Secured for Heavy Weather!

 



Yesterday turned onto quite a productive day. Bob was trying to get back into a workout schedule, se in the morning we got ourselves into gear and headed to Gritbox Fitness, where Cody (the owner) gave us an intense boxing workout and a smoothie.

 

Out next stop was the Black Dog and our unfinished project. When we had knocked off work yesterday, we felt we might need to temporarily abandon the project in favor of securing for the hurricane. Although we weren't expecting a huge impact, its better to be safe than sorry. Once we arrived yesterday though, we felt we only needed an hour to finish it off, and through ourselves into it, and finished it in about 45 minutes. The aft head is now working again!! After that, we cleaned up a bit, and unloaded unnecessary items from the boat and headed back to the house to clean up for dinner.

 

The night before, we had suggested a bit of a "hurricane party" so that we could have a night of fun before weather situation got bad (if in fact it was going to). Plus we thought Ronda might like a little fun after a day of evacuating patients. A small group consisting of Bob, Ronda, Cody, Ashley, and I descended on Zen Sushi and feasted! The restaurant is a very nice Asian fusion place, serving Thai, Malaysian, and Chinese cuisine as well as Sushi. It was good food and enjoyable company all around.

 

 

Of course no trip to Charleston is complete without a trip to Kaminski's, so I prevailed upon the group to retreat there for dessert. To mix it up a little, we went to the West Ashley location as opposed to downtown. They have so many great desserts, but for me I always get the Bourbon Pecan Pie, heated, with a scoop of vanilla. And I was very happy to be attended by so many friends to share the experience.

 

Today was another early day. Bob's parents were getting out of Beaufort to avoid the storm, so we needed to do a quick clean on the guest room in advance of their arrival. And we were done in plenty of time to greet them on their arrival.

 

One they were settled in, Bob and I went down to finish up on the boat. We ran the engine a bit, just because it hadn't been run un a while, and then secured from shore power and added lines. Right now, the prevailing concern is not wind, but storm surges. SO fingers crossed, but we fell like the appropriate precautions have been taken.

 

While there, we met Bob's neighbor at the marina, Mike. He owns a lovely 31 footer, and we all took a break from out labors to enjoy some water together on a hot day, and swap sea stories. He also let me take a little tour below decks. He is the latest in a string of nice people we have met while on or out on the boat. That is one of the enjoyable things about the sailing community, so many really nice people who you can share travel stories with, and who make you really feel like you are part of a large community.

 

Until next time...

Working the Boat, and Dorian Too!

The trip started out with the best of intentions of getting many projects done, and we started yesterday morning on the right foot. We got out to breakfast before 10 (ish), and stopped off at West Marine before heading to the boat. Our intent at West Marine was to acquire a new chart plotter, as our trusty GPSMAP 4310 has been misbehaving recently. In the end, Bob decided to let me have another go at the 4310, and we headed off to the Black Dog. It would not be our last trip to West Marine that day.

Once we got to the boat, we jumped right in to the task of fixing the aft head. The nylon tubing for the sanitation system was causing us some struggles, and we did everything up to and including using a heat gun to make it more pliable, but in the end, we felt like perhaps we didn't have the right fittings, so back to West Marine we went.

By that time, it was getting a but late (and we hadn't had a cocktail all day), so instead of heading back to the boat, we headed to the supermarket for supplies for dinner, and retired to the Greaves residence to dine. While we were out and about, Ronda cooked a roast beef of some sort. I have to say that for someone who doesn't eat meat at all, she did a bang up job with the roast! Bob and I accompanied our dinner with some gin and tonics made with Irish Gunpowder Gin, and garnished with thick wedges of grapefruit. We felt ready to hit the town after that.

And hit the town we did! Waffler friend and associate Ashly (Ronda's sister) got us tickets to the Forte Jazz Lounge. The had a nice wine and beer menu, and the performers were top notch. We met Ashley and her friend there, and we enjoyed ourselves for the final two sets of the evening, after which we stepped out for one last libation before calling it a night.

It was a pancake breakfast this morning and the straight to the Black Dog to finish up the two projects that we started. Unfortunately a third project cropped up. The heat pump for the A/C failed (yes we have the luxury of air conditioning while on shore power). Bob tackled that issue while I went to work on the chart plotter.. I am happy to report that one software flash upgrade later, and the device seems to be working as expected again. Bob was equally successful in getting the A/C working as well.

We resumed our previous days project with the aft head, which resulted in another West Marine visit and lunch at the East Bay Deli, and we continued to make progress on getting things repaired until we tried to install the new pump. The rigidity of the nylon tubing continued to frustrate us. Out last act of the day was to remove the whole apparatus to give us room to work on setting the hoses in a better position. The idea was to return tomorrow with the right tools to widen a hole in the cabinet, but it is not to be. Because the South Carolina Governor has ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts of the state, we are shifting gears, and I will be helping Bob make some preparations around here. The good news is that so far United says my Tuesday flight will not be impacted (Dorian is not due to arrive until Late Wednesday or early Thursday, and the current model is the impact being not to severe here). That is a good thing, because getting an earlier flight out is next to impossible.

The upshot is we may have a small informal hurricane party tomorrow!