The Return to the SaSea Sally - January 8 - 11, 2015, JAX Huckins to Sisters Creek

Jan 8-11, 2015

Well, we're back to our legs-not-cars-for-land-transportation lifestyle, good for building biceps and triceps, quads, hamstrings, and glutes, as we board the SaSea Sally for continuation of the Great Loop. Clay will be trying to shed the 10+ pounds he gained over the holidays as well as the ongoing dizziness he's had since mid-September. The doctor Rx'd motion sickness pills on a routine basis for probable vertigo; now isn't that ironic, living on a boat? I'll be trying to keep from falling which, so far, isn't looking so good.

After landing at JAX late afternoon on Thursday and retrieving our two-day rental car, we made a quick stop at WMT for basics then headed to our boat at Huckins Boat Yard. We, of course, arrived after darkness settled over the water and then proceeded to made repeated trips to unload the car, not exactly next door to one another. With darkness, unfamiliar terrain, a cement dock/fingers and CLEATS abounding, I found it necessary to indoctrinate our reintroduction to boating by hooking my foot under a cleat and orchestrating a face plant into a large ladder structure and onto the cement dock. Not pretty. As I said, avoiding falls isn't looking too good for ole Sal currently. Gotta slow down! Actually, I fared pretty well; two-plus days post fall, I'm colorful and sore but with no breaks, no cuts, no abrasions. Earned myself a big glass of wine, lunch and dinner out two days in a row (all at Clay's suggestion!)

We left zero degrees in Missouri with frigid wind chills and were welcomed by snowflakes in Jacksonville. While unpacking and stowing provisions over the next 44 hours (Clay is so proud of a 44-hour turnaround), we tried to remember, after a seven-week absence, where everything was kept. And, the beat goes on. Happy to report our brain cells are still active! 

That 44-hour turnaround time had our departure from Huckins clocked at 2:23 p.m. Saturday. With a deadline of arrival in Titusville Tuesday evening, Clay's plan was to overnight at JAX Stadium, a free dock with free water and available electricity on a 24-hour pay period. Sal to Clay as we passed JAX Stadium:

Sal: If we by-pass this dock and go on to Sisters Creek (free floating dock with no water and no electric), what will we do for heat? It is to be cold.

Clay: We'll use the generator.

Sal: Oh.

Just a hint to you readers: This isn't gonna work out so well either! Read on...

At Sisters Creek, docking was tough with 18+ knot winds and current, but thankfully three fellow boaters were positioned on the dock to catch our lines. Clay did a wonderful job of controlling the boat under the difficult conditions, and we made it to 'shore' safely!

One of our first tasks was to start the generator. When the generator repeatedly died, we knew we had a problem (well, problems). DINNER: We went to Plan B with dinner. Plan A was oven-roasted portabello mushrooms w/ cheese; Plan B was loaded baked potatoes using the microwave. Well, we realized we were in a pickle with more than just dinner menu. HEAT: Was to be chilly overnight and the boat has no insulation, as in NO INSULATION. Again, kinda like camping. I so didn't bargain for this!

After Clay did a fair share of trouble shooting the generator (noticing sparks and also fresh oil in the oil pan, neither of which are usual and customary), he opted to call Ralph who had worked on the generator at Huckins during our absence. Altho we were 2.5 hrs from Huckins by boat, the road trip was only about 20 minutes; so Ralph volunteered to come and lend his expertise. Bless him!
Ralph was onboard from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Awaiting his arrival in the darkness, Clay and I sipped wine and beer and mulled over our current predicament. Ahhhh, such is the life of a boater....adventure! Hmmmm..... My Plan C for dinner was cheese and crackers which was becoming most rapidly the best plan. As it turned out, the cook (me) retired to bed without dinner as Ralph arrived. It was my safe haven to be: a) out of the way (boats are small, please remember); and b) warm. To heck with dinner. Ralph and Clay were on their own trouble-shooting (a good thing); and Clay was on his own for dinner (which ended up being cold cereal and an ice cream drumstick at about 10:30 p.m.).

Generator is now fixed. There was an air bubble in the generator's cooling system at the thermostat. If the thermostat doesn't detect coolant, the generator will shut off. Bingo. With air bubble, no coolant was detected. So the generator kept shutting off. I'm learning far more than I ever wished in this category! We stayed warm without the generator overnight (had the regular bed clothes plus the sleeping bag designed for cold weather), and I turned the generator on upon awakening this morn and hit the heat. I think it was 50 degrees out when I checked WeatherUnderground at about 7 a.m. But a cold 50 degrees with overcast skies and threatening rain.

We have a four-plus hour day ahead, to arrive in St. Augustine on our way to our Tues p.m. destination of Titusville. Just to let you know we arrived safe and sound and are back into Clay's adventure!