Our Stay at Riviera Beach has Come to an End

Saturday, January 12 thru Thursday, January 17, 2019 

     Saturday, I spent most of the day posting to the blog.  I was bad and let too long pass without posting.  Of course, feeling very under the weather didn’t help with my motivation.

Pete trying to free
the jammed mainsail

     Having to restrict my coughing all day Tuesday for the Cardiac Cath enabled my cough to return.  It is strange but it is more of a head and upper throat cold.  It is a nuisance and an inconvenience, but thankfully, nothing settled in my chest.  I continued to take it easy and did a lot of reading

     Since we are only here in Riviera through the end of the week, that meant laundry needed to be done, freezer defrosted, check and reorganize current food inventory, food shopping and retrieve our mail up in Green Cove. Until Pete can reseal the cabin windows, we also needed to strip off the old white, duct tape, stripped the remaining residue with cooling oil (which worked great; just had to be careful not to get it on the decks,) and resealed it with new white duct tape. Thankfully, it blends with the fiberglass. 

Ship entering port with
a deck full of sailboats

Official boat with 1400 HP!

Water jets attached to feet!

   

     
Wildlife ~ Small part of the blackbird invasion, an egret and an Atala butterfly
     While running errands, we caught a number of interesting sites at the marina: a ship arrived for unloading, with boats loaded on the deck for delivery. We heard about them, but this is the first we have seen one.   The catamaran, THEA MARIE has been docked in the same place for years. Two years ago, she was strung with lights, participated and won 1^st prize in the Holiday Boat Parade. Saturday was the first time we have seen customers on board and she left the dock! Pete had seen it last year, but this was the first time I had seen anyone use the water jets to levitate above the water. It is propelled via the exhaust from a personal water craft.  I also had headed up to check out the Farmer’s Market here at the marina  on Sunday afternoons from 1-5.  I headed up around 2 and there were only 2 vendors.  Needless to say, I was disappointed!  Pete walked the dog around 4:30 and the place was jammed.  I guess on beautiful Sunday afternoons, they have learned that people come back from Peanut Island or fishing late in the day.


   
Around the Marina ~ the beach, convention center & docks

The newly painted water tower

Sunday's Market

     For a month or so, Pete has been checking prices and availability of the hose that needs replacement between the engine and the hot water heater.  We replaced the water heater last spring while in Fort Pierce. When Pete went to reattach the hoses to the new unit, the interior wall of the hose was slightly eroded, but enough to concern Pete.  We have found that the levels of engine coolant drops after a day under power.  Pete checks it daily and had had to add more each time.  Pete bought all the necessary fittings and ordered the hose from West Marine. Based on their website, “it comes in 50-ft lengths for $11.00”.  They called when it arrived.  Unfortunately, there is a problem with the website.  It was $11.00/ foot and only a foot was shipped.  The manager apologized for the website, but couldn’t honor the advertised price.  He gave Pete a gift card as part of the apology. Instead, Pete found the right hose on Amazon for $2.00/ft. It arrived late Thursday.  Since we leave here on Friday and plan to anchor our way down to Key West, the repair will have to wait until we get there.  In the mean time we keep our fingers crossed.

Sunset over 95 heading to Delray

       Since we had the hose shipped to Ann and Howie’s, we joined them for dinner on Thursday at a really great Chinese restaurant in Delray Beach called Hunan Gardens.  After the hose hand off, we said our good-byes.  We plan to get together once we are in Key West.

     It is time to move on.  We will be spending time up at the north end of Lake Worth, in Old Port Cove. The mail Pete has been waiting for hasn’t arrive at our mailbox yet. He needs it before we move further south.

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~ K & P