Wednesday November 22: Back in the Water - Back to Banana Bay

We arrived late last night and after spending the night in Love You More's front berth, we headed over to Driftwood  Marina.

Our boat was lifted and ready to be put in the water!!

Fresh bottom paint and new zincs - we were ready for the boating season to begin - 2 1/2 months since Irma visited the Keys. we were excited!!




The weather could not have been any more perfect for the 17 mile trip west to the Seven Mile bridge then back east on the bay side to Banana Bay - home for the next four months.

Everything ran great so no damage to the prop or running gear from the boat sitting on the ground for 2 months.

There were several markers missing in the channel out from Driftwood but because the markers still showed on the chart plotter there were no issues navigating in between the shallow areas.

Steve spent most of the 2 hour trip washing and scrubbing the 6 months of dirt from the walk around deck.

The boat looked pretty good by the time we were pulling into our dock. It was so nice to be greeted and helped in by BB friends - some of whom we hadn't seen in 6 months!













So we are here with scuffed up sides and some missing railings but all in good time ....

Meanwhile Steve spent a good deal of time the first day tracking down some electrical issues.

I think boats don't like to sit idle for extended periods of time ...












Our time in California with Matt, Wendy and Becky was great - as it always is. The highlight of the trip was being able to cheer Matt on in his continued quest to qualify for the World's Championship Ironman competion in Kona Hawaii. The Arizona Ironman had 2,500 participants. Add 2,500 volunteers and all the spectators and it is quite an event! Matt has qualified twice already for the World's Championship Half-Ironman but still has his eye on qualifying for the full Ironman (a total of 140.6 miles swim, bike run compared to the 70.3 mile half Ironman).

Below is Matt crossing the finish line at 5:05:59 pm. He started the race at 6:50 am. Doing the math gives him swimming, biking or running for 10 hours, 16 minutes. Non-stop. No breaks. Don't know about you, but I am totally amazed - I for one would be dead ...... He had a very good day and came in tenth in his age group. (The top four earned slots for Kona.) Getting closer!

Wednesday November 8: Ready for Water!

The 6 days we spend in Marathon were super productive. Yesterday's Dream is now ready for launching except for a few bottom repairs (which Randy on Love You More kindly volunteered to do - thanks Randy!!!) and a new bottom paint job which Driftwood Marina will do.

The engine runs great and there was no evidence of water in either the engine oil or transmission fluid so all is good there. Inside cleaned of all mildew. We are ready to launch when we return to Marathon the day before Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, we'll spend a couple more weeks in southern California visiting Matt, Wendy and Becky!

Wednesday November 1: Making Real Progress!!

How great it was to pull into Driftwood Marina today and see Yesterday's Dream sitting up off of the ground and stabilized by 6 jack stands!!

It was only a couple of days ago that the boat was not sitting on the ground since hurricane Irma steamrolled over Marathon and the rest of the Florida Keys.

After spending the last few weeks on the west coast it was definitely good to be back to Florida.

The cabin looked great! Quite a bit of mildew on the teak trim throughout the cabin but none on the wallpaper so that was a win.

Where to start?

First use the small Honda generator to charge the batteries (after filling with distilled water). There is some issue with the battery switch but we saved that for another day.

The biggest priority was to get out the water that had been sitting in the bottom of the boat since Irma.

The water had been in the front of the boat because of the way the boat sat bow down, leaning to the starboard.

Once the boat was picked up and leveled the water ran to the back of the boat and came up to a level several inches above the bottom of the engine.

The marina had a pump which we used to pump the water overboard very quickly.



It was pretty easy to see the change in water level!

Both the oil and the transmission fluid will be drained and replaced just to make sure that water did not make it's way into either the engine or the transmission.











Lots of work to replace the front railing but the pieces/parts are all there so that will at least make it easier to do. And Shelly (marina owner) did find the railing from the flybridge so that was a definite win as well!!

There are still many boats right across from us that still need to be picked up and blocked.

Marathon itself is getting better but still a huge amount of debris that needs to be hauled away.

We'll stay here working on the boat until Tuesday when we return to California for a couple of weeks.

The goal is to have the boat ready to launch the day before Thanksgiving!!