Andiamo!

So, off we go to Dry Tortugas Thursday evening. We rush to get out of the marina before sunset so we can get out of their funky channel under daylight. Cruising along out of Key West under motor, I check the alternators to find that the new alternator is not quite doing what it’s supposed. It’s putting out amps, but not nearly as much as it’s supposed to. But, thanks to some new wiring I did during the reinstallation of our alternators, I manage to get the engine alternator to charge our house bank, so all is still good. We decide that we can make the 2 day trip with one fully operational alternator, and we’ll deal with getting a replacement for that new alternator in Mexico. So we keep going.

About 5 hours into the trip, more than halfway to Dry Tortugas, I wake up from a nap and go below to check our course on GPS, and some other checks. Oddly, I smell something burning, but I can’t put my finger on where it’s coming from. After some sniffing around the engine compartment, I decide that it’s not coming from there. After some probing, I think I narrow it down to the nav station area of the salon. After some more sniffing, I open the DC power panel and notice that there is some SERIOUS SMOKE coming out of it!!! This is bad.

The heart of the problem is actually where the battery power enters the panel. The terminal for those battery wires is SUPER HOT, and smoldering at this point. I put on an oven mitt, and try to pull the plug to see if I can rerig it without the need for the melting terminal. In doing so, the whole panel zaps out, and we now have NO DC power. No autopilot, no instrumentation, no running lights! This is not bad. It’s REALLY REALLY BAD.

So Mahi takes over the wheel and manually keeps the boat on course while I try to figure what the hell is going on. After several tries in getting the panel back up and running to no avail (and lots more smoke), I decide it’s time to start hotwiring stuff. Luckily, I installed two positive bus bars behind the panel that had more than enough capacity for all the DC stuff running on the panel. So I methodically disconnect sets of wires from each of the panel’s breakers, label them and put them on the hot bus bars to get them running again. After two hours of sorting through a HUGE jumble of wires and a smoldering panel, I manage to get most of the stuff up and running again, much to Mahi’s relief, as she was worn out trying to keep the boat on course in the dark with no instrumentation.

We manage to get to the anchorage at Dry Tortugas, and drop anchor. Only one problem. Now our WINDLASS doesn’t work either!!! So when we try to pull in some chain to adjust our scope, nothing happens. So we are now without a power panel and a windlass, but hey, we’re going to Mexico.

Luckily I have onboard an outstanding Fortress anchor. It only weighs a little over 20 lbs, but has the holding power of an anchor three times its weight. We put that one out via the dinghy and pull in our big anchor (85 lbs) using our hands and a halyard from the mast to help it along. The Fortress held beautifully. So at least we have a way to anchor in non-rough seas without having to resort to the big anchor. I also managed to clean up the remaining issues resulting from the big DC Panel debacle. Everything is now neatly labeled, terminaled, and easy to get to. We decide that despite these issues, we can still make it to Isla Mujeres, which is about 2 1/2 days away.

By the way, Dry Tortugas is really beautiful. Although it’s only 60 some odd miles from Key West, you feel like you’re a million miles from anywhere. There is an old fort on one of the islands, which are all national park land. If you ever get a chance to check it out, do it. Great sunsets here too.

More to come, next time we update, we’ll be in Mexico, we hope. We can’t post pics now because of our slow sat connection, but we will post some when we get to mexico and have access to a faster connection.

Until then…

Comment from: Brenda the Bernadette clone [Visitor]

That fire sounds scary.
You lot are starting to sound like a farry between Key West and Dry Tortugas 🙂

2004-07-20 @ 03:13

Comment from: ilona [Visitor]

Oh, my God!!! I just finally read your weblog. You both are NUTS. I can’t believe you are still pressing forward. Not surprisingly, Mahi is not keeping her log. Mahi, hang in there, girl!!! You married a crazy man – you are stuck with him. I am keeping you in my prayers.

