Up again before the crack of dawn we busied ourselves with a few last preps for today’s planned trip to Fernandina Beach and Cumberland Island. We have read and heard great things about Cumberland Island which is accessible only by boat and have been looking forward to throwing the anchor for the first time this year to paddle ashore and enjoy the nature.
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| Sunrise at Ortega Landing Marina as we prepare for todays voyage |
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| Just as we left the marina on the St Johns river "Good to the last drop" |
We zipped through downtown Jacksonville and shortly after exited the St John’s River and into the AICW (Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway). The area now changed to a series of water paths through the marshy landscape. It was very peaceful cruising along watching many dolphins frolic and sea birds floating on air alongside the boat. At one point about 2/3 into our planned 55 mile trip we saw small aircraft taking off from a little airport. Soon after we saw two people floating down out of the sky parachuting toward us. Erik sooooo wants to do this someday. Renee says she will be happy to push him out of a plane 😳.
We had made arrangements with a couple who had called a week or so ago and are interested in looking at and purchasing Aquaholic to meet up in the Fernandina area. That’s right....we have her quasi up for sale on a couple of sites to see what kind of interest it garners. For several years we have been saying that we want to move up to a 37’-41’ Marinette in order to have a full walk around bed and a separate shower that you do not have to stand over the toilet to use. Anyhow, this very thick German accented fellow wanted to meet us at the Fernandina Harbor Marina to take a look this afternoon. Before heading into the marina though we had planned to cruise past it about 6 miles or so to a nice anchorage where we would explore the island and it’s many wild horses. About a mile or so past the marina we suddenly felt the boat acting funny. Erik quickly realized that we had lost the forward gear on the starboard engine....again. 🤦♂️ With a quick trip down into the engine compartment it was obvious that the issue was something vastly different than the previous linkage adjustment. Three quarts or more of ATM fluid had sprayed all over the entire engine compartment creating a slippery mess. Additionally, the transmission had gotten hot (not a good thing). We abandoned the plans to explore Cumberland Island and motored back down to Fernandina Harbor where fortunately they assigned us a slip just inside of the marina on a wall that was relatively easy to dock at on one engine even in the gusty breeze.
We checked into the marina and took Riva for a walk to give the engines and the engine room some time to cool down before tearing into things to determine the source of the leak. We had found another bicycle 🚲 on craigslist earlier in the day and spoke with the guy selling it. He lives just a few miles from the marina and agreed to deliver it to us in his truck. We now are back to a 2 bike family....yay! We’re now in the market for sidesaddle baskets for one to accommodate Riva the diva 🐶.
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| Our new to us Schwinn 23 speed cruiser complete with rear rack, comfy seat and fancy handle bars |
Erik spent a couple of hours just cleaning up the mess on the engines, engine room and bildge area. He then started checking fittings and disconnecting hoses to look for cracks or other sources of leaking....nothing. Meanwhile, Renee road the bike up the road to an auto parts store to get ATM fluid. We determined the only way to find the leak was going to be to add fluid and start up the motor to hopefully be able to find where it was coming from. Immediately on startup of the engine it was VERY obvious when fluid started spraying up through a small hole/crack in a threaded stop on top of the tranny. Ironically (or not!) when we arrived at Green Cove Springs several days ago we found a threaded stop sitting on the end table. We had inquired with the mechanic who did the work on the tranny over the winter as to what it was for. He had stated that it was no longer needed because when the unit came back from the rebuild shop they had installed a new one. Unfortunately, what the mechanic did not know was that the stop that the shop installed was just a temp plastic stop, NOT intended to stay in place during use. After the 75 or so miles we cruised it gave out and developed a hole/crack that started spewing the fluid. Easy fix to stop the leak....REAL pain in the @$# to clean up the mess.... crossing fingers that no damage was done to the transmission. After filling to the proper level and installing the CORRECT stop the transmission engaged just as it should. We did not take the boat back out of the slip today to test it thoroughly under power yet 🙏.
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| temporary plastic threaded stop that gave out and causes us a lot of grief |
Fernandina Beach is a very busy and touristy location. Riva was ready for a good walk. Being the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend the streets were crawling with people. We stopped in at one of several ice cream shops and shared a Java Chunk cone (as not to spoil dinner 😂). There were many eating establishments to choose from and given that we were both rather tired we chose one that was very near to the Marina. The wait was almost an hour but the establishment a few doors down was 3 hours and it appeared that there would be a wait wherever we went tonight. The town was alive with many places offering live music. After Dinner Erik rode his new bike a couple of miles to a Walmart to purchase an SD card with adapter in hopes that it would help us to get the chart plotter functioning properly.
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| Renee giving a wave goodbye to the sun for another day |
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| Sunset view from the aft deck of Aquaholic |
The breezy and much cooler evening allowed for us to keep the windows all open on the boat to help give it a good airing out and eliminate the lingering transmission fluid scent. The wind blowing, along with the gentle rocking of the boat, always makes for a good nights sleep as well 😊
A reading we had seen earlier in the day did a good job of summing up the attitude we needed to deal with a challenging and stressful day that did NOT go as planned:
When we are disturbed, it is because we find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of our lives—unacceptable to us, and we can find no serenity until we accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is. Unless we accept life completely on life’s terms, we cannot be happy. We need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in us and in our attitudes.
- P. OHLIGER (para.)
