The Adventures of Monk's Vineyard - The Great Loop and Beyond: November 20, Day 160

The AC guy was supposed to be at the boat to top off the gas charge before 8:00, but we were still waiting at 8:30 and we wanted to shove off by 9:00, so Gerry went and “rattled the trees”. We got a promise that they were on their way but no one there yet, so we went to the office to pay the bill and get going. We were very pleased with the cost. Very reasonable, about 2/3 of what it would have cost in Annapolis.

After writing the check, we went to the boat only to find the AC guy busily charging the system. We told him to keep going and that we would settle with the yard when he had the bill figured out. So, off we went, out into Mobile Bay and headed to Florida.

We had a pretty straight shot down the bay, so Gerry turned over the helm to Linda and went to work rebuilding the macerator pump, then connecting it to our new through hull. He tested it out and things are now working fine again. This is the first time it has worked for over a year. Now we are ready for the Bahamas (no pump outs over there).

We had calm seas and a following wind – now how often does that really happen??? As soon as we headed into the intercoastal, we started seeing dolphins. We figured that was a good omen. We ended up seeing several pods and all wanted to play. We got a few pictures, but none that would come close to showing the entertainment that they were giving us.

Emotion III and Second Star were anchored in Big Lagoon next to Perdido Key. The sun was shining and the temp was great, so we took the dinghy down and visited the others for happy hour.

Michael & Jana’s windlass wasn’t working, so we did a little troubleshooting. Couldn’t really find what was wrong, so decided to concentrate on happy hour and worry about the windlass later.

We all piled into our dinghy and went over to Perdido Key and walked to the Gulf side. The sand was great and the water a bit warmer than the ICW, so we all got our feet wet and looked for shells and sea glass. Didn’t find anything special. Back at the dinghy, we encountered a territorial heron that came right up to us to see what we were doing on his beach. After trying to take a few pictures, we headed back to Second Star to chart the course for the next few days and take another whack at the windlass. Eliminated all possibilities except the relay and the windlass motor. That will wait till tomorrow.

It was back to the boat for dinner, a little TV and to bed.

Entering the intercoastal