Posted by Monty
The past week has been busy.
After Carol's successful go at decreasing the local tuna population, we made it to Stuart (after suffering a brief encounter with a storm in the river). A day spent walking around the absolutely lovely town and having pizza at Luna's was topped off by a phone call from Karen. Karen is an old (well, maybe we should say "long time") friend. She offered to pick us up, take us back to her house, and let us wash clothes. Wow. Now that's a friend. We spent the evening with her and her husband Robert, who is an engineer extraordinaire. We had steaks, some wine, and some great conversation. And at the end of the day, we were delivered back to the boat with clean laundry and lots of good memories. Thanks guys, we will be back. With more laundry.
Then we made our way to Vero Beach. We stopped here on our way south, but didn't spend any time because it was too COLD (our constant companion on our journey south). There is supposed to be a great beach here, and I have under delivered on my promise of white sand to Carol. Fortunately, the beach here is wonderful. AND we have had visitors in the personas of Rob and Tammy. They drove down from North Carolina (a brutal drive. I know, I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a car at one point in my life). We had a couple of days on the beach and around the pool and hot tub where they stayed. Good company and a healing time for the soul. We have both been missing some "friend" time.
They left today and arrived safely back at their home.
I took another trip. Up the mast.
Remember the anchor light replacement? It didn't hold. The stitches popped out. I don't know why, but it probably has to do with Chinese manufacturing. We make so little here anymore. So I went with an LED replacement.
I'm kind of an acronym buff. I know what SCUBA, LAZER, RADAR, and even NEWS mean. (Bet you didn't know that NEWS is an acronym, did you?) Anyway, light emitting diodes have several advantages over the light that I just replaced that lasted a couple of weeks. First of all, there is the power required to run them. A tenth of what an incandescent bulb takes. Then there is the longevity. Theoretically, it will last for the rest of my life. (In reality, they don't know how long this is. Neither do I, but I intend to prove them wrong.) And when you have to be winched to the top of the mast to replace it, that's important.
So I called the wench into service. She happily cranked me up the mast (again) where I replaced the recently replaced anchor light that was made in China with a new and improved LED that was designed in the United States. And made in China.
I have high (58' off the water) hopes.
After Carol's successful go at decreasing the local tuna population, we made it to Stuart (after suffering a brief encounter with a storm in the river). A day spent walking around the absolutely lovely town and having pizza at Luna's was topped off by a phone call from Karen. Karen is an old (well, maybe we should say "long time") friend. She offered to pick us up, take us back to her house, and let us wash clothes. Wow. Now that's a friend. We spent the evening with her and her husband Robert, who is an engineer extraordinaire. We had steaks, some wine, and some great conversation. And at the end of the day, we were delivered back to the boat with clean laundry and lots of good memories. Thanks guys, we will be back. With more laundry.
Then we made our way to Vero Beach. We stopped here on our way south, but didn't spend any time because it was too COLD (our constant companion on our journey south). There is supposed to be a great beach here, and I have under delivered on my promise of white sand to Carol. Fortunately, the beach here is wonderful. AND we have had visitors in the personas of Rob and Tammy. They drove down from North Carolina (a brutal drive. I know, I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a car at one point in my life). We had a couple of days on the beach and around the pool and hot tub where they stayed. Good company and a healing time for the soul. We have both been missing some "friend" time.
They left today and arrived safely back at their home.
I took another trip. Up the mast.
Remember the anchor light replacement? It didn't hold. The stitches popped out. I don't know why, but it probably has to do with Chinese manufacturing. We make so little here anymore. So I went with an LED replacement.
I'm kind of an acronym buff. I know what SCUBA, LAZER, RADAR, and even NEWS mean. (Bet you didn't know that NEWS is an acronym, did you?) Anyway, light emitting diodes have several advantages over the light that I just replaced that lasted a couple of weeks. First of all, there is the power required to run them. A tenth of what an incandescent bulb takes. Then there is the longevity. Theoretically, it will last for the rest of my life. (In reality, they don't know how long this is. Neither do I, but I intend to prove them wrong.) And when you have to be winched to the top of the mast to replace it, that's important.
So I called the wench into service. She happily cranked me up the mast (again) where I replaced the recently replaced anchor light that was made in China with a new and improved LED that was designed in the United States. And made in China.
I have high (58' off the water) hopes.