Once I realized that grinding my way through 950 nautical miles of Florida just so I could spend ten minutes in Key West collecting the tee shirt for having cruised the entire east coast was silly, I’ve been thinking of Saint Mary’s as the end of the journey south. I spent quite a bit of time in southern Florida during my working days and I remember thinking that I didn’t have much desire to cruise there. I’m now half way between Key West and Oriental where I was nearly six weeks ago and the page after page of straight line ditch I see ahead in my chart book makes the wild islands and empty beaches I just passed through seem a lot more attractive.
I may go on into Florida a bit, especially after just hearing from my first employee (after 20 years) who now works at a shipyard in Jacksonville. However, any further southing I’ll be thinking of as a cruise in itself from here to there and back. I’ve arrived and I had that same feeling of anticipation the night before leaving the Brickhill River and same sense of accomplishment walking around this neat little town last night as if it was the final objective all along.
The seals on my raw water pump have been weeping since Canada and finally turned into a full leak covering the front of the engine with a frosting and stalactites of salt. A rebuild kit arrives tomorrow so I’ll go back down the river a few miles to Saint Marys Boat Service where I’ll have the water pump rebuilt and take a look around for anything else that needs attending to before I turn around.
The bugs are a factor. The vicious attack I just experienced going out to adjust my anchor lines and the knowledge that the cold temperatures I was quite comfortable in have killed them just 2-3 days north is an incentive to turn around. If a cold snap doesn’t make its way this far south fairly soon, I’m likely to do that. Onset of more normal weather, with frequent cold (by local standards) blustery periods, cold could also make further southing attractive. I’m in wait and see mode and just hanging out in Saint Mary’s, GA. Well, I’m actually in Florida at the moment, by about fifteen feet according to the GPS.[FONT="][/FONT]
I may go on into Florida a bit, especially after just hearing from my first employee (after 20 years) who now works at a shipyard in Jacksonville. However, any further southing I’ll be thinking of as a cruise in itself from here to there and back. I’ve arrived and I had that same feeling of anticipation the night before leaving the Brickhill River and same sense of accomplishment walking around this neat little town last night as if it was the final objective all along.
The seals on my raw water pump have been weeping since Canada and finally turned into a full leak covering the front of the engine with a frosting and stalactites of salt. A rebuild kit arrives tomorrow so I’ll go back down the river a few miles to Saint Marys Boat Service where I’ll have the water pump rebuilt and take a look around for anything else that needs attending to before I turn around.
The bugs are a factor. The vicious attack I just experienced going out to adjust my anchor lines and the knowledge that the cold temperatures I was quite comfortable in have killed them just 2-3 days north is an incentive to turn around. If a cold snap doesn’t make its way this far south fairly soon, I’m likely to do that. Onset of more normal weather, with frequent cold (by local standards) blustery periods, cold could also make further southing attractive. I’m in wait and see mode and just hanging out in Saint Mary’s, GA. Well, I’m actually in Florida at the moment, by about fifteen feet according to the GPS.[FONT="][/FONT]
