So, more or less, most of the boat work has been done or will be done in the next week. Biggest surprise: the Yanmar Exhaust Manifold and Heat Exchanger have all but rotted away on the aft end from constant weeping from a poorly cobbled together Mixing Elbow, the result of an island repair gone bad. That is the most expensive thing. Other things were less than we thought, so all in all, we are in the hole, but not crying into our G ‘N T’s. Which we are enjoying now that we are back in St. Pete, at Lawson’s folks house – a sanctuary of two things that were hard to live without on the boat: wifi and hot shower. Here is my post I wrote the other day (couldn’t post because no wifi.)

The drawback of sailing away from it all is you have to get the boat in shape to sail away from it all. Unless you have a gazillion dollars and can buy a boat new or in perfect shape, there is always something that needs to be fixed. Today Curlew II is getting some things fixed. Lawson will have to fill in all the gory details. All I know is today has been a lot of work.

It started with T and I going to the laundry mat up the road to wash sheets, towels and other laundry. As I mentioned before, the former owner had left several sheets and towels aboard. I went through them and kept all the ones in good shape – which were most – so that meant about two power loads. Plus two blankets. Plus all our laundry. What a chore! There were a few old video games in there and temporary tattoo machines so I was able to bribe T to do his homework. Since I had about $15 of quarters in my pockets, there was plenty for washing, drying and video games.

Took T to the beach after our chores while Lawson oversaw the rigging guys doing work. Beach was absolutely beautiful but T was in a whiny mood and didn’t hit it off with any other kids so after about 45 minutes I had had enough. Nerves are a bit fried after three days of cleaning, organizing and stressing over our new “home.” Not to mention not having a real shower! (Until we get our heating element thing-a-majig we are cold water only. Arg.)

Drill is going loud up on deck and that makes me nervous. I hope we are in good hands. If the three young men are as adept at what they are doing as they look we should be fine. Lawson left temporarily to find some wifi to order two new parts we need that he discovered were bad today. If he can’t find them we may not be able to get them until after the New Year, which would delay our departure for another week. Damn holidays. Bah humbug. Lawson also had to drop off our last load of trash. Since we are docking at a person’s house instead of a marina we have the inconvenience of not having trash available, wifi, etc. I had to make a dumpster drop yesterday and I felt like I was committing a crime. I guess I probably was.

I felt so proud of myself today though. I finally got the google maps app upgrade installed on my phone so I could get around without getting lost. Made it over to Goodwill for a drop off of stuff we don’t want on the boat (pots, pans, etc.) with the help of “Mavis” (that’s what we call our female google map GPS voice) and made it back by memory. Then used Mavis again to get to the beach and back without incident. Amazing. There is hope for me yet. Thanks Mavis. Glad the boat has GPS!