January 10, 2013; still at Gulfport, FL

Thursday:  It has been some time since we posted.  We haven't been doing much other than getting a few things done on the boat.  After 3 days with Charlie, the electrician, being here we finally have a working inverter system and Keith now has a good understanding of how it works.  He also found and fixed some potentially dangerous problems which we did not know about.  We also had an air conditioning mechanic come in and he found and fixed the leak in our air conditioner.  After about a week of strangers coming and going on the boat we now have it back to just ourselves.  Thank goodness.

Gulfport Municipal Marina is a nice little marina but without transportation you are kind of stuck.  We can walk to the downtown area for restaurants and shops but as far as groceries go you really need a car.  We rented a car the other day and were going steady all day buying groceries, going to West Marine, doing the laundry, and going to the hardware store.  A full day but we should be good for a while.

CO's comments:  The leak in our air conditioner was caused by the last person who supposedly fixed it.....  I finally have an understanding of our electrical system and have some ideas as how to upgrade the batteries when the time comes to replace them.  Charlie is retired Navy.  He served  aboard  nuclear powered boats and he sure knows a lot more about electrical systems on boats than any other electrician we have met.  We are very pleased with his work.  We have been having 4' plus tides the last couple of days. 

Late yesterday afternoon a guy and his wife came into the marina on a 19' outboard and just about hit us.  When he finally docked his boat, he put one foot on the dock and the other on the boat while holding his line and you know what happened next.  The boat moved and he fell in.  Some passers by dragged him out of the water.  He was all cut up and bleeding and could not walk a straight line he was so drunk.  The boat is still here this morning but they are not.

Gulfport, FL - last sun set of 2012

The boat in front ours is the same size we started out with.  We went from a 28' in 2009 to a 49' in 2012, wow!

This ice breaker is paving a trail for the 1004' Steamer on Lake Superior the first part of 2013.  My good friend Joyce is the head cook and her husband Tom is the Captain.  They were on the lake over Christmas but were finally able to celebrate in January and start a long deserved winter vacation.