March 18-24
Yes….we did it…..completed all our projects and are set to leave tomorrow, Monday, March 25….2 days later than our plan…..ugh!!!! Let the 2019 Cruising season begin!!!
Gee John, aren’t you a cruiser with no schedule….you sound a little anxious….what gives??? Well, if you really want to know, we experienced what every cruiser experiences, last minute unforeseen issues. This time it was black soot induced measles all over Mystic….arghhhhh!!!! Many of the fishing boats here use a dry stack/exhaust that if not cleaned properly will spew black soot all over the marina. When we came back in January we were coated but the black soot just washed off with soap and water. This past week the rain stopped for 4-5 days and I started all the outdoor projects that I have not been able to get to since last January. Well, what I thought was going to be a 4 hour wash job turned into a 4+ day, on my knees, scrubbing with severe elbow grease all horizontal surfaces on Mystic…..oweee….ODG as I write this I’m medicating with lots of scotch/Advil, every bone/muscle in my body is crying out “no mas”……arghhhhh!!!!
I’m not sure why this event was different than what we found in January, but most of the soot had stained the fiberglass, gelcoat and nonskid on all the horizontal surfaces on Mystic. We tried everything available in Sitka to easily remove the soot stains with not much luck….you know, spray on, wash off. I ended up using several degreasers on the non-skid with a stiff brush and grunt like elbow grease and on the fiberglass the best method was using rubbing compound…of course, that leaves a dull finish so I had to wax over all that. In fact I am not done…..I got all the non-skid done as that requires water to rinse off (we get free from dockside) and I will do all the waxing while we are at anchor. I want to get away from this marina ASAP to not have to go through this again!!!!
Russ, our fisherman neighbor, had gotten us once in Oct but he has been conscientious since and kept his clean. But, he knew a friend who was out of work so we hired Gary for some help. Well…he lasted 2 hours and said not for him….yep, you get the picture……arghhhhh!!!!
What else have we been doing…..well, mainly all work and no play….not my idea of retirement:)))) Worked straight through since we have been back….crazy, like 15 straight days….the last 7 days were 8+ hours of physical bending, lifting, cold yoga kind of stuff…..yep, both a bit cranky:)))))
Kathy: continued to clean, sort, store and provision and made multiple trips to various places for cleaning supplies et al!!
John:
– Propane: Even though our fiberglass propane tanks have been filled throughout the Pacific, Alaska refuses…..the company Lite went out of business due to a recall so Alaska does not fill any of these cans….samething in Kodiak…..ugh. Kathy called around and found the “Recovery Center” would take the old tanks. I borrowed Russ’ truck, went to the place only to be told they goofed, have to go to the dump. They gave me directions….6 miles out of town….I went the 6 miles and the road ended….really….I did pass a “recycling center” 3 miles back so went there and the guy said, there is no dump, just us….and yes, we will take your old tanks….yep, fiberglass….seen a lot of those. We are now the proud owners of 2 new metal tanks which the guys gladly filled:)))
– Changed Cummins fuel and coolant filters, changed GEN fuel filter
– Installed new Simrad CA44 passive GPS antenna….wow, and it works. The original GPS shot craps in the Philippines a year ago….took me 3 days then to diagnose and rewire the unit to work off the Raymarine GPS that we use for Nobeltec. We like to have separate GPS units for each chartplotter in case one is off. Simrad at the time was no help but the technicians in Seattle and Florida were very helpful. Simrad no longer makes the particular GPS unit so I took a flyer on this Garmin one. Zach in Florida thought it would work and voila, it does!!! Now on some rainy day I need to undo the rewire I did under the PH console….joy….ugh!!!!
– Lowered and tested dinghy….Yamaha runs ok, little rough at low rpm’s, called a “guy” to have it serviced…thinking dirty carburetor….he laughed…buddy, we are booked solid for the next few weeks….ugh, will run it hard the next few weeks and if we need service we’ll try Juneau!!
– Installed new speed paddle on dinghy…..tested and it indicated 0-600kts…..hmmm…I wish…..emailed Garmin….the guy said get a new one…BUT, this is a new one…..ugh!!! I’ll keep playing with it and might even change locations thinking too much prop turbulence….I really only need it to adjust trolling speed for salmon…yep, critical:))))
– Port chain locker lid on bow: all screws on the hinge had rusted out and the lid just came off; so, drilled out all the broken screws, epoxied holes, then reattached hinge after a few days to let the epoxy set.
– Attached bow pulpit stanchion….someone had hit us while we were gone in December….$1000 to get a SS piece remade…..fits ok but will need some adjustments next fall in Seattle. We were having lunch one day and we hear a big bang and the boat starts moving….a boat was right off our bow….ODG, not again….turns out it was a close call….the boat hit the dock and the Captain was on our bow pulpit fending off…..we exchanged a few words as I thought he had hit us but fortunately not….but, think we now know who hit us in December!!!!
– Installed VHF Hailer….we use this for our fog horn and the original one had fallen off once in a big wave. Glad to have this repaired as we will have fog at some point this season…and I got a bigger one…seems louder as our original one was pretty weak!!!!!
AND, I now have my Medicare card….yea….Matthew is helping select the supplement plans so come May I will finally not have to pay these ridiculous expensive prices for private Obamacare…yep, still a bit bitter about all that:))))
Herring Season: It still has not opened here in Sitka, the last fishing area that could open in Alaska. They are doing surreys each day, aerial and test nets and the herring are 30-50% too small and only ~10% mature roe…so many people and even many fisherman are protesting to stop the opening.
Black Cod: the longlining season is open. Dave, our other neighbor went out and in 1 day caught 11k-lbs…..made about $70k. Russ just left to go fish outside Yakutat….36 hours from here….he has a 30k-lb quota and hopes to make $200k+…of course, he only gets 55% of the sale as the quota is not his….he is just the hired Captain and gets 55%…still, a good haul if he gets all 30k-lbs!!!
The Plan: Go anchor and relax….sleep, read, crab, prawn, salmon/halibut fish, read, nap:))) We will leave Monday around 9am, go get diesel and gasoline, then travel north ~22nm to Salisbury Sound where we will relax in 2-3 anchorages for 4-5 days!! Hopefully we will see some bears et al waking up from their winter naps!! The weather is supposed to be sunny the next 4-5 days….but, a bit chilly….40-50’s….we can deal with that!!!!
Hope all is well!!
Tired/Sore John
Mystic Moon
Leaving Sitka Alaska
Pretty moon rise at sunset!!