Monday March 3: The Green Flash Returns!!

The sun is now FINALLY setting over the water on our side of the bay - and last night we saw the green flash for the first time this season!

There was a gathering on the point across the marina and it sticks out just enough farther north so we were able to watch the sun as it set over the water.

Steve waded out into the water on our side of the harbor and saw it again tonight. Those of us that stayed on land will just have to wait a few more days!

The list of things to do before we leave for the Bahamas grows smaller every day. One thing on the list was to replace the light at the top of the mast. This must be on anytime we are anchored out and the old style bulbs draw way too much power so we replace it with an LED light.

Of course a pain because we had to lower the mast to swap it out. But it's now done. This is a Coast Guard approved light as it is visible for a radius of a full circle for a distance of 2 nautical miles. It's REALLY bright!!

Next on the list was to replace the engine raw water pump. Nothing wrong with the old one but it seemed like the thing to do. Again it's the philosophy of replacing something in our time frame rather than have to do an emergency fix.

Painting it was easy - innovative ways of getting the fittings out of the old one were successful. Heat the body of the pump, use an improvised vise and we were good to go.

Another fix while we were putting a new belt on the alternator was to figure out what to do with the shift cables that were strung too close to the exhaust manifold (which gets hot). Cables were fine but the protective coating was not!

The fix: a 5 minute liquid heat resistant epoxy coating - worked quite well and will protect the cables from moisture.

 There was a quick trip out the bay side for several hours - Steve heard the Mangrove Snapper were hanging out around the Bahama Banks. Off we went with our live shrimp bait and squid as a back up.

Sadly, the biggest thing he caught was a remora!! These fish stick to the back of sharks (usually - sometimes turtles) and clean their skin/shell. The bottom of the remora is covered with a large suction cup like area that allows them to stick to the larger fish. Everyone is happy!

Except us - needed some fish. But it was a good test run again of the alternator and new belts.

Time for a party though. Cindy and Randy on I Think I Can were celebrating a wedding anniversary at an early docktails Saturday night.

Randy grilled shrimp on the back of their boat - other great foods were served at the picnic table. It was a great night!!

As the evening wore on it was actually quite cool (I know - relative of course) as the wind had picked up a bit. Evidence of it being chilly: Cricket snuggled in her down throw (she weighs all of 3 1/2 pounds!).

I told Steve it was too cold out there!! Time to head back to the boat :-)

Tomorrow: we're off to Key West to register for the Local Boater Option with Homeland Security. This will permit us to return to the US with just a phone call instead of having to appear at a Customs office. Seemed like a great idea to us!