Captain’s Log: Back in the Saddle:)))

April 5-11, 2022

Hi All,

In those infamous words…..WE’RE BACK!!!! We arrived back on Mystic Moon on Tuesday early evening, 4/5. Let the 2022 Cruising Season begin!!! Eleven hours door to door from our home in Brentwood CA. 1st impression inside….cold but smells fine…why are so many lights on??? We do have a boat watcher so he must have left them on…ugh. We have been gone now since Oct 22, 2021….165 days, 5.5 months, whoa…the longest we have ever been away…what will be her reception???!!! Got all the luggage inside and started opening things up….1st: turn up Kabola diesel heater…means adjusting 4 thermostats….had left all on 55*F….oh good, all zones come on….we have HEAT!!! 2ND: turn on fresh water pump….hmmmm, it won’t prime, just keeps on running….20 minutes later after exhaustive search for the leak or broken line…and on my hands/knees a bunch, I find the Flybridge sink is running….WTH….how does that happen….did I leave it open when I drained it after shutting off the pump in October….hmmmmm:)))) But easy fix and the water pump primed, check!!

3rd: test both toilets and ensure all valves are correct, check!!! Turn on ice maker….oops…found out in the morning when had no ice the water valve was turned off in ER, check. 4th: check fuel tank levels…we were supposed to have been here in Jan and taken on more fuel but with another knee injury we did not make the trip….I was a bit stressed/puckered on this one….gulp, ODG we have about 100 gallons left….means scraping the bottom on both tanks…not good….told Kathy to be ready by 8:45am next day to head for fuel dock, which necessitates pouring a wee dram and glass of wine, check….RELAX…ODG…it’s bedtime:))))

Wednesday: Up early….John boy stressed on fuel….open ER valves/thru hulls et al, turn on all electronics…yeah, all is working, start Cummins….nope, battery low which I knew…more on that later…jump the battery and Cummins starts….YES!!!! All fuel filters still showing ok so not picking up any dregs yet….let’s go….pull in fuel dock only to be told they are closed and have to go to one in town by bridge….and we make it!!!! Two hours later….1000 gallons, $4.34/gal+tax, why do they quote w/o tax???…like we won’t pay it….$4.66/gal with tax….oweee…last July we paid $2.87….the CC was smokin’….yikkers!!!

I went back into the blog and found the highest we have ever paid for fuel is $6.43/gal in Vaa’vau Vanuatu in 2014!!

We make it back to the berth just in time for a big storm….as it was it was blowing 10-15kts right on the beam and off the dock….TG for thrusters and some help from neighbor Jim!!!! Still takes us another 15 minutes to get all lines adjusted and extras added for the storm. Then it came….20-30ktG40 on the beam & rainy….yuck!!! Then Ehren, one of the boat watchers shows up to help change the Cummins battery. He has his cute 2-year old son with him….I was just in the middle of hooking up the water filters for the dock water…we hear a big gush….hmmmm….turns out both filter housings on the Waterfixer blew out the bottoms….WTH. We guessed that since we store the unit in the Portuguese bow lockers, it must have frozen and cracked the housings….whoa, didn’t think about that one. Of course, no filter housings in town, have to order special, will send to Wrangell and hope they get there when we haulout. In the meantime we will use City water, which is very good, and our watermaker!!

The Cummins start battery is an 8D Lifeline, ~80-lbs….no issue for Ehren. But the replacement is a NorthStar 210 and is 130+ lbs. John boy tries to assist, but right shoulder says nope…but we figure out some methods and Ehren gets it in the ER…but wait….it doesn’t fit the battery box or the frame….an inch too long….I had forgotten…same thing happened in Platypus in 2020 and they had to cut out all the frames…arghhhhhh!! Ehren went back home and got a saw and came back and w/in 10 minutes we have it in place. But, I still spend an hour or so the next morning adding some brackets to keep all secure!!!

And so on and so on….lots of annual maintenance in the ER….changing filters, GEN oil, zincs et al. Kathy stows all the gear and starts the provisioning. It’s now Friday (Day 3 since arriving) and we are a bit pooped. We are soooooo out of boat shape. I haven’t done much walking since mid-January so now walking several miles a day is a chore…plus all the bending/stretching/lifting…well, TG for pain meds but doing all the exercise has to be good for us…right:)))

Sunday, Day 5: Well, Ehren could not find a babysitter so John-boy washed the boat…4+ hours…and she looks great:))) But shoulder and knee are complaining….Mr Johnnie Walker told them to pipe down:))) And the big surprise….the dinghy battery is dead…whaaaaaaa…it is only 2 years old??? I found the motor tilt all the way up and the shaft/prop wedged under the stanchion. Somehow the tight dinghy cover had pressed down on the tilt button and raised the tilt. We are very fortunate the tilt did not lift up the stanchion. I put a charge on the battery and it did give enough juice to lower the tilt but the battery would not hold a charge….toast. Our neighbor Jim was kind enough to give me a lift to the Napa Auto store to buy a new battery but alas, it was closed on Sunday…..arghhhhhh!!!

Monday: Last day in Sitka. Found a battery and the dinghy is all good!! And she is a blowin’….15-20G30kts and cold….35*F, wind chill 24*F….ODG, are we in Chicago:))) But, the galley is closed so we went out to eat at the Sitka hotel, the Mangiare….yummers….

The Plan: We will leave at 5:45am Tuesday, 4/12, to make our 6-day journey to Wrangell. We need to leave so early to time Sergius Narrows at 9am…ugh!! Yep, livin’ the dream:))) We have a haul out on 4/19 to repair the Yanmar’s cutlass bearing!!. It should be a pretty nice passage, but cold and initially pretty windy. The wind for the next 4-5 days is out of the north so darn cold!! But we will be heading south so any wave action should be behind us!! The one angst for Kathy is we have decided, well, the Captain decided:)))) to take Rocky Pass, a pretty narrow and shallow 15nm pass between Kupreanof and Kuiu Islands to save a bit of time!! We have consulted several veterans who have done this pass numerous times and all will be safe!!!

Hope all is well!

John
Mystic Moon