Day Waiting For Parts

Ok, so plans do change. Due to the fact that I have little confidence in the Autoprop in it's current condition, we decided to order the parts to repair it. Since the machinist mate aboard WK did a poor job of installing old standby, we are stuck until the knucklehead gets the parts to fix our only "screw". Whilst waiting for said parts, the cost of which we do not know (more on that later), we decided to see some of this place, Stuart. I mentioned last blog that this is a cross road, so to speak, for the boating world. Half of the boats we have seen here have the swamp water grin on the bow and half look as though they have not left the dock since birth. Why Knot is in the former condition.

The city of Stuart has a tram which is more like a long golf cart. Said tram is without charge and if there is room aboard when it passes, one can get on an ride at will. We took an hour ride on it today during the Thursday Tour. Not only did we see most of the old town, we had a narrator giving local knowledge. Stuart has done a fine job of preserving the water front and building of significance dating back to the end of the nineteenth century. Mostly driven by pineapple groves in the early years, this place pays great homage to Henry Flagler who brought the railroad here in 1895. For that matter, almost every east coast town we've seen so far has a Flagler street. As mentioned, pineapples and fishing were king here through the Great Depression and WWII. Much of that is gone and pleasure boating has taken over. Seminole Indians did much trading here due to the Parks General Merchandise store still standing today.

WK has a few dings to the toe rail but we do have the stuff to bring it back to cutesie state but, in this heat, little enthusiasm for actually applying the Honey Teak. I got the bow rail and three stanchions waxed yesterday then decided that it was too hot to be devoted to the task. We are really starting to have a profound respect for crews that arrive from months ways with the boat looking as though it never left the dock (Querencia as an example). We have said before that we are amazed at the amount of dust and actual dirt that lands on deck. Birds are not an issue here and really have not been since getting to the pan handle of Florida. It is rare to see a Pelican and even more rare to see a seagull. I intentionally did not capitalize seagull since we think of them as "air rats". Anyway, the point is that as small as this boat is, it gets dirty and mildew is the constant war. Even with air conditioning which we do not run underway or sometimes at all during the day, mildew can grow fast. If we do not look at a surface for a few weeks, we can count on it having mildew of some type when we do. Some is black, some is green and some is yellow. So far, we win.

The water in the Saint Lucie river is just nasty looking. It was not always that way. Before the canal crossing Florida was built, this place had clear ocean water, Florida style. Now it is very ugly. There are signs posted that folks should not swim in the river due to some hostile bacteria that causes the flesh eating ailment. One would bet that one person got it and now the sky is falling. I talked to a professional diver today that has been scrubbing bottoms (boats that is) for two decades who said "Look at me. Do I have any weird skin stuff growing?" So, the question to meditate, cogitate and ponder is whether or not to dive the boat tomorrow and fix that darn prop? While thinking about it, we might just have to have a re-do on the escargot at Sailors Return tonight.