Slow Trip ..............Long Stay

This blog post is a bit delayed. Our friends Bill and Debbie joined us in North Palm Beach and we have been enjoying their company since then. We left Old Port Cove Marina on Saturday morning and had a great, but slow, trip down to Fort Lauderdale. We passed the busy West Palm Beach area with all of the super yachts and lots of boaters anchored around Peanut Island and West Palm. It was fairly slow going the whole way, but we saw lots of gorgeous homes, dodged all of the weekend boat traffic and navigated through a bunch of bridges.

The Bahia Mar Marina is very big and nice, and one block from the beach area. There are many very impressive super yachts here, along with yachts of all sizes and shapes. We enjoyed walking along the beach area and eating in the restaurants. It has been very windy, and at times a little cool. Today the temperature is rising and I think the wind is beginning to die down. We spent one day on an airboat ride in the Everglades and got to see a number of alligators in their natural environment. We also got to hold a poor little baby alligator that looked like he was tired of being held by a bunch of crazy people. The next day was devoted to some downtown shopping and a nice long walk back to the marina. There are many beautiful canals in the town that allow the boat owners to tie their yachts up to their backyard docks. Notice the iguana that we saw on one of the bridge fenders. Fortunately, we had cool weather for a very comfortable walk. 

On Wednesday morning we were to have pulled out and headed north, but fate had other plans. When I opened the engine hatch to do my routine check of engine systems, I found a puddle of diesel fuel under the port engine. As it turned out, we had a fuel leak that I was unable to repair on my own. Fortunately, our captain trainer works in the area now and since we had had dinner with him the night before, I contacted him asking for a repair technician recommendation. I contacted the technician immediately and he came out to assess the situation later that day. He found a hose that had gone bad and would need replacement. However, the work would have to wait until today. We were lucky that the Volvo distributer had the part and the techs are making the repair right now. 

UPDATE: The techs found another problem and had to order a part that will be delivered tomorrow (Friday). So, we will be in Fort Lauderdale until at least Saturday morning. I am officially at the frustrated level. This has fouled up our itinerary. As nice as Fort Lauderdale is, we never planned to spend 7 nights here with all the college age spring breakers. Unfortunately, this is a part of boating that I was hoping we would avoid. I know the situation could be worse, but it is still frustrating. Perhaps my concerns are a little petty..............stuck on a boat in Fort Lauderdale. I guess there are worse problems to have.

If all goes as planned tomorrow, we will be able to leave early on Saturday morning. Perhaps making an outside run to Fort Pierce. Stay tuned.