Pre-Departure Bottom Job

11/23/11

Still in Annapolis but departure is imminent.  All major projects are done.  Today we’ll change the oil and fuel filters.  Since last writing we’ve hauled out the boat to clean the bottom, thru-hulls and change zincs.  Went to Petrini’s where we met with John Petrini who has obviously had a hard life and will tell you all the details if you stand before him long enough.  We’d heard that he was “nuts” – we’ll leave it at “eccentric.”  We had a dickens of a time tying him down to what it would cost.  Wouldn’t put anything in writing (until after the job where every item and hour was detailed).  The two workers, DJ and Daniel, were great so the job was well done.  Also had some touch up bottom paint done and the barnacles wire brushed off of the prop.  Happy with the job, just not the cost.  Such is life on a boat.

Did the last of the provisioning of food and parts which we are inventorying and stowing.  It’s tricky because you have to remember where you put those cans of chicken as well as silicone, wire ties and so on.  We’ve done pretty well with that. 

Dave and I have been debating which route to take to the Bahamas.  He wants to go all the way back down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW); whereas, I want to do something different.  Jeff has offered to meet us in Beaufort, North Carolina, and sail with us out in the ocean east then south to Marsh Harbor on the island of Abacos in the Bahamas taking about four days.  I like this idea.  Dave is concerned, and rightly so, that I will get seasick and have a miserable time especially if the seas get rough, and that may very well happen.  If we go down the ICW, it will take a month or more to get far enough south in Florida where we would cross the Gulf Stream to Bimini in the Bahamas taking about ten hours from the Fort Lauderdale area.

I prefer the Beaufort to Marsh Harbor route, because although I may get sick, from what I’ve read, it lessens after the first day.  I have been seasick in the past and I still can function.  Dave and I can do night watches together if need be and Jeff is good with that.  He used to charter boats in the Bahamas and Caribbean and delivers boats up and down the East Coast and to the Caribbean as well.  He’s experienced in piloting a boat as well as maintenance.  It would be such a great learning experience for us. 

Well, Dave and I debated for about a month, and I was about to go along with Dave’s idea but asked that Dave meet with Jeff once more to discuss it.  Jeff invited us for dinner on La Boheme, his sweet 35’ Camper Nicholson.  We dinghied over in the chill wind with a green salad in hand.  Jeff invited us aboard to a warm glowing candlelight-lit salon.  La Boheme has had the privilege of Jeff’s loving restoration.  He has used bead board painted white to give the interior a light feeling.  (It reminded me of my little house in Sebastopol which had bead board walls and ceiling.)  He treated us to salmon cakes.  Tasty and hearty on a cold night. 

We talked about the weather and predictions one, two, three, and four days out.  Of course, the farther out in days, the less predictable the weather.  However, the next day, Dave agreed to the Beaufort to Bahamas route, but he says that the next time, he gets to choose.  Fair enough. 

Centering WW in the slings

Up she goes

Barnacles on the prop would slow us down

De-sliming

Much better