We were gonna head out tomorrow

Got a sewing machine to make stuff...

But as fate would have it, not gonna happen. 

We knew we were cutting it close. Today we had the fire suppression system installed while the electricians were installing a new alternator on the port engine. All of if timed for a late exit tomorrow.

This "leave on Wednesday" schedule was driven by friends who are heading south. They have a dentist appointment driving their schedule. They wanted to go to Tween Waters this Thursday. We'd been wanting to get back there ourselves. If you recall from W-A-A-A-Y back when we first got Cat-n-Dogs we stopped at Tween with Captain Randy on our first big voyage. It's where we experienced the hermit crab races.

... like sun screens.

We'd been talking about the races with friends for a while, selling them on the idea. The timing is best for them to go now. So, we're trying.

However, the new alternator didn't work. Much to the surprise of our electrician, instead of charging the batteries it drained them. It generated so much heat it melted the fan belt. Phone calls were made. We're hoping to get a replacement Wednesday.

All is not lost. We can still get two Tween Marina in a longer quest (given the name of our boat I think I'll start using that term) on Thursday, assuming we leave pretty early.

Dipped ties for our... 

Meanwhile we're doing other tasks, racing to get things done. Russ is programming VHS radios with our new MMSI number and installing a camera in the rear to help with docking. I whipped (that's a mariner term, a whip is a kind of knot) up markers on our anchor chain so we have some idea of how much rode we put out.

If all goes well tomorrow we'll flip the boats around once inQuest can get moving again. Then we'll try to get an extra early start on Thursday. Right now, however, we only have 1 engine.

...anchor markings. The red bits are whips.
The blue bits are tape I used to help keep them together for the whipping.