The day held such promise

Started the day at 7:00am, peeling five pounds of shrimp and building 26 kebobs for a New Year's Eve dinner tonight.  As soon as they were marinating, we left for Driftwood Marina.

Our home away from home the last few days.

By the time we arrived, Marquesa was on a huge fork truck coming up the road!

Do you think she looks smaller out of the water? I don't. That girl safely carried us to the Bahamas and back!

 

It's a little unnerving seeing your boat suspended mid air and

negotiating an S curve around two buildings...

 

Getting her into position for splash down :)

 Donnie's admiring her pretty bottom (job)

They removed the sling, and all was looking well... then the problems began.

The first problem we noticed is that Windy has a busted wing.

After the holiday I'll have to contact the manufacturer to

order a new blade.

The news is not good when Cap'n comes crawling out of the hatch.

The second issue is that the cockpit filled with water over the

summer and if you look closely, below the strap, the cockpit 

table has some serious water damage.  It's an easy fix; just some 

sanding, staining, and varnishing. However, it seems some

electronics may have possibly been knocked out.  The 

glow plug for the starter appears to not be working.

I offered my assistance, such that it was.  I sweet talked 

Bessie, then beat her fuel pump with a brass hammer, but

the engine would not turn over.  We called in reinforcements,

and got the C team.  No diesel mechanic was on duty because

New Year's Eve Day is a major holiday in the Keys.  This guy

and Donnie bled fuel lines, fuel injectors, removed things,

replaced things, and sprayed it with starter fluid. Nothing. Nada.

I was hoping three heads were better than one.  Nope.  Eventually

there were eight heads involved, all scratchin' and discussin', but still- zip.

Bessie would not fire up, and that's not like her at all.

The one bright spot of the day was in between

various engineers and mechanics offering their assistance,

Cap'n and nephew Derek got the brand spanking new

jibsail threaded into the roller furling.

The new jib is bigger and better than our last one, for sure.  Doyle

sailmakers did a beautiful job on it.  It has that crisp, 'new' sound to it.

Like the sound of about 24 crisp new one hundred dollar bills.

Too bad we were dead in the water...we were eager to go sailing

to try this new puppy out.

In the end, by about 6:00pm, Cap'n had to admit defeat for the day as the no-see-ums were about to carry us off yet again.  We bought all the men involved a 12 pack of Heiney's and a 12 pack of Land Sharks, Courtney and I treated ourselves to key lime pie dipped in chocolate and frozen on a stick, and we called it a day.  

We met up with the rest of the family, and grilled the shrimp kebobs, made some coconut brown rice and garlic bread to go with it, and feasted ourselves on that and shrimp cocktail.  I went back to the boat to get more clothes and toiletries, as we will be camped out on Dave and Diane's couch another night.  Donnie joined Bryan and Larry next door for some guitar pickin' and grinnin' and eventually the fam all scattered to parts unknown.

Unlike year's past, we are not going down to Key Weird to bring in the New Year.  Once you've seen the transvestite get dropped in a giant ruby red Dorothy slipper at midnight, and you've heard thousands of drunks yelling "woo hoo" for the umpteenth time, the whole scene just sort of loses its pizzaz ;)  I'm just trying my best to stay awake until midnight!

So, all in all, the day was not a total loss, but we didn't end up where we had hoped.  We're considering getting a tow to the ocean, raising the sails, and sailing her over to Banana Bay tomorrow ....the only problem with that is tides, currents, wind direction, and the Seven Mile Bridge- where we generally stall out and the sails flog as we go underneath.  I vote for a day at the pool at Banana Bay, and we tackle the whole mess after New Year's Day.  We won't find a diesel mechanic tomorrow anyhow.  It's Cap'n 's call; I'm just gonna go with the flow.

Meanwhile, Willis is chillin' at Mamaw and Pap's condo just fine.  To be honest, he threw a bit of a hissy fit earlier this evening when he found out he was not allowed to go to the Kit Kat Lounge tonight to bring in the new year.  After a time out in Mamaw and Pap's bedroom, he got over himself.  Thank God he's a pretty good 'go with the flow' kind of cat. God love him.  Happy New Year, y'all!