A week later and...

We're still in Oriental!!! We spent last Thr-Sun in a motel here while the hurricane passed and we were working on the boat (up and down the stepladder 100 times). So Mystique was finally launched Monday morning and we moved aboard. The weather has been beautiful but the last few days have been cool with cold nights (32 last night and forecast 38 tonight). At the dock we have shore power so we're able to run all our lights, stereo, microwave and HEATER;-). But we do turn off the heat at night and sleep under 3 fleece blankets.

The autopilot has been installed as of Wednesday. Now we need the installer to take us out on a 'sea trial' in relatively calm conditions to tune her up and turn some circles to calibrate the AP. It was too windy on Wed. afternoon to do that and he had another obligation today, so we're headed out early tomorrow am to complete the setup and get our certification of proper installation.

Since it looked like we were going to be here longer for the AP installation we also have been tackling some other jobs, like cleaning, fixing some electrical connections, re-working the engine cooling water fill and overflow reservoir (where the antifreeze goes), and cleaning and re-marking the anchor chain. Today we found out the new batteries we ordered Tue for arrival Wed were still on the manufacturer's loading dock, so we decided to cancel the battery improvement program for now.

So now we're about 3 days behind our loose schedule and will be planning on trucking south, hopefully tomorrow afternoon. We will need to make about 50 mi per day, allowing about 4 days delay for weather/sightseeing. Our first destination is Beaufort, SC, about 23 miles south.

We do have plastic window screens we can put up around our cockpit if the weather stays cool. We discovered the joy of these uncool looking devices on our way north last spring. Comfort is more important than looks! Here is a picture from that trip that shows some of the window screens up.


So that's what's happenin' here in Oriental.


Steve & Jan