed ourselves north. With a full 54 miles between Cumberland Island and our marina destination, we started making phone calls and sending emails to try to get a reservation, none of which “hit” for hours, but finally my phone rang, and Rick, the proprietor of Two-Way was calling to confirm us for a week’s stay. I asked about the $3 deal I saw, and he told me that was “old news,” but he’d honor it. Clearly the type of place that I like to deal with—easy going, accommodating, and friendly.
The morning was sort raw and miserable, with that northeast wind in our teeth the entire time and a cloud cover that gave way to rain a couple times. We enjoyed most of the cruise from the warmth of our lower helm, but in the early afternoon, about the time we passed under the bridge to Lanier Island over the Mackay River , the clouds gave way to sun and warmth, and we jubilantly moved from inside helm to outside helm for the remainder of the trip. We arrived on the “second t-head” at the marina at about 3:25pm and we’re welcomed ashore by Two-Way employee, Mark. I set to work flushing our potable water tanks and found the new water filter to still look new. I still disinfected the tanks with bleach, though our bleach had lost its smell, and likely most of its potency. I’ll likely be doing this again soon. All the same, with the filter being still clean, something else clearly was the issue with our water pressure. While the bleach was working, I reordered the items we had to leave behind in Jacksonville as well as a new transfer switch. Late last night as I was purging the bleach water from the tanks and refilling the tanks, I replaced the water pump with our new-in-box spare (and then ordered a new spare) and powered up the pump. It was working marginally better than the one it replaced, but still did not sound good and it blew a fuse nearly immediately. I noted on the the new pump that it drew as much as 18 amps, so I swapped the blown 15 amp fuse for a 20 and went to bed. This morning, I got up, had a coffee, showered (the pump overheated and shut down this time, but the fuse survived. Stacey turned on the dock water so I could finish my shower, and so she could shower, and I got back down to work on the pump issue. I disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled our old pump and swapped it back into position. Still not the expected outcome. I put my hand back down to take it apart again, and that’s when I felt it. Water was leaking out around the fitting on the intake side of the pump. Eureka! The pump(s) had been sucking air! A short trip through my stockpile of spare parts gave me all I needed to replace the leaking fitting, which was integral to the sediment strainer. Fully reassembled and NOT leaking, I powered on the pump and success! We have pressurized water aboard again. I moved the new pump back into place, relegating our “old” pump to spare parts status. I have the brand new one coming as well. Since our anchor wash-down system uses the same type of pump, having two spares aboard feels right. So as I finish this post, it’s Friday afternoon. We are not expecting our Amazon packages until Monday or Tuesday. We will likely get underway on Wednesday for destinations undecided as yet. Our cruising plans up until now have not lined up with reality, so spending a week in a gorgeous spot while the weather gets itself together just feels like the right thing to do. We have a week to review our cruising plans and figure out where to from here and when. “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!” -Robert Burns
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