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| Relaxing at Holiday Harbor - a great stop! |
This morning I was awake at 4:20 and couldn’t go back to
sleep. I got up about 5:00 and took care of the porta-pottie and checked the
weather on the computer. The radar didn’t look too bad, but the forecast was
for scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and I didn’t want have to cross
Santa Rosa Sound or Pensacola Bay in a storm. I made the decision to leave at
daylight and get back to the protected, narrow section of the ICW at Perdido
Key before any afternoon storms. We pulled out of the Boat Marina as soon as it
was light enough to see. The winds were mild and a strong current was running
West with us, and we made 7 mph for the first hour or so. The further West we
went, the better the weather looked, so about lunchtime we decided to stop on
the National Seashore beach for a break. I found a good spot on the chart where
there were pavilions and a bathhouse. I nosed the tug up against the sandy
beach and shut off the engine. I went to the bow and hooked the anchor up to set
in on shore when the boat drifted back off the beach. When Glenda tried to
restart the motor to pull us back to the beach, the motor wouldn’t start. I
climbed back into the cab and checked to make sure the shifter was in neutral
and the kill switch was plugged in. No use – the engine wouldn’t start. We were
now drifting parallel to the shore about 50 feet from the beach, so I set out
the anchor to stop us. I checked what I could on the engine without locating
what the problem was. The emergency starting rope allowed me to get it cranked
again, but now the gauges weren’t working. We made it to Holiday Harbor Marina
without any further problems, and I left the engine running until we were tied
up in our slip for the night.
After supper at the Sunset Grill (fantastic grilled shrimp)
Glenda and Abby took a walk while I looked at the engine again. After checking
the fuses for the 3rd time, I saw what looked like a small black
mark on the base of one of the filaments. I had checked these twice already and
they looked fine. The fuse didn’t look blown, but my spare did not have that
black mark, so I swapped them and the gauges lit up and the engine cranked like
new!
The owner of the Marina gave me another spare fuse to have
in case it blew again. After the supper, getting the motor problem solved, and
taking a hot shower, I feel like a new man!
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| View to the West from Holiday Harbor's Pier. |
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| Knot-So-Fast at Holiday Harbor |
Glenda says:
Tom was up before dawn this morning ready to go. He insisted that the weather was calling for
thunderstorms in the evening so we had to be back to Perdido before too
late. So despite the fact that he had
promised to be more leisurely on this trip we were once again going to spend
another long day tugging along rather than stopping to see any sites. I did not complain. I was very good. He took Daisy for her morning walk, we let
Abby sleep and headed back west. The
weather was nicer today than it was on Sunday but the wind was kicking up
pretty good. I did suggest while were
passing National Seashore that we take a few minutes to look around. Tom agreed and we headed to the shore. We almost got anchored, when Tom said “turn
the engine back on for just a minute”, but the engine would not come on. No one panicked and 20 minutes later the hero
of our story had hand cranked the engine with the starter rope. Of course we never made it to shore and of
course now we have to get to our permanent lodging before we can shut off the
engine again since we have not figured out what is wrong. So another long day on the water but we did
get to see more dolphin. When we got to
Holiday Harbor Marina all was well. The
staff was wonderful, the Sunset Grille was tasty and fun, showers were hot and
clean and we got a brief glimpse of the Blue Angels practicing. Abby is already saying she wants to stay another
night.
Abby says:
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| Apparently the Heron can't read. |
Today was another awesome day on the boat! On this trip we
mostly travel in bays, so there’s not much to see, but this morning I got to sleep
to 7:30. I know this doesn’t seem like sleeping in, but when you’re on a boat
this is a long time! Anyway, I slept well and “long”. This morning I woke up to
Papa saying there were dolphins. I got up, and sure enough there were dolphins.
We watched them until they weren’t playing anymore. Later I took a nap with Daisy,
and woke up to Papa telling me to get my flip-flops, and his too. When I asked “why”,
G.G. said because we were stopping at a beach. I got excited, and stood up. Papa
steered the boat right up on the shore. He hurried to the bow of the boat to
throw the anchor off the boat. We drifted away fast, so G.G. had to nose the
boat back on the shore, but the boat wouldn’t crank. We were there a good 15
minutes. I know that God knows best, and I kind of figured that the best for us
would be that we made it to the marina on time. I was about positive that the
motor would soon crank, and I was right. Soon we were back on our way. At the
marina, we ate at their restaurant. We sat outside, and a great blue heron was looking
at me maybe 5 feet away!!!!!!! (Papa said. I’m not exaggerating.) After dinner G.G.,
Daisy, and I all took a walk. We had fun. Can’t wait ‘till tomorrowJ
Daisy says:
Today I didn’t do much. Well I ate more than I normally do. Then
we took a long walk and I wanted to go farther, but we had to turn around. It was
a little cold today, now I’m warm in the boatJ
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