Day 50 - Monday, monday, can't trust that day

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee TBD, daily high temperature 81*F feels like 86*F

We awoke to the sound of rain on the deck. The forecast indicates the rain should end by 10 am and be clear for several days.

Eddie the weather wag (that is his self proclaimed title) posts a daily update on weather conditions effecting the gulf crossing.

Good Morning Fellow Loopers!
I sure hope y’all have enough reading material aboard your boat to keep you entertained on this long, wet, rainy day in Carrabelle and Apalachicola. Even if you were in the big towns of Pensacola or Panama City today you’d be stuck indoors, unless you just like walking in the rain! So don’t curse your “bad luck” or get depressed, because behind every stretch of ugly weather is an even longer stretch of good weather.

And your stretch of sublime weather is coming by Wednesday and Thursday so hang in there! If the forecast holds (and it should), the sea conditions will be the best we’ve had since the end of the Fall Rendezvous. “Go-Fast” Loopers will be able to zip across in daylight and “Laid-Back” Loopers will be able to trudge smoothly through the darkness.

Brain clutter: (What is your crew eating?) People who are depressed eat about 55% more chocolate than people who aren’t.

Be well, keep safe, and stay happy!
Eddy J. – aboard Spiritus, Grand Banks 36 Classic

We also use a second source called Marv’s Daily Virtual Bouy Reports. Marv provides wind speed, wind direction and wave conditions for seven days. Marv is also forecasting waves less than one foot to virtually flat on Thursday.

http://www.marvsweather.com/mbw/report_link.html

If you look at this chart you will see the wave forecast for Thursday at 8 PM is for flat, flat, flat.

Our third source of weather information is NOAA on our VHF radio.

Who thinks the new transmission arrived today? Not! Maybe tomorrow. Robert the mechanic worked for several hours to remove the old transmission. He had to leave at 3 pm to have some staples removed from his head. Robert needed to disconnect the shaft and move it back. It was stuck and and he thought the shaft zinc were stopping the shaft at the strut. He said he couldn’t proceed until we hired a SCUBA diver to go under the boat and remove the zinc collar. In our preparation for the Loop we bought a full set of SCUBA gear. I had not been diving in several years so prior to our Loop trip Carol Cut-It Caldwell and Captian Sam Soranno took me diving several times in Waukegan and helped me get comfortable with my new gear. I put on all my dive gear and dove on the shaft and found there was no zinc on the shaft that was in the way. This saved a day and $100. Then Robert found a sleeve on the shaft in the bilge that was the culprit. I checked the props and through some miracle we had no dings even after 1500 miles on the rivers. However the zinc of the port shaft was lose. I could not tighten it so I removed it We still have zincs on each shaft with line cutters on them.

In our first world life I am sitting on our hydraulic swim platform waiting to be lowered into the water. When I am finished I swim back onto the swim platform and I am lifted out of the water.

So Monday has come and gone and we have made some progress. Not nearly the progress we had hoped for. Our fate in in the hands of FedEx. And then our fate is in the hands of our mechanic Robert. And then it will be in our hands to get to Carrabelle and then cross the gulf.

Priscilla and I went fishing in the dingy. Again no catching but it is peaceful to be floating in the bay. On pur way back into the harbor we saw our cast net friend David. He had caught one mullet so far.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day

I seemed to vow to myself that some day I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth, the end of the axis upon which this great round ball turns. – Sir Ernest Shackleton

Bonus photo of the day. The proud parents.