Daytona daze

We spent Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach.  Saturday evening Mary C. cooked us a wonderful meal, and then gave us the left overs, except for the Key Lime Pie!  Sunday Dave C. loaned us his car so we could do a little shopping!  This was only the first stop.

I'm not looking forward to getting the Discover Card bill for this shopping spree.  I'm glad Chris is paying our bills.  Somehow Sue managed to find a place for almost everything, though I wonder how long before we find some of it again.  Then Dave and Mary took us to a little family owned seafood place, which I think you must need GPS to find.

We had a couple of boat parts that we needed shipped to Daytona, so Monday morning we installed a new windlass gypsy (fairly easy) and swapped out a macerator pump!  Boat owners might  know about this project; I'll spare everybody else all the gory details.  I'm happy to report that eventually this _h___y project was successfully completed.  Then Mary took Sue to yet another grocery store, while Dave showed me the finer points of making an electric motor work.  Dave says this technique will work with other mechanical devices, so I might see about buying a 3 pound sledge hammer for our boat tool box.

With boat projects and shopping finished we all went sightseeing.  There is a long state park north of Daytona that follows the ICW which is quite pretty with all the live oak and Spanish moss hanging from the trees.  Then south of the park we drove out onto the beach.  You can drive over 30 miles on the nicest sand beach.

But even the roads in Florida have potholes!

A pretty cool sand castle.

  Dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant pretty much finished up our stay with Mary and Dave.  Thanks for the hospitality, the loaner car, the mail forwarding, and the wonderful meal (we finished the leftovers tonight).

Sue & Mary

We started a little late this morning, after finishing up our projects, and doing a little more hide-and-seek storage for some of the goodies we bought.  In about 3 months we figure we will have eaten enough food so guests will once again be able to sleep in the quarter berth.  We ran into about an hour delay today when one of the lift bridges malfunctioned.  Earlier in the day it had been stuck in the Up position, but when we got there they couldn't make it lift.  While we were waiting we met the smallest boat we have seen cruising so far, a 20 foot Pacific Seacraft.  The owner has been out since June, and is now on his way to Key West, and then Cuba.

These guys are maybe 100 yards away from the ICW!

A couple of days ago I think I saw a manatee, and tonight we are anchored in an area where they hang out, so maybe we'll see more.  We think we might be hearing them underwater from the boat.
Also, and I don't mean to rub it in, it was 80 degrees today, with full sunshine, as opposed to 21 and snowing in Seattle.

From Sue:  We had a wonderful time in Daytona Beach with Dave and Mary.  They were very gracious and accomodating hosts and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. 

Richard's been working hard on various boat systems, repairing the anchor windlass with a new gypsy, courtesy of Lewmar (who sent the part at no charge!), as well as the macerator.  However, as soon as those were done he determined that our mystery leak is probably from the water heater.  Unfortunately, the water heater is built in to a cabinet under the galley sink and refrigerator, making it almost inaccessible.  We may have to finish the trip without hot water!