(Bob Gets) 120 Days

     The alarm was set for 3:45 AM, but we didn't need an alarm to get us up this morning, the start of our Bahamas adventure.  I was up at 3:20 AM and Sharon was right behind me.  After we had secured everything for the crossing, the anchor was up and stowed, and we were underway at 4 AM sharp.  We had a good start going out the inlet, Government Cut at South Beach and the shipping channel, until the very end of the channel, a freighter jumped us doing 9 knots.  Luckily, our new toy, a AIS (automated identification system) receiver warned us of the approaching freighter.  On the down side, we had to maneuver to the NW of the freighter which threw us off course for our rhumb line to Bimini.  As we maneuvered to get back on course we discovered we were in the gulf stream, and our attempts to get back on course gave us a SOG (speed over ground) of 2.5 knots.  Execute plan B.  By sunrise we were back on course for Bimini.   It was a beautiful day to be on the open sea where we chugged along at 6.0 knots.  Land was sighted at 10:30 AM and by 12:15 PM the hook (anchor) was set.  Our next chore was to clear customs and immigration.  Last year, immigration gave us 30 days and we spent the last 2 weeks of that 30 days trying to get an extension, which we did, one day prior to our visa expiration .  This year,  Bob "charmed" the young lady at immigration, who was going to give us only 30 days again, but Bob won her over and she gave us 120 days.     

Sunset Over Miami

     Finally, after 10 windy but glorious days in South Beach, our weather window to cross over to the Bahamas is only hours away.  Our 2011/2012 Bahamas adventure starts very early Thursday morning.  This afternoon the winds died down to a very light breeze, and the seas should be settling down overnight to manageable 2 foot waves for tomorrow.  That's better than the 20 MPH winds gusting to 25 MPH and 5'-7' seas with an occasional 9' thrown in to get your attention.  On the eve of our departure we were given one final beautiful sunset over Miami.

Hallelujah

     Let's face it, if you have something that is broken and you swap out enough parts, you may sooner or later fix it.  To date, we have replaced the high pressure switch, acid washed the membrane, replaced the membrane, replaced the pump head, and today we replaced the heart and soul of the watermaker - the Clark Pump.  All I know about the Clark pump is that it is a intensifier.  In this case, the Clark Pump will take water under pressure at 60 PSI and greatly boost or intensify the pressure of the water.  Then, the water, when passed over the membrane at high pressure forces about 10% of the salt water through the membrane leaving behind such things as salt and other nasty stuff you don't want in your fresh water.  Under ideal conditions, that is what should happen, but in our watermaker that had not been the case.  So today, when the watermaker dealer came onboard Big Run and listened to our watermaker, without hesitation, he said it's the Clark Pump.  So, 6 weeks later and a half hour to swap out the Clark Pump we are back in the business of making fresh water. Oh yea, it was still under warranty -  Hallelujah