2010 - 10/10 - 10/24 - Key West - Stock Island

October 10th to the 17th: We were towed to Oceanside Marina/boat yard at 4:30pm on the 11th and tied up to the seawall. Mark started work on the engine on the 12th. It rained and rained a good day to work inside. Frank and Joey brought the VW down but left the lights on - battery deader than a door nail. (always wondered where that saying originated?) Got a jump, headed for Key West but then engine overheated !! OK…what’s going on? I’m afraid to ask what else can possibly happen !! Thank goodness for all our towing insurance! Got towed to Hans Hommel and the tow driver was kind enough to take us back to the marina. Rainy, drab day - kinda goes with how things are going… Ahhh, a bright spot, sunny and gorgeous on Friday the 15th and Mickey and Kathryn will be here today. The engine is running but still not doing the RPMs as recommended. Thinking it might be the propeller, we sent it out to be re-pitched. We left the marina heading to Fish N Race on the other side of the island. We left the dinghy for repair then got a dock at the City docks. Mickey and Kate
                                  Bill, W&W, Kate, Mary & Mickey

                                          Inside Cap't Tony's

arrived just as we were going to the roof top bar at Turtle Krawls to meet up with Bill and Mary (boating friends we met in 2002 in the dry Tortugas). We all had a nice happy hour get-together but I was craving Lobster. We adjourned to Two Friends restaurant where tails were only $19.95 - YUM!! 16th The four of us wandered Duval St and had lunch at the Hard Rock. Kate and I told the server we were ‘military’ to get the discount. When Mick & Kate left, Wayne and I went back into town. We found a store that had just the chair he was looking for…foot rest and all. We bought two of them - what were we thinking??? October 18th to 24th Mario called, he found some ‘strange things’ inside the motor. Back to Fish n’Race again. It seems Sara Bay must have broken the shift rod while trying to remove it and instead of notifying us, they tried to fix the problem. We found epoxy all around the shift shaft seal assembly and something

unidentifiable being used to bond it all together (Looked like a cigarette butt). In addition, he found the carburetor intake spacer mounted upside down!

I’m not a mechanic but even I can see the problems. Our bill at Sara Bay was over $1200; the bill at Fish n’ Race to repair what Sara Bay screwed up was over $1800 !! I called Debbie, the service manager, at Fish n’ Race and explained the situation then sent her the pictures. No call back after a week so I called again. She forwarded the information to the General Manager. After a few weeks we received a check for Fish n’ Race’s entire bill. Wayne is, and continues to be, amazed that not only do I pursue the wrong, I get results. Ahhhh….lessons learned. The rest of the week was spent finishing up on the engine and waiting for the prop to be returned, hoping that the wrong pitch could be the problem.On Saturday the 23rd we went to a house warming party at Marie’s house - she’s Mark’s daughter. Nice

                                         Marie & her dad, Mark

                                                   Bubba & me
time, GREAT food catered by El Sibony, a Cuban restaurant, in Key West - yummy as always. Bubba makes the BEST Conch salad and homemade hot sauce I‘ve ever had! I’m in love! We left Oceanside on the 24th and anchored at Fleming Key to veg out after a zany week.