We finally got to the St Lucie Inlet at 2330 last night. We motored around offshore until morning and called Hinckley. Chuck Ruble, the service manager was a bit surprised to hear from us, but told us to come on in. Into the inlet we go, and bada bing, we’re stuck on a sandbar that developed since we were last here. Towboat US came and pushed us off (for $500 cash thank you very much) and we followed him to the Hinckley dock. Lined up are Chuck, Pablo and Robby. Robby has a shit eating grin on his face. I looked at him and said “ Lucy we’re home.” Safe at last, I laughed, cried and hugged Robby a big one. “Well jeez Amy, you all just can’t stay away can you!” Really Robby, this is not what we had in mind when we left you know…
We mentioned to Chuck our A/C wasn’t working properly. Another fix while we’re here, may as well. Steve decided to poke around in the engine room, and oh boy there’s a lot of water in there! It appears the engine room bilge has not been working, but unless you take the doors off and pretty much stand upside down to look in you’d never know. Wonder where all the water came from? Oh yeah, a cracked hose clamp on the salt water inlet of the oil cooler (see video below). Oh well, no apparent boat sinking leaks so it’s shower time before bed. Yes, bed as in sleep, deep wonderful sleep…
So let’s talk sleep deprivation. Definition: Lack of sleep that makes a sailor do the following: slur your words, stagger, talk non-sense and otherwise appear to have a 3 day drunk on. We have discovered both of us do and say crazy things when sleep deprived.
I went to our bed, a real bed. I thought to stretch out, send a few text messages to friends and family so they don’t call the Coast Guard when we don’t appear at our scheduled destination on time. Oops, out cold. Steve is sitting in the salon reading the Yanmar (engine) manual, zonk, out cold too! Seriously though, the manual is snoozeville on a good day, but after almost 48 hours with maybe 3 hours sleep…Next thing we know knock, knock. Crap, someone’s here and we’re in out boat clothes. Dress quickly, oh it’s the A/C guys. Quick fix and they’re on their way, and we are back to sleep.
Questions yet to be answered:
- Why do fish fly?
- Who’s the artist who makes clouds into bunnies, kittens and minions?
- Why is the ocean fountain pen ink blue?
No folks, questions answered. Thank you God for the beauty surrounding us and for bringing us safely back to Florida.
Amen
Harmony At Sea 