M/V MAERIN

OK, enough of this. This is FLORIDA... it’s not supposed to be in the 20’s!!! There was snow and sleet on Saturday morning, and night time temperatures have been in the high 20’s. Daytime highs are at record lows. It hasn’t been this cold here for 35 years, and the records are dropping like flies. Yippee!! So glad we’re able to participate in such a momentous occasion. NOT!!!

We’re holed up at Seven Seas Marina, our third stay here. We stopped in last year on our way south, again on our way back north, and again this year. Our visit here last May was to drop off sister Lisa and husband Dave after their short visit with us and cruise from Cocoa. Seven Seas is a working yard, so it’s very spartan, but it’s inexpensive, the folks are very nice. We really like it here. Our stop-off this time is multi-purpose. The genset seawater pump is in need of a rebuild to correct a leaking shaft seal, so I had parts sent ahead. They were waiting for us upon our arrival, and the repair is complete, no more leak, and the fix should last longer since I replaced the shaft. The old one was scored, so new seals would have been short-lived.

Because of the unusual cold weather, we’re quite dependent on our generator to provide heat overnight while at anchor, so it’s a toss-up between the cost of a marina stay and the added wear & tear of running the genset non stop. And with the generator  seawater pump leak, it’s better not to run it until it’s back in full operating condition. We’re actually pretty comfortable aboard even in freezing weather, but nights can be uncomfortable without heat. Staying in a marina has the advantage of being plugged in, we can keep the heat running and the bigger advantage of not having to horse with the dinghy and brave the cold and wind for doggie runs to shore! So much easier to simply hop off and walk! Since this is one of the most reasonable spots in the area, we’re going to hang out here until it warms up enough that we don’t need to run the heat all day.

Our next stop will be Cocoa, where we’ll meet up with Susan and Jim (from Stansbury) who are staying in Cocoa Beach for a few months to escape the cold of the Chesapeake. Now, that’s ironic. I have some other maintenance parts and stuff from home shipping there as well. The Raymarine interface that connects the shipboard PC to the navigation system failed, so a new one is on the way. Because the system is configured with a good bit of  redundancy, everything still functions, we just lose some of the integration between the two systems without that link.