Love you and miss you both,

Ilona

t’s been awhile since we posted and since the boat is actually in motion and not in Miami anymore, we figured that now’s as good a time as any to bring the site up to speed.

We FINALLY left Miami the day after 4th of July. It was a momentous occasion, before leaving we got to enjoy the massive 4th fireworks going on all around us while anchored out in Biscayne Bay. Our good friends Dave and Shauna from Zia Lucia came over by dinghy with some visiting guests and we had ourselves a nice little margarita party. Probably the best night since we got to Miami more than 4 months before.

Next morning, we headed out to Key West, which was to be the first leg of our trip out of Florida. It was a good trip, with some good sailing, and lots of motoring. We made it into Stock Island’s Oceanside Marina the next evening for what was to be a couple of days’ stay… a three hour tour…

After a HAIRY time getting the boat docked (don’t ask), I decide to head into town to find an internet connection and some take-out. As I’m getting off the boat, I notice that Aretha was lounging on the foredeck. Rather than do what I SHOULD HAVE and put her below, I leave her there. When I come back about 2 hours later, she’s gone. Not just gone, but GONE GONE. Mahi and I spent at least two hours walking around the dock looking for her, and calling for her to no avail. We figure that she’ll be back by morning. But no. So now we start to worry. This is a strange place, and Aretha’s sure to get lost. We widen our search range to include neighboring areas, flyers and the humane society. Still nothing. By now, everyone at Oceanside Marina knows about Aretha’s disappearance, and we’re amazed by the amount of attention and concern. Not just by the marina residents, but also by the staff and employees. These are great people. Regardless of everyone’s efforts, Aretha simply does not turn up. Mahi is now crying every 10 minutes, and I’m a nervous wreck. I knew I should have put Aretha below when I left the boat, and that error will now haunt me forever.

We end up staying at Oceanside for almost a week, for a combination of Aretha’s disappearance and the need to get some parts and gear shipped in. Finally, we decide it’s time to go, we have a weather window to catch for Mexico. So on July 13th, with great regret and sorrow, Andiamo leaves Key West sans Aretha. It was a sad departure when it should have been a happy and exciting one. So off we go to Dry Tortugas, our next stop on the way to Isla Mujeres.

We left in the early evening, and figured we’d motor all the way there and get to Dry Tortugas by early next morning. It was a spectacularly calm evening, with clear starry skies and moonlight. The only thing missing was a little breeze.

About 3/4 of the way to Dry Tortugas, I notice that our alternators are not putting out any amps, and our batteries have become quite spent because of all the instrumentation and other stuff running that we usually only run under motor. After some investigation, I’m unable to determine the problem, but I know that we can’t go on without alternator power. I tell Mahi that we have to turn back and deal with this alternator issue. Mahi prefers that we don’t go back to Key West because she thinks it will be too painful to deal with Aretha’s loss again. But we have no choice. So we do a 180 and reverse course back to Key West to deal with this issue.

We arrive back at Oceanside Marina early Wednesday morning and tie up at their fuel dock. Because they were booked full, they decided to let us take up half of their fuel dock while we got our alternator fixed. Like I said, these are GREAT people.

While I’m dealing with the alternator issue, and some other engine stuff, Mahi runs up to me and tells me that someone on the dock FOUND ARETHA!!! Neither of us could believe it, but there you go. Turns out that one of the night security guys, Jose, who saw how upset Mahi was with the loss of Aretha told her that he would find her. He did, and reported it to Jerry who was our neighbor at the marina. He was the one who came running to Mahi when he found out we were back at the fuel dock for repairs with the news.

After about 30 minutes or so looking around the vicinity where Jerry last saw her that morning, there she is underneath a parked car in the garage of a neighboring condo complex. She was glad to see us. She was in good health, but quite dingy. We conclude that she must have fallen off the boat that first night into the water. And although I searched with that possibility in mind, she must have swum over to another spot where she can get out. The interesting thing is that we literally scoured the condo complex several times the days before we found her there. So bizarre. Needless to say we were so happy to have Aretha back, especially since we had no expectations of getting her back after her missing a week.

