Holding tank

Kevin said - just one day to make a holding tank from fiberglass, and couple hours to install it. Well, five days later.. we finally could install it. Kevin did amazing job. In the unfortunate conditions, while raining and too hot (over 90), he build the holding tank which amazingly well fit in the limited space under v-birth! 

Perfect pic

Spotted a huge pelican in the Fort Pierce inlet park, while waited for Kevin to finish Drone flying exam at Aviation College. 

Where are the turtles?

Recently we spotted a baby loggerhead turtle swimming near our dock. But it have not show up for a while. Instead, we got huge amount of jellyfish! It seems it a season for them now.

Our neighbor at 5he dock

This beautiful creature just landed on the post in our slip in the marina. Yes, we finally moved to the docks from mooring ball. It's getting very hot (90s), and at the dock we can use our tiny window A/C. Also, it is much convenient to do our projects, mainly sanding the deck, then paint, then paint again, then apply non-skid layer. Long process. We finished the cockpit while on the mooring (Kevin had to redo paint! Because Pettit paint did not stick to the prime). 

Yoga on the boat

It's a great challenge to practice yoga on the sailboat. There is some tiny space on the deck, but one can use it only in a good weather with the sky covered by clouds. Otherwise, one will get very uncomfortable quickly in a blazing sun. There is also some space in the salon, but it's vertically and spatially challenging, not to mention, very unstable because moving constantly due to the waves. Some advanced asanas are very challenging..

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Forth month in Stuart, FL

We are still here... we got "admitted " to the group of "locals". Every day we are socializing at the marina's laundry/shower room/stairs with this group after shower. Drinking cheap beer and discussing weather, and the latest topic - how to fix our newly painting job because the paint actually did not stick to the primer!!!. Of course, we keep our social distancing, and wearing our masks (sometimes)..

April storm (tornado?)

The wind came unexpected. We did not time to take down our shade canvas on the boat. The winds were more than 40 mph, hail and rain. But squall lasted just 15 min. We did not lose anything on the boat.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Dirty jobs..

Yes, it's very dirty job! Kevin is covered by the annoying white powder after sanding each layer of the primer paint. Well, not only him, but all the boat inside and outside, in the kitchen, all canvas have thin white layer. This powder lands on the food and on our morning coffee. We are working on repainting our cockpit for more than a month (four weeks sounds more impressive!). 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Kevin's office improvement...

Kevin is working on developing his life long dream game - "hot potato". He spends hours at his laptop typing, which affects negatively his wrists. Thus, there is the homemade wrist pad made from Marina's mattress. Brilliant idea!!

30 more days in quarantine

They told us another 30 days.

Kevin Stotz

Day 8...quarentine.

Things have slowed down a bit here in sleepy Stuart.  The streets are not quite as busy and the people on the streets are few and far between.

We are keeping busy with boat projects, but the boat is ready to go.  Unfortunately the borders are closed to most countries.  In fact The Bahamas closed today, no getting in. 

So we stay in Stuart a bit longer.  Marina managed to lock the bathroom door without anyone being inside to unlock it.  That was a new boat project that sprung up today.

Replaced the alternator wires.  That was not as easy as it seemed either.  I am sure I dropped everything at least 3 times.  Magically all items landed under the engine just out of reach. 

Alternator back together and bathroom door unlocked.  It's really time to polish the stainless steel.  At least we dont' have to varnish today.

Waiting on the Fuel Pump.

The diesel repair shop said it should be ready today...but I called, and well, it's not.  Now it's tomorrow.  So that isn't too bad, better than a week.   But with the current state of affairs with the Coronoavirus, we may not be leaving anytime soon.

Went to the walmart today.  The food in the aisles are being depleted.  Although the alcohol distributors seem to be better able to handle the demand than the water and Klenex people.  No paper products, but plenty of beer and wine.

Finished Varnishing the boat.

During the past week we have varnished and varnished and varnished.  I believe we have 2 gallons of varnish applied to the boat.  This includes the rub rails, the toe rails, the cockpit, the galley, and the aft berth.  All of this was well deserved and much needed maintenance.   It always looks so nice when it is complete, but getting there takes a lot of stand paper, acetone and towels.  I'll up load pictures later.

We are expecting our fuel pump tomorrow, Tuesday.  This gives us hope in getting to the Bahamas before they shut the doors due to Coronoavirus.  Currently everything is shutting down.  All events of 50 people or more are cancelled, restaurants, bars, concerts.  You name it, it's called off until further notice.  Also the toilet paper seems to be all purchased up for some reason.  Noone can explain that. 

Now are are looking for a weather window to get across the gulf stream.

Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart FL

Since we have spent nearly 3 months here, I thought I better share some pictures of the place.  Our original intentions were to stay just 3 days.   Oh well.  We had our fair share of issues, Exhaust manifold, Fuel injector pump and a lot of tasks to fill in the waiting periods.  We also moved our weather station to the arch from the mast.  This was due to the fact that the weather station was interfering with the VHF radio signal.  took us 6 years to figure that out...:-)

Raccoons on the palms? Florida "monkey" in the park

We have a pet - the basil plant

Publix in Stuart

The place was pretty quiet for a Friday.  Stuartites don't have a lot to do, so they go to the store.  But this Coronavirus has kept them away. Isle 6 is empty (toilet paper, cleaning supplies...).

Vanish the Galley

There comes a time in life where you must update your galley.  We have a few extra days here in Stuart, FL so that is what we are doing.  A new coat of Varnish on the Galley and the exterior wood.
All in all we have applied 1 and 1/2 gallons on varnish on the boat.  Not to worry about the extra weight, the sun and sea should take that varnish on the exterior of the boat in 3-6 months.  Then we get to do it again.  The time it remains just depends on the latitude we are at..   The closer to 0 degrees that faster it erodes away.

Spent the evening at The Gafford

We spent last night with our friends on OZ, Mark and Jean.  They have been cruising since 2010 and just purchased a condo in West Palm.  They are moving to land and starting life there.  West Palm is a nice place.

Well we heard back from the diesel shop that is fixing our diesel injection pump.  He said it should be ready Tuesday of next week.  That will be 2 weeks we have been waiting for this pump.  I sure hope it fixes the problem.  So we hopefully will be heading south on Wednesday or Thursday.

Sausage trees in Stuart

Walking through the side streets of Stuart we stumbled upon this Sausage Tree.   Native to Africa.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigelia

Kevin goes to the dermatologist

Spent the day walking to the dermatologist to have a mole removed.   This was the second attempt to remove it.  The first time the dermatologist did not quite get enough.   Now with 5 stiches and instructions on how to remove them in 2 weeks, we are ready to play doctor.

Still in Stuart.

Kevin Stotz

Sunset bay marina