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Easter Sunday in St. Marys
It is nice to say that progress has been made even though we are still in St. Marys! We have departed twice, of course... only to return because it was the sensible thing to do. We returned to St. Marys FIRST to get parts needed to make the SSB talk properly to the antenna tuner which is important for sending e-mail and for getting weather whenever we want it. The return involved an impressive grounding at super low tide but we got off quickly and Christian was off to Jacksonville while I went to the house (renters arrive tomorrow) to experience the exasperation of an hour long call to the friendly soul from India or the Philippines who calls me "Miss Mary" and reads through the Linksys manual... After an hour we were still unsuccessful in making the antennas work on my computer even though they have worked there for years. In the end as my strength was waning I accepted to load the driver on Christian's computer which runs the dreaded Vista. Worked like a charm first try. So I am rigged for Vonage and the navigation programs and Christian can do Skype and Wifi at a distance. We can both do WiFi up close. We looked wistfully at the empty hot tub before heading back to I Wanda and off to Cumberland Island again. The new departure!
The good news coming from the VHF this time was the arrival of Eleanor M. We invited Skip and Cherylle over for dinner to catch up on news from the Bahamas. Christian thought it would be unseemly to have the kitty litter box below (even though it was way up in the Vee berth) so he moved it to the steering well outside and we had a lovely time. Agreed we'd all go for a walk on the Island the next morning. The radio repairs were made... but still no winlink connection which was becoming worrisome. Little did we know that Neptune had a few more challenges waiting!
The kitties either did not find the litter box, or did not find it to their liking, preferring to use a spare throw rug and the DOWN comforter that were on the vee berth. YIKES! I still wanted to go for the walk so I told Christian we could easily go BACK to St. Marys to do the laundry AFTER the walk. That was the plan until when lifting the anchor we snagged a heavy line of crab pots. The optimist says "well at least it wasn't in the prop..." We eventually got off and got the laundry back "fresh and smellin' sweet" as they say in George Town.
Easter Sunday dawned and still no radio winlink though the voice reception was much improved. Good news on the VHF was that Bud and Tess on Edge and Chuck and Alley on Kairos were on their way in. Friends always make boat troubles go easier. While we are talking about boat troubles let's add the transmission oil in the bilge!! We always have those absorbent pads in there so you can't judge how MUCH oil... but it took a cup and a half to top it off. Great. How long will we BE IN GEORGIA?? Christian found a few loose screws to tighten and we ran the engine pretty hard in gear for an hour and no more drips... but you wonder! Met the gang in town for hugs, catch up chat and commiserating on everyone's mechanical troubles. The decision was made that I Wanda would not be leaving Monday.
Still no bilge drips and on a new radio try PRESTO! Connected without trouble to four separate stations! That is a relief. We can deal with propagation problems (which cause noise and other interference preventing a connection) as they eventually clear up. It is the mysterious black magic in the radio and antenna systems that can foil you for days and even weeks. So tomorrow we will run the engine some more, say goodbye to everyone AGAIN, and check the weather. Could be stormy on Tuesday... More friends are sure to show up... Still things are looking a lot better!!
Mary & Christian with Carter and Bisous on I Wanda
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Diane & Alex Ariel III
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The FIrst?
I can't believe I am the first to comment, just lucky I was on when your e-mail came in. You bring back all kinds of memories, the good and the frustrating, but oh the good!!! I do hope to get out on Ariel this summer, and would love to have I Wanda as an anchor mate. We all do go way back to 1992-93. That seems sooo long ago. Fair winds, and do get on the Crusiheimers and say hi from Ariel III, Love ya, Diane