So the next day, Thursday July 15th, we get our new alternator (almost $500 later), put it in, and leave Key West for Dry Tortugas, again.

And don’t think we’re done yet. Read the next entry.

Comment from: Rayna the awesome neice! [Visitor]

Aretha!! Is she ok now? Poor kitty. I would have been really sad if she was lost forever. even if she was really mean to me, but it was my fault. I sat on her couch.:-D
Hope all the kitties are well. miss you!

2004-07-17 @ 14:06

So, we’re stuck in Miami for about another day, waiting on a part for our autopilot. The boat’s otherwise ready to go, so what else to do but head out for a test sail? So, off we embarked on Andiamo’s first real adventure under sail! Woo-hoo!

Heading out of the dock, I figured now would be a good time to go by the fuel dock and top off the tanks. So, with Mahi at the wheel I proceed to get the boat ready to dock up, when… uh-oh… we RUN AGROUND!!! Seems there’s a nice shoal right in the middle of Grove Key Marina’s basin. Who knew? Hmmm, funny how this kind of thing never happens in California. Oy…

So, we have a couple of cold drinks while we wait for the tow boat to pull us off the shoal (Thank you BoatUS unlimited membership!!!), and once we’re free, we forsake the fuel dock idea and head out into the bay! We get the boat under full sail, and off we go! We actually navigated around the bay to several different spots! It was kinda cool. The weather was great, winds were kinda light on and off, but man, we were SAILING AGAIN! Andiamo handled her maiden trial run like a true champ. Mahi will post some photos shortly.

Almost the best part was being able to come back to the dock without any major impacts. Nice change.

So, we’re stuck in Miami for about another day, waiting on a part for our autopilot. The boat’s otherwise ready to go, so what else to do but head out for a test sail? So, off we embarked on Andiamo’s first real adventure under sail! Woo-hoo!

Heading out of the dock, I figured now would be a good time to go by the fuel dock and top off the tanks. So, with Mahi at the wheel I proceed to get the boat ready to dock up, when… uh-oh… we RUN AGROUND!!! Seems there’s a nice shoal right in the middle of Grove Key Marina’s basin. Who knew? Hmmm, funny how this kind of thing never happens in California. Oy…

So, we have a couple of cold drinks while we wait for the tow boat to pull us off the shoal (Thank you BoatUS unlimited membership!!!), and once we’re free, we forsake the fuel dock idea and head out into the bay! We get the boat under full sail, and off we go! We actually navigated around the bay to several different spots! It was kinda cool. The weather was great, winds were kinda light on and off, but man, we were SAILING AGAIN! Andiamo handled her maiden trial run like a true champ. Mahi will post some photos shortly.

Almost the best part was being able to come back to the dock without any major impacts. Nice change.

Comment from: Olga [Visitor]

Hey! Haven’t you guys set sail to mexico already??/ 😉

2004-07-08 @ 19:43

We would like to thank our Miami sponsors:

We would like to thank our Miami sponsors:

The boat is finally coming together. For the first time in months, we’ve been able to narrow down our outstanding issues to just a few, along with a couple more purchases and installations we need to make.

Here’s hoping that the guys who are working on the bow repair can get things wrapped up within the next few days. There is not that much to do. Just a little more fairing, sanding, and then primer and paint. It has been BRUTALLY HOT here in Miami the past few weeks, and it’s making getting any work done during daytime hours nearly impossible.

They’re telling me that they should have the rest of the repair done by end of this week, here’s hoping so. If that happens, we’ll be able to take Andiamo out on her first real sea trial over the weekend. We’re trying to get out of Miami as soon as possible, we’re ready to go, and the slip rent we’re being charged is KILLING us. |-|

More to come, plus more photos of the boat coming